Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rewrite)

Chapter 5: Tagging Up Turf

CJ headed to Sweet's house to find Sweet and Big Smoke playing one-on-one basketball on the court on the side, with Sweet on the defensive end as Smoke tried to back him down.

"C'mon, fat boy," Sweet chanted, trying to steal the ball from Big Smoke. "C'mon, fat boy. Fat boy - look at you, look at..."

"Yeah, yeah, watch out, fool," Smoke said. "Watch this, watch this..."

Smoke laughed as he quickly zoomed past Sweet and scored a slam dunk just as CJ approached the two.

"Look who's here," Sweet sneered. "It's running man. What, you think you back on the set?"

"I told you that, bro," CJ replied.

"Your word don't mean shit around here," Sweet said.

"C'mon, man, gimme a break," CJ complained.

"We gotta go hit up the hood," Sweet told him.

"Hey, CJ," Big Smoke greeted, approaching CJ while carrying the ball to his left side.

"Let them know you're back on the set," Sweet continued. "The Johnson brothers are rolling again.

Sweet took a paint can out of his back pocket and handed it to CJ. "Take this paint and go hit shit up," Sweet ordered. "Start with our own set first."

"Later on, we'll spread out and take the whole hood back," Big Smoke chimed in.

"You already spreading out, fat man," Sweet told him, snatching the ball out of Smoke's hands. "Now let's play."

As CJ started to leave, Sweet and Big Smoke continued their game. "Let's see what you got, porkchop," Sweet told Big Smoke, and they began playing their game.

CJ was just about to leave when he was stopped by Sweet, just as the latter and Smoke parted ways.

"Hey, wait up!" Sweet called

"Thought you'd hang with your brother, huh?" CJ told him, grinning smugly.

"Aw, ease up little man," Sweet protested. "C'mon, it's been difficult. You wanna drive?"

"Yeah, for sure," CJ replied as he and Sweet entered Sweet's Greenwood vehicle and drove away. CJ drove straight down the road, arriving in Idlewood, where he made a left turn. To his left was a graffiti marking that said "Front Yard Ballas" on the wall of the bridge.

CJ parked the car to the side and he and Sweet exited the vehicle.

"Watch for those rollers as I tag this up," Sweet ordered CJ as he walked up to the graffiti.

As CJ looked around for any Ballas gang member, Sweet sprayed the tag over the Ballas tag on the side of the bridge, titling it "Grove St. 4 Life".

"There's another two Balla tags in the hood," Sweet told CJ. "You go get 'em and I'll keep the engine running."

As Sweet got to his vehicle, CJ oriented around Idlewood in search of the two tags Sweet mentioned to him earlier. He spotted a tag painting on the front of a house that read "Front Yard Ballas". So he walked up to the graffiti and tagged it with "Grove St. 4 Life". CJ then went to the backyard and hopped the stone wall from behind. He spotted another graffiti tag on the wall and tagged over that as well.

CJ looked around to make sure there weren't any of the Ballas sticking around. He ran through the street and found Sweet's Greenwood up ahead. He hopped inside and began driving.

"C'mon let's cruise into Ballas territory," Sweet told him.

Ah shit, CJ thought excitedly. We about to tag the Ballas' turf!

So CJ drove through the neighborhood and arrived in East Los Santos, coming to an abrupt park

"You hit this up here, and I'll go up and do another hood," Sweet ordered as he dropped CJ off. He sped away, leaving CJ to take care of the tag in East Los Santos.

CJ looked around and finally came across one of the Ballas' graffiti tags. He quickly walked up to it and sprayed over the tag with his own graffiti. After that, he strolled around the neighborhood to find some more tags.

As he got through the alleyway, he spotted two of the Ballas gang members. They were dressed in purple, both of them wearing purple bandanas. CJ wasn't afraid of them. In spite of not being armed, he still had a paint can in his hand. So he casually walked towards the two gang members.

"What the fuck?!" one of them said as they both spotted CJ.

"Get that fool!" the other member barked as they both put up their fists to fight CJ, who sprayed the paint in their faces in self-defense. The Ballas covered their faces, trying to wipe the paint out of their eyes. CJ then spray painted his own tag on the Ballas' tag, only to be spotted by the police. CJ quickly avoided them and ran around the block. He ran down the alleyway and hopped a fence behind one of the buildings, in which he hopped onto a box and scaled the building, in which he spotted one of the Ballas tags on the wall of the roof, which he quickly tagged.

Just then, Sweet drove back into the neighborhood. "CARL!" he shouted at his brother. "QUICK, GET IN!"

CJ complied with Sweet's demands and hopped off of the roof. He entered the driver's seat of the vehicle as Sweet slid to the passenger's seat.

"Get us back to the hood, CJ!" Sweet ordered.

CJ said nothing and complied with his brother's orders. He made a left turn, drove straight down the bridge, and made another left turn to Ganton Street, where he drove straight ahead until he reached Sweet's house.

The two brothers exited the vehicle and stared at each other face-to-face.

"Like riding a bike, ain't it, boy?" Sweet told CJ.

"Yeah, it all comes back," CJ agreed.

"How you doin' on the feddy?" Sweet asked CJ.

"I'm kinda short, you know," CJ told him. "C.R.A.S.H. took all my paper, man, left me with nothing but small change."

"Here," Sweet said, giving CJ some cash. "Get yourself a beer or something. I'll catch up with you."

Sweet then walked inside his house. CJ looked around to find that the sky was becoming even darker. He had had a long evening and decided it was now time for him to hit the sack.

As he walked inside his mother's house, he went back into his mother's bedroom and picked up the picture of his mother, siblings, and friends at Glen Park. He still regretted not being around for his mother's final birthday. It especially didn't help that beside his two living siblings, his friends were also there, looking as if they had a good time as well.

CJ was just contemplating going back to Liberty City right away when he heard his cellphone ring. He pulled it out to answer it.

"Carl, it's Officer Hernandez," he heard Officer Jimmy Hernandez say over the phone.

"Who?" CJ asked.

"Officer Hernandez," Hernandez reiterated. "I work with Tenpenny and Pulaski."

"Ah, the bitch!" CJ answered flippantly. "What the hell you want?"

"Hey, show me some respect, boy," Hernandez told him, trying not to get on CJ's bad side.

"Go fuck yourself," CJ told him, ignoring his previous answer. "You just they bitch!"

"You watch your tone, boy," Hernandez told him, sounding slightly sterner. "Now listen, I've got a message from Officer Tenpenny. Don't try and leave town! That would be a big mistake. You hear me? We're watching you, boy!"

"Whatever you say, bitch," CJ replied, and he hung up the phone.

So it turned out that Officer Hernandez had made up CJ's mind for him. CJ wasn't allowed to leave Los Santos now. And the scary part? He was actually glad! Feeling satisfied, CJ lay on his mother's mattress and fell asleep.