Frenzy & Torch

Chapter 37: New Year

Sabrina, Robert, and Jeff watched TV together in the safe house's living room. Jeff, on the other hand, mostly had his mind on his son. They took cover behind the coffee table when the door suddenly swung open, then let out a collective sigh of relief when they saw it was Elizabeth and Annabelle. They tensed up again when they saw the former was in a bad mood.

"Shouldn't you be on Gladexus right now?" Sabrina asked.

Elizabeth walked into the kitchen and yanked out some sliced ham from the fridge, leaving Annabelle to answer the question. "We were heading there, but the Queen told us the humanitarian work was coming along fine, so she told us to stand down— "

A slice of ham flew by at light speed and put a hole in the wall. "The fucking ham's expired!" Elizabeth yelled.

Robert flew over to the hole and picked up the annihilated ham slice. "How?"

"That's what made Elizabeth go into PMS mode?" Sabrina asked.

"No, it was when we had to ask for directions on the way back. The cellular service is horrible out there and we got thrown off our path by a really big snake. We stopped at a fuel station to get our bearings."

Elizabeth walked into the living room. "And while we were trying to figure our shit out, some dickhead went, 'Hey, are y'all those crazy white bitches on TV?!'"

It took everything Sabrina had to keep from laughing. "Really?"

"I had to keep Elizabeth from slamming a counter on him."

"Yeesh, all things considered, that guy could've said worse."

"I just didn't appreciate what that guy said is all." Elizabeth took a seat next to Jeff with a bottle of whiskey in hand. "Our new orders also say we gotta help the Japanese retake Okinawa."

"What??" Jeff exclaimed.

"Fuckin' political bullshit," Elizabeth muttered as she took a swig of her whiskey.

"What about your families? Are they alright?" Robert asked.

"They're okay, they were moved off Gladexus days ago but nobody sought to tell us, not even Ralemus." Annabelle sighed. "Gladexus will be fine. We have to help the Japanese now."

"Fuckin' bullshit," Elizabeth said. "They can handle that shit themselves, we've helped them enough."

"They're the only big friends we'll have backing us when this is over. Keeyorbie is not going to stick their necks out for us, not now."

"No, seriously, why the fuck is everybody so obsessed with the Japanese?" Elizabeth scoffed.

"Pretty trees and anime," Sabrina said.

Elizabeth's stomach growled. "Can we at least bring in the new year with real food?"

Ten large pizzas were ordered, eight of which Elizabeth devoured. Even with the unbelievable amount of food, she managed to get herself near-blackout drunk. After counting down the New Year's Times Square Ball Drop, Jeff, Sabrina, and Annabelle went upstairs to rest for the night. Robert insisted that nobody help him pick up the trash, leaving him to peacefully linger and do busy work.

Elizabeth was still drinking on the couch sometime later. Annabelle walked by to get her clothes from the dryer, fresh out of a shower and wearing nothing but a towel. She did a double take when she saw the blonde drinking her sorrows away.

"You're gonna kill your liver like that," Annabelle said.

"Don't fuggin' care."

Annabelle noticed the news channel was running a segment where a bunch of bespectacled, grey-haired "criminal psychologists" tried to ascertain why she and Elizabeth were going on a spree of wanton destruction. "You shouldn't be watching that."