[PARADISE] Volume III: Streets of Fire

[ChromaticDeath]

*In your character's bored browsing of the internet, they find a mysterious link to an independent local news project simply titled: 'PARADISE'.

The website is quite plain; white background and black text accompanying a slew of images that are blurred until clicked. Everything is center-aligned. There's an imageboard comment section below.*

 

My name's Ash. I'm an independent crime photojournalist. I've run pieces on Flint, Detroit, Baltimore, and Portland.

I'm documenting my finds in Los Santos thus far, currently now nearly a month in to my stay on the island.

This is what the major news networks won't cover- Crime on the day-to-day.

A raw look into the real Los Santos, behind the mask of Vinewood glamour.

 

GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING - 18+

 

08:17 AM AUG 13 2021

I start my day off strong and early. Slept well for once. Davis is full of three-and-four deep sedans. Everyone's all masked up and ready for action, and it's a Friday morning. Somewhere along the line I find one of those cars flipped. Guy inside had been shot a few times, and the car rolled over on its roof. His friend ran off and left him- there was blood leading from the car across into an adjacent alley. There's not much he could have done for him, anyway. The deputy in charge of the scene was helpful in this case. Fisher or Fischer or something like that.

 

Spoiler

 

 

02:02 AM AUG 15 2021

I walk outside of the apartment block a friend lives in and spot a man lying face-up in the parking lot. Called for coroner's and police, but they didn't arrive until around 4:15 AM, where I caught them on my swing back around. Lots of bodies, not enough time.

 

Spoiler

 

02:28 AM AUG 15 2021

Bomb threat at the Yellow Jack Inn. All I wanted was a drink, but I got pictures, instead. Spoke with an officer of the LSPD for a few minutes while I was up on a billboard getting good angles. Turns out the whole thing was a hoax, guy caught charges for making threats on top of everything else he'd racked up.

 

Spoiler

 

05:18 AM AUG 15 2021

A teenager mourns the loss of his friend outside a block on Forum Drive, Chamberlain Hills.

I arrived right after Coroner's were taking him away. Sad reality of life in South Central.

 

Spoiler

 

05:26 AM AUG 15 2021

Not too long after I'd taken that photo, police were back on that block- this time arresting a murder suspect. They sounded pretty sure they'd caught their guy. He had been stopped in the act, with the body of the victim right next to him. Two murders in thirty minutes, less than twenty-five feet apart. The density of homicides in South Central is unrivaled.

 

Spoiler

 

06:09 AM AUG 15 2021

Traffic stop on a four-occupied sedan on the Jamestown projects block. Law enforcement are very careful around these parts, and for good reason. The place is an ambush waiting to happen.

 

Spoiler

 

06:54 AM AUG 15 2021

Less than two hours after I'd seen him at a scene on Forum Drive, a deputy is shot dead in the middle of the road. Co-workers frantically work to save his life, but he didn't roll away in an ambulance. Death will come when you least expect it.

 

Spoiler

 

09:50 AM AUG 15 2021

Standing around in the parking lot of the block my friend's letting me stay at when a Dominator comes screeching up, nearly hitting us. My partner tells him to watch his driving. He gets out in a bulletproof vest and motorcycle helmet and says "he's debating whether to kill us or not." For a brief moment, I consider running him over in my car. He pulled a gun on us, then shoved it away and walked off. Cops were called, since he'd done it in front of quite a few witnesses who didn't take kindly to having pistols waved at them. Sheriff's Department pulled out the big guns on him. Good shots from above.

 

Spoiler

 

4:47 AM AUG 16 2021

In a particularly wild twist, I witness the guy in the orange hoodie here steal a masked biker's motorcycle and speed off on it. Around thirty minutes later, I spot orange hoodie in an alleyway with some friends. I pull aside. Gunfire erupts. When I return, one's dead on the ground, with orange hoodie bleeding out, and a third wandering around the scene. Sheriff's Deputies arrive in force to take control of the situation, placing the third suspect under arrest shortly afterward. Seemed to me like our masked biker is some sort of vigilante. If he's a good enough shot to kill two in a three-on-one gunfight and survive, he's doing something right. Can't endorse vigilantism, though. Bad for one's health.

 

Spoiler

 

9:35 AM AUG 16 2021

Myself and a few friends make the mistake of cruising around old abandoned industrial areas in my van. We head to Elysian Island- there's a trucking depot there with posted signs, so we go to a lot that doesn't belong to them to drive around and check out the old docks and machinery. A green Gruppe Six pickup truck starts chasing us before long, from Elysian Island all the way through Cypress Flats, El Burro Heights, La Mesa, and finally Mission Row Station. When the guy gets out of his truck he introduces himself as a "Protections Officer." It was ruled a 'misunderstanding' by the Police Department. What confuses me the most is the audacity to chase civilians in an unmarked car... as private security. Professional standards, right?

 

Spoiler

 

 

6:18 AM AUG 18 2021

Traffic stop on the Los Santos Freeway. Guns are drawn and both driver and passenger are brought out of the vehicle. No good details on this one, but I have a feeling it had to do with a situation I'd seen earlier where a deputy was shot near the Chianski mountain range.

 

Spoiler

 

9:23 AM AUG 18 2021

This is broken, can I return it? Two people are shot inside a car on Roy Lowenstein Boulevard during broad daylight. No further details about the shooting could be dug up, but they both left in Coroner's vans.

 

Spoiler

 

11:56 PM AUG 18 2021

Street fight in Chinatown erupted down the road from a bar. Guy on the ground was brutally beaten and had his money stolen right out of his wallet. The thief threw the empty billfold in the victim's face and ran off after kicking him in the ribs.

I didn't stick around to try to talk to anyone. When I tried to offer medical aid they didn't seem to want it.

 

Spoiler

 

11:15 PM AUG 19 2021

I get pulled over on Forum Drive, probably matching a suspect of something or another. While I'm sitting there getting ready a gunfight erupts less than thirty feet to my left. I get let go from the stop, pull on my press badge, and film. Gangster shot down an LSPD canine handler, and in turn, the deputy who pulled me over shot the gunman dead. Neither of them made it.

 

Spoiler

 

11:52 PM AUG 19 2021

I walk outside my friend's apartment again and two people are shot in front of me. I lift my camera as the gunman runs past- he doesn't notice me, tunnel vision, I guess. It probably helped I was behind something, anyway. He zooms past me, gun in hand. I'd later film this same guy killing a third in not long after these pictures were taken.

 

Spoiler

 

1:06 AM AUG 20 2021

LSPD operation at a block I've unfortunately been to one too many times by now. SWAT were outside holding the door. Couldn't get much closer than I did here, didn't want to, either.

 

Spoiler

 

1:50 AM AUG 20 2021

The same guy from earlier shoots at someone out front of the DMV apartments and hops in his buddy's sports car to get away. Unfortunately for him, he did not get away, as he was killed by police during the pursuit after exchanging gunfire with them. If you'd believe it, we were just about to leave this location on merit of nothing happening, too. Lucky find.

 

 

Spoiler

 

2:17 AM AUG 20 2021

Los Santos Sheriff's Department in hot pursuit of... A taxi. Hazarding a guess he did something to warrant such a response. I was reeling video when they passed, and it came out wonderfully.

 

 

2:20 AM AUG 20 2021

I take a bathroom break inside a 24/7 on Davis and Macdonald Street. When I'm on my way out, a gunfight erupts a block over, near the public library. I used the digital recorder I bought at Seeker's to get a quick snip of the ambience of Davis. Blood and brass on the steps of the public library- A deadly reminder of how violence has taken precedent over knowledge.

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

4:39 AM AUG 21 2021

Another massive brawl, this time outside a corner store on Strawberry Avenue. Fists and feet fly. A passerby starts kicking one of the guys who'd lost the fight in the head. Our masked vigilante whips a Glock out on him and makes him back off, then picks all the injured up. Everyone goes about their day like that hadn't just happened.

 

Spoiler

 

I'm not gonna get preachy at the end of this issue, I've had two before this to do that.

By now, anyone who's regularly read these articles understands my prerogative.

I want change. I can't force change, but I can try, by exposing reality.

The island's gorgeous, but it's wasted potential. A dying flame.

Gone are the days of movie studios and superstars.

This is the here and now Los Santos.

But it doesn't have to be.

 

 

 

PARADISE Vol. I: First Impressions

PARADISE Vol. II: Sodom & Gomorrah

PARADISE: Dangers of Society

 

 

Donate to help me afford bills, equipment, and repairs:

Every bit helps and is put toward my cost of living.

I make zero revenue from PARADISE publications.

 

Bitcoin Address (Bech32):

bc1zg4tskar7xfwivy5l643lydlw9re59gtyzwf5mdq

((/banktransfer XXXXX 010003978 Paradise Donation))

 

 

 

 

-COMMENTS ARE ENABLED-

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((Character Thread))

Edited January 2, 2022 by ChromaticDeath

[radreaper100]

Username: anonymous

         Comment: we keep meeting the wrong way at the right time. maybe we should change that

                          

Edited August 22, 2021 by radreaper100
Spelling.

[ChromaticDeath]

Username: AshParadise

Comment: [Mass-Message on all volumes.] I've managed to recover my drives, and subsequently, the server, hosting PARADISE. New content to come with time.