2

Every face in the entire bar was drawn towards Tomás and myself, each one warily hostile as though we had bombs strapped to our chests that could blow at any moment.

It was a fitting comparison... after all, they'd been told that we were the terrorists who had deployed a deadly virus across the globe for some messed-up reason.

The man who held our 'wanted' poster stepped forward, posing the question that we had all been asking Telos ever since our group discovered their true nature.

"...Why?! Why did you sick fucks do it?!" His teeth clenched painfully, the raw emotion was unexpected from such a brawny individual. Figuring that we at least had to try and make a stand, the musician shuffled forwards and attempted to wave it off.

"T-That wasn't us! You're getting it all wrong, it was Telos!! They're putting everyone against each other, trying to cover it all up! You have..." Glancing around at the crowd, even the strippers had stopped dancing to stare in awe at the convergence.

Telling the truth about Telos would get us nowhere... Everyone in America trusted them, willingly hopping into their blood testing camps with the belief that they were being evacuated.

To them, we looked like insane conspiracy theorists or simply just liars. We'd have an easier time convincing them that we were British royalty before they'd accept that we weren't terrorists.

The two burly men simply looked at each other, then exhaled. The one holding the poster locked eyes with me, almost trying to taste how black my karma was.

"So, you're not going to tell us... Apollyon, was the world not enough?! You need your life as well, partying it up like you don't care... like you haven't made us nearly fucking extinct?!"

Hands grabbed at us from all sides, ensuring that we wouldn't make a break for the exit. Everyone around us was screaming at this point, either running outside in fear or brandishing guns in our faces. They were genuinely terrified, all because of what was printed on a single sheet of paper.

My hand rested on the Colt tucked away in my pocket, but I knew in my gut that it didn't feel right. Pulling out a gun against people who thought I was the bad guy, it wouldn't do anything but rile them up.

The best chance we had was to escape the bar as discreetly as possible, but the many bystanders watching us made that impossible.

Just as I was about to give up hope that we would even take one more step on our journey across the states, a lone gunshot fired itself into the ceiling and every pair of eyes turned towards the stage.

Tomás was as surprised as I was; his manager, the grumpy old man whom had been perving on our lap dance was now standing where the underage strippers used to be, clutching a massive double-barrel with an unamused scowl.

"Listen up, scum-fucks. This is my-here bar, and I won't tolerate any brawling bullshit if none of you have the funds to cover the damages. That boy there is my trusted employee, many here today have used his services... Look at him. Does he seem like a damn destroyer of worlds?"

A couple of faces in the sea of ravers turned to observe Tomás, no doubt remembering their time together in the private room. It was true, the Hispanic boy's innocently-startled appearance didn't exactly scream 'big bad corporation', at least not any more than the next guy. If he was really that infamous, Telos would've bothered to spell his name right instead of 'Thomas' anyway.

"If anyone's still got a problem with Triple-D, y'all has a problem with me. Is that fucking understood...? Now, let's get the mood back to what it was before, eh?"

The manager give a nod of affirmation to Tomás, and stepped to the side as the female bouncer from before took to the stage. Intently focused on the accused ex-stripper for a few seconds, she seemed to be trying to communicate something to him.

However, any message that she was trying to get past became lost in an instant, as the intensely-bright stage lights blared into existence and a loud guitar riff droned out everyone's anguished cries as they covered their blinded eyes. The hands adorning us loosened, or at least faded away temporarily.

The smoke machine started spewing an incandescent fog over the unwilling audience, rapidly obscuring everyone's vision as a microphone scuffled in the background. "This is an old favourite, goes out to my new mate... Ding Dong Daddy. Pole dancin' or not, I hope you find your girl..."

I recognised the strange voice as the doorwoman's, although I could barely make out her silhouette for a second before everything was shrouded behind the thick smoke and strobe lights.

She started screeching a painfully out-of-tune pop song as the bar patrons yelled at her to shut up and threw themselves around the confused stage area like a mosh pit.

After a moment of observing the suddenly-onset performance, Tomás grabbed my arm with an excited grin over his face. "It's my manager, he's distracting them for us! Haha, I knew he was a big softie on the inside! Let's go, before the smoke clears!"

Pulling me through the crowd, I couldn't help but look back at the bouncer's deep-voiced solo act, partly in admiration for her commitment to fugitive co-workers, and the rest wondering whether she actually thought that she was good at singing.

Passing by Tomás' manager, the old man patted us on the back as he ushered us towards the side door of the shack.

"You're always welcome here, Ding Dong. Some of us have seen what the Telos institute is really capable of... Don't blame the customers for gettin' pissed like that, though. You know who the real assholes are, so tear them a new one instead."

Widening my eyes in surprise at his knowledge, then narrowing them into an odd respect for the brothel owner, both Tomás and I practically fell out of the secondary exit and straight into the garbage cans as the door slammed shut behind us. We were safe... for however long that would last, anyway.

"C-C'mon, Dan! They won't be trapped in there forever... We need to get going!" Pulling me to my feet, I followed Tomás around the side of the blaring wooden shack and slid to a stop as he crashed straight into the bewildered Alisha, almost dropping her large bag of supplies.

"God damn... Can you guys go anywhere without trying to get yourselves killed?!" I could tell from her exclamation that she'd seen the chaos from the doorway.

Jerking my head towards the station wagon, I pretended that I didn't hear the front door of Apoca-Bliss open and slam shut behind us. "There's no time... Get in!"

Throwing myself into the driver's seat, Alisha fell into place beside me and Tomás somehow landed upside-down in the back as I fumbled to get the keys inserted correctly.

A resounding gunshot into the night was all of the prompting I needed, starting the engine as we instantaneously rocketed away from the apocalyptic dive bar. We were back on the road, but I couldn't count on the rest of the night being any smoother.

That crowd of survivors would no doubt start searching along the route for 'Apollyon', if not today, then tomorrow. We had to find the others before then, stay one step ahead...

Tomás let out a whooping sigh, slumping horizontally down into the backseat with fatigue. "Man, that was close as hell... If you guys weren't there and they came looking for me, I don't know what I'd-"

"You'd have done what you needed to do... We all would've." Glancing back at him and towards me with a hint of a smile, I could tell that Alisha must have been watching over me before, checking whether or not I would pull my pistol out on that crowd. The fact that I hadn't was not an indication of weakness, but cold deduction.

She seemed to approve, anyway. We'd fallen out before because of my inability to make those decisions, and it was my contemplation just then that she needed to see before being able to trust me again. I felt that the moment was right... "Alisha, I have to ask. How-"

My brand new car jutted forward frantically, and my head snapped to the mirror in confusion. We'd been rear-ended... A swerving car behind us roared with rowdy yells, and an assault rifle poked itself out of the passenger window haphazardly. It seemed as though they didn't want us alive for the bounty anymore...

"S-Shit, those guys followed us already?!" Justice for the world or not, they'd went too far... now that we were actively being pursued, it was time to defend ourselves. Reaching into my pocket and almost slapping Tomás with my Colt, he just stared at me for a second before giving a hesitant nod and began rolling down the window.

"How long did it take for me to completely regret this, three minutes? I'll admit... in a messed-up way, I kinda missed this crap..."

Bullets flew past our ride before he'd even stuck his hand out, almost making him throw the entire procedure, but Tomás surprised me by casting his gun-wielding hand fully out of the car and firing between the headlights behind us.

It was no good like this... They were armed to the teeth, whereas we only had a pistol. That's what I thought, until Alisha dove into her holdall she'd thrown under the passenger seat upon entry. I nearly lost control of the steering wheel when she opened the thing.

From damaged pistols to what appeared to be a full-on sniper rifle, the variable feast of weapons inside the bag was almost something you'd find locked away in a SWAT team's headquarters. There were more methods of killing than there were food items in the damn thing...

Pulling out a weird mesh of metal spikes, she couldn't conceal her smirk as she rolled down the passenger-side window.

"You ever seen one of those cop shows? I'm gonna stop 'em before those idiots get themselves killed." Much like a slinky, the spike strip expanded out of the car and fell to the road behind us, narrowly missing the back wheels of our station wagon.

I could hear the screeching associated with the car trying to avoid the device, but it was too late to evade. The strip was fully coiled out now, and their tyres rolled right over with a thud, followed by a low, distant hissing sound.

Checking my mirror, I could see that the puncture had taken hold, and they veered off to the roadside as their car rolled to a stop. We all took a deep breath, and continued speeding down the pitch-black Route 66. I didn't want to jinx it, but it felt over for real this time... at least for tonight.

"Holy... Where did you find all of those guns?!" Tomás peered over her shoulder, somewhat wary of her violent firearm-hoarding habits. She just shrugged, as though they fell into her lap inexplicably.

"Took 'em. There was more than enough trouble on the way here for me to collect this much, plus the abandoned military vehicles helped with the higher-tier additions."

Her face was bright at the mention of her acquisitions, but I forced myself to stay awkwardly silent. I'd searched those same cars along the route to find them empty; she must have picked them clean days ahead of me, the whole ride up.

I didn't feel safe at all, knowing that the angry mob was still out there looking for us. We must have driven for a good half-hour before Alisha told me it was useless to keep running.

"You need to rest, we'll stay in the car for the rest of the night. Besides, we haven't found any of the dead for miles... Let's keep it that way."

Nodding stiffly, I turned my engine off and the three of us just sat there in the darkness for a while. Apparently I was the object of some kind of pity between my two companions, as they shared an uneasy look before Tomás piped up.

"Daniel... You're doing okay, right? With what happened, I mean..."

"..."

I wasn't in the mood to talk about it. The fear of not knowing had been the only thing consuming my mind for the passing days, and I had been looking forward to moving on with the only other people I could care for. However, the musician wouldn't let me wallow.

"Beth meant a lot to me as well, but... you were like her dad. When you told me about what happened with Leo, I remember thinking that the two of you just seemed fated to be your own family. She thinks the world of you, and it was my fault more than-"

"Everything that happened was my fault." I shot at him coarsely, before retracting with guilt. "I should never have left her with Harry in his condition, or put you through that situation at the motel. I should've killed Rayner in the mall before he came looking for us, and definitely before he started all of that Tilt bullshit."

Staring at the dials on the car, eye contact with my fellow passengers was not an option. "But most of all... I should never have brought Blessing with us. That bitch is the reason we're being hunted right now, why Beth was taken from us. Hell, even why Alisha's-"

I froze, and remembered what I wanted to say to the ex-teacher. She copied my movements by avoiding everyone's eyes, but I wouldn't let her dodge the question.

"That's right... Alisha. I have to ask you, about how you're doing. Rather, what you're doing... You lived for that school bus." Staring out of the window, her reflection glanced between Tomás and myself with unknown thoughts.

"I... don't know. I've considered my options, seen you guys fighting that Telos or whatever... If that's what you're asking of me, I'll tell you now that I don't care about any of that resistance crap. It's kind of bitter-sweet, especially after the world has already ended. It won't make me happy, although I'm glad that someone is doing something about them."

I was surprised to hear that, considering that the teacher with fire in her hair was usually in the front row whenever the word 'fight' was used.

"My bus is gone. I could look for the remains, maybe find some closure... Hmm, maybe not. All I know is, I'll definitely find some purpose sooner or later, if I stick around with you idiots. That good enough?"

While the compliment was back-handed, I appreciated the sentiment behind her confused words. Tomás, on the other hand, decided to cheer her up the only way he knew how. Starting to crawl into the space between the two front seats, he undid the first button of his shirt with a wink.

"I know what'll put a smile on that cranky face... How about another dance, 'Lish? This one's on the house, don't worry!"

"T-Tom, what-" Alisha's blank face turned fiercely-red with embarrassment, to which I couldn't contain myself. The laughter felt cruel, but it drew away from the fact that I'd indulged in the same service as well.

"You, and Tom?! Wow, I'm impressed! I thought you said that you were going to 'bring him around', not literally around yourself!"

I should've kept quiet, as Tomás instantly saw the opportunity to violate my dignity along with hers. "Really, Dan? I didn't hear you complaining when I was riding your body! In fact, I thought I felt something poke me for a moment..."

It was Alisha's turn to jab. "Woah, woah, woah! Daniel, did you buy him too?! Wait, 'felt something poke'...?"

Shaking my head free from it, I turned my fury towards the ever-popular stripper. "Oh, that is such a bad lie! Tell her I wasn't... It wasn't... erm... Just shut up, okay?!"

The three of us bickered with each other in the car for a good ten minutes, mostly getting our revenge on Tomás by calling him a slut, and having him lie about our varying degrees of arousal.

I hadn't been a part of such a pointless conversation in a while... The little things that I took for granted, they had been amplified after spending so much time alone. It felt strangely nostalgic to be back with good company again, something I hoped wouldn't change for the rest of this trip.

After we'd agreed never to tell a living soul about what went down in Apoca-Bliss, Tomás was in the middle of gossiping about his handsy clients when I began to hear something oddly uncomfortable.

An overwhelming sense of dread washed over me as my eyes dashed around the car, and everyone stopped talking the moment they saw my face.

"Dan, what's the matter-" Alisha was the second to notice it, probably because she was right beside the thing. The holdall under the car's gearstick was talking... No, there was something inside it.

Pawing through the guns and combat equipment desperately, the teacher found what she had no doubt been praying to hear since the Turpin's Tilt. I honestly couldn't tell whether it was a good sign or a bad one.

Wayne's battered CB radio was emitting some static noise, the frequency must've been tuned to the one that his accompolice Vinnie had on the school bus. After a couple of skips in the audio, it began to become more coherent.

"...czzt... bzzt... make it... ckk... -at radio working. Can anyon- bzzt... Stacie, downstairs- czzt."

I jarred my head towards Tomás, who was already lifting off his sunglasses that he'd received from one of Alisha's students.

The teacher herself was almost expressionless at first, but a single tear rolled down her cheek as her gasps began to mix with a baffled chuckle.

"I... Was that... They said Stacie, didn't they?! Oh my God... Stacie's still alive!!"