ZERO! the umbrella academy

onze

THE FOUR HORSEMEN

FIVE FOUND A BOTTLE of booze in the car, and then it was all down hill from there.

He had wandered into the Argyle Public Library piss ass drunk, throwing books off of shelves and shouting and generally just making a scene. I had tried to calm him down, but that had never stopped him before, and it definitely wasn't going to now. He finally collapsed in a corner on the second floor, clinging to an empty bottle of bourbon for dear life.

I crouched down in front of him. "Come on, Five." I pulled on his arm. "Let's go back to the motel, figure things out."

"What's the point?" His head lolled to the side. "I can't save the world, and I can't have you either. I might as well die."

My pulse quickened. "Don't say shit like that." His eyes closed, and I lightly smacked his cheek. "Hey? You hear me?" But he didn't. He was out cold.

"Lee?" I heard a familiar voice behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Luther and Diego. Well, out of everyone I thought I would run into, it definitely wasn't them together.

Luther noticed Five slumped over in the corner and pointed at him. "Is he..."

"Drunk as a skunk," Diego finished for him, clearly amused. The bottle Five was holding slipped out of his hand and clattered against the floor.

"Come on, let's take him with us. We need to talk to him," Luther said, and he and Diego started approaching us.

"Stop!" I stood up, blocking them from getting to him. "I'm not letting you take him anywhere."

"Lee, something happened at the house, and we think he's connected to it," Diego said. "We really need to talk to him."

"Don't come any closer," I warned them, gritting my teeth.

"Lee, for once in your life, please do something someone else asks of you!" Luther's voice shook with rage.

"Hey!" Diego put a hand on Luther's shoulder, and he stood down. Diego turned back to me. "Please, Lee. This is about his safety, and also yours." His brown eyes bore into mine. "You know I wouldn't beg if it wasn't important."

I paused before nodding. I knew Diego was more reasonable than Luther was. "Okay." I scooped Five up in my arms. "But nobody touches him, understand?"

"Yes, we understand," Diego answered for both of them, shooting Luther a pointed look.

They lead me out into an alleyway where their car was parked. "Well, we can't go back to the house," Luther whispered to Diego, just barely audible enough for me to hear. "It's not secure. Those psychopaths could come back at any moment."

"My place is closer," Diego replied. "No one will look for him there."

I trudged along behind them, hoisting Five up higher in my arms and groaning from his weight. Luther and Diego stopped walking and looked back at me. "Can you just let me carry him? It'll make things a lot easier," Luther said.