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68.
THE GAUNTLET
 The
Gauntlet…
six square blocks of the Zone where gangs fight like
dogs in the street for scraps of turf. At any
given time there are 6-10 gangs here, as one is wiped
out, another emerges from the ashes.
The area is mostly residential, which makes for a high
population, and most newcomers to the Zone,
particularly refugees and criminals on the run, end up
here. The Gauntlet is violent and unpredictable,
filled with heavily damaged buildings and burnt out
wrecks. The gangs and their territories are
nearly impossible to keep track of since they seem to
change almost every week. This is what people
picture whenever the Combat Zone is discussed, a wild
lawless ghetto filled with the destitute, desperate,
and deranged.
 The
most
dangerous area of the Gauntlet is known as the Devils
Spine, where Martin Luther King Boulevard takes on a
twisting serpentine pattern. Large  apartment
buildings line this area, and the gangs that dominate
it are murderously paranoid of strangers and each
other. Yhis section of the street is so chaotic;
Maelstrom uses it as an imitation. Prospects to
the gang must “Run the Gauntlet”, on foot, from the
edge of Maelstrom territory on 49th up MLK
to 46th at the edge of Bushido turf , one
block east, then Back down Cadigan to get home.
Stomp does something similar but with a twist… Stomp
will force outsiders who have offended them or
captured rivals to Run the Gauntlet.
There
have
been reports that criminal suspects have been left by
police from the city, handcuffed to a light pole in
the Gauntlet, with signs hung around their necks
detailing their crimes. This is a particularly
gruesome end, as the horrors inflicted on these
individuals are imaginative.
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