Isolation

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

"Ready to go, Matthew?" Bryce asked glancing at the clock. He had gotten home about an hour ago. "The drives almost two hours."

"Yeah." The Canadian said closing his book and standing up. He gave Kumajirou a pet as he passed. "We'll be back by morning, Karmajello."

"Okay." The cub yawned rolling over. Matthew smiled, he was so cute. Bryce just groaned at the wrong name.

"You have the worst memory." The ginger said as they went out the door to get into the truck.

Matthew just smiled. "Well when you get to be my age." He said mimicking an old lady's voice. Bryce just rolled his eyes. He started the truck and they drove off.

-❄️"I'm willing to wait for it."❄️-

AN: Just jumping a head a few hours.

Matthew sighed and looked around. There were a lot of people he recognized from last year, but a few new faces stood out. A lot of mercenaries he remembered from last year weren't there at all.

It was fairly easy to tell who was a mercenary and who wasn't. Most of the mercenaries were dressed more causal and not drinking. While the potential clients were dressed in suits and dresses and were drinking a lot. He spotted TJ leaning against the wall.

"There's TJ." The blond said nodding in his direction. Bryce nodded and they both walked over to see if he had any good information about their rivals.

"Sup guys?" TJ greeted seeing the pair come over.

"Not to much." Bryce said.

TJ smirked taking a sip of his beer. "Only time I'll drink on the job." He laughed.

"Sure." The red head said rolling his eyes. "What do you have for us this time?" He asked crossing his arms and leaning on the wall next to TJ.

"Welp, we're down to twenty eight from last years forty six. Few deaths, but mostly 'retirees.'" TJ explained. No one was really able to retire. "Oldest are first up and youngest are going last. Snipers first, then pistol and then hand to hand."

Matthew was listening, but not quite paying full attention. His eyes were busy scanning the crowd looking for any unwanted familiar faces. He hadn't seen any the past years he'd been there, but he knew the type of clients that were hanging around. Most of them were they type of people that would buy a person.

"And Matthew, you'll be going fourth to last." TJ finished. The Canadian nodded hearing his name. "Well, I'm going to go and socialize with the peoples. See what I can drum up. Good luck guys!" The bartender waved pushing off the wall and heading into the crowds.

"You only heard half of that didn't you?" Bryce asked as Matthew leaned against the wall next to him. He smiled guiltily biting his lip. "Wasn't anything too important, don't worry. See anyone?"

"No." He said simply with a shrug. He knew what Bryce was asking. The ginger was very protective of him and Matthew knew he would jump at the chance to hurt someone who had hurt him in the past. "Not yet anyways."

The organizers called all the mercenaries over to the sniping range. The first few to go were the oldest among them. It was a bit of a mixed bag with the sniping, some were dead on while others were off by a bit. They're eye sight must have been going. Bryce's aim was perfect, he didn't miss a single shot. Matthew's wasn't nearly as good as his, but still finished in the top half. The ginger ended up second while he placed twelfth.