Chapter 2:

Chapter 2

Millenium Cowboy


              Deal with the Devil

Without a ride Johnny had to walk home. Usually when driving no one notices how terrible things could look in a city like Zenron, but as Johnny walked home it struck him how awful everything was, particularly in his part of town. Buildings were crumbling and abandoned, roads had scorch marks from accidents and shootings, broken down hovercrafts were left to rust in the middle of the road. Twisted metal pipes used to regulate the weather wrapped around the buildings like steel snakes. The flickering neon lights gave him a headache. His ribs were beginning to bruise.

He had lost track of where he was until he recognized the ad for the annual Zenron hover race he had passed by on the way to work every day curated by Mr. Riddle. “Enter at your own risk, free of charge! First place wins five hundred thousand credits!” Johnny couldn’t help but think the man with a neon lit sign of himself holding up bags of money and surrounded by balloon boob’d babes couldn’t really need his life savings. There was a feeling of embarrassment and frustration that came over him when he thought about all the other people Eddy could have stolen from, but how he chose his boss. Overall he was probably getting off easy all things considered.

He cut through the alley under the sign. As he stepped through mounds of trash he began to hear a strange sort of whispering. He moved aside some trash and then lifted up a trash can lid.

“Put that back down” A voice shouted. Johnny promptly put it back down, fearing the angry trash man. Johnny climbed out of what seemed to be mountains of trash and ended up on the other side of the alley. Johnny was happy to see however, that he had ended up across the street from “Diablo’s.” He slid down the pile of trash and landed with his foot in a pile of slime. He shook it off with a feeling of revulsion and then headed toward the club.

Opening the door, he was relieved to find that nothing had changed inside the club. DJ Jepp had wired up his backup speakers and was shooting multi-colored lights out of a disco ball, allowing people to resume their intimate celebration of each other. He stepped on the rotating double decker dance floor trying not to attract any attention. Just before he was about to get off he began to feel a slight tug on his jacket. He looked down to find a small man in a suit at waist height with an oily comb over covering an obvious bald spot, a lazy eye, and a pencil thin mustache holding his jacket.

“Want to dance?” He asked in foreign tone both familiar and unrecognizable.

“Not now, Elmer,” Johnny replied in extreme annoyance, pulling his jacket away and recoiling. He stepped up to the bar where Daisy was shaking another cocktail for the customer who was still asleep.

“Clocking back in?” She asked semi-sarcastically, as she poured the drink and set it down in front of him. Rather than go over every detail of the ordeal he had been through, Johnny decided it would be better to just play her game. He brushed aside some ash stains from his jacket and threw away a banana peel hanging from his hair.

“Did I miss much?” He asked, chugging down the drink.

“DJ Jepp had a meltdown about his equipment” Daisy said, smirking.

“Daisy, you call this a margarita?” Johnny asked.

“What’s the matter with it?” She asked, becoming defensive.

“You forgot to salt the rim! It’s the most crucial step, it changes the entire flavor going down!” Johnny exclaimed.

“Something tells me you have better things to do than criticize my margaritas,” Daisy suggested.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong. I’m not Johnny anymore. I’m just the little voice in your head that’ll criticize you whenever you do something wrong,” Johnny said, moving behind the bar to mix a drink.

“You’re sure good at criticizing others, Johnny. Maybe you should take a look at yourself once in a while,” Daisy said, leaning over the bar.

“You should listen to your girlfriend!” A familiar voice shouted.

“She is not my girlfriend, she’s my employee!” Johnny said, turning around to find the small man in the suit with the oily comb over.

“Well, well. If it isn’t my favorite customer,” Daisy said, slightly nauseated.

“Gimme the usual sweet cheeks!” He said, leaping up to take a seat at the bar. Daisy took out a glass and mixed together two parts clam juice, one part chocolate milk, and one part tequila.

“Ew,” Johnny couldn’t help but say.

“They call it the Happy Elmer,” Elmer said, proudly pressing his slick lips to the glass.

“Good lord,” Johnny said, wincing as he drank it.

“Having a rough night, Johnny?” Elmer asked, handing Daisy back the glass to make him another.

“Is it that I didn’t want to dance with you or just my uncharacteristic lack of enthusiasm that gave me away?” Johnny asked.

“Actually I saw you getting chased around town by Riddle’s thugs and figured I should head to your bar to see if you were still alive. I also may have a proposition for you,” Elmer said.

“Good thing you checked then” Daisy said, handing Elmer his drink.

“They must’ve told you about Eddy then,” Elmer said, looking away from Johnny.

“What about Eddy?” Daisy asked as Johnny turned around, becoming very interested.

“What do you know about it?” Johnny asked, ignoring her.

“I know a little about everything. I guess I could let you in on what I know for a certain price” Elmer suggested with a smirk.

“You know I was just robbed of my life savings right?” Johnny said, getting annoyed.

“How should I know how much you have or don’t have, it looks like you’re running a good business here,” Elmer said, shrugging. Johnny rolled his eyes and then reached into Daisy’s tip jar to take out the spare credits.

“Are you serious? Aren’t you even gonna let me in on what this is?” Daisy asked, angered at Johnny’s entitlement. Johnny handed the credits over to Elmer.

“My brother disappeared. He stole money from Diablo Riddle,” Johnny explained. Elmer happily pocketed the money.

“Eddy was looking for a way out of town,” Elmer said.

“Makes sense. He stole one hundred and fifty thousand credits” Johnny said.

“Well actually, he stole those credits to pay for his passport out of town. Which brings me to my proposal. I may be able to get in touch with the man who sold Eddy his passport. The only problem is he’s not quite as generous as I am,” Elmer said, smirking.

“How much?”Johnny asked.

“I know you don’t have enough in the tip jar,” Elmer warned.

“We don’t even know what kind of trouble Eddy is in” Daisy argued to Johnny.

“I know where we can get some,” A voice mumbled from the corner of the bar. Johnny, Daisy, and Elmer all looked towards the man who continued to hide his face.

“What did you say?” Johnny asked.

“I’ll need a beer,” He mumbled. Johnny sighed and poured a beer.

“Might as well start giving away the money” Daisy mumbled to herself.

The old man took the beer and sat up to take a sip, revealing his face. Johnny recognized the man; he had been coming into the bar for years and ever since he retired he only started going in more. A scratchy salt and pepper beard clang to his face and similarly colored hair was covered by a hardhat. He had a gruff disposition and square jaw and wore a pair of black driving goggles along with an unzipped, padded, sleeveless jacket covering up his bare chest.

“If it’s money you need then the Zenron Hover Race grand prize will certainly have you covered,” The man said. Johnny stared at him and then slowly began to chuckle to himself before breaking out in a full out laugh.

“Gee that sounds swell, except for the fact that it’s literally the last thing I would want to do right now,” Johnny shouted out hysterically as Daisy and Elmer followed his lead, laughing.

“I have a second craft. If you use it, it'll double my chances at the prize money,” He said, chugging down the rest of his beer.

“Out of curiosity, why are you offering this position to me? Surely there are better racers out there in Zenron,” Johnny questioned.

“Hmm, perhaps I’m a bit sentimental. But I did hear the little fella talk about you being chased by Riddle’s men. Bet you didn’t know that they’re some of the top seeded racers in all of Zenron did ya?” The man asked slyly. Johnny was shocked. He assumed that escaping on a hovercraft would lead to safety because he was always the naturally better driver than Creedence Clearwater. But Creedence Clearwater was now one of the best racers in all of Zenron. Johnny didn’t know whether this was a good sign or a bad sign. All he knew was that he was desperate to find his brother and solve the mystery of his disappearance, and there seemed to be little choice in paths before him.

“Look not to be suspicious of Mr. Duplantis here but I’ve never heard him talk about racing” Daisy said.

“You never asked” The man answered, “Women don’t get racing. It was easier when I had Vincent to talk to.” Daisy rolled her eyes as Johnny lit up at his comment.

“You mean my dad?” Johnny asked.

“He was the only reason I came into this lame hipster joint!”

“I wouldn’t count on this fossil to make you money, Johnny. I know many more lucrative ways than gambling in races,” Elmer interrupted.

“I think I’m willing to take that chance,” Johnny said, extending his hand to the old man, “I’m Johnny Millenium.” Johnny introduced himself with the pride of someone saying their name out loud for the first time; this was not unusual for Johnny and he would actually often practice his introduction in the mirror just to get it right.
“I know, Johnny, I’ve been coming here for years. The name’s Mondo Duplantis, in case you forgot,” The old man said, shaking his hand.

“Oh, uh right” Johnny said, blushing suddenly recalling that he had been seated at that barstool for the majority of his life.

“May I talk with you for a minute?” Daisy asked, raising her eyebrow to this suspicious partnership. Johnny pulled his hand away as he and Daisy squated underneath the bar to talk.

“Even if you manage to win the race which you won’t, no one ever comes back from outside the dome,” Daisy said bluntly.

“My brother is outside the dome,” Johnny answered. For the first time that night, Daisy and Johnny stared directly into each other’s eyes and it was like they were the only two people in “Diablo’s.”

“What has your brother ever done for you, Johnny? If he wanted your help he would have asked for it instead of leaving you to deal with this mess he made,” Daisy said.

“Be that as it may. I have to help him. Even if he wouldn’t do the same for me,” Johnny said, resolutely. Daisy sighed and lowered her head in resignation.

“I can see I’m not going to change your mind then. Just promise me you’ll come back, okay?” She said softly looking down at the floor.

“Don’t worry about me. You just look after the bar,” Johnny said, confidently.

“I think I know how to run this place without you here by now. And by the way, my margaritas are the best in town,” Daisy said with a smirk. Johnny began to laugh when he suddenly heard a noise and looked up to see Elmer crawling up on the bar and looking down at them.

“I hate to interrupt but are we on or not?!” Elmer yelled, impatiently. Johnny stood up and extended his hand to help Daisy up.

“You’ll get your money,” Johnny said.

“Well I won’t bet on you but good luck. Meet me at the finish line if you're still alive,” Elmer said, hopping down from his spot with a smirk.

“I’d better be off too then. Meet me at the starting line in Inner Zenron tomorrow. I’ll have your bike waiting for you,” Mondo said, stumbling away from the bar.

“At least he doesn’t make you pay for the bike,” Daisy said, spraying down the spot where they were sitting with disinfectant.

“That’s something I don’t understand about this whole situation” Johnny said, almost to himself as he pondered this entire course of events, “Why did my brother need to buy a way out of Zenron in the first place?”

Daisy stared back at Johnny with a concerned look in her eyes, knowing certainly that almost any answer to that question was guaranteed not to be good.


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