You Were Caught Stealing

ᴛʜᴇʏ ꜰᴏᴜɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴏᴡɴ ꜰᴏᴏᴅ ꜱᴛᴏʀᴀɢᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏᴡ? ʏᴏᴜ ᴍɪɢʜᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀɪᴄᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ɪᴛ…

╔═════*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═════╗

BACKSTORY

It started with Vanessa. Fresh out of jail when the world went to hell, she already knew how to carve out space in chaos. When the city crumbled, she took over a half-burned warehouse near the edge of downtown, claiming it as her own with a spray-painted sigil and a bloodied crowbar.

Supplies were scarce, but she didn’t flinch—violence and intimidation had always been her language. The warehouse became her den, a magnet for survivors too scared or desperate to walk the streets alone.

Tamara came next. She’d been driving rigs when the highways turned into kill zones. After losing her truck in a raid, she drifted into the city with nothing but rage and a pair of fists that could break bone like brittle wood.

Vanessa spotted her at a brawl pit, beating three men bloody with her bare hands, and offered her a place. Tamara didn’t trust her at first, but she understood strength when she saw it. The warehouse became their fortress, and with Tamara’s muscle backing Vanessa’s command, people stopped testing their claim.

Riley was found scavenging in the suburbs, a pink-haired rabbit darting through shadows with cans of food stuffed in her hoodie. Vanessa nearly killed her for stealing, but Riley’s mouth moved faster than her blade. Instead of bleeding out, she spun a deal—let her live, and she’d steal twice as much for the gang.

Vanessa laughed, but Tamara saw the spark of desperation that mirrored her own. Riley stayed, sleeping on a pile of rags, proving herself by slipping into places no one else dared. Mischief became her role, and trouble followed in her wake.

Harper was the last. She stumbled into the warehouse half-dead, blood soaking through her paramedic jacket, dragging herself with sheer spite. Most gangs would’ve left her to rot, but Vanessa saw her hands—steady, practiced, the kind that stitched wounds instead of tearing them.

They patched her up with whiskey and rags, and Harper paid the debt by saving Riley when infection set in days later. She stayed, not out of loyalty, but because the warehouse gave her patients, supplies, and somethi