Tales from the Wasteland | The No Leaf Clover

Chapter 21

As the cool night sky settles over Midland, the citizens are returning home from work to prepare for the evening festivities. Every night in the city is a celebration of life. Living in this new world is not for the faint of heart. Gloom and death are around every corner, stalking their prey like an ethereal panther. So all citizens celebrate. They celebrate life and surviving another day. The majority of the inhabitants migrate to the center of the city. The day merchants have closed shop and made way for the evening traders. Lights attached to a pole in the center of the bazaar stretch to all the surrounding buildings, creating a tent of reds, greens, blues, and yellows over the shops and town goers.

Adults walk between the shops sipping wine and beer while the children laugh and scream with sparklers, pretending to vanquish the evil lurking right outside the city walls.

The Mouth of Madness is particularly packed with Midlanders this evening, with great hopes of listening to the main attraction. There's only standing room in the bar with many regulars forced to stand outside drinking and mingling with like-minded patrons. Frothy mugs clash against glasses with heavy laughter and cheers enveloping the air around the bar. Prostitutes are working overtime due to the scavengers returning in droves to witness the show only moments away. Word is the scavengers were able to acquire quite a few more materials after the fall of Sandman's tower. Some whisper of ill tidings and dread for the conjurer's potential wrath.

Thanks to alcohol and the warmth of a good whore, the dark theories take a back seat to the current festivities. Their minds and senses drift to the sweet pleasures life offers. So no one notices the hunter clad in his faded leather jacket and trusty side-arms slip into the crowded bar. The 1911 and hand cannon are loaded and restless, itching for an opportunity to wake and send the demons back to the ethereal plane.

Rod's target is seated in the far back of the bar, in a booth alone sipping his favorite cocktail. The hunter slides through the drunk and enamored patrons on his way to the booth. He makes no effort to stay concealed from his target. Rod knows that the hooded figure will be expecting him. The man's reach through the city is far and deep, eyes always watching and ears always listening.

The hunter makes no salutations when he reaches the table. He sits across from the figure, staring coldly into the black abyss that the cloth hood veils. The being holds his decorative wine glass in his right hand while sliding his left index finger around the glass. "I've been expecting you."

Rod remains silent as the voice pleasantly speaks. The figure moves his left hand to the hood and reveals a pale face with white hair neatly pulled back. The fine hair has begun to recede, giving the man a rather wide forehead. He playfully looks at the hunter with soulless gray eyes, smiling ever so gently to expose his long canine teeth. He takes a sip from his thick crimson liquid before speaking again. "Is every meeting going to start this way, staring me down with brooding disgust, hmm?"

Rod continues his silent gaze upon the vampire. The undead being rubs his large nose then crosses his arms waiting for his dinner guest to reply. The world goes silent around the men; to them nothing else matters but this very instant. Not an act of intimidation by Rod but out of pure hatred for the vampire. Their past is littered with countless acts of betrayal, leaving them both outsiders in the realm to the northeast.

Rod musters all his fortitude and strength of will to keep from ripping the beast's black heart from his chest and squeezing it into a paste. The vampire knows this and only acts playful for a second.

"So I take it you have questions that need answering?"

Rod quells his rage long enough to reply to the undead creature, "I have a friend that went missing several days ago. It seems men in the city, including Slade, have succumbed to something. And knowing you, Flyndrik, you already have the answers I need."