The Day of Reckoning (Prototype)

Chapter 24: Heading Home

We're walking through the street, sipping root beer. Its really quiet, but after the ambush incident, and my reaction to it, it'd prolly be awkward for him to talk to us. Every now and then, I look over and catch him staring at me. Guess I really scared him that bad. I look away and take a swig as Chris begins to talk.

"So, are you guys brothers?" He asks.

"No." I say, although it sounds more harsh than I meant.

"O-oh, alright." He says. I take another sip.

"Then are you two dating?"

I choke and the root beer runs through my nose. I turn my back to Chris and crouch down as Ramil quickly answers "No! What made you think that!?"

"Sorry! It was just the next thing I thought to ask! I'm really really sorry!" Chris says frantically. I gag and wipe at my nose as Ramil pats my back under my bag. I look over my shoulder and make eye contact with Chris. He flinches and tries to divert his attention, but has nowhere to look. I manage to blow all the soda out my nose and clean myself up. I stand back up and turn to Chris, who's looking at his feet. I groan. "Let's just keep it moving."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean--"

"Its alright." I cut him off. "I'm not mad. Just, no more questions. Okay?" He sighs and quietly mutters "Okay" as him and Ramil walk ahead of me. Ramil starts to whisper something to him as I finish my soda and crush the can in my hand, shoving it in my pocket. As always, our stroll is cut short by a gang of Eldritch attacking. "Aaahh!!" Chris screams as I rip out my hammer. I swing it into the chin of an Eldritch as Ramil kills one with his spear.

The other Eldritch start running over, but before one shoves its teeth into my face, Chris jumps up between us and sticks something metal in its mouth and yanks me to the road. Whatever it was explodes in the Eldritch's mouth, making it screech and run away. Another one comes from behind, but Ramil shows up and puts it to sleep. "You two okay?" He asks as we stand up.

"We're fine. Focus on the fight." I say, pulling him back towards me before he gets jumped on. Ramil and I continue fighting as Chris throws his contraptions at the monsters to help. We work through them quickly, and Chris says "Waah, that was scary."

"Its been 4 months." I reply. "Get used to it." Ramil nudges me and I realize how mean that sounded.

"Right. I'll be braver." He whines.

"Wait, I didn't-- fuck." I begin, but I don't even bother finishing the thought. Ramil tells Chris to walk ahead a bit, which puts us behind him. "Dude, do you not know how to talk to people?" He asks sarcastically. "You didn't act like this when we met!"

"Yeah well we didn't talk much before we were nearly killed." I respond.

"But the first question still stands: Do you not know how to talk to people??"

"No. I'm not a people person." I answer.

"Yeah, no shit!" He snaps. "But look at you! You're a big, buff guy who put a knife to a person's face." He says, pointing at Chris. "You not being able to make your voice sound nicer just adds to it! And you didn't even apologize! At least apologize!"

"I'm not doing that."

"You're a dick, dude."

"Then suck me, fuckface." I say, flipping him off. He rolls his eyes and walks ahead as I think about what he said. Maybe I should apologize.

Nope, not doing it. I'm sure there's something I can do to make him feel more comfortable with me. I'm suddenly ripped out of my head when another group of Eldritch start running towards us. "This is fucking ridiculous!" Ramil shouts, grabbing his spear. I pull out one of the smokescreens I took and prepare to use it. As they get closer, Ramil and I attack, but they ignore us. Actually, they run right past us, even after I nail one in the face with the smokescreen. "The hell?" I question. Before any of us can offer an answer, the ground shakes under our feet. "Oh. Got it."

We put our weapons away and turn around, running. The thing catches up with us real fast, screeching louder than a rocket launch. "Where do we go!?" Chris asks. He probably hasn't even seen this guy before. "Why don't you tell us? You've clearly been here for awhile!!" I respond.

"What!!? I've only been here for two days!!" He says. "And slow down, I'm not as fast as you two!!" Ramil and I spin our heads and see Chris literally 17 feet behind us, just barely avoiding being crushed under the giant's foot. He's slow as hell!! "Ramil, throw me some citrus bombs!!" I yell. He grabs one of each and tosses them to me. I skid to a stop and turn around, running for Chris. I wind up my throws and aim them all for its eyes. It screeches loudly after each hit, with the fourth one putting it on its ass!

The impact from the Eldritch hitting the ground makes Chris fall over. The giant begins getting back up, so I grab Chris and put him over my shoulder. I run as the Eldritch finally gets back up and chases us again. "Fuck fuck FUCK!!!" I yell, running as fast as I can. Chris reaches into one of his satchels and grabs some type of metal can with a pin in it. He hands it to me and says "Pull the pin and aim for its face!!"

"What the fuck even is this!?" I question, seeing the word "Blindsight" written on the front. "It's an explosive! Just aim for its eyes!!" He yells. I pull the pin and throw it, nailing the Eldritch directly between its eyes. It explodes and fire gets in its eye, making it shriek and claw at its eyes. Chris throws his arms up and exclaims "Yes!" as we catch up to Ramil and keep running. We make it to a large car washing building and duck inside, sitting on the floor to avoid being seen by any Eldritch.

"Thanks for that bomb. I mean it." I tell him. He looks up at me with a smile. "Y-you're welcome! Thanks for helping me up!"

"No problem." I tell him. "What are we gonna do now?" I ask Ramil. He groans.

"I would say we should go home, but it's not like we know how to get home anyways." He begins. "Plus, we have no idea where Ken and Lauryn are, nor did we find Alfie. Today sucks right now."

"Who's Ken and Lauryn?" Chris asks. "And Alfie?"

"They're our friends." I answer. "Alfie is Ramil's pet, but he got lost somewhere. We were out here looking for him until the giant Eldritch came." Chris nods in understanding. Today really is sucky. I'm hella tired, and honestly ready to collapse at any moment. I'm sure Ramil is, too. We all lean against a wall and my eyes begin feeling heavy. My stomach grumbles, so I dig through my bag. Nothing satisfying. "Chris, you got any food in one of those bags?" I ask him.

He takes off his small bookbag and digs through it. He hands me a cucumber and I take it willingly, chomping down on it. It doesn't taste the best and is probably old as hell, but anything will do right now. Chris offers Ramil something to eat,  but he declines and puts his legs up, resting his head in his arms. I watch Chris as he fiddles with his bag, opening the smaller part of it. I look closely and see something small poke out of it. I squint my eyes and realize what it is.

Its Alfie!!