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Chapter 16: A Long Wait
"There's rooms upstairs for y'all, blankets, and pillows are in the closets, shower is down the hall and towels are in the closest closet." Alex explained to the group. Tom was already going upstairs as he looked for one of the rooms to stay in, as he got upstairs, four doors, one was clearly the hallway closet. He opened the door to his left, the room had boxes, a table, and a typewriter, against the wall were large bird coups. The birds within chirped and cooed as the door opened, Tom walked inside as he inspected the room the cage continued to coo as the birds settled down.
"See you found the pigeon room, must have a bird for brains, your flock calling you," Alex said as she appeared in the doorway. Tom looked over to her before rolling his eyes before looking in the cage. The cage contained piegons, each with a metal tag on one leg.
"Why do you guys have courier piegons?" Tom asked.
"Considering the church hears anything over the airways you gotta improvise and a normal letter could probably get taken and read, moris code doesn't work either since you can't do the wires without a long system of them." Alex explained to Tom.
"That does make sense, I have to assume they are trained since well they're courier piegons they have to be trained," Tom said as he went back to the door and back out into the hallway.
"For the most part, some are really stubborn or really dumb hard to tell sometimes but some can be sweet," Alex said as she shut the door behind them before leading Tom to his actual room. Alex opened the door as Tom walked in, two mattresses on either wall with an air bed in the middle, all had a pillow and blanket, there was a window at the wall opposite of the door and a small shelf next to it.
"We weren't fully prepared for you guys but be happy it's a bed at least some of us sleep on a couch." Alex said, she seemed uninterested and to be lost in thought.
"I assume it's not you but if it is, thank you." Tom said as he smiled at her as Cyd and Singed appeared behind her, she gave a smirk back before turning around.
"You two know the deal, now leave me be until you actually need something," Alex said as she walked down the hallway and back down the stairs. Cyd nodded as she passed by before he slipped into the room as he sat his bag down on one of the mattresses. Tom whipped around going to take the other one as Singe walked in and sat his bag down on the inflatable mattress. Cyd went through his bag before taking out a bundle of cigarettes, he pulled out a single one before offering one to Singe before he waved his hand in response.
"Do you smoke? I mean it is snatch grass so not legal by any chance but you're already a part of the rebellion." Cyd asked as he opened the window before lighting the cigarette already in his hand. Tom had snatchgrass once but it was a gum, it didn't taste bad and definitely relaxed his body while in basics but other then that he didn't have much experience with it.
"No but gotta try new things and what not," Tom got up from the mattress as he came to the window, Cyd handed him one of the cigarettes before he lit it for him.
"You gotta inhale it not just suck it into your mouth, imagine breathing just harder almost," Cyd said as he took a drag from his own cigarette. Tom put the cigarette to his mouth he inhaled, a sharp pain in his throat as it traveled down to his lungs. He pulled away the cigarette as he coughed hard, his eyes water as he tried to stop the coughing as puffs of smoke came out. Cyd and Singe laughed as he hacked up a lung, Tom finally stopped his cough as he sniffled. He took a second drag this time much better as he held it in for a small moment, it didn't exactly hurt this time, he was fuzzy now. He blew out as Cyd gave a smug look as he tapped his cigarette as ash fell out the window. Tom looked out the window, the planet across the ring began to eclipse the sun, the sky growing dark as the snow started to pick up.
"You don't think we'll get snowed in, do you?" Cyd asked.
"There's a chance but if we do we can just get out through this window. The snow would act like a cushion, great to use for sneaking out at night," Tom said as he blew out the smoke, the wind catching it and carrying it out. Soon they finished their cigarettes, Tom put it out on the windowsill as Cyd tossed his own out the window. Cyd murmured something as he went and laid down on his bed, he flopped onto it and made a loud umph as he hit the bed. Tom shut the window as he went and sat on his bed, his buddy was relaxed and his chest had a strange fuzzy feeling. Singe looked down at him as he kicked his foot, his face read slightly concerned but also uncaring.
"You don't look too well, you kinda look green," Singe said. Tom didn't feel the best but it was just slight discomfort as he sat there, his stomach did feel weird but this was probably from the lack of actual food.
"Maybe I could eat something, my stomach is angry at me and I would really like to eat something my brain demands it," Tom said as he grabbed his bag going through it, he still had a single MRE, Tom let out a huff as he pulled it out as he tossed his bag aside as he opened up the MRE. As Tom opened the bag his stomach churned, he shot up, he wouldn't make it to the bathroom, he shot towards the window as he opened it up. He stuck his head out, the cold air nipped against his face and a warm feeling from his gut came up as he puked out the window and down two stories into the snow. This wasn't his best start to a new place, but he's had worse, much worse. Tom looked down to the snow below him before his stomach churned at the sight beneath him, he tried holding it in, a hand patted his back before he puked again. Tom let out a groan before he wiped his mouth before pulling his head back in, Singe was standing behind him, he was clearly trying to hold in a laugh and he gave a light smile.
"Still hungry after that?" Singe asked as he shut the window.
"Go fuck yourself," Tom replied back as he laid down in the bed as he curled up into the blanket.
"I was just asking is all, plus I've already tried that, doesn't reach," Singe said as he gave Tom a wink before laying back. Tom squinted at him before he turned over to face the wall, these new people were strange, nice somewhat but strange. Tom's body was relaxed by his brain was loud making it hard as he tried to lay his head down and sleep. It didn't seem like it was going to happen, he tossed the blanket as he got up from the bed and he left the room.
The hallway was dark except for a light coming from the door across from the room he was in and a light coming from down stairs. Tom made his way down the hall towards the stairs as the floor creaked beneath him and the stairs no better. Entering what seemed to be the living room, the light came from a lap by the corner, laying on the couch was a chupa curled into a few blankets as he wore a sleep mask on his face. Tom looked to the kitchen which was empty and the rest of the home seemed to be dark, he took a left as he opened the door stepping out in the cold.
The snow blew down as he walked through the snow of the small town, he travelled down what he thought might be a road under the snow. Most of the buildings were dark except a few but he knew where he was going he just hoped it was open. The snow didn't crunch beneath as he sunk into it, he pushed his way through before he made it to the building, the soup shop he had seen in the picture. There were a few lights inside as he pushed open the door before he forced it shut to stop the snow. The building was warm as he stood there for a moment as he warmed up.
"Sorry we're closed for the night but you can stay in to kee-" a voice had called before it cut itself off a plate crashed to the ground and shattered. Tom looked up to see what had happened before he was tackled to the ground, something popped as he hit the floor but he didn't have time to pay attention to that.
"You fucking dumbass, where in the hell have you been, thank Omega you are alive," the chupa around him squeezed hard, he recognized that voice as he looked to see her, Scarlet, she looked so different but it was still her still the person he knew 7 years ago. She jabbed him in the side a couple times before getting up off of him before she lent out a hand. Tom took her hand as he got up before rubbing his side. He looked at her, she had long braided hair and was the same height as him. She was a slightly deeper shade of blue then him.
"You, jeez it's been forever you changed a lot, I like your hair you always kept it short when you were younger," Tom said he seemed to be at a loss for words, overcome by emotions.
"You changed a lot, but your hair is still long, mom hated that you wouldn't brush it or cut it, god I miss her. I like the jacket and really an eyebrow piercing?" She replied back as she snickered. Tom let out a huff as he poked the piercing, Scarlet took him by his shirt before dragging him to the kitchen.
"I'm sure you're hungry and you look like you're freezing. I have some soup going and plenty to share," Scarlet said as she forced him into a seat in the kitchen before she went to a pot that was on the stove getting out a bowl before ladling soup into it. She turned back around passing Tom the bowl before getting a spoon out then sitting across from him.
"Where have you been the past seven years, I thought you were dead when you left us," Scarlet said as she passed over the spoon.
"Military, I went into special forces then got picked up by freelance for a very short time, before that I was working anything I could," said as he ate the soup, he slowly warmed up, it tasted good, he didn't know if it was simply seeing Scarlet again or if it was the soup but he almost felt young again. Well a child at the least, he was nowhere near being old.
"Did our parents not teach you a single thing, they said never to go into the military, it's a death sentence." Scarlet said as she shook her head.
"You did say I was never good at listening, yknow this is good, im see why you opened a shop." Tom said, Scarlet let out a sigh before giving a slight smile.
"I'm glad somebody enjoys it, there's so few customers that come through here. A lot of times it's just little military excursions or it's the House guards. Jeez I hate them sometimes, half the time they don't pay since they're part of the House," Scarlet said as she spoke with annoyance waving her hand up in the air as she complained.
"Wait, if you were part of the freelance group and no longer are, what are you doing now?" Scarlet asked.
"Oh um, I deserted and now part of the rebellion," Tom winced as he said it before he looked towards Scarlet who just shrugged.
"So is Morgan, I don't care that much and you guys can always stay here if you ever need to just don't die." Scarlet said, there was a jingle from the door back in the front of the shop.
"Probably just a straggler escaping the cold, I'll just go look," Scarlet said as she got out of her seat going to the front of the store before there was some chatting before she walked back. Tom finished the soup as he got up washing the bowl before setting it to dry, he went to the stove leaning on the counter next to it. He heard footsteps coming back as Scarlet came back as she leaned against the table, following behind her was a house member and two house guards. Normally HADES mercenaries would be guarding House members but clearly this wasn't the case.
"Thank you for letting us stay, it's very cold out there tonight," the House member said as he sat down, a guard walked past Tom before standing to his left side, the other guard stood a distance away from Scarlet as they looked around. "So you two, what are you doing here, I do hope we weren't interrupting?" The house member asked, Tom felt himself tense up as he spoke, the guard to his left shifted silently as he rested his rifle on his sling.
"Just trying to outlast the storm for the night, then he's going to return home and I will continue to work in my kitchen." Scarlet said back to the house member.
"Is that so, well I can ask if you are working in the military sir?" The House member asked Tom as he looked towards him.
"Yes sir, I work for the freelancer company," Tom said as he shifted uneasily, he could see the tension in Scarlet's arm as one of her hands trailed under the table.
"Hm, do you have any ID for that?" The house member asked, Tom reached into his back pocket as he took out his wallet with the badge he had received from the freelancer base. The house member nodded to the guard as he snatched the wallet and looked at the ID, he stared at it intensely before he took a device out of his pocket before sliding in the ID before it beeped and let out a buzz.
"ID says what you said is true, but it says you're MIA soldier, you're a deserter!" The guard yelled out as he went to grab Tom. A loud bang sounded in the room as the other guard fell, the one going to grab Tom looked over to see what happened. Tom glanced behind him to see a pan on the stove, he grabbed it before swinging at the guard. It hit him hard as he startled back, there was a sickening pop as it hit. Tom looked over to Scarlet who now had a shotgun in her hands, the guard was missing a visible chunk out of his side. Tom looked back at the one he hit before seeing him swing at him, Tom held up the pan as the guard punched it. The pan made a clang as the guard yelled out in pain but Tom couldn't hear this, his ears still ringing from the gunshot. Tom turned the pain to have the side of it outward as he swung again, this time into the guard's rib, the guard caught the pan. He pushed the pain back towards Tom as he reached for his pistol, raising it up, Tom caught his hand as he pushed him forward into the table. Another shot rang out as the guard shot his pistol into the floor, Tom fought against as he reared his head back.
"Welcome to Sampi, now let me show you our hospitality and culture with a Sampi kiss," Tom yelled out as he swung his head forward headbutting the guard. It hurt Tom's head to do so but it definitely did more damage to the guard as he dropped the gun. A third shot much louder than the previous one, Tom glanced over to see Scarlet finishing off the guard with the shotgun but the House member was now coming up behind her. Tom heaved the pan in his hand as he pulled away from the guard, he threw the pan as it hit the House member in the back of the head, he stumbled as Scarlet whipped around. She flipped the shotgun over as she grabbed it by the barrel before smacking the house member with the end of it. Tom turned around to see the guard already get back up and swing at him, connecting his fist to Tom's jaw. There was a nasty pop as Tom reaned back as he rubbed his, he looked back up to see the guard swinging again, Tom blocked it, his arm ached as it hit hut he swung back hitting him in the gut. He lurched back, Tom looked at the table as he spotted a knife, a thick back cooking knife. Tom grabbed for it as he swung back stabbing the guard in the shoulder, he gritted his teeth as the knife stabbed into him. Tom pulled down on the knife as he kicked the guard, he fell back as the knife tore through his shoulder, Tom held the knife as got down to the guard as he raised the knife.
The guard raised his good arm as he pleaded for mercy, NO PLEASE, Tom plunged the knife into the guard's chest before he stabbed again and again. By the time he stopped moving Tom was covered in blood, his hands shaked as he dropped the knife. Tom got up as he huffed looking at the guard, he let out a heavy sigh as he ran his hand through his hair.
"W-well that was fucking intense," Scarlet said as she came up to Tom huffing as she leaned on the gun.
"I don't think it's the worst we've been through," Tom said as he stared down at the body, he could feel his stomach churn before he looked up to Scarlet.
"It's a fucking mess, how in the hell are we going to clean this up?" Tom asked as he sat down for a moment.
"We just have to move the bodies somewhere. I have guys who can clean it up without questions just going to have to clean the upper area." Scarlet said as she opened a cellar in the kitchen area as she dragged down the body of the house member. Tom let out a sigh before he got up and grabbed the legs of the guard as he dragged him down into the cellar.
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