The Cult of Glow Snek

Chapter 6

The leaning stranger was a short, brown guy with a goofy smile. His jacket and cargo pants were both covered with green and brown camouflage patterns.

I'd seen him before.

"Uh, hey." Alex recoiled away.

I just stared at him for a second.

"You peeps don't recognize me? Don't you remember the 'do you spit or swallow' thing I did with Lester?" He mimed pointing a rifle.

"Oh, you're that guy." I sighed.

"Yeah, I am that guy. I'm also the one who forged your files and added them to the personnel database with my high-tech wizardry." He wiggled his fingers as if sending out a spell.

So, Lester had help. It wasn't a surprise; Lester didn't seem like the hacker type. This guy didn't seem like it either though, but I supposed not every hacker was a quiet loner in a black hoodie.

"Oh, we appreciate that," she said.

"I'm Rumon." He sat down at the table closest to ours after turning the chair to face us. "Rumon Nazir."

"Alexis Kapoor," she said. "People call me Alex."

"I'm Ricardo Vidal," I said.

"You guys drinking anything?" he asked.

"I'm not," she said. "And . . . please don't call me a 'guy.'"

"Cool, cool." He nodded.

"Whatever's sweet. Maybe a Sex on the Beach, but I don't think I brought my wallet." I patted my pockets to be sure.

"It's alright. Drinks on me," he said.

"Cool, thanks," I said.

"Y'all are investigating the weird shit for the Cult, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"You gotta meet Harold. You really gotta talk to him; I'll introduce you." Rumon got up and walked a couple tables over.

"Not the kind of drink I expected you to ask for." Her lips curved into an amused grin.

"It's sweet and fruity. I like sweet." I shrugged.

"Sorry, it's completely fine. It's just that I've only seen women on TV drink them on like their girls-night-outs, so it's a bit hard to picture a tall bearded guy . . ."

She was smiling. The red and yellow lights caressed the contours of her face. I wanted to capture that moment, but just taking a picture of her would have been really weird.

"Meet Harold." Rumon pulled a skinny white guy in a black Street Fighter tank top and orange winter jacket by the arm.

The guy had a haircut with buzzed sides and a wild mess of light brown on top. He held a mug of beer, and for some reason, he was wearing these aviator sunglasses.

"Listen here, friend, you can fuck right off." Harold spoke deliberately, enunciating every syllable. His voice seemed too deep for his scrawny body. "I haven't agreed to anything, and I sure as hell don't trust these narcs." He pulled his arm free from Rumon's grip, spilling a bit of beer.

"I'm telling you, they're not government, they're cool! Remember that sneaky snake online cult thing I told you I was in? The Cult of Glow Snek. They're with me! They're my fellow sneaky snakes. You said you'd tell them," Rumon said.

"Keep that shit down." I looked around for signs of eavesdroppers.

"Oh, I'mma get you that drink." Rumon got up and headed to the bartender.