Red Herrings

Chapter 1 - Resident Evil 4

August 22nd, 2021

Being squished between Derek and Sadie wasn't fun, especially since Sadie was half-drunk and Derek was wearing his ever-present scowl.

The girl's breath smelled of alcohol and her restlessness was starting to irritate the other occupants of the vehicle.

Derek was the first to voice his frustration. The space was not big enough for Sadie to be fidgeting around as much as she was and he was fed up.

"Will you chill the fuck out?"

An inebriated Sadie turned to him, grabbing his face with her thumb and index. She looked at him for two seconds before releasing him and flicking him on the nose. Derek rubbed his nose in feign hurt.

"Seriously, Sadie what did you drink?" Aaron asked.

Derek snorted. "You're asking the wrong question; you should be asking her what she didn't drink."

Aaron glanced at her with concern, yet she paid him no mind. She was too busy pinching Derek's forearm, much to his displeasure. She bombarded him with questions about the small rose tattoo that adorned his wrist.

"When did you get it?"

"You were right there when I got it."

"Was I?"

"Yes."

"That's sick"

The look on his face was priceless. The look of a dog-parent if their dog ate its own shit.

"You need to ease up on the drinking tonight." He said, sparing her a glance and handing her his bottle of water before looking out of the window.

"but tonight is my only night off! You know Yamaoka doesn't give days off. I practically had to sacrifice my soul to be here " Her fingers wiggling in his face accusingly.

"Quit being a drama queen" Derek rubbed his eyes.

"I'm not!"

"He's a nice man, you're being impractical."

"My contract says that I," She placed a hand on her chest. "work three days a week, but he calls me." She took a sip of the water. "Every. Damn. Day. Like, what is that about? Doesn't he have like, 10 gazillion grandkids?"

"He has three grandkids." Aaron explained.

"Then why can't they work?!" She threw herself backward onto me and placed the back of her hand on her head.

Komen caught wind of the conversation from the passenger seat and chimed in, "Sadie they're toddlers."

Sadie sat up and stuck her hand out, "Ok? They have arms and legs ."

Nobody payed her any mind after that. Instead all the focus was on Komen and Hasan up front. We'd been driving for about 30 minutes and still looked to be in the middle of nowhere. Although I still recognized where we were, The darkness gave the vicinity an entirely new demeanour. Much the same can be said for the entire town, however they looked like they were at the gates of hell right now.

"Where is this place?" Komen asked their boyfriend, "We're literally driving through a Resident Evil level right now."

Hassan sighed, evidently as lost as we were. "Marvin said it was just around the edge of town."

My eyes immediately shot up from my phone. "Marvin who?"

"The buff one with the lisp."

I couldn't believe my ears.