Fatal | The Second Life I [COMPLETED]

Chapter 32: Deal

     "So, we gotta find out where Ronnie went, right?" I ask JP. We sit down in the store, waiting for the others.

     "Correct." He says. "Maybe he knows where to get some beans." I laugh, remembering that joke. He's trying to lighten the situation, and I like it.

     "Maybe." I giggle, holding the crossbow. "We need a map. Which one had it?" I ask.

     "Me." JP says, fiddling in his pocket and holding out the map. I follow him to a table, and he lays the map out on it. The paper unfolds and rolls down the table, before a map of Manhattan was presented.

     "He said 56th and 5th." I say, following the map. I first found our hotel, and then the elevation festival center, and finally where we were now. We were on the west side of Central Park, near the Natural History Museum.

     "There." JP says, laying a finger on an intersection. I look at it, and it reads 56th and 5th. It was just south of Central Park, on the other side of the festival.

     "We gotta go there?" I say, putting my hand to my head. It was back into the hell we had just ran out of. "He couldn't go anywhere that was more convenient?"

     "I'm guessing he didn't have much of a choice." JP replies, looking right at me. "If Ashley is dead, he's probably too scared to leave the house."

     "Maybe." I mutter. "God, I can't believe she's dead."

     "Me neither." JP admits, pointing the gun downwards and his brow furrows. "Well, we need to get going."

     "You guys ready?" I hear from Nick, walking towards us with Caden and Zach. Nick was wielding a couple of hunting knives, Caden had a more ranged approach like JP, wielding a hunting rifle chambered in .22. Zach followed them up with a long machete, and a pistol. I recognized it as an M1911.

     "Well, now we're loaded." Colt says. "That's what I'm talking about!" He exclaims loudly.

     "Knives?" JP asks Nick with a laugh. "That's it?"

     "We'll see who's laughing when you're reloading." Nick retorts. "You even know how to use that thing?" JP falls silent, not being able to deny it. "That's what I thought."

     "I'll teach you." Zach says, laying his hand on JP's shoulder. "Don't worry."

     "You suck, Nick." JP mutters.

     "Well, ready to head to the East Village?" Colt asks, turning around and looking at us. He had the beefiest weapon of us all: A MK11 DMR with a vertical grip. He notices the silence among us, and his face turns to a frown.

     "We need to make a stop." I say. Colt looks at me, irritated. "A friend of ours is separated. We need to find him."

     "Oh, Jigoku." He responds. I didn't know what 'Jigoku' meant, but I'm sure he wasn't happy. "For fuck's sake."

     "We're finding him." Nick says to Colt. "With or without you."

     "The audacity!" Colt spits, obviously angry. "I saved your friend here. You are in my debt, you understand?" He sighs. "I could've just left your friend there, you know.."

     "I'll talk to them." I say, and Colt gets a smile.

     "Great." He responds. He walks upstairs, leaving us all there in the aisle.

     "You're not seriously saying we follow him?" Nick questions me, frustrated.

     "He's lived here for a while." I say. "Maybe he really can help us get safe."

     "I'm with Nick on this one." JP states, walking by him.

     "Maybe we can reach a compromise?" Caden asks. "We rest for a bit, figure out where we are. We head out at sunset, and use the darkness for cover."

     "Then we get him and head to wherever he's talking about!" I finish. "That may just work."

     "I'm with Caden and Evan." Zach says, and we all stand facing the other two.

     "Why do you want to follow this guy so bad?" Nick asks us. "He's a stranger. We don't have to repay him for anything."

     "He knows this city better than any of us!" I exclaim. "A map only gets us so far."

     "Exactly." JP responds. "To 56th and 5th!"

     "Guys!" Zach spouts, walking between us. "We can't fight amongst ourselves, damnit! Let's just go with Caden's plan, check out the place, and if we don't like it, we leave!"

     We all fall silent. JP and Nick were thinking hard, as was I. He was right; we couldn't split up. It was debatably the worst thing we could do right now.

     "Fine." I say, wanting to come off as the bigger man in the situation. "We go with Zach's idea. Anyone who doesn't like it.. sucks for you."

     JP scowls at me. "Fine. But if your new pal doesn't like this idea, Nick and I are gonna be out faster than a fatty in dodgeball." Nick laughs a bit. JP did have that power to rise the mood of a room.

     "K." Caden says. "Colt!"

     He descends the staircase, his MK11 clambering around and bouncing on the rails as he stepped down. "Have you come to your senses yet?"

     "We have a deal." I say. He steps onto the floor, walking towards us.

     "Good. What is it?" He asks.

     Caden explains the deal as Colt sits down in a nearby chair. He didn't like it at first, but his body language got better by the end.

     "Okay." Colt says. "We leave at sunset. We get your friend, and we go to East Village. Great. Sunset is around 8 here in this time of the year. That means a 7 hour wait." He breathes. "If we do this, we need a car. That's a longer distance than you'd think."

     "Where do we get a car though?" JP asks skeptically.

     "I'm glad you asked." Colt replies. "Get ready, we're heading for 11th Avenue. I can tell you'll love it. They've got Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Alfa Romeo.. so amazing."

     "What is Alfa Romeo?" Nick asks.

     "You guys are from Tulsa, you said?" Colt asks. We shake our heads yes. "Let's say that Manhattan has more exotic cars than Tulsa."