An Apocalyptic Invasion

finding diamond ore (pt. 2)

While building the entryway, I noticed a hole next to the building.
"Hazefhur."
He placed a log and turned to me. "What's up?"
"Do you see the hole in the ground?"
He came to my side. "Where?"
I pointed to it.
He frowned. "Interesting. What could be there?"
"Should we go check it out?"
He glanced at the structure, then shrugged. "I don't see why not."
As soon as I glanced inside it, I saw a glimmer.
"Are there... gems down here?"
"It seems like it." Not being able to contain his excitement, Hazefhur scrambled downwards and ran into the small cave.
Following him, I saw the abundance of diamonds that were around us.
"Carlos must have been mining out of boredom and struck gold," he said.
"What do we do with all of this?"
"Help him, of course." Using his claws, he carefully carved through the stone until the diamonds were completely exposed.
I did the same, and soon we had around fifty piles of diamonds.
"Pretty sure everything is mined out," I said. "Let's bring it back outside."
We set the piles near the entrance to the building, then set flame to the grass so Carlos could bring it inside later.
Then we set to work on the foundation. It was octagon shaped, so there would be space for the fighting humans to run around and get destroyed.
We made bleachers out of stone that overlooked everything. The entire thing was around a thousand feet by a thousand feet- in other words, it was pretty large.
Hazefhur and I finished a wall and stepped back. "I think the overall thing is done."
"I agree," Jhaufyther said. "All we need to do is finish the roof, add some sand, and we're done."
"I saw a beach as we were flying over here," Lhrioun recalled.
"Can you watch over this?" I asked Carlos.
He nodded. "Yeah, sure. Don't worry about it."
"Thank you."
When we touched down onto sand, we saw some animals and decided to incinerate them (you know, for fun.)
Then we ate them, and gathered up some sand and brought it back to the arena.
Jhaufyther dug out the ground using his wings, then poured the sand into the corners.
The remaining three of us settled the sand in the middle, making sure that there were mounds.
"And we're done."
I stepped back to admire our work. "That was quick, but it was time well spent."
"True," Jhaufyther agreed.
"The only thing we have left to do is gather the gangs," Lhrioun said. He lashed his tail in frustration.
Carlos gave him a sinister smile. "Don't worry," he said. He unsheathed his claws. "I'll take care of them."

"Todd? Where is the other gang?"
He stared at me. "In the warehouse. You put them there, remember?"
"I know that, but where in the warehouse?"
"I think... in the storage room."
"Okay."
Retrieving the gang members involved knocking them unconscious with a bat and dragging them into the open, where the Catwings were waiting.
I don't know HOW, but Lhrioun brought the cage with him while I was gone. (That speed of light flying sure came in handy for him, Jesus Christ.)
I dumped the members into the cage. "Got the first one."
"Is it two of them fighting, or...?"
"Yeah. It's better that way. I made a friend in the other one and don't really want him to see his friends die."
Clauchice snorted. "One's already in a coma. She's BASICALLY dead."
"Not quite, and I want to keep it that way for a while."
"You have a plan for her?"
"Basically, yes."
"I want it to be a surprise, so I'm not even gonna ask what it is."
Just like the arena on the island, this one had a spot for the people to be in while they were waiting for their turn.
Unlike that one, this one was much larger, and had pre-installed torches on the walls.
With Clauchice's help, I pushed the cage into the arena and into the room where she couldn't reach.
"You're about to experience something VERY fun," I said to the unconscious group.
I went back outside. "When should it start?"
"A few days," Lhrioun suggested. "I want to have the fear instilled in them during that, and by the time they're petrified we let them go."
"I like that," I said. "They'll have more adrenaline that way."
"I'll be the one to do everything," Nova interjected.
I turned to her. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "You are gaining the trust of the other gang. I don't want that to be broken just yet."
"So you're doing this for me."
Her eyes blazed, saying exactly what she meant without any words.
I sighed. "Fine. Whatever- as long as I get to see some of the action."
"Of course."
"Then that's settled."
"Where are you going?"
Clauchice flicked her tail. "Back home. We need to tell the others about this."
"Okay. Um... yikes, I forgot what to say."
"We'll see you in a few days," Jhaufyther promised.
I watched them fly away.
"We're not done arguing about earlier, by the way."
"Why do you want to bring this up? What I said is true."
"I know the others don't want to say this, but I'm not like them."
"I can see that."
"I hate seeing you so depressed, Carlos."
"Oh, now you're saying that I'm 'depressed.'"
"You are." She stepped closer to me. "You don't even care if you die."
"It's more like it just goes to waste. And by it, I mean my life."
"Wouldn't you say that's the same thing?"
I thought about that, then grumbled, "Yes."
"Which makes my point stand."
"Can you ever not be stubborn?"
"I care about you, even if you don't believe it."
I looked at her, and the genuine concern in her gaze made my heart melt a bit.
"Yeah, okay."
"That's more like it. You're the king of hell, the ruler of all evil. Didn't you say that yesterday?"
"Something along those lines, yes."
"Act like it, then."
"I'll do my best."
"Let's go inside."
Jeremy and Dakoda weren't surprised to see her at all. I had a feeling that, at this point, they didn't give a flying fuck about anything.
And I honestly could relate. When you have seen so much weird shit happen, there comes a point where you just don't care about ANYTHING.
Riley was in the lobby as well, and she turned away when she saw me coming.
"I'll handle her," Nova quietly said, seeing her reaction.
"Okay. I'll be with th- my friends."
Leaving her to deal with the storm on the sofa, the boys and I got together to play some COD.
They obviously knew that I was feeling kind of sad, but didn't say anything out of respect for my decision.
It's not like they didn't talk about it with me- they would, but if I was in the mood.
It just goes to show to appreciate the friends you have, because you might not see them for much longer.
After absolutely obliterating them in five matches, we logged out and just... talked.
Being boys, we kind of talked about some stuff.
"Dude, I'm telling you there's no way you can kill a bear with a pebble."
"With enough force you can," Jeremy argued.
"The only force I use is to throw my socks against the wall," Dakoda said. "You need to have some Hercules ass strength to do that."
"Not really," I interjected. "Just swing your arm around and done."
Dakoda snorted. "Easy for you to say. You have SUPERHUMAN strength."
"So? It doesn't mean someone normal can't do it."
"Still." Jeremy leaned back and slung his arm off the back of the chair. "I stand by the fact that you need to be God to kill a bear with a fricking pebble."
"Man, whatever." Dakoda slapped the bed with his palm. "It was a stupid argument anyways."
"Which means I win." Jeremy smiled smugly at him.
I heard a knock on the door and opened it to see Tommy tapping his foot impatiently.
"What's up?"
"I can't with Riley, dude."
I looked back at Jeremy, who widened his eyes dramatically. "Sounds serious. Come on in."
"So what's the problem?" Dakoda asked as soon as Tommy sat down on the bed.
He breathed loudly through his mouth. "Carlos, it's about you again."
"Oh great, what did I do now?"
"That's the thing: it's what you didn't do. She's mad because you didn't even try to argue."
"THANK you," I said, glad that someone agreed with me.
"She was like, 'He should have at least made an effort to defend himself,' and I was like, 'Uh, no?? It seems like he did the rational thing and just didn't want to get into conflict.'"
I leaned back. "Damn, dude."
"The worst part is, she kept blaming you for my decision."
I blew the roof off. "WHAT?"
"Yeah, man. I'm not lying either."
"This is ridiculous."
I literally left in a storm out the room. Clouds were surrounding my entire body.
"Are you actually still blaming me for Tommy's decision?"
"I'm mad because you kept it a secret."
"What part of it do you not fucking understand? I didn't tell you because I respect him, and that's literally bro-code. How could you not know that?"
"He's my boyfriend."
"And he's my best buddy."
Tommy came down the stairs and stood by my side. (Nova was gone by now. I just wanted to put that in.)
"Riley, he was doing what you love him for: being loyal to others. He literally didn't want to keep it a secret from you, but I literally had to bribe him with a hundred bucks to keep him quiet."
"So this whole time, this has been YOUR fault?"
"Yes! You finally realize it!"
Her gaze landed on me, but before she could say anything I exploded again (figuratively).
"What is WRONG with you? I keep trying to be loyal, but you blame every small thing on me. Why? Because I'm a fucking screwup, but so what? I still am loyal to my friends, no matter what.
"And it's really difficult to do that when you become a stubborn prick. I don't know WHY you got angry at me for not arguing, but you already heard that I have been through multiple things, so why don't you give me a fucking break for ONCE and just let me relax?"
All of this came out in a rush, with Tommy looking at me proudly after my rant.
What was surprising was the sadness in Riley's eyes. "You're right," she murmured. "I was just so mad over being left out of things that I didn't think to believe you had to be bribed in order to keep it from me." She blinked at me. "I'm sorry."
I took a few moments to catch my breath, then calmed down. "I forgive you. But next time, please ASK before you make assumptions about something."
For the first time in a while, we actually hugged.
After that, our friendship was back to normal. I was really glad that this worked out because I was getting scared I would lose her as a friend.
(Unfortunately, this type of thing happened a decade later- and it was my fault again. But that's a story for another time.)
A little while after THAT, Tommy pulled me aside.
"You know how Riley doesn't have a dad, and you're basically the closest thing to one she's ever had?"
"Yeah?"
"Well... I wanted to ask you if I can marry her."
This made me happy beyond belief.
"Dude, are you kidding? Of course you can!"
His eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"
"Don't look so shocked. Do you have money for a ring?"
"That's the other thing I wanted to ask you for."
"Alright. Get in the car and I'll take you to the mall."
We went to the same exact place where I bought Riley her bracelet.
After checking it out with cash, we made our way back to the car and drove back home.
Soon after that, we sprinted to Tommy's room, where he carefully but hurriedly hid the bag behind his dresser.
He dusted his hands. "Thanks, man."
"I wanna give you something, since I'm leaving in a couple of months."
I went to my room- two doors down from his- and rummaged through my clothes until I found the money.
I went back and gave it to him. Tommy gaped at me.
"No, I can't take this. How much is in here?"
"Just enough to buy you a house and live your life."
We hugged, then he counted the money. "I'm saving the rest to make an investment. Thank you so much, again."
I smiled at him. "Anytime bro."
Why was I doing this? Well, I would leave when nobody was expecting it. Giving them money would not only give them a head start in life, it would also kind of alleviate any feelings of sadness.
I didn't want them to be grieving for my absence. I wanted them to remember the gifts I gave them before I left.
And it would make it worse because I wouldn't see them for a really long time.
Fortunately, Tommy would end up making a lot more money than I gave him.
We hung out for a while more.
These past two weeks had been crazy, and it was almost the end of August.
As you'll find out soon, it would end with a big bang.