Paradise Among Metal

Chapter 12

The gold coins Errid had packed them came in handy.

Mara and the boys decided to spend the night in the Perimeter before venturing on. The town seemed friendly enough, and they wanted to refuel and rest before continuing on to Paradise. Who knows how long it would be before they saw civilization again.

They chose to stay in a motel towards the center of the town. It was the only motel in the Perimeter, so it would make sense that they would choose it. Unless they wanted to sleep on the street.

Mara was quite surprised when the desk clerk of the motel asked them for money.

"How much?" Jacob asked, his brow furrowed.

The desk clerk shrugged. "However much you got. The Perimeter is really the only place where you can spend money, since no one gives a crap in Metal and who knows about Paradise. We have to count our dues somehow."

Mara and Emerson took off their backpacks and dug around in them for the gold coins Errid gave them. Jacob gave the clerk a look of suspicion.

"We're not spending all of it here. We still need new clothes and new supplies."

"You can still convince store owners to give you stuff for free," the clerk replied, adjusting their cat-eye glasses. "Most inkies don't have any money, though if they decide to stay, they can get a job and earn some. There's never a shortage of jobs around here."

"So does that mean we don't have to pay you?" Emerson asked. The clerk laughed.

"No, kid. I'll just take a bag of your all's money and let you have the rest. I'm not that bad of a person."

Jacob placed his bag of coins on the counter, sighing. The clerk slid it towards them, smiling.

"Thank you. In fact, I'll give you all two rooms: one for you boys, and one for the girl." They smirk at Jacob and Emerson. "You two don't mind sharing a bed, don't you?"

Both boys turned a shade of gray.

"Uh, no, we don't mind," Jacob stammed, rubbing the back of his neck.

Mara chuckled. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah...."

The clerk smirked and handed Mara two keys labelled "203" and "204".

"Have a nice stay. If you decide to stay permanently, come talk to me and we can set up a rent system."

The trio thanked the clerk and headed up the stairs to their rooms.

"Man, if the others were still around, they'd never let us live this down!" Jacob said, his face still gray.

"What others?" Mara asked.

"The other dudes of our friend group," Emerson replied. They stopped in front of two doors labelled "203" and "204".

"Friend group?" Mara asked, her head tilted.

"Back when we were still alive, Emerson and I had the same group of friends: a bunch of obnoxious white guys like ourselves," Jacob said. "Back then, we would consider sharing the same bed gay, which was one of the lowest insults one could give back then. Nowadays, we don't really care, but still...."

All Mara could do was stare at him.

"What?! We were straight white boys. It was our job to do shit like that!"

"No, Jake," Emerson said, placing his hand on his shoulder. "You said it."

"Said what?"

Emerson gave him a look. Jacob's eyes widened, and he slapped his hand over his mouth.