Relic-Verse: Champions of Hope

Chapter 36

-- Part 1 --

Creola spun the barrel of his gun while lounging in Netri's chair at the cashier of Living Scenery. The moonlight filtered in through the glass door and windows while Alice perched on a table and watched the entrance.

"Why hasn't Netri come back yet?" Her hands brushed off some dirt from the black jumpsuit she was in.

Creola stopped and looked up at the door, taking note of the time before slowly getting to his feet and making his way over, turning off their display lights and locking the door. "I don't know, Alice..." The bounty hunter coughed up a cloud of smoke before going back and settling into the chair.

"Aren't you worried about him?" Her eyes kept watch on the street outside, half hoping to see the assassin return.

"How about you go check on R and R?"

"They're upstairs and fine. Don't ignore my question."

"If I had ignored you in the first place, none of this would have happened." The bounty hunter kicked his feet up onto the counter and leaned back in the chair.

Alice flexed her hand as her eyes narrowed into a glare, not looking away from outside. "Don't blame me. It would have been worse if you didn't tell him." Creola didn't respond, instead opting to close his eyes and calm his breathing, leaving Alice alone to sit in silence.

The street outside was dark, being so late at night most stores had locked up and put out their lights, but even through the darkness Alice could make out odd shifts in the darkness outside of the shop, setting her on edge.

"Creola... Someone is here." The bounty hunter sat up properly and stared out the front of Living Scenery, tilting his head in confusion before he spotted a large arm-sized flesh colored blade in the top right corner of the window. Creola immediately dropped to the floor, grabbing Alice's hand and pulling her up the stairs of Netri's shop. The girl didn't let her eyes leave the windows until the stairs prevented her from looking at them, while Creola began to rush around and hunt for something amongst Netri's belongings.

"What's going on?" Rose poked her head up, closing the coloring book she had while Revenant rolled his eyes and studied Creola.

"They're here." The bounty hunter found a long metal case stuffed into a drawer, and quickly opened it up, tossing a large rifle to Alice and grabbing a smaller gun for himself.

Alice's heart dropped as she glanced back at the stairway. "No way... How?"

"I don't know- Netri's poking around- they might have caught wind of it..."

Rose widened her eyes in fear, shaking slightly as Revenant grabbed her hand and stood up. "Can we run, or do we have to kill them?"

Creola shook his head, "They have something with them. Something sharp." Alice tilted her head towards the staircase as she heard tapping on the glass.

"They know we are here. They saw us. What do we do?"

Creola grit his teeth and coughed up a small puff of smoke before shaking his head and steading himself. "We get down to Netri's lab. It's a glorified bunker. And the plants within it can help us hold them off."

"So we just hope and pray for survival?" Revenant crossed his arms. "At that point we might as well just die."

"Y'all not going to just die." Creola tossed the boy a gun, prompting him to glare disgustingly at it and drop it. "Come on pardner, give us a hand."