Chapter 36
The next morning
Domitor washed his face in the bathroom sink, sighing as he looked himself over. The days were starting to wear on him, as he was still having trouble sleeping. He kept being brought back to that moment, and each time he revisited it he saw it in a new light. His mind was just making new and creative ways to torture him.
Moving out of the bathroom he saw Floria was still asleep on her bed, all of her covers wrapped and twisted around her, as she apparently was a restless sleeper.
Reluctantly, he walked into the living room, not really wanting to face Shayla after last night. Upon entering the living room, he saw she was all twisted up on one side of the room, blankets and trash all caught up around her body. She too appeared to be a restless sleeper.
And for some reason she was in her full armor, her sheathed sword still held in her hand. She was still asleep, but she was swiping her left hand violently to her side, putting a hole in Floria’s wall.
“Geez,” he muttered as he kicked a pile of trash at her, hitting her in the chest with a can.
She exploded upward, sending shit everywhere as she ripped her katana from its sheath and pointed it all over the room. “What?!” she yelped in a panicked voice.
“You’re putting a hole in her wall,” he deadpanned, pointing to the little fist sized hole in the wall.
Shayla growled behind her mask as she put her katana back in its sheath. “Don’t wake me up like that ever again, you fucking hear me?!”
“Yep, I hear you,” he said as he walked over to the kitchen and stopped, realizing there wasn’t anything in there. They’d have to go out if they wanted to eat.
He could hear her moving around the room, grumbling to herself as she paced around, having nowhere to sit down since she didn’t want to go near the couch.
“Morning, guys,” Floria said as she stepped into the room, wearing just her underwear.
“Where are your clothes?!” Shayla snapped as she stared the other woman down.
Floria rolled her eyes as her clothes seemed to materialize right onto her body, “better?”
“Yes,” Shayla replied, still pacing around the room. “I’m hungry, what you got left over?”
“Nothing at all,” she laughed as she put her hands in her pockets. “But I know this great dinner right down the street.”
“I don’t have money,” the mare grumbled, gripping her the sheath of her sword tightly.
The short Kejtdra smiled at her and gave a wink, “then you’re in luck. I have plenty of extra money.”
“And you don’t keep food in the apartment?” Domitor asked with a frown.
“Too lazy,” she admitted as she walked for the front door. “But trust me, the food at this place is amazing. We’ll have to get it to go though, need to get back to the ambush point.”
“Then let's go,” Shayla said gruffly as she waved for her to lead the way.
Floria smiled at Domitor as he sighed. He was going to have to deal with both of them at once, and that he was not looking forward to.
ooo000<^>000ooo
I sat down on the edge of the building and placed my bag of food in my lap, ready to finally eat. We’d just bought the food and come straight here, so my hunger was starting to destroy me.
Plus I did my daily quest on the way over, so that didn’t do me any favors. At least I was able to put all three points into Strength.
Opening the bag sent a wave of scents up at me, causing my mouth to water as I removed my mask and began to greedily devour my food. It didn’t last long as I basically just swallowed most of it whole.
“Heard of chewing?” Floria asked as she ate her own food while leaning on the edge of the building.
“Heard of minding your own business?” I shot back, causing her to chuckle.
“Hey, can we be serious for a moment?” she asked as she looked behind herself, seeing Domitor off by himself as he ate alone.
“Sure,” I muttered, leaving my mask off for now. “Just watch what you say.”
She gave a nod as she took on a much more somber facial expression. “I’ve been there, where you are right now,” she said as she reached up and began to fidget with her broken faceplate.
“The fuck you mean by that?” I asked with a scowl, my body starting to shake in anger.
A light sigh escaped her lips as she turned to fully face me, “Shane, I know what you’re going through. You were a very strong and independent person when I first met you. I mean, you beat us to a pulp and had a smile the entire time. But then that was taken from you.”
“Careful,” I growled as I stared at her with tense eyes.
“It takes a while to recover, and sometimes you never fully return to normal,” she said, still fidgeting with her faceplate.
I stood up, not wanting to hear anymore of this.
“Please,” she said in a small voice, causing me to look at her. “Just hear me out.”
With a loud grunt, I sat back down and grind my teeth as I stared at her.
She took a shaky breath as she seemed to be working herself up. “I… Well you see… Damn it, I’m sorry, Shane. I can’t do this.”
The pained and conflicted look on her face caused some of my anger to subside, followed by me groaning. “I’m sorry, Floria. You seem like a good person, but I just do not have it in me to hear this conversation.”
“Yeah,” she mumbled with a sad nod. “Me neither, apparently.”
I looked her over, seeing she was no longer as animated as she usually is, as she just stared out at the city before us, a blank look on her face.
A grimace appeared on my face as Rosemary appeared on the other side of her. I really did not want to do this.
“It’ll help you,” Rosemary said softly.
“Fine,” I said aloud, catching her attention. “Yeah, you’re right. I haven’t been the same since Lenrick, and I honestly do not feel like myself either. I’m scared of being seen as myself by anyone, and the thought of someone eyeballing me makes me sick. Which is stupid as fuck, how can shit like that affect me? I’ve always been the number one badass out of everyone I know. And now I cry and vomit at just a stupid fucking scent.”
She listened to me, nodding along as I spoke, “I can’t tell you the right way to handle all this, but I can tell you that time heals most wounds.”
“Sure hope so,” I mumbled, using my claw to wipe away a few tears that had somehow fallen down my face.
“My…” she began, seeming to struggle with her words. But then she took a deep breath and turned to me, staring right into my eyes. “I got taken advantage of by my own father.”
This revelation caused my entire body to seize up, as I had expected something to have happened to her, but not her own father.
“I…” I started, but had nothing, so I just shrugged at her.
“It’s okay, most people don’t know how to react to that,” she said with a sad smile. “He did it for most of my life, and the one time I fought back he did this,” she said as she tapped her broken faceplate.
“Floria,” I said slowly, trying to get past my own shit to try and say something to her. “Erm, shit. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, it’s all good,” she said with a forced smile. “I killed him in his sleep one day and I’ve been on my own since then.”
“What about-”
“My family? All died of various events. My mom died while brooding for one, and my grandparents just up and died one day. So no, I’ve got no one left,” she said, looking at her hands. “But that’s fine with me. I’ve always liked being on my own.”
“What about Domitor?” I asked, trying to think of a positive. Sure, Domitor wasn’t much but at least they seemed like friends to me.
“In the short time I’ve known him he’s the only one not to try and fuck me, so I like ‘em pretty well,” she said softly, a little smile on her face. “But we’re never going to be anything other than friends. I’m not delusional, I can see that very clearly.”
“Never know,” I pressed, causing her to glance over to him.
“Nah, I’m okay being just friends with him. He’s a good guy.”
“I guess he is,” I said with a sour look on my face.
She laughed at my reaction, returning to her cheerful self, “Oh come on, I know you got history and beef with him, but he’s seriously not that bad.”
“You didn’t grow up with him,” I countered, causing her to stick her tongue out at me and stand up fully.
“Good talk, Shane.”
“Yeah, good talk,” I replied, watching her walk over to Domitor and begin to mess with him. Seeing them interact like that made me miss my friends. I kinda wish I'd brought them with me, but at the same time I’m so glad they’re not here for this shit.
I don't want them to ever know about what I’ve gone through. They’d never look at me the same again.
ooo000<^>000ooo
A few hours later
“Right on schedule,” Floria said as she held up her binoculars, looking far off down the street.
“Oh they’re actually coming?” I asked as I stood up from where I’d been sitting down.
Domitor groaned as he too stood up and walked over to stand next to Floria. “I honestly thought they’d do something different.”
“Like I said,” the short Kejtdra said with a proud smile, “I did my homework. I knew they’d come this way.”
I took her binoculars and scanned the incoming convoy, a large scowl appearing on my face. “What the hell? There’s no way in hell we can handle this convoy. There’s like thirty Gloomers walking outside of the vehicles.”
“Not to mention the ones in the trucks,” Domitor added as he used his own binoculars to look the scene over. “Your plan only accounted for fifteen guards. Well this is way over double.”
“We still got this,” she insisted as she rubbed her hands together. “You two just gotta do your jobs and we’ll be fine.”
“Unless we die,” I muttered, seeing that these Gloomers looked like straight up riot police with heavy armor and weapons. Sure, I could handle a few at a time, but this was going to be a straight up war zone with just two targets for them to focus on.
“You won’t die,” she laughed, then frowned. “Please don't die. Just harass them and draw their attention. All we have to do is grab the prototype weapon, then get the fuck out.”
“Oh that’s so simple,” Domitor muttered, getting a nod of agreement from me.
“We need more people,” I said as I lowered the binoculars.
“Too late for that,” she said as she picked up her large rifle. “So we stick to my plan. I’ll start us off and provide support in the beginning. Once we locate the right vehicle, I’ll be the one doing the grabbing. The moment I have it, get out of there.”
“And what if something goes wrong?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Then we improvise of course,” she replied with a cocky grin. “You’re a smart guy, you’ll figure it out.”
I roll my eyes as I put my mask back on. “Alright then, just don’t miss that first shot.”
“Oh I won’t,” she said with a wink as she propped up her rifle. “Now positions!”
Domitor took to the air and flew over to another building, getting into his place next to the little switch he was supposed to push.
As for me, I climbed over the building and slid down it to the ground, where I ran over to an overturned car in the middle of the road, propping myself up against it.
This whole idiotic plan relied on Floria not missing that first shot, because if she does, I’ll probably die. And if Domitor fucked up, which he very well could, then I’m just as fucked.
It was at this moment it hit me, I was the only one at real risk here, at least in the beginning. What the actual fuck?
“It’s because you’re the most capable of you three,” Rosemary assured me, but I still wasn’t happy with this.
I took my sheathed Katana and attached it to my belt, that way I could use some of my techniques a bit easier.
“This would be easier if you kill them,” Rosemary pressed, getting a glare from me.
“You know I’m against that,” I said as I peeked over the car, seeing the convoy in the distance getting closer. They were going at a walking pace, which is weird to me.
Shouldn’t they be hauling ass through this city so that they can get to safety faster.
“Well, this actually makes some sense,” Rosemary observed. “This city is supposed to be very dangerous outside of the Rich areas, and they’re supposedly carrying a very unique prototype weapon. And at least one crime boss knows about its existence. So they’re doing this as a show of force to keep would-be thieves at bay.”
“Yeah, well it’s obviously not working if we’re here,” I muttered, sitting back down and going over myself, making sure I was ready for this.
The sound of the convoy could be heard now, causing me to clench my teeth. This was for sure going to be the dumbest thing I’ve done so far… I guess other than actually taking Domitor’s father to this fucking place.
“You got this,” Rosemary said as she faded away.
I smiled nervously as I adjusted my mask, the ground starting to shake thanks to the large vehicles coming towards me.
“Yeah, I got this.”