The Judgement Of Divinity (TMOE #2)

Chapter 14: Sneaky furniture

So much for Ivan being unarmed.

At this point Lucius' mind had settled on a blend of awe and fear when looking at the man, which, according to him, was a damn good emotion to instil upon others.

Ivan then nodded at Lucius to go stand next to the door, and the latter realised he'd forgotten about whatever had caused the door to open.

"Someone's here!" the young man suddenly called out and Ivan decisively smacked him with the firearm again.

"I swear, this one should not have survived this long," he whispered, but Lucius was too busy to reply. Whoever was approaching may not have figured out there were two of them.

"Everything under control?" a familiar voice then asked, and Lucius breathed out.

Unless the one approaching is Tom, I guess.

"It's just this one," Ivan replied, poking the man's already crushed nose with the rifle again as Tom Reed appeared in the doorway. "And a disappointing assortment of disturbing furniture."

Tom acknowledged the room's interior, face scrunching up in disgust.

"Tom? How's Richard?" Lucius leaned forward to catch Tom's attention. "How—How's he holding up? Or did you chase that thing away?"

"No, they're both still out there." Tom frowned while looking around the room. "We were separated though. So if you're done here, we should—"

He paused, gaze landing on the shabby desk and he whispered something under his breath before walking over.

"Might as well not bother. I tried picking the locks but there's something off about them," Lucius informed as Tom leaned down to inspect the worn down desk. "And I mean... I'm not even sure we'll find something of interest in a couple of drawers."

"Well, while that may be true, this isn't quite the desk it's made out to be." Tom placed a hand under the edge of the board, and just as Lucius was about to scold him for once again being incomprehensive he opened up the entire desk as if it was a chest, with the top working as a lid.

Lucius gave the scene a tired look. Why were science fanatics so utterly obnoxious?

"How in the fucking Waste was I supposed to know that?" His voice was as equally dejected as his stare, and Tom glanced over at him with another wrinkle between his eyebrows.

"You're not. That's the point."

"But you're just... Proficient in sneaky furniture, or what?"

"No, I just know them," Tom corrected him, immediately regretting his words. "... I—I know how their group works. They always..."

He trailed off, and Lucius knew better than trying to make Tom speak coherently.

"Tom, was it?" the young man suddenly asked after spitting out some blood, and the aforementioned flinched. "Mr. Waker did say there was a chance we'd run into a Tom."

His mouth twisted into a smirk.

"And his tamed monster... Is that the 'Richard' you were talking about?"

Tom turned his head, an empty look taking over his face.

"Waker is dead." His voice was monotonous, but his gloved hand had reached for the other to grip around it. "Out of everyone, he can't possibly be alive."

"Well, you can believe whatever you want, I guess." The man shrugged, grimacing through the pain. "But why would I lie?"

Tom exhaled through his nose.