Four of a Kind

Unexpected Relocation

“Drop the bag.” Maqius requested swiftly digging deeper by one millimetre for each second that went by without me complying to him. I looked at Red and he showed me a smirk. I assume that meant that he was still feeling the effects of the vial and could easily turn the tides.

“What do you want?” I asked him gently shaking my bag.

“The cyan-colored Biotic/Psychic vials. That mix is incredibly hard to find or make and this is the last place that had them fully in stock.” He told me.

From that I assumed that he wasn’t as smart as he looked otherwise something this confidential wouldn’t be disclosed to us for no reason. It was all loss and no gain from him. Or maybe this was a bluff to try to get me discard the vials that he hoped I deemed unnecessary. Or maybe-

Too late. With my overthinking prolonging further than I expected. Maqius must have slit Red’s throat and made a dash towards me. But Red had his buff and it helped him disregard the pain and grab Maqius from behind. He reached for his leg and pulled.

Poor Maqius lost his balance and took a big blow. I told Red that this was it and we were making a break for it but he told me to wait and ran back to the far end of the tools shelf and came back with a crate. I didn’t know what was in there but it must have been important. Cause during that time Maqius regained his balance and got back up and unsheathed some daggers to throw at Red. I thought quick and brought out my spear in handle form and pointed it’s butt at Maqius. Then pressed the transforming button just when I threw it at his head. The handle transformed mid-air and the butt of the spear kicked out and met it’s target with a satisfying “thud” sound from Maqius skull.

“You owe me big.” I told Red looking at Glasses on the floor unconscious.

“I think you just broke it even.” He told me with the crate under his arm.” What are we gonna do with him?”

“Bring him along. There’s no time to waste. He can rat us out.”

And with that Red had both his arms full. We went back to the shelf, where a fireplace was in it’s place. We found the switch just nearby. I set it to rotate and told Red to throw the crate and Maq when he saw the opening.

Red raised eyebrows at me. “Reeves, you got issue man, if he-” he said shaking his left arm to indicate Glasses. “Get’s crushed, then we’ll be guilty of more than robbery and break-in.”

“If that does that happen, then at least he have something to jam the shelf s***h fireplace to keep it open for us to get through. Well maybe only me, since there’s no way you’ll fit and that crate is too wide as well.” I replied maybe not too sarcastically.

Red shook his head in pity and freed his hands dropping Glasses and the crate on the floor. He told me to step out of the way and stopped the spinning.

Then he rammed the secret doorway with his body and broke it open.

I was shocked for a few moments before regaining my cool and followed him suite right after he went out the bar with Glasses and the crate. He pushed through everyone like a bulldozer and that caused an uproar among those customers inside the bar and presumingly below it judging by the number of people that came barging out the trapdoor that led underground. Most of them went after Red. Which made sense seeing he mess he made.

I went the alternate route out from the front entrance. Pushing and shoving through all the fuss like pressured air particles. I got out.

I looked around for the car or Andrew.  Neither were in sight. I started panicking and regretting not planning this through. It made things really difficult but in the heat of the moment I thought what I did was at least productive.

BEEP BEEP!!

I looked towards the direction of the source of the honking. By now I was used to taking my time to let my brain interpret what I was seeing. It was a black cadilac but with really shiny chrome bumpers that stood out.

And out came Andrew.

 I was once again speechless. This wasn’t his car. I didn’t even bother asking him how he obtained it.

“Get in!” he shouted at me but right after that his eyes immediately looked over my back. It was Red. And behind him was a mob. I didn’t want to waste anymore time interpreting stuff I hopped in with my white pillow case and let Red put Glasses in the trunk and sit up front in shotgun.

I laid down in the back with my eyes closed and hoping the revving of the engine would drown out the noise of the mob.

“Where to boss?” Andy mocked.

“Away from here.” I croaked. “Just away from all this. Get outta town.”

“On it.” He said and slammed the pedal.

And I fell asleep. Hours later I woke up to the sound of the sea crashing against giant sharp rocks. I got out the car and behind it was Red and Andy examining the loot we stole from the Akai.

That lit a bulb inside of me. I ran towards them and demanded a water bottle for Glasses. Sure I may not be a likable guy but my ethics aren’t that f****d. I opened the trunk expecting to find a dehydrated Maqius but he wasn’t there. I turned back and looked at the two who was looking at me with poker eyes.

“Well?” where is he?” I asked. Eyebrows arched.

“He went for a walk.” Red told me nonchalantly. He was flicking his big sword to turn small and big again and again. Andy was beside him testing out his new guns and reading the instruction booklet and all. Checking the incendiary, explosive and regular bullets. I can already tell he had a few goes shooting it. Looking at the damage he did to the beach around us.

“When did he take off?” I asked.

“Just a few minutes ago. Oh look! He’s there.” Andy said pointing behind me.

I turned round and saw Maqius. He seemed occupied and didn’t feel at all like a hostage. I stormed towards him and before he reacted I pushed him to the sand. I left my pillowcase full of loot in the car but the spear was in my pocket. I took it out and pointed it at him. Took a few steps back for safety precaution and flicked it. It grew into a spear.

“You’re gonna tell me everything you know.” I told him firmly.

“Okay… but let’s not waste time. Why don’t you tell me what you know first.”

“Not happening. You go first.” I told him firmly and stubbornly.

“Okay, this relationship is not going to work.” He replied.

And within a second he raised his leg and kicked it sideways and before I could react he used his other leg to kick me in the balls and once I reacted he took advantage of my reaction as a distraction to trip me all the while regaining his balance. As soon as I fell and he got the higher ground he clawed his hand and slashed at me without even touching me. It was only when I heard the sound of three very sharp knives sink satisfyingly into the sand that I knew he meant business.

“I’ve had a rough day. I don’t really have time for your bullshit or sarcasm so just tell me what you know and I can offer what little I know.” He said and retreated back once the other two advanced on him.

I got up filled with anger for him disarming me but contained it. I needed to know more.

I told him what we know. About how Andy and I rescued Red from our bartender Marcus from a abandoned warehouse where they were doing some illegal human experimentation stuff and how I stumbled into this world when I found out they making Red into a Gladiator by the company Red Hood. We were scouted by some guy named Paul who helped us meet this old lady in the Akai. From whom we just robbed. I told him it was his turn.

Glasses just smiled. “That’s all?”

“Yes.” Red answered. He seemed happy that I was consistent with the timeline.

Glasses opened the car door and sat down. He pushed back the chair to lie down and smiled. I was so close to stabbing him.

“You guys are…..Hahaha” he laughed abruptly. “So lost. There’s so much you don’t know yet. Okay fine, listen I’m only gonna say this once. Don’t act all surprised.”

“Try us.”

“A quarter of a century ago there was a new discovery of a alien element. It came from the sky and it can be duplicated. The US government discovered it and made it a secret. There was no physical evidence to prove this up till now so it wasn’t that big of a deal. They called this element Synedrate it had remarkable properties and they weaponized it. Typical cliché stuff and now they got more modern with it. Making nano-tech with it. Like the weapons we have now. They even categorized it into three different ways they can make it. Mechanical, which is how it’s mainly used like the spear or sword or gun you guys have. Or Biotic which is a bit circumstantial. Only that big guy can take those injections or finally spiritual, it’s where they surgically enhance you.”

We all asked our questions to understand more. it turns our Glasses here was spiritually enhanced to read emotions and control the knives he used. Which seemed to be made out of the same material Synedrate thingy that the rest of us had. I could tell since all of our weapons glowed cyan blue in certain parts.

“Now tell me who you are and what were you doing down there.” I said. I knew that I alone was in no position to bargain but we had the advantage in numbers.

Maqius looked really calm. He raised his hands and told me. “In all complete honesty I’m a spy whose undercover that’s going to take down this crooked organization called Red Hood.”

At this point, I didn’t bother trying to swallow it all in. I knew that trying to understand the way the gears shifted behind every breathtaking statement about “them” would just make me look like an amateur. I looked at Glasses deciding what to do with him. I took one look at his expression and realized he was not fully honest. But this was to be expected.

“So, if you don’t have anymore questions can I go now?” He asked while looking at that jagged edge pointed at his eyes. I didn’t have anymore to say. But I knew I couldn’t let him go. He was vital to helping us three survive out in this world.

“No.” I replied firmly.  “You’re gonna stick with us till we figure out what to do with you.”

“What ARE we gonna do with him?” Red asked frustrated.

I had no idea what we were gonna do with him. In fact I had no idea what WE were gonna do now that we stole a ton of weapons that I doubt even the military has knowledge of. Maybe they do I don’t know. Just then a notification sounded off in Glasses pocket and reacting quickly I jabbed the spear at him to not take his phone. I signaled Andy to go take it.

“That’ll be stealing wouldn’t it? I don’t do that no more.” Andy replied innocently.

“Andrew I saw you pick that lady’s wallet while we were getting out the parking lot of the Akai’s, and the fact that you have a pink purse shoved up your ass isn’t helping your case. So just shut the f**k up and grab his phone!” I yelled.

Andrew, realizing there wasn’t any rebuttal decided to give in. he reached for the wallet when Glasses reacted. He kicked my balls, grabbed my spear twisted it sideways so that it’d hit Andrew and shifted the pointy end of the spear at me after I was done agonizing over my balls.

“Not bad huh?” he said. Clearly impressed that he took down two of us  in a few moves.

But what he didn’t know was that I planted a electrical zap near the collar of his shirt. It activated with my smartwatch. I pretended to put my hands behind my head and clicked it. It worked like a charm. Glasses was shocked pretty bad that he dropped the spear…into Andy’s hands. Now it was my turn to kick his balls. I kicked his so hard that he lost his balance and dragged him by the collar to his feet.

“Not bad huh?” I asked. He was still clearly fazed by the kick. I took off the zap and placed it in a another place so he wouldn’t know. Now what do we do with him.

“Reevy…. Where’s Red?” Andy asked looking around.

I looked around. Red was no where to be seen. I took a wide look around. We were on the beach, filled with white sand so pure with clear blue water so bright I wonder why no one was bothering to come and sunbath. That’s when I also noticed that we were alone.

I tuned to Andrew. “Where is everyone?”

“Everyone here is accounted for except for Red. That’s what I meant.”

“No, I mean why are we alone? Why is this place deserted. I thought I told you to go to the nearest town but not a ghost one.” I said.

“That’s the thing you see, when I got to the town-”

“What town? What’s it called?” Glasses interrupted.

Andrew thought for a moment with a quizzical expression on his face until he told us “Blasgoul”.

Glasses responded with a facial expression that said: “Ahh, that explains it all.”

“So we past that town and it was kind of a ghost town… let’s say half a ghost town to be safe.”

“You better tell me what you meant by half a ghost town if YOU want to be safe from this tip.” I said pointing the spear at him. “ Half a ghost town means half of the people were only present in the town. But that still doesn’t make it a ghost town. You’re contradicting yourself! Speak properly you dumb f**k!” I bombed him.

“He meant everyone one on the streets were timid and hurried back into their homes or what buildings they could find to take shelter in right!?” Glasses said butting in again but shoving me away from Andrew this time.

“That’s right!” Andy exclaimed. “It was like they were scared that I might run over them or something… wait how do you know? You were in the trunk!”

Glasses seemed to be in deep thought. When he was asked how he explained what Andrew failed to do so he snapped out of it and looked at me.

“We all should get in the car and drive out now.” He told me in a grave and serious tone. There are people with grappling hooks ready to hook us inside the sand faster than quicksand.”

I was about to snort when I saw his facial expression. I didn’t know the guy. But he was anything other than expressive so I knew that if both Andy and Glasses were intimidated by what was around us, I should start getting more serious too.

That’s when they hooked me and I sunk into the sand.