The DBs fly around quickly, shuffling from everyone's hands just like they did their cards moments earlier. The only thing filling up louder than their gullets is the laughter and crackles their mouths make. 

No matter how much my mind begs, a bit of willpower keeps my half-cup empty. Cliff's willpower isn't as strong as he goes for his second can. Even though DBs won't get you drunk, they will make you wheezy after a few. Most of them start showing off the effects quickly.

The constant insult jokes towards everyone come faster than the DBs would sink into Hardcase's chest. Each person stabs their teammates in the back. The more they do the funnier they get. I even throw in a couple myself if only for the same reason as before. 

I didn't think the room can fit all the laughter, along with the sounds of the clanking of cups, cans, and bottles. Joltxs, who's already half done in the head, somehow gets everyone's attention by climbing to the top of the large cafeteria table and speaks

"Hey, everyone, let's do the untold sea shanty," Everyone frantically nods their heads as their legs rattle like tails in anticipation as he pours the lyrics into his can as if it is a microphone.

"Ohhhhhhh. There was once a mighty captain who sailed across the seas. He battled countless monsters and brought them to their knees. He bled in the sweat and then bathed in the gold. Oh, how the story unfolds. Oh, how the story unfolds."

Their eyes all then flock to me. Even knowing that everyone always wants to hear it sing whenever we drink, the battle-axe they want to come out and play rests back command post. To think I've only had half a cup, but it feels like I have drunk an entire liter.

I try to explain that to them, however, all their pupils start shifting from a view toward my shadow while their mouths begin struggling to hold in something fierce. I don't put two and two together before I feel the legs of a spider, patting themselves on the surface of my hair. 

My heart shoots itself back, bringing the chair to the floor which just makes their howls come out even louder. Even Buzzard who hasn't partaken in a single drop laughs just as loud from his tablet. Only then, do I see not a spider, but the fingers of Ethan. He must have left during the convention of insults. My brain is ashamed that I haven't noticed till now.

"We got you good, didn't we," Hardcase blurts out while nudging Heavy and Joltxs in the shoulders. "There's that smile you always give. I just wish we could get it to come out more as your little wielder can." 

"I will admit you had me. However, you better watch yourself, next time pal." He slams a DB into his windpipe and laughs even louder. 

"Hopefully that little fun helped lift your spirit," Silverback says, gently patting my backside. "Plus, how else are we going to do any sea shanty without this." He then tosses me my battle axe which almost slips through my still sweaty hands.

Silverback or Ethan is someone admittedly, I don't know much about compared to the other Ragtags. However, every time I see his movements, posture, and aura, It's something, unlike the rest of them. Broad and stiff but somehow concealing elegance and potency. It has a lingering past to it, a past all too familiar. 

It's no different for him walking back to his seat with a cheeky smile. My eyes can't fathom why they're the only ones that can see, while everyone's eyes wait pleasantly like flowers waiting for the wind to carry their pollen for the battle ax to sing.

Not wanting to keep them waiting, my fingers start to do their magic. I pull each string like rubbing lotion onto the skin. I treat it with care, and it does the rest. The guys aren't disappointed as Heavy starts knocking on the table and Cliff to the nearest tile. All to make a melody that has Joltxs surging more than he already is. 

I consider calling him a spark plug as he starts to climb onto the table once more, pouring his heart out to our beat.

"Oh, there was once a mighty captain who sailed across the seas. He battled countless monsters and brought them to their knees. He bled in the sweat and then bathed in the gold. Oh, how the story unfolds. Oh, how the story unfolds."

His voice stops to let our newly formed atmosphere linger in the air. Until Hardcase takes it upon himself to pour into his can next.

"He was once a fragile, wee little thing. All at the age of three. He penny-pitched anything he could, overstretching among his sleeves. Until he saved up for a darling ship and a loyal mighty crew. Oh, how the story unfolds."

Both Joltxs and Hardcase's mouths start taking turns pouring lyrics into their can

"He sailed across entire maps and soared throughout the land."

"Britain's, De Italians took notice, all wanted him dead."

"He took the hats from their heads"

"And the skin from their bones."

Both sing in single harmony as they yell, "Oh how the story unfolds."

Everyone else who isn't singing starts clapping their hands and slowly joins their voices into the fray. That's my cue to start running the strings even faster.

"He was such a man who made the waves his home. Slaying any woman or child that he thought did wrong. He watched his own crew jump and just sang to the song. Oh, how the story unfolds."

"Only if he would have known!!" Everyone looks at Buzzard, thinking he just shattered his teeth with that opera high note. I guess that shows everyone's in the spirit. Everyone knows the final verse is incoming, so everyone sings. This time I make sure that includes their commander too.

"There was once a mighty captain who sailed across the seas. He battled countless monsters and brought them to their knees. He bled in the sweat and then bathed in the gold. Oh, how the story unfolds. Oh, how the stories have been told. Oh, how he wishes, it wasn't soooo."

Just as any group of sailors would after a good sea shanty, we clank our cups and cans of DB together into the night as if we were floating on a summer's sea. For now, at least, until Lincoln sends us back to base to rest before another assignment, which is always a day for potential bloodshed. 

For once, I can hear only the laughter and the joy of smiles floating around me, with nothing doubtful lingering nearby. Cliff was right. We all needed this; I needed this. 

It comes as a surprise for our ears to then perk up at a buzzing noise, raking on them like a pile of leaves. We all turn to see its shouts violently from Buzzard's tablet.

"Turn that damn thing off, Buzzkill," Hardcase yells. "This is a party after all." Buzzard pays him no mind.

"Hmm, it seems that one of the motion sensors has been set off near the east fencing."

"Probably just a squirrel or something," Joltxs remarks, shoveling another cup of DB down his throat.

"Possibly, however, it could be a malfunction or an unwanted vagrant. And as Joseph suggested, it's preferable not to have those in front of the signet warrior as he's soon to be arriving."

His voice matches his long face which is now colder than the scales in his goggles. He brushes through all of us quickly. His eyes never leave the tablet nor do my eyes leave him. They share the same sense of duty, and we owe much to a signet warrior. Especially for Lincoln.

"Nonsense, Buzzard." Ethan groans with a shaky voice. "We wouldn't want to worry about all the good fun we'll lose by us being separated.

"He does bring up a good point. To make things go quicker, how about I accompany you, Buzz?" 

Only for a moment, as my words stop him inches from the door, do I see inside his eyes. They are shinier than glass, yet they seem just as fragile. They sink right back into his tablet just as fast.

"Hmm, now that you mention it, a little company would be nice to cover my rear."

Right on cue, his last words spring me up slowly like an old catapult, only disturbed midway by Cliff's squeezer.

"Don't worry, Arrowson, we just got your shoulders to loosen up a little. You should relax, let one of us go with Buzzard." His hands slowly push me and my shoulder back down. 

Silverback then claims, this time around, in a voice more noticeably shaky than before, that he still thinks this is nothing we should be sending ourselves to check up upon. And that we're better off continuing our little drinking session while we still have a bit of time.

"What time?" Hardcase remarks, drowsily. 

"Just...time...for us to be together not as soldiers, but as friends."

"All right then, Silverback. Why don't you go with Buzzkill if you worried so much, huh."

"Fine," Ethan huffs following a disheartening nod. His back snaps the chair right into shape and our mouths are left to hang on the floor while he retrieves his XCDeta 3 from a pantry.

It is a plasma rifle, heavy near the grip, and a bit lighter near the handle. Its creases glow light blue through dark black. Being highly affected at close range, it's perfect for a silverback. He even holds it over his shoulder like an old musket. Or as we imagine it, a Silverback Gorilla, hence his nickname. That only leaves one uneasy feeling behind me. 

'Why wasn't his main weapon stored with the rest of ours within the vault?'

Worse off, unlike Buzzard, I can see the slight shakiness in his body. Something is troubling him—and I don't believe it is Hardcase's insult.

"Everything all right there, Ethan?" I ask him, his body trembling more than ever.

"Of course, Joseph, just the DB's making me a bit frazzled, that's all. Y'all, just make sure Hardcase keeps a can warm for me."

His words were directed at everyone, but his eyes were deadlocked on me. The cans he's referring to are the ones lining themselves up like bowling pins in front of Hardcase. Joltxs is the only one coming in close with four.

"Don't worry, Silverback. It won't take long. Buzzard says. "And try not to choke yourself to death, Hardcase, before we get back."

As he looks back at us, it's one of the only times everyone gets to see something inside his eyes. I can see two oily mouths of a black reptile somehow glimmer in their reflections. This is only the second time I've fully seen an image within those frames. I can't bear to look into them to see another.

"Ha-ha, jokes on you, Buzzard, DB's couldn't kill me if they tried hahaha." Their legs are faster out the door than Hardcase's hanging laughter. With that everyone slowly goes back to the clanking of toast and the drowning of fluids as if they never left. I still don't go for the second half.

My mind just ponders into the empty cup as my brain feels like Ethan before he left. After fighting alongside him for over a year, the possibility of what his past could be, always makes me feel unbalanced in a never-fading burst. Still, I try not to doubt his character. I try not to doubt anyone of their characters. I trust them, and as their commander, I can only hope to live up to their expectations. So, they can trust me too. 

However, my gut tells me to go with them even if Cliff and the others refuse. Ethan was off at that moment more than he already was. His eyes looked like they were speaking to us for the last time as if they knew we were all going to die. I jiggle my smoker from my belt at such thoughts.

One minute, five minutes, eight minutes, then ten minutes. It all goes by so fast, yet their seats are still empty. At this point, Heavy is reading out loud his poetry while Joltxs uses the empty cans as bongos.

"Say, is everything all right, Arrowson?" Cliff whispers, trying to still listen to Heavy's bloodbath.

"It's Ethan and Buzzard. It's been over ten minutes. They should be back by now."

I apparently shout loud enough to take the attention away from Heavy's words. Now it feels like I've drinking an entire gallon.

"No need to be so paranoid, Joseph," Hardcase mumbles even more drowsy now, taking another sip of heaven in the process.

"Indeed, as my drinking friend mumbles, they're probably on their way now," Heavy claims as if he wrote the outcome in one of his poems. To my relief, my communicator, a small, little thing, then starts buzzing through my flak jacket. My hands quake as do my words as I hold down the button.

"Commander Joseph here...what's taking you guys so long?" I try to say in a joking manner. "Your drinks are dwindling here."

A few seconds remain silent until sounds of panting, muffling, screaming, and running through what I can assume is dirt come headfirst. All combined to form a song from bloody hell that all came from Buzzard's voice. The communicator goes abruptly silent and so does the room. I bet everyone's mind can't come to terms with what they are imagining through Buzzard's eyes. 

It is universal all around. None of us dare our mouths to utter a single word.

"Maybe that's them trying to pull a fast one on us," Hardcase blers trying to make his voice bounce through the room. "Like what Silverback did to me last time."

"Hmph, you're right. I never did see such bigger shit come from you," Heavy crackles.

"Ah, shut it you croaking weasel, hehe."

They both try to laugh and let out a single chuckle, even Joltxs tries laughing up a storm along with them. It all ends up being jitters until silence overwhelms their attempts. Only me and Cliff are trying to plug each other's pieces into one another's minds only for the pieces to keep falling back down.

If there's still anything left in us, it all flies south as roaring bangs start forming from the front gate. We all look at each other, hoping the fear and paranoia is getting to us. That dream shatters once the beeping goes off on Cliff's tablet alerting him to detection being present near the front gate. Now everyone's eyes glue themselves to me.

I slowly motion them all to the main hallway. Doing so feels like walking into an empty mansion. A glorious chandelier hung down to greet the commoners, but no voices followed behind it. In reality, we have rows of ceiling lights in pairs of two spread out from the entrance towards its post. 

The thing separating us from the entrance gave us a few feet of distance. Luckily, we only had to be at the post to open the door. My fingers quiver along with the button as they both slowly push down, anchoring up the door