Inhale The Fire • Reg Slivko

•Introduction•

• Third Person's POV•

Australia , 1975

"Bishop!"
She didn't reply.
"Bishop girl!"
Again, no reply.
"Bishop Truett!"
"For God's sake what do you want Liam?"

"Stop petting the tigers and get to the lobby. There's two men who want to speak with you."
Bishop scrunched her eyebrows wondering who the hell could be wanting to speak with her at this time. Everyone knew this was her time she had reserved for the animals she cared for.

With an annoyed sigh, Bishop patted Kupa's head one more time before standing up and exiting the tiger paddock.
"I'll be back Kupa." She called.

As she made it to the lobby she saw two men with suitcases. Each entirely different from the other- Well, appearance wise.
"Can I help you two gentlemen?" She asked kindly.

"Yes. Are you Bishop Truett?" The older man asked.
"Who's asking?" Bishop replied.
"I am Bill Randa and this is my partner Houston Brooks and we are with Monarch-"
"Monarch? I thought that little facade would be run down by now." Bishop chuckled.
"Yes well, not yet." Brooks smiled.
"As I was saying-" Randa continued. "Brooks and I are here to offer you a job on our, um, our expedition." Randa searched for the right word to use.

"Expedition? As in you're next hypothetical theory exploit?" Bishop asked, knowing she was offending them.
"If that's what you'd like to call it then yes. We're offering you a spot on our hypothetical theory exploitation."
"...let's find a proper place to talk, Mister Randa."

•

Bishop led the two gentlemen to a back office of the wildlife center where they all sat and discussed the 'expedition.'
This is where Bishop found out that these two men had been searching for her for a while which is how they ended up here, in Australia.

"How much are you willing to pay?" Bishop asked as she crossed her arms.
Brooks and Randa exchanged looks before Brooks wrote a number down on a piece of paper and handed it to Bishop.
To which she picked it up, looked at the two seated across from her and laughed.

"You're funny." She nodded to Brooks. "He's funny. That's rich, really it is." She stopped laughing. "Which is the opposite of what I'll be if you actually pay me that small amount."

The two business men were silent.
"Do you realize how dangerous this little escapade would be? It would be life threatening for the freaking terminator. For the Hulk for God's sake. You're talking about animals of mass proportions- literally! And I can assume correctly that you haven't told anyone the truth about this little subject have you?"
No reply.
Bishop sat back with a nod. "Exactly."
"If I go. I want $10,000 in cash when we arrive back home."
"Done-"
"I'm not. I want $10,000 for every man that dies."
"Well we're not exactly counting on people dying-" Brooks was cut off.
"Well you'd better be. Because people will die." Bishop sat back and observed the expressions on the two business man's faces and shrugged.

"Oh and just so you know, if anything attacks us and ends up hindering us getting to our extraction point, I will punch you."
"That's a little extreme-"
"In the face."
"Maybe not the-"
"So hard your nose will bleed."
"Understood."