Four of a Kind

Rough Exposure II

“You really ought to be more consistent with what you plan to do. You know?” Ada told me at knifepoint. I looked around. Glasses was knocked out cold presumingly with the same thing that knocked the other two out earlier before.

“You were clunky and had no aim. What ARE you trying to accomplish? I mean without no aim there’s nothing that’s going to drive you to stop yourselves from getting killed. Why are these three knuckleheads even doing with a dumbass leader like you.”

I took burn after burn knowing she’s right. The real reason I’m doing this is to fuel my thrills, suspense, and frights. I wanted to see more there is to see. And I ended up dragging Andy into it.

“Hey!” Andy called from above. Are you guys gonna send the stuff or what?”

Ada wasn’t distracted. But I thought she was and tried to disarm her. But she wasted no breath in knocking me out flat and down I went. Around that time I felt a needle prick my neck. It was obviously the same vial that knocked the other three out. Great us four guys got knocked out with the same type of vial despite there being three big thugs who could’ve knocked us out but instead it was the sleeping vials that won us.

I didn’t know how long I fell asleep. But I do know a lot has transpired during the time I went lights out. First we all weren’t in the cave we got back to the surface and now were in a inn of the town Blasgoul, Ada was gone, obviously and she took our car, obviously, and Red had a scuffle with her after me and Glasses got knocked out but lost. No so obviously.

“How did we end up here?” I asked. “And why is it always me and Glasses here getting knocked out while you two be the big boys and deal with everything?” I pouted. i felt bad since it was the second time they had to bail us out.

We were in an inn. Glasses was looking out the window. Sipping tea and fiddling with his knives. The whole aura seemed spooky since there was no other sound than the rocking of the chair Red was sitting on, the squeaking me and Andy were making on the bed and the sound of wind chimes from the window Glasses opened. He was looking out as if there was something spying on us.

Andy caught us up.

“When you guys didn’t respond, me and Red knew something was wrong so we both went back down to find you two knocked out. I saw your girl tinkering around with your spear like she did with my gun and Red’s sword. And I knew something was up. So we-”

“Wait.” I said interrupting him. I just remembered about it. “Where’s your gun and your sword?”

“That’s just it! Look!” he said showing us their weapons. Andy’s gun was now a crossbow. And Red’s sword was a sledgehammer.

“The ammo is still the same. I still use the same bullets and cartridges but the fire mechanism and all the gunpowder and stuff were removed and replaced with gears and springs for this new crossbow. In the place of the thingy that kicks the bullets out the barrel we have the bow to kind of slingshot the bullets. She told me it’s an upgrade seeing that it won’t make noise as mush as the gun would. And also added the barrel of the gun below the bow. She also added a grenade launcher of her version it seems. It just uses the gun powder and some of the explosive bullets to match that of a grenade explosion.” Andy finished.

“And Red’s sword? Any upgrades?”

“No, it’s just more…cooler?”

I looked at it. It just looks like a sledgehammer built for combat. But it was all black and I liked it.

“Anyway back to the story. So we found her messing with your stuff and I thought she’d know what happened to you two so I called her out. She faced me and I knew something wasn’t right. I put two and two together and realized she knocked you two out. so Red-”

“I knocked her out myself.” Red said interrupting Andy.

“Wait…this doesn’t make sense. I thought she knocked you out and took the car. What happened to the car then?”

“We carried you three into the car- she was in the trunk!” Andy said looking at my expression knowing that I would get pissed if she was given equal treatment as me. “We drove to this town and found this saloon. I remembered that there were beds in saloons so I thought we could all rest here and carried you three got to this room.” Andy said gesturing where we were. “And she spilt the beans while she was tied up. At least we think she did. Looking back I think it could’ve been some c**k-and-bull story.”

“I’ll show you a real c**k-and-bull story when I kick your balls unless you tell me how she managed to get you two dumbfucks to let her go, give her the keys to the car and let her walk off unscathed.” I finished with anger clearly rising.   

“She’s Heylian’s little sister.” Red interrupted once more.

I was too stunned for words to come out. “So what?” I stammered. “That doesn’t mean she gets to leave us all stranded.”

“How long has Heylian worked at your household?” Andy asked skeptically.

I thought back. “Hmm I dunno. Nearly a decade. Why?”

Red and Andy looked at each other as if confirming their worse fears.

“Reeves,” Andy began. “There was a news of a m******e ten years ago. It was the Monroe family.”

“I know.” I replied immediately. “I just don’t know why they would kill such innocent people. Heylian was the sole survivor-”

That’s when it hit me. She wasn’t. If Ada really was her younger sister.

“So what? She just happens to be the sister of my housemaid and you let her go?” I asked sticking to my point.

“That’s just it. Reeves.” Andy replied darkly. “No one in normal society knows why they were all killed. When Heylian was questioned using a lie detector and stuff by the local police it seemed she checked out. Which meant that she had nothing to do with why her family was killed.”

“So what!?” I repeated. “Where are you going with this? I still don’t get why you would willingly let ourselves be stranded in this ghost town!”

“Let him finish.” Red grunted. He was another issue. I better ask Andy what’s been up with him lately since I woke up the first time. 

“You see,” Andy continued. “She’s the key to figuring out the reason behind the killings. Heylian seems innocent as we three know. But we all know her sister isn’t that much of an angel. She said that if we let her go then her sister’s life won’t be in danger anymore. She knows whose hunting down the family and why. She might’ve been trying to get to your home to warn her.”

“You dumb f***s…” I said with an exhausted sigh. “My parents are probably out looking for me by now. Working with the cops or something. And Heylian might’ve just spilled the beans on what she knows as well. If she goes to my house it won’t take them long to add two and two to find me.”

“We know. And here’s the thing. Heylian probably covered for us. She knows this world of Synedrate and she probably used it to get past that lie detector. I think she’s a contributing factor to why we don’t have any more to add to our already full plate.”

“So you think… that because assuming Heylian kept her mouth shut and covered for our disappearance WHICH you have no proof whether it’s true or not, you ought to thank her by giving a car to Ada so that she can warn Heylian that her life MIGHT be in danger?”

“That’s gonna sound about right.”

I gave him a look that said. “Fine, I’m not gonna argue.”

It’s better to deal with problems at hand rather than dwell on what had already transpired.

“Assuming it is even true. Who cares? Our aim is to take down this evil organization called Redhood. And find Red his past life.” I said looking at Red.

“How are we gonna do that?” Red asked. Feeling dejected.

“We got Glasses to tell us everything we need to know about his employer, his past, how he ended up being a mercenary and how he plans to take down Redhood.” I said.

“I’m gonna infiltrate Redhood to steal crucial data, and that’s it. Nothing else.” He said from the window with his head out. Not even bothering to look.

“We’ll piggyback on you.” I said without a hint of shame. Once it settled in on how Ada managed to get our car and get off scot-free it didn’t help matters at all.

I can’t believe how dumb those two were. Even Glasses told them off at one point. Part of me knew that they could’ve possibly became smitten with her and her sadness was too much to bear for those two buttfucks and they let her go. Along with our car.

“Don’t be sad. She gave us some candy.” Andy said seriously.

“Anyway,” Glasses said after coming back from the window. “Did you at least ask her what’s wrong with this town? For starters, it’s deserted.” He said looking out the window once more.

“She said that it’s been taken over by bandits.” Andy answered.

I closed my eyes in frustration wondering if my life could get anymore crazier.

We all went down the stairs of the pub. The first floor looked like a genuine 1800 saloon. A place where cowboys would come by and bar fights would occur and the room we were in could’ve been where they hired s*x workers to get it on in the bed.

Which I slept in…

I tried not to think about and focused on breathing in my surroundings. I looked around. My four companions were having a sip of whiskey Andy found behind the counter. Red drank it like as if it was water. Maybe Russians had strong resistance to strong liquor or something. It didn’t make sense that whoever would abandon their bar would just leave all the contents behind. I looked behind the counter. There were food and drinks enough to feed and water the whole town for all I know.

It didn’t add up. I took a deep breath and a sip of whiskey before taking in a recap for what happened to me since Friday.

I woke up on Saturday like a regular day. Till at night when I heard that my barista was doing something fishy. That night I made Andy tag along to find out that my barista Marcus, was doing something illegal with people presumed to be dead. Red was one of them. I unintentionally rescued Red to find out that they were making him a Gladiator. Someone who could intake injections of vials filled with Synedrate. A rare substance that could cure most of the tragedies today. Powered with Synedrate technology could advance and anyone could take over the world if they were smart enough to initiate it. Once I found out the motive behind the experiments for Red I realized that this was my big break to starting a crazy life and breaking out of the daily cycle which I’ve been trapped into. I raided the bar where I found out the stuff about Red to grab stuff we might need and dragged a merc with us. He was called Maqius and he said he was on a mission to infiltrate Redhood and steal data. After adding two and two together I realized that Redhood was behind the experiments on Red and we teamed up to take down a common enemy.

So why aren’t we on a car to wherever Redhood’s headquarters is and stacked with guns to go kill them?

Maybe cause I didn’t know whether I had the balls to kill actually someone. But earlier today I found out I did. And I had no remorse. I liked it.

I looked at my watch. 4 Pm. Monday. We were stranded in a strange town called Blasgoul which seems to be missing its inhabitants only. Everything seemed to be accounted for except the residents. Ada told them that Bandits took over but I don’t see why the bandits didn’t loot this place if what she said was true.

Red stood up from his seat and pointed towards his direction. “Look! People! They’re marching this way.”

“The rest of us looked out the window. He was right. There were people, dirty, tired, sweaty sticky people who looked like they were just finished working on tunneling a mine. A few people came towards us. Into the bar. It was lucky we were back in the bedroom before they saw us.

A family entered the saloon. A mother, a father, and a girl.

We were peeking out of the bedroom trying to listen closely in case they came up and we needed to hide in the closet.

I made the other three stay in the room while I came out and stayed prone on the floor and try to see what was going on. My worst fear was that there was more than the three that I saw and someone might march up the steps. If that happened, I didn’t know what I would do. I would be caught without a good explanation and I wasn’t damn comfortable explaining to a family what I was doing in her home.

“Arrgh!” I can’t sit. Your daddy can’t sit!” A man in his fifties said loudly.

“Sorry, I thought it would’ve healed by now.” A familiar girl’s voice said.

It was Ada. She was back. I put two and two together, it turns out Andy picked this spot to crash since he thought we could rest here, and it just coincidentally happens to be Ada’s home.

“Pretty coincidental I might say so myself.” Maqius said from beside me.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Those two weren’t as curious as we are, they are both still in the room. That’s Ada right? It’s pretty much a coincidence that Andy picked this spot huh?”

“I don’t care, just go back I got this.”

“You got what? There’s nothing to do except spy on them.” He countered.

I guess he was right.

“Whatever, just stay quiet.” I ordered him.

I peaked over looking at the situation. There were three people only like I assumed. The father was sitting down slowly on a recliner that immediately seemed out of plane with 1800s decoration the saloon was set up with. But looking at that modern recliner made me feel relaxed.

For a second there I thought we time traveled.

Ada was giving his dad massages at the shoulder. I didn’t know what was going on but her dad looked like he really needed them.

“How are we gonna get out of this Dad?” Ada asked. Giving his dad a massage.

“Don’t know, do care.” He answered. “I just hope they let us go once they make us finish digging that place. Whoever told them that there was gold buried in the south beaches.”

“Do you think help will arrive?”

“Help?” He snorted. “The whole communities’ isolated from the outside world. Even the handful who do contact people from the outside are in the same boat as us.”

“Then won’t those people get suspicious that they haven’t had touch with us yet?”

“Those people have their own lives. The only ones we communicate with are for business deals. If we don’t call them for business they got plenty of other people to make money with. It’s not a big deal for them.”

“I’m just so-”

“Calm down Ada,” The mother finally spoke. She was mixing something in a huge bowl and soaking its contents with a towel to drape it on her spouse’s face.

“Those men told us not to raise our voice or do anything that might be…stimulating whatever that means. So that their detectors won’t sound off as often.”

I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. And I was staring unfocused at Ada trying to add two and two together and she saw us.

Ada silently abandoned her massages and walked up the stairs.

Me and Glasses crawled as fast as we could back into the bedroom. I guess Andy or Red was still alert. Cause they were already in the closet hiding since they thought we were someone else.

Me and Glasses scrambled to fit in the closet along with the other two.