Fatal | The Second Life I [COMPLETED]

Chapter 31: Colt

     "Who are you?" Nick asks as we all continue running, and with the sickos down, we make great distance. Colt holds up a stop sign with his hand, and I notice we're approaching a main road. We stop behind the man and wait for his signal.

     He dashes into the street, and we blindly follow him. None of us had any idea where we were going, but it was better then the sickos in the park. We cross into what looks like another section of the park, but I could tell this wasn't the park. There were buildings on this street, not trees flanking us on every side.

    "That's the National History Museum!" JP exclaims quietly. "Place is sick."

     "Not our destination." Colt says, whipping his head around and shushing JP. His blonde locks nearly smack me in the face. "Quiet."

     He continues running, and we continue to follow him. He keeps going past the museum, rounding a corner and turning left. There were mid-sized buildings on our right, and smoke from the impacted tower was taking bigger portions of the sky.

     Colt runs to one of the buildings, opening a door and running in. We start to follow him, but our attention is immediately cut off by a thunderous sound to the south. I run to see an opening through the museum's spires.

     The impacted building was collapsing, with its top floors crashing down into the lower ones. A domino effect follows, and smoke replaces the location completely. A couple explosions were going off by the scene, and I was absolutely petrified. This looked exactly like the videos I'd seen every year about 911.

     Although I don't remember murderous monsters in those older videos.

     I snap out of it and follow my friends inside, being the last one. I grab the door handle and pull it closed. I see where we are, and immediately find out why he led us here. We were at a Patagonia store, with many outdoorsy type things around the place.

     "Clear." Colt says in his accent, hopping up from behind the counter. "We're good for now."

"Before we go further." JP says. "Who the hell are you?"

"Name's Colt." He replies casually. "Grab some stuff. These things aren't going anywhere."

"What do you mean?" Nick asks. "The military has got this under control."

"Ha!" He exclaims. "The American military can't hold them back."

"How do you know?" I question.

His mouth opens a little bit, but he seems to catch himself and say something else. "You saw the same things, correct? They swept through Manhattan in literal minutes."

"I guess so." Caden replies, looking at the impressive weapons collection. "Oh, sick!"

     We kind of branch off, looking at different things. I was hesitating a bit, not sure if looting in the middle of this would get me in serious trouble. I take Colt's word, though. I don't know why, but I just do. Maybe him leading us here have me some trust in him.

I don't want to get a gun. They're way too loud and I just don't like the feel of them. Besides, other than these stores, how common is ammo?

I turn and find a suitable replacement. A crossbow. I reach up and grab the grip and handle of one, pulling the metal bar off the rack and holding it. It had nice weight distribution, and felt secure and easy to hold. I grab a bolt holder and fasten it to the weapon.

"Crossbow?" JP asks, smirking at the end of the aisle. He had a pistol in his hands. "Really?"

"I think you with a gun is the scariest thing I've seen today." I say, and he laughs. "No, seriously. Don't point that shit at me."

"Fine." He says, walking over visibly flicking on the safety. "Give me your lunch money, loser." He holds his hands out in a beggar fashion.

"Sorry, I don't speak broke." I say, laughing. He holsters the gun, making me much more comfortable. I grab some bolts, fiddling around and trying to load the weapon. I'd never used one of these before, and I guess I'd need to figure it out.

My fingers wrap around the cable, after cutting a label and some safety jargon, and stand on the metal rod. I then grab onto the wire, pulling it up with all my might. After a couple seconds it clicks into place, and I release my grip. The wire vibrates, and I load a bolt in.

JP watches as I aim it at a far away wall, and let the trigger go. The bolt flies through the air, and wind blows from it. It lands into a coat on the far wall, puncturing it and lodging into the drywall behind it.

"Well, that's looking good." JP says, looking at the other crossbows. "That may not be such a bad idea after all."

     "If I can load it in time." I say, and he smirks. "Well, I mean, we aren't looking to kill, are we? I'd hate that."

     "If you're forced to.." Colt begins, seeming to have walked into our conversation. "Would you do it?"

     "I hope so." I say with a gulp. It freaked me out, to be honest.

     "I'm hopeful you will be certain." He states flatly. "Or else, good luck. I'm not taking weaklings."

     "Don't worry." I say, and he nods his head . Then, I think of a question. "Where are you gonna go?"

     "We're gonna go to the East Village." He responds.

     "That's in New York, right?" JP asks.

     "It's a borough." He responds, looking at him quizzically. "You all aren't from here, are you?"

     "Can't say we are." I respond.

     "Interesting." Colt says. "One other question. Do you have a faith?"

     My brow furrows, confused. "Umm, no? I mean, JP is a Christian, and I don't know about the other 3."

     "Hm." He says, like he's looking into my soul. "Faith is a nice thing to have. You should think about it."

     "Um, ok." I say non-chalantly.

     He smiles. "Great! Great."