OF THE NIGHT ∘ Seth Gecko

06 | Back On the Menu

"What do they want? Knowing that could help us figure a way out of here," Jacob speaks up.

"I doubt that we can just give them whatever it is, or that they will be down for negotiation," I reply.

Tanner starts walking around and looking at the walls. I eye him with suspicion, still unsure of whether I can trust him or not. Like Richie, he's very calm, even excited sometimes, but I guess it's just his nerdy side coming out because he's finally seeing the legends he studied about.

Kate suggests that our presence here annoyed the culebras, but it doesn't make sense. They could have killed us long ago, but we're still here and it's not simply because we're so good at surviving in a hell filled with culebras.

For the first time, Richie says something that I agree with. "Doubt it. You seen the signs outside? This entire club is designed to lure people in."

"And keep them here," Scott adds.

"What is this place?" Kate asks in fear and I clench my jaw. Now that her mood swings are over she can finally understand why I wanted to get out of here so much, I think bitterly.

Tanner, who is still walking around, says, "Well, from the markings on these walls, I'd say this bar was built on top of a temple. Like the Spanish conquistadors did with Tenochtitlan."

"Okay," Seth says and gestures at Tanner, "Indy with a cock-gun. What kind of temple?"

Unfortunately, the answer is, "The kind where people come and make offerings to the Vision Serpent."

Kate looks at the floor and asks. "Blood offerings?" I follow her gaze and see the cracks on the floor that lead to a small, circular opening. Blood is running through the cracks and flows to somewhere under us. "If it's blood that they want," Kate says and starts circling the opening, "they're gonna want more, soon."

Tanner takes a paper off the wall. "She's right. The glyphs are right here on the walls. Ugh, these ancient pre-Mayan cultures are amazing engineers. This isn't just a bar or a temple," he then walks back to us. "This place is a giant people juicer."

"People juicer?" Kate asks. "For who?"

With raised eyebrows, I look at her and say, "Do you need a recap of everything he just told us? Because the answer to your question starts with 'cu' and ends with 'lebras'."

Kate purses her lips and we turn the attention back to Tanner, who says something that I can't understand. Apparently, I'm not the only one, because Seth asks for him to explain it in simple English.

"What I mean is, there's a pecking order; one group ravages the herd and sends the prime cuts to the next group."

"Hookers feed the pimps, pimps feed the capos, capos feed the bosses - I get it." Seth says. "What I don't get is how do we shut it down?"

"I don't know," Tanner replies. "I do know who's on the menu."

His stupid last sentence makes me want to snap at the older man. He doesn't need to state the obvious. What annoys me most is that Tanner isn't trying to use what he knows to help us find a way out of here or a way to win over the culebras when they'll come. He's just excited and it's exactly why I decide not to trust him to save or help us.

"Seriously, dude?" Scott says and steps forward. "You need a Ph.D. for that?"

My eyes widen when Tanner says, "You're one rude little bastard."

Jacob immediately comes to stand next to his son, his defensive mood on again.

Seth stands up and raises his hands. "Okay, relax. Everyone take it easy, okay? Now, look, I get that we're all a ragtag bunch of rambles here. But my guess is tonight's not gonna have a Scooby-Doo ending. So, whatever beefs we got, forget them, or else we're all gonna get juiced." He says and glances at me. "Or worse, end up like the Cisco kid did earlier."