Arc 2 - Chapter 3: Paradise; Far From The Oasis

(Quintiles 29, 59 / 5:21PM)

A brown van parked in front of a rundown bar. Constructed with bricks and wood, most of the windows had a ugly yellow tint,

Jack, Benn, and Gwen got out from the driver, center, and passenger seats. Their eyes peeling the old building top to bottom, Benn pinched his nose with his right hand, since he inhaled the contents from within.

Which led Jack to sharpen his eyes at him.

“Dude, it’s just alcohol.”

“I hate it.”

“Then why did you come here in the first place?”

“You guys forced me.”

“Haha … nobody didn’t force you, Benn.”

Gwen walked toward the back of the van, as she had a little hop with her step. Punching the numbers on the lock, a little click reverberated the metallic walls, leaving her to turn her head toward Benn. All the while she opened the doors with a straightened back, and used the strength of her biceps to pull them to her.

“You just went with us because you didn’t want to be alone.”

The rest of everyone piled out from the opened doors. Coming down from the left were Miles, Hope, Luke and Luna, while the right plopped off Stan, Gary, Fred, and Diego.

“Alright little maggots, time to party.”

Having everyone in back of her, Gwen led the mob toward the building. Looking straight at the geriatric bar, they all took note of the paint dissolving from the brick and wood. As if it was crumbling, Gary led out a sigh, while putting his right hand onto the back of his head.

“This is the place? It looks old and rundown.”

“Hey, don’t judge a book by its cover. Maybe the inside isn’t that bad…” Said Diego.

Standing in front of a western looking door, Gwen gently pushed it open, and had her palms gripping the wood softly. All of them noticed the nails, which held its hinges, were on the border of seething off.

“Quickly now. I don’t want to accidentally break the door.” Warned Gwen.

As soon as they entered the bar, the smell of beer and whiskey barraged the insides of their nostrils.

“‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ my ass.” Said Gary, muttering his words.

Beer bottles riddled the floor, as the foul liquid damaged the wooden texture. The tables littered with crumbs and dirt ridden plates, it looked like the garbage hadn't been picked up. Chairs turned upside down, even the weight of a feather would crumble most of their wooden legs.

Everyone, besides Gwen, wrinkled their faces the more they took in the ugly sight in front of them.

“Isn’t there another bar we could go to?” Questioned Miles.

“Most bars in the city are jam-packed at this hour. Finding a table would be impossible, and businessmen aren’t happy drunks.” Said Gwen.

“At this rate, I’ll take the angry businessman. Most of them can’t fight to save their lives.” Said Stan.

Finding 11 barstools, The Dark Angels along with Stan’s group settled themselves onto them. With the metallic seats behind the cocktail table, they realized that the bar owner never came out to greet them, which left most of them to think silently.

Meanwhile, Benn looked at Gwen with a face more bluer than usual.

“What’s wrong Benn? Feeling blue? I mean, you are kind of blue.”

“I feel nauseous.”

“Please suck it up for just this once. Please?”

“sighs … I’ll try.”

The order of which they sat was Diego, Gary, Fred, Stan, Miles, Jack, Luna, Luke, Hope, Benn, and Gwen, with Diego being the nearest to the door.

As he sat in between Hope and Luna, Luke heard little crawls and meeps from beside his right foot. Looking down, he searched for those little light taps, until he noticed a small insect laying on his boot.

“Huh?”

His face began to coat with sweat.

“Ha!”

Letting out a yelp, Luke jumped out from his barstool and landed on the old wooden floor. Crawling backwardly rapidly, his tailbone bruised and soared from the impact, but he ignored it, as he laid his eyes on the abhorrent creature.

Everyone noticed Luke’s ghostly pale face, as many of them started to laugh out loud.

“Haha… I guess cockroaches beat you 14 to 0.” Said Jack.

“Don’t worry, cockroaches are more afraid of you than you are afraid of them.” Said Miles.

‘I guess being a soldier doesn’t make you immune to past phobias…’ thought Fred.

Hope stood up from her seat, and walked toward him with a warm face. Reaching his lower back, she crouched down, and placed her hands right above his tailbone, while letting a yellowish light glow from her palms.

A sense of relief and contentment made Luke loosen his body. His quivering legs laying motionless, his heavy breathing returned to normal, his heart softened the beat upon his chest. Turning his head toward Hope, he gave her a shy nod, as he kept his eyes away from making eye contact.

“T-Thanks…”

Pulling back her hands, she stood up while gently looking at him. Extending her right hand, she had a warm smile, with her blue eyes mingling with his red eyes.

Taking her hand softly, he stood up as dirt and groin littered his pants, his body calm yet radiating a hint of nervousness. Seeing him in this state, she averted her eyes away, her cheeks flustering a pinkish red.

“N-No problem…”

Meanwhile, Luna eyed the cockroach with malicious intent. Using her left leg to stabilize her body, she raised her right like a raising guillotine.

“Eat boot!”

Performing a curbstomp, all of her strength soared down to her heel, creating a shockwave to ripple through the wooden floorboards. Beer bottles, whether on the floor or tables, gently shook as if she created an earthquake. Pulling her right foot away, a hole was formed, which led to a patch of infertile dirt.

“Aww Luna. You know you’re going to have to pay for that hole right?” Said Gwen.

“Don’t care. Stupid bartender should’ve taken better pest control.”

Luke and Hope walked back toward their barstools, with Luke sitting himself in between the two girls again.

Despite the large commotion from earlier, the bar owner still didn’t come out. Standing up from her barstool, she waved her hands in the air, leaving everyone’s eyes to peer at her.

“Hello! Can I make an announcement?!”

They all stared at her, with their bodies leaned against the cocktail table. Awaiting her announcement, Gwen cleared her throat and lowered her hands down to her lower back.

“I don’t think the bar owner’s here. And since I don’t give up that easily, how about I make drinks for once?”

They remembered the last time she made drinks…

““““““““““Oh no…””””””””””

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(Quintiles 29, 59 / 5:54PM)

“Hiccup … So how’s the alcohol?”, “Oh man, I feel heavy…”, “What … Did Gwen put in this stuff?”, “I’m going to take a break…”, “… oh my head …”, “hiccup … I’m a pony!”, “Ahahaha … Gemma? Gemma I’m sorry … I’m sorry…”, “Can you all … hiccup … shut up! I’m going to sleep…”, “snores…”

It was safe to say everyone was drunk.

Benn and Luke looked at one another, as Benn had his nose pinched shut. Meanwhile, Luke had a beer bottle in his right hand, a beer Gwen brewed. Droplets of sweat rolled down from his temples, as he cupped the bottle tightly. Smacking his lips, the bottle gently shook as he focused on the dark glass.

—I know it’s been a year ago, but I think I could take a shot … nah …

Settling the beer bottle on the table, he folded his arms and laid his forearms on the wood. Watching Luke try and fail, Benn kept his eyes at the bottles of beer on the back wall.

“Nothing wrong with being sober, Fenix.”

“You could call me Luke you know…”

“I call kids by their last name, and my superiors by their first.”

“Oh… w-why?”

“Kids can be level-headed. Adults can be childish.”

Gwen clutched her stomach with her left hand, her lungs coughing out a barrage of air sunken with laughter. Standing up from his barstool, Luke made his way toward the drunk Gwen, as a couple of tears ran down her cheeks.

“Uh… Gwen?”

Tugging her shoulder, Gwen looked up at him with a reddened face, as her laughing continued to assault her throat. Letting go of her stomach, she lowered her hand down to her knee, her eyes closed shut.

“What is it soldier? Pfft … soldier … hahahaha … oh man … hiccup … you know, if you weren’t as young as my brother, I would’ve been all over you … hiccup … but I ain’t no cougar, nope, unlike a certain someone.”

“Shut up! Burp … I ain’t a cougar … it’s just-just a preference…”

Luke placed his hands onto Gwen’s elbows, trying to hold her body up. With her knees buckled, she took a couple of steps back, her face still smudged with drunkenness. All the while Luna dumped her head back into the cocktail table.

“At ease, soldier! Say … L-Luke! What’s your dream?”

“D-Dream?”

“Y-Your goal?”

Continuing to use his arms to hold herself up, she had a sultry smug grin. Having his palms be stabbed by her sharp elbows, he looked over at the abundance of alcohol and beer at the back counter. Pushing down his face, he looked down, as a small frown darkened his lips.

—Come to think of it … what have I been doing this entire time? I became an elite soldier, got a blessing, and I’m a lot tougher than before. So what other purpose can I follow…?

Lifting his head up, he pushed up his lips to flatline with his mouth. His eyes sharpened, his grip was firm on her forearms, leaving his fingertips to dig into her skin.

—“I don’t really know, but I guess … I could be the best soldier you could have.”—

As if Gwen had awoken from her drunken state, her knees unbuckled. Pulling back her arms, she had her hands motionless to her waist, as she looked down with shadowed eyes.

“But why that goal?”

“I know I’m not strong, nor do I have the best blessing for attacks. I may be the weakest male soldier in our group, but being your best soldier is my only purpose.”

Overhearing their conversation, Jack perked his ears up and narrowed his gaze at the two of them. Letting go of the black beer bottle in his hand, he moved his hand onto his stomach.

“But why continue to be a soldier? Lazing around and waiting for another raid to drop by? Why can’t you—”

“Actually, Luke’s goal isn’t stupid.”

Jack stood up, as he barely kept his legs stable. Seeing that everyone groggily looked at him, except for Benn and Luke, he patted his chest twice, and cleared his parched throat.

“I have the same purpose, but in the sense that I just don’t want to work or get a job, so being a soldier is peaceful, somehow.”

Everyone softly giggled at his lazy goal. Both Luke and Gwen being inside the bar area, Gwen wrapped her right arm over Luke’s neck as she giggled loudly. Overall, Jack wasn’t too pleased, once he clenched his fists and flustered his cheeks like a cherry tomato.

“S-Shut up! Being a soldier is all I’m good for!”

Jack sat back down, and placed his head beneath his arms to pretend to fall asleep.

Stan and his group looked at one another, their eyes pungy and red. Their forearms on the cocktail table, they lifted their faces towards everyone else, so that they faced them with stern gazes.

“If we’re talking about goals, then mine’s pretty simple too. All I want is to protect Fred, Gary, and Diego from harm, you know, being the older brother and all.” Said Stan.

“For me, I was always fascinated with lasers.” Said Gary.

“I’m more into engines.” Said Diego.

“This sounds cheesy, but all I want is to create inventions.” Said Fred.

Miles also stood up, and like Jack, he cleared his throat. Thumping his chest once, everyone settled their eyes on him while he straightened his back, as he had let go of his beer bottle.

“Same as Stan, I want to be the older brother to my own group. Sounds cheesy, but it’s sort of my only purpose as a shield.”

Turning his attention to Benn, the shark-human still continued to gaze deep into the beer bottles in the back counter. Unwilling to make eye contact, it felt like Benn had indulged himself in those black glass bottles; without drinking.

Gwen turned his attention towards Luna, while putting her hands on her waist.

“Hey Luna? What’s your goal?”

Despite laying on the wooden floor, she opened her eyes and directed them at her. A couple of veins littered his upper eyelids, as she gave her a hideous glare.

“Why do you want to know?”

“There’s nothing wrong with explaining your goals. Everybody has at least one purpose…”

Putting her right hand underneath her chin, she looked up toward the ceiling. Balling her left hand, she felt more veins litter her face, along with her forehead and neck burdened with them.

Gwen smugly giggled, while Luna deathly glared straight at the ceiling.

“I just want to find the bastard that killed my family. I know … I know they’re out there somewhere…”

Silence filled the bar.

Not even Gwen let out a muffled response, as she and everyone else looked down at the sprawled out Luna.

Hope woke up from her nap when Jack delivered his goal. Standing up from her barstool, she as well looked down on Luna, but with pathetic eyes. Lifting her head up, she looked around the room, until she settled her eyes on … Luke and Gwen.

“I-I just want to help people. With my blessing, I can give out miracles and relief to my friends and the poor. So … you all could count on me.”

Having her hands balled, she raised them up to the height of her shoulders, as she continued to sharpen her eyes at Luke and Gwen. Luke looked away nervously, as if she was speaking to him directly.

Meanwhile, Gwen walked toward the center of the bar, as she hopped a bit during her trek there.

“Guess it’s my turn. Well, my goal is sort of weird.”

Keeping her back straight, she thumped her chest twice with a tightly balled hand. Looking around the room, she garnered everyone’s attention, with all of them settling their eyes on her freckled cheeks.

“All I want in life … is to be in Paradise.”

Everyone tilted their heads to the right, as they placed their hands either on their chins or to their waist. All of them lost at her sentence, Gwen extending her hands out as she spoke, like she was bargaining a trade.

“I mean, I want to live in a place where we could have fun without constraints. We’re strong, we’re fighters; we’re soldiers. We could handle anything, but … don’t you want to escape from it all?”

He felt his soul wither, by the sound of a reverb service bell. Like the sound of an alarm, his body shuddered out a single shiver.

—Wait … something isn’t right …

His countless hair spiking up like a spooked cat-human, he stepped away from the group with sweat drenching his face. The rest of everyone continued to listen, leaving them to indulge in Gwen’s words.

“I was thinking like creating a community. A community with just us. And if we meet other interesting people, then we could invite them to the party too.”

He felt his breathing turning rigid, like he was inhaling dry ice into his lungs. Placing his hand onto his chest, he continued to look and look, until …

Another service bell tore through his body; again.

—Just where is the danger coming from?

He turned his head toward the back door of the bar. Squinting through the radiated darkness, he saw a pair of bony hands clinging onto the door frame, with its head reeling out like the world’s slowest jack-in-the-box.

—It had no eyes, and it smiled, with steam escaping out of its body … and it wore a black apron.—

“DUCK!!”

Unfortunately, not everyone was quick…

As a gust of air tore through, leaving their bodies to ripple with the wave. Then came the debris of wood and stone, as Luke looked up to see the roof—