~~Holiday Special (Day 1/7, Page 5/6)~~
Fortunately, Gina had a variety of underlings to help her sift through everything. Less fortunately, everyone involved had gotten a lot more from this job than they bargained for. After a while, a few of them outright refused to help her, and she couldn’t really blame them, either.
The problem was what some of those normal people in the recordings were talking about. Oftentimes, there would be long conversations of trembling voices trying to console one another, if not merely bemoaning their wretched fortune. All of these people were trapped in that place with at least a half dozen psychotic murderers. Horrifically, one audio log had even captured the agonized screams of someone who was probably being killed.
Listening to all of these things, interspersed between gigantic bouts of nothing important whatsoever, was more than some of her employees could bear.
As for herself, Gina had mainly been listening to the King’s chamber, but there hadn’t been anything noteworthy since mention of Karkash being able to control magnetic fields. Abolish clearly didn’t care to tell the King anything of importance.
Apparently, they weren’t really after Hector, either. They didn’t seem to count him as a credible threat, since he was so greatly outnumbered. A few of the servants had expressed interest in hunting him down, but none of them had any idea where to look and causing trouble just to bait him out of hiding would hinder their greater warmongering efforts.
None of this information was worth a phone call to Hector, she felt. She was waiting on more valuable details regarding their abilities or their movements.
Having more or less given up on the King’s chamber, she spent most of her time browsing through all the different available audio feeds.
Abruptly, Karkash’s voice came over the wire. <“What is it?”>
Gina perked up in her chair.
-+-+-+-+-
“Turn that frown upside down,” said Nola. “You get to go with us to Harold! Aren’t you excited? I know I’m excited.”
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every day at noon PST by ~400 words.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Page 422
~~Holiday Special (Day 1/7, Page 4/6)~~
“Are you sure you understand?” said Colt. “This is important. If you call me Jeremiah, OR if you text me, then I’ll know you’re contacting me under duress. And moreover, I’ll know to expect some type of trap.”
“Alright, um.”
‘We understand,’ said Garovel.
“But, uh... what if, uh... if you’re the one under duress?”
“That wouldn’t happen, since you’d be the one calling and not me. But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have a plan for that, too. If I’m in trouble but can’t say so, then I’ll do the opposite. I’ll call you Mr. Goffe.”
“Er. Okay.”
From there, the meal and conversation both drew toward their conclusions. There was no more putting it off.
Everyone said their farewells, and Hector and Colt shared a firm handshake. On foot, Hector followed the Pontiac up the ramp and out into the early afternoon sun. He offered a last, sweeping wave goodbye as he watched Colt drive west toward Walton. A cloud of yellow-brown dust followed in the car’s wake, lingering for a while after it was gone.
‘Welp,’ said Garovel after a spell. ‘Looks like it’s just you and me again.’
“Yeah...”
‘It’s okay. They were cramping our style, anyway.’
Hector smirked and started back down into the bunker. “So what do we do now?”
‘Still waiting on a call from Gina. Hopefully, she’ll have some information for us soon. In the meantime, you should sleep. We’ll get back to training in a few hours.’
“Alright.”
-+-+-+-+-
These past couple days had been hellishly dull. Listening to the audio recordings out of the castle was more than a full-time job, yet somehow still mind-numbingly tedious. Whenever Gina slept, that meant she would be several hours behind upon waking up, and even with fast forward, trying to listen to every recording from every room she’d tagged was an organizational nightmare. A solid ninety percent of the recordings were either complete silence or just normal people talking to each other.
“Are you sure you understand?” said Colt. “This is important. If you call me Jeremiah, OR if you text me, then I’ll know you’re contacting me under duress. And moreover, I’ll know to expect some type of trap.”
“Alright, um.”
‘We understand,’ said Garovel.
“But, uh... what if, uh... if you’re the one under duress?”
“That wouldn’t happen, since you’d be the one calling and not me. But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have a plan for that, too. If I’m in trouble but can’t say so, then I’ll do the opposite. I’ll call you Mr. Goffe.”
“Er. Okay.”
From there, the meal and conversation both drew toward their conclusions. There was no more putting it off.
Everyone said their farewells, and Hector and Colt shared a firm handshake. On foot, Hector followed the Pontiac up the ramp and out into the early afternoon sun. He offered a last, sweeping wave goodbye as he watched Colt drive west toward Walton. A cloud of yellow-brown dust followed in the car’s wake, lingering for a while after it was gone.
‘Welp,’ said Garovel after a spell. ‘Looks like it’s just you and me again.’
“Yeah...”
‘It’s okay. They were cramping our style, anyway.’
Hector smirked and started back down into the bunker. “So what do we do now?”
‘Still waiting on a call from Gina. Hopefully, she’ll have some information for us soon. In the meantime, you should sleep. We’ll get back to training in a few hours.’
“Alright.”
-+-+-+-+-
These past couple days had been hellishly dull. Listening to the audio recordings out of the castle was more than a full-time job, yet somehow still mind-numbingly tedious. Whenever Gina slept, that meant she would be several hours behind upon waking up, and even with fast forward, trying to listen to every recording from every room she’d tagged was an organizational nightmare. A solid ninety percent of the recordings were either complete silence or just normal people talking to each other.
Page 421
~~Holiday Special (Day 1/7, Page 3/6)~~
Hector helped load the bags into Colt’s chosen vehicle, a midnight blue Pontiac. Afterwards, they shared one last meal together. It was a rather quiet repast, like all the others, but after a while, Colt broke the silence.
“Don’t die,” he said.
Hector looked up. “What?”
“When you’re out there,” said Colt. “Don’t die.”
Hector just tilted his brow at him.
Colt nodded toward the twins. “I want them to meet Uncle Hector when they’re actually old enough to remember him.”
His eyes widened at that. His mouth opened, but he didn’t know what to say. He glanced at the reapers, who both started laughing, which only made Hector flush red.
‘We’ll do our best,’ Garovel said in Hector’s stead.
Colt reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “I’ll get myself a new one to use for other things, and I’ll keep this one in reserve just for you guys. If you ever want to come find us, just give me a call.”
‘Alright.’
“Don’t lose the number. I’m guessing your phone will get destroyed one way or another, so keep my number some other way.”
‘I’ll remember it.’
Colt cocked an eyebrow at the reaper. “You’ll remember? Even if it’s five years from now?”
‘Oh yeah. Don’t worry.’
‘We have very good memories,’ said Bohwanox.
Colt gave a nod.
“W-we should, ah... we should have a code.”
Everyone looked at Hector.
“I mean, uh, y’know... just in case... because... I don’t want a repeat of... before.”
There was a brief silence, and then Colt said, “That’s a good idea. We’ll keep it simple. I won’t contact you at all from now on. You’ll call me if you want to talk. No texting. Speak directly to me or leave a voice mail. If there’s something wrong, but you can’t tell me what it is, for whatever reason, then use my first name. Jeremiah. That’ll be our code.”
“Uh. O-okay...”
‘Jeremiah,’ confirmed Garovel. ‘Got it.’
Hector helped load the bags into Colt’s chosen vehicle, a midnight blue Pontiac. Afterwards, they shared one last meal together. It was a rather quiet repast, like all the others, but after a while, Colt broke the silence.
“Don’t die,” he said.
Hector looked up. “What?”
“When you’re out there,” said Colt. “Don’t die.”
Hector just tilted his brow at him.
Colt nodded toward the twins. “I want them to meet Uncle Hector when they’re actually old enough to remember him.”
His eyes widened at that. His mouth opened, but he didn’t know what to say. He glanced at the reapers, who both started laughing, which only made Hector flush red.
‘We’ll do our best,’ Garovel said in Hector’s stead.
Colt reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “I’ll get myself a new one to use for other things, and I’ll keep this one in reserve just for you guys. If you ever want to come find us, just give me a call.”
‘Alright.’
“Don’t lose the number. I’m guessing your phone will get destroyed one way or another, so keep my number some other way.”
‘I’ll remember it.’
Colt cocked an eyebrow at the reaper. “You’ll remember? Even if it’s five years from now?”
‘Oh yeah. Don’t worry.’
‘We have very good memories,’ said Bohwanox.
Colt gave a nod.
“W-we should, ah... we should have a code.”
Everyone looked at Hector.
“I mean, uh, y’know... just in case... because... I don’t want a repeat of... before.”
There was a brief silence, and then Colt said, “That’s a good idea. We’ll keep it simple. I won’t contact you at all from now on. You’ll call me if you want to talk. No texting. Speak directly to me or leave a voice mail. If there’s something wrong, but you can’t tell me what it is, for whatever reason, then use my first name. Jeremiah. That’ll be our code.”
“Uh. O-okay...”
‘Jeremiah,’ confirmed Garovel. ‘Got it.’
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