Annihilators

Back to Common Reality

Lance was thrilled to be back on the ground. Even though he was grateful for Drakon's courtesy of letting them ride on his back. He much preferred the ground than being thousands of feet in the air.
After the day that he had, all he wanted to do was rest his head on an actual pillow.
The beds they made him lay on in the facility weren't even beds, they were just metal tables.
He wanted to sleep somewhere peaceful tonight, somewhere that didn't make him fear for his life every ten seconds.
The group was walking out of the sands that Drakon dropped them off at.
Now they were walking towards a section of buildings a few hundred feet in front of them. Emerald claimed to have seen a motel within the buildings as they were flying through the clouds.

"Are you sure you saw a motel?", Ernest asked as he dragged his feet through the sand.

"Positive, honey", Emerald answered back to him.

Ernest then let out a groan and said, "Quick question, what if there aren't enough rooms for all of us?".

"Guess we're gonna' have to bunch up", Irvin said in an optimistic tone. "I call Greg as my roommate, cause if someone tries to kill me I'm my sleep he'll just teleport me out of there".

"Don't count on it", Greg said in a low tone.

Lance wasn't sure, but he felt like something was bothering Greg. Not just from the fact he fell out earlier at the facility, but something was messing with him emotionally. Lance could just tell when something was wrong with someone, and Greg was showing all the outward signs.

"I hate the fact that we can't go back to our own homes", Sanai complained. Her face was beaded with sweat and she looked like she was getting irritated by the second.

"We discusses this already", Ronnie said, in a monotone voice. "We spent weekend with those people, they've probably already figured out where we live".

"And we've had enough trouble escaping them once", Ahmir added.

"I know that!", Sanai said to Ronnie. "I'm just saying".

"Well 'just saying' isn't really helping much", he told her.

At that point Sanai looked like she was going to unleash fury on Ronnie.

"Come on guys", Emerald interrupted. "Don't let the heat get to you, let's just keep pushing".

As they kept moving towards the buildings through the desert sands, Lance couldn't help but to constantly glance over at Emerald. He admires he optimism, and her ability to keep a situation from escalating any higher. She really impressed him when she communicated with Drakon for the first time. To him, their interaction looked like a still from an anime movie. Lance truly admired her bravery. As they walked forward in the afternoon heat, he shot quick looks at her. Even as she was sweating he thought she looked amazing.

"Okay, second question: how are we gonna pay to stay at the motel?", Ernest asked, pulling Lance's attention from Emerald.

That was something that had been weighing heavy on Lance's mind; they didn't have any money. All of their personal belongings were stolen and possibly destroyed by their captives. They didn't even have a way of proving their identity, much less rent out a few motel rooms.

"Leave it to me", Ronald said, confidently.

Ernest scrunched up his face and said, "What are you going to do, force them into giving us a room?".

Ronald turned around with a smile and told Ernest, "Don't stress it, Lance and I will go in and speak to the manager. Hopefully we can work out an agreement".

"Hopefully?", Ernest cried.

Lance walked closer to Ronald and whispered to him, "Do you actually have a plan?".

Ronald whispered back to his brother and said, "Let's just try to think positive moving forward".

After a short while, they made it towards the section of buildings they were heading to. There were seven buildings in total. Four  of them seemed generic, and not anything special. The remaining three consisted of a bar, a laundry mat, and a motel.

"Boom! Told you that there was a motel here", Emerald jeered.

The motel sign said Paradise Inn New Mexico. The motel itself seemed like everything but a paradise. It was a one-story, beige building with chipping paint. All of the doors were a sickly color of green, and the doors leading to the main office were missing.

"Yup, this is the perfect place to lay low", Ernest announced. "No one will ever think to look for a bunch of escapees in a run down motel only a hundred miles from the places they've just run from".

"Let's go in", Ronald said.

The building was even worst on the inside; the office stunk of rotting woods, there was no air conditioning, and the walls windows were all cracked.
Behind the front desk sat a puggy old-man with white beard and ponytail. He had only circular sun shades, a bowling shirt, and a chain with a whistle on it.
Possibly the most bizarre get up Lance and Ronald had ever seen on a motel manager. Though they had never really been around many before.

"Here goes nothing", Lance said.

He and Ronald walked closer to the man and realize he stunk to high-hell. He smelled like he'd been baking in the sun for days.
That would've explained his bad tan, his skin was as red as an orangutan's.

He looked up from a magazine he was reading and said, "Can I help you boys?".

Ronald straightened his posture and said, "Yeah, we were hoping to inquire about rooms".

The man pull his glasses down and looked back and forth between them then said, "What are you two- lovers?".

"Uh, no sir we're brothers", Lance replies.

"Well, I'm a lil' bit of a brotha' myself", the man said with a smile as he stretched his fist out to them. His knuckles were chipping with skin, and his teeth were extremely yellow.

"Nah, I'm just messing with ya'", the man added. "The only thing black about me is ma' shit".

Lance tried not to gag at the thought of it and said, "Actually it's not just us, seven of our friends are outside too".

The man's eyes grew wide and he stood out of his chair.

He said, "Well then, that sounds like good business; I think you'll be delighted to know, we have a pool, a dinning hall in the back, and our rooms are much cleaner than the office, trust me".

Ronald interjected and said, "We have one problem though".

The man raised his eyebrows at them, "And that is?".

"The dilemma in question is, none of us have any money", Lance finished.

"Well, that is a dilemma. This is a motel, not a homeless shelter", the man reclined in his chair, and began to read his magazine again. From there, the boys could see he was reading a pornographic magazine.

Ronald stepped closer and said, "We're desperate, whatever money we owe for the night we spend here we'll back, with interest!".

That seemed to gain the man's attention, because he leaned forward towards them.

"With interest you say", the man said with a curious look.

Ronald nodded his head firmly.

"And what's to say you'll actually pay me back?", the man questioned.

"I'll sign a contract, legal document, give you my email, whatever", Ronald said with a serious look in his eyes.

The man looked around his office, almost as if he was thinking of the ways he could scam them into paying an insane interest so he could fix up the place.

He turned back to them with a smile, revealing more of his hideously, yellow teeth and said, "You got yourself a deal boy".