Four of a Kind

New Twist

I didn’t know how to react to it. I’ve seen countless game-changing technological advances that would’ve shook the world. It made me flinch. But to see it wasted was… making me angry. We risked our lives getting that gun and sword. Why would that girl go and ruin it?

“Why isn’t Bob back?” One of the two said. He came near the entrance. I quickly got back and took cover. I looked at Glasses who found a small higher ground and was watching me. He showed me his knife and I got the message. I quickly got back and back and right after he came out the entrance, he missed Glasses and saw my silhouette. He got suspicious and came after me. I waited round the corner ready to commit another kill…kill didn’t I just commit murder? I killed his brother just a few minutes ago… why am I not feeling any remorse or-

I saw his ugly face and if looks could kill his mom would be dead once he hit puberty. But before he could make a sound Glasses stabbed his neck from behind. Thank god he didn’t decapitate this one as well. I don’t think the last brother could handle seeing two decapitated bodies. But one is hardly better than two.

“Joe!? What was that?” The final brother roared out. I guess he still was oblivious to the fact that his brothers were no longer with us. I looked at Glasses and knew we were gonna do the same thing a third time.

The final brother stepped out the cave and headed down the tunnel nearing the corner. If he moved faster and made the turn he’d see the corpse of one brother and the decapitated head of another. That would certainly make cry in sorrow. With each louder footstep was a raising surge of adrenaline to drag his corpse further and further. We were very deep into the tunnel by the time the third brother was directly across us but in the midst of the dark, he wasn’t able to see us. But if I can see him to some extent then he can as well. sure enough my logic was confirmed when he began to move faster towards us. I gripped my spear ready to enlarge it the moment he got near us. Glasses had his knives held like they were claws ready to throw it at it. And he did.

All the blades reached it’s target, but it wasn’t fatal. They only hit his legs and forearms and they barely made a dent into his flesh. I guess his buff made his skin thick or something.

“Use your spear, make sure you penetrate his thick defense.” Glasses told me quickly.

He got closer and closer. I braced for the hard impact I knew his skin might. As he got closer he got faster. I guess he realized his brother’s dead finally.

“WHAT. DID. YOU. DO. TO. MY. BROTHER!!!????” He yelled like a maniac.

I thrust the spear with all my might to his neck but he caught the blade in a nick of time. His hands must’ve been really thick to not have bled when the blade touched his hands. But I could see he didn’t have a good grip on the spear and was trying to push the blade to the side instead of trying to push it back, which might’ve bled his hands.

That meant I got a fighting chance. I had to just push and push and push. And with the help of Glasses the tip got closer to his neck and I could see the sweat was making him lose his grip. And with a quick slip he lost his grip and the tip met the flesh of the neck. But we were stupid for thinking that his neck might’ve been the soft spot. Neither one of us actually knew his neck was a weak point. Maybe it was wishful thinking when we panicked seeing how thick his skin was that made us panic.

After losing his grip he quickly retained it and was pushing us back holding the spear from below the sharp section. His strength was unbelievable. He was pushing the both of us back like in the school yard where the big tall bully would push down on the heads of kids shorter than them and pushing them pack just like that.

“YOU. WILL. PAY. FOR WHAT. YOU’VE. DONE!” He said with eyes of a crazed maniac. Frustrated I twisted my right hand on the grip clockwise and my right hand clockwise.

A blue blast shot out from the spear and obliterated the final brother’s head to oblivion.

I turned to look at Glasses and like looking at my reflection except with glasses he was in shock as well. But also seemed to be relieved.

“Nice choice of weapon.” He told me sinking down the floor the same time the corpse of the third brother did. I jumped thinking he was still alive but sat down finally in relief.

“Was that accidental? Or intentional?” he asked taking a grateful swig of water of from hip flask.

“It was coincidental.” I told him. “I wanted him to die and it just happens my spear can shoot bolts of…Synedrate?”

Glasses laughed and got up. He offered a hand to help me and I took it. We killed all three brothers…. We killed them.

“Maqius…” I asked hoarsely.

“What is it Reeves?”

“We just took the lives of three men right?”

“If we didn’t then we would’ve been the dead ones.”

“But they didn’t kill Andy and Red. So why did we go for the kill based on the assumption they’ve killed people be-” I stopped in my tracks and look at him.

“We have to go to that cave. Now!” I told him grabbing my spear and turning it back to portable form.

We got in the cave as quietly as possible. The girl wasn’t there no more but Andy and Red was. But they seemed to be asleep. Fast asleep.

We got up. Sneaking and crouching were never my thing. I tend to face things head on. Seeing that chick wasn’t here we might as well try to wake them up and ask them if it was safe to look around.

“They won’t wake from water or any of that sort.” A voice came from a closet in the end of a cave. “They’ve been given a sleeping vial with Synedrate. It’ll take some time for them to wake.”

“Are you that girl? The boss who ordered those macho men around?” I asked rather loudly towards the direction of the closet..

“Well I guess you can say that. But it’s not what you think to be completely honest.” She said coming out the closet.

I smirked at the statement she made while actually coming out the closet. I held my spear tight. But I wasn’t ready to kill her yet. She was too cute. She had a bob-cut. She looked Chinese -Japanese. And thankfully she really was our age.  Couldn’t have been more than 20.

She looked around. “Where’s Bob, Joe and Gabe?” she asked innocently.

I opened my mouth. But Glasses stopped me.

“Stand down Reeves, I’ll handle this.” He said straightening his jacket. He was smitten from the looks of it.

“You don’t have to worry about those thugs any more miss, I have already dealt with all of them. With these blades,” he said bringing out his knives. “I took their souls tainted with sins and sent them to meet our maker.”

I guess the idea was to get her attracted to his poetic words. But whatever he said had the opposite affect.

She was stunned. “What do you mean they met our maker?” she asked pronouncing each word frailly with quiver. She had her hands around her arms. I guess she was cold.

I sighed and gave Glasses a look the said “You don’t know the first thing about women.” And walked over to her. I was wearing the old flannel I wore to bed. It wasn’t much but it was warm enough to warm to sleeveless arms. I took it off and put it on her.

“What’s your name? I asked politely.

“Ada, Ada Chen. Now tell me where those knuckleheads are!” she demanded with a cracking voice.

I looked at her she didn’t seem to show any sadness or grief. She just seems really worried and pissed off.

“Their dead, he killed them.” I said bluntly pointing at Glasses.

Ada and Glasses both showed me a very surprised reaction, which was obvious. 7

“What do you mean, “he” killed them?” Ada said looking at Glasses in disbelief.

“Yeah, Reeves what do you mean by that?” Glasses added.

I looked at both of them, took a deep breath and said “ Well like you said Glasses, you’ve dealt with them. They’ve died due to that and went up to heaven to meet their maker that is, God himself, am I right? Now can we move this along? How can we wake our friends?” I asked Ada pointing my spear which I enlarged at the same time I asked her to give her that intimidation effect.

Ada gulped. She pointed to her worktable. “That pink vial ought to wake them but please don’t hurt me.”

I took a step back. Were we really that “bad guy” looking? I didn’t think so. I walked over to her while signaling Glasses to go wake them and patted her on the shoulder.

“We didn’t want to kill them. They went for the kill. We have to kill or be killed. That’s what I know for sure. Ada nodded with a sniffle. She was crying for them. “Were they your friends?” I asked her.

“No, they hooked me down here from above from the beach and I was hanging upside down. and hour later they came by and started accommodating me by giving me a place to sleep and food and water. I told them I wanted out but they seemed like they were holding me captive against their will the way they reacted whenever I brought up the topic. But they were really sweet. They brought me food, a TV and other stuff to keep me entertained.”

I listened to her story about how “sweet” those three goons were. Whatever she told me didn’t feel like the truth to me. Maybe it was due to how much I overthink that made me feel paranoid to the point I couldn’t accept a genuine sob story… wait.

“Ada,” I started realizing I didn’t ask her vital questions. I really needed to set my priorities straight and know what I need to ask people that may be essential to my survival.

“How long has it been since you’ve been here?”

“Three days”

“How did they bring you food and stuff?”

“From that trapdoor.” she said pointing to one that was way up the ceiling. Thankfully there were ledges to climb up to from down below.

“Toilet?”

“There’s one, but no shower.” She replied.

I took a step back and was about to take another before I hesitated. If I was to go on a crazy adventure, which I already am on, I need to dismiss some basic hygiene issues. I took a step forward trying to hide the fact I felt disgusted. But I somehow feel more attracted to her strong scent. It was neither smelly or fragrant. But I did give off a “eventually will be bad smell” which o feel attracted to… this made me feel like a pervert.

Just then Red and Andy who already woke up and has caught up to speed with everything started walking around. Andy looked at me and Ada and smirked. Gave me a wink and went off to help Glasses inspect the place and loot whatever we might potentially need. Red went out the cave to go see the corpses of the thugs. Ada seemed like she was going to follow him so I kept her talking with me.

“So uh, you haven’t showered in…”

“Yeah.” She said holding her arms and putting her right foot on it’s tip. She didn’t seem that embarrassed. I guess if I don’t think it’s embarrassing she won’t feel embarrassed either.

“Reeves, I have a plan to get out.” Glasses said. Holding a bag and throwing me one. But we better act fast. If she wasn’t the person behind those three then the real boss will certainly come after us. And you.” He said looking at Ada more carefully and seriously now that he knew her background. “Why does the guy behind this think you’re valuable. What do you know? Tell me now!”

Ada looked frightened. What appeared to be a charming prince revealed to be a bad boy in disguise. “I-I-d-don’t k-know why they want me!” she answered meekly. Maybe she mistook me for some other person. Those three weren’t the brightest to begin with.”

“That’s actually a valid response don’t you think? Glasses?” I asked him. “Ada do you live here? I mean in Blasgoul or something.”

“I do, I just came here like I usually do during my walks three days ago. Who would’ve known this happened.”

“Enough! Let’s just go shall we lads?” Glasses said exasperated.

“Yes let’s!” Andy said dragging Red from the tunnel.

“Wait, there is some useful stuff here we can make a lever and carry some of this stuff up to the surface.” Glasses said. “Hey uh big guy… Red right can you help me?”

“I don’t know, can I?” Red shot back.

That was uncalled for. Why was Red being so mean to us? I mean we all sacrificed a lot for helping him. In fact he should be down on his knees thanking us. At least me and Andy. I didn’t know what Glasses did before we met him.

“Red…” I started, I guess we didn’t bond all that well throughout the robbery thing. But we had to patch things up. But before I could say anymore he and Andy went up the lever and up to the surface.

I grabbed the stuff they packed which Glasses deemed useful to load it on after those two got off.

“Glasses what else are we bringing? I doubt we’d have enough cargo space for all this.”

I heard nothing in reply and in the next second I felt a blade touch my back.