Chapter 14: What am I doing?
It's been a few weeks since I left my message at the Afterlife, and things have been fine. I've done some small jobs to earn some money.
But what made me worry was the snakes; some were covered in blood over the days of using them as close combat weapons.
I was worried that their conditions might deteriorate, or they could gain rust like normal metal.
I decided to order some rust protection, since I didn't want to take a risk to know if they did rust or not.
Once it arrived the snakes initially bolted towards the door, forcing it open and dragging the package inside.
They soon began to tear it open, trying to bring me the bottle. I was surprised on how quickly they wanted to be cleaned, but I didn't stop them from bringing it to me.
"Jeez, it's like you guys want to be cleaned." I commented, they just hissed at me and began to tug me to the bathroom.
I was about to speak once again but stopped when I saw hundreds of snakes inside. All staring at me in expectation I could only sigh and smile.
TIME SKIP
After spending a few hours cleaning the snakes, I could only sit outside in the streets exhausted. Cleaning every single one of them had taken too much time, leaving me in the dark streets.
I had to make sure I took the time to scrub every nook and cranny on each snake, some took the time to just relax.
Others only went in, dove into the water, let me scrub them, then get out. It was easy to deal with those, but in the end, the water bill was going to cause a large dent in my account.
But in the end, I did feel more relaxed and less stressed. So, I guess it was worth it and seeing them happy on being cleaned was adorable.
I didn't know where I was walking, since I was too distracted on remembering on how they looked.
I ended up bumping into someone and nearly knocked them over. But I was quick to catch them in my arms, surprisingly, it was Gloria.
"Hello there." She said with a grin, I could only lift her back up and return the smile.
"Gloria, it's good to see you." I extended my hand, seeing it, she kept her smile up and shook it, squeezing my hand with too much strength.
I had to hide the pain I was feeling, since she had an impressive grip strength. But before I could do anything I heard a voice shout at me.
I wanted to counter said attacker, but I was in public. So I let the attack hit me, I felt something it me in the head, and I was sent flying onto the ground.
"Stay the hell away from my mom, you gonk!" Shouted a boy, I could only groan in pain front the attack, spitting out a small drop of blood.
"David, you idiot! You don't just attack random people!" Shouted Gloria, followed by the sound of something being smacked.
I then sat up to see Gloria scolding a boy that was on the ground, his hands held his head in pain.
Gloria then shifted her focus back to me, quickly helping me stand up. I placed my hand on my jaw and massaged it, checking if it was dislocated.
"I'm so sorry, mijo, come here and apologize!" She shouted, and I soon got a good look at her son.
Her son had the same skin tone as her, with his hair being dark brown while being quaffed. His hair also had both sides buzzed cut, with some line markings.
Finally, was the clothing, he mostly wore a black long sleeve shirt with two necklaces. His pants had multiple pockets on the side, with his shoes being black and red.
I then saw him looking to the side, clicking his tongue in annoyance. But, he muttered that I couldn't hear.
"Say it louder!" She shouted, smacking his shoulder.
"Fine, fine, I'm… sorry for kicking you in the face." He said while glancing away, this was enough to satisfy her, but she then frowned and began to check on my face.
"Are you okay? Is there any pain anywhere?" She asked while carefully inspecting my head.
I was surprised that she was thorough when checking me for any injuries but taking a closer look I could see that her jacket had the letters EMT.
"You work in a hospital?" I asked, she only glanced at my eyes for a second, but then returned to look for any injury's.
"It's not much, but it's enough to get by when renting a home and getting my son into school." She spoke, while her son still glared at me.
"Seems I made a good first impression." I joked, only to receive a light smack on my arm from Gloria.
"Good or bad, it doesn't matter when you are injured." She chided me, only to pull back when she finished inspecting me.
"Well, the good news is that you are fine, as for the bad news." She held out her hand and motioned to be paid.
"But…" She then pointed at her son, who was still glaring at me.
"Are you serious?" She kept staring at me with her hand out, I could only sigh and pay her.
"Great, even small damage inspections cost me money." I grunted and placed a large wad of eddies in her hand.
She began to count the money in front of me, but widened her eyes when she realized it was too much.
"Look, I don't mind the extra tip, but I'm not-" I held up my hand to stop her from finishing what she was thinking.
"I know you struggle when working with the EMT, they don't give great paydays." I said while dusting off my pants.
"Besides, think of it as returning the favor when I helped you get on the subway." Seeing the gesture I did, Gloria could only smile and nod.
"I see, thanks then. C'mon son, let's head home." She grabbed her son's arm and began to walk away.
I hadn't expected to run into her a second time, but it was nice to see her again. And like last time, that feeling happened, but it felt less stressful.
I still didn't know what it was, but that feeling didn't last long when I heard a commotion. Looking up, I saw a van speeding away, leaving track marks.
However, what I didn't expect was to see David, trying to run after the van. Screaming and cursing after it, I turned back to rush next to him when I saw him landing on his knees.
"Hey hey hey, look at me, look at me!" I shouted at him, but he tried to push me off, wanting me to leave him alone.
"I have to get her; I have to get her!" He cried while struggling to free himself from my grip, I ended up chopping the back of his neck, causing him to lose conscious.
"I'll get her back, I promise." I whispered and lifted him over my shoulder, as the people around us stared at me, I only shook my head and took him to my home.
'This city won't do a thing, so it's up to me to solve this problem.' Once Arriving at my home, I gently placed him on my couch and began to prepare myself to go out.
I grabbed my suit, my pistol and my mask. Once I had everything, I ran downstairs and soon arrived at the garage where my car was parked and fixed.
I slid over the hood and quickly opened the door, while one of the snakes slid off my finger and slithered onto the dashboard.
"Find them." Was all I said, the snake eyes glowed red, connecting and distributing my order to the rest in the city.
Soon, it's scales began to split to the side, revealing the small projection it consumed. Multiple boxes appeared, shifting and changing from one snake to the next.
Soon, one of the boxes enlarged itself, showing the van that Gloria was kidnapped in driving towards the maelstrom gang territory.
Seeing this, I turned on the car and drove towards the exit. Not caring if I drove into anyone, I began to follow the direction on where the van was located.
'I don't know why, but I can't get this feeling like I'll regret it." I panicked when I heard Gloria was kidnapped, I wasn't the one to help anyone.
Yet here I am, saving a mother from some scavengers. I just hope I could reach them in time before they start tearing her apart.
(A/N) Hey, hey, sorry to make it short, but I got something up coming soon, so ill be busy preparing for it.
I'll have time to post next week, just need some time.
Send power stones to show support, and give me motivation.
For now, peace.
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