Strange Folk. | Act I: There Is No End

"Welcome... Welcome home."

Moving past the nature-filled room we were all in, we reached a big part of the building: what seemed to be a cermonial place. The ceiling seemed to be much higher up than before and the room felt very spacious.

At the end, a few blankets, bags, and cloth was around, as well as a few stations that seemed to serve... other services.

"This is your 'abode'? I thought you took over the entire hall." I said.

"Oh no, we did. It's just this is where we mostly hang out." Anthony replied.

"This is basically our secret hideout inside of our big hideout." Chris commented.

"That made no sense." Anthony said.

"Exactly."

Anthony just did a confused face and shrugged it off as he sat down in a blue tarp. The others did the same, with Anthony sitting on a red one and Allen on a white one.

Lentil sat on a black one, while I....

I didn't get any tarp to sit on.

"What's up with the tarps?" I inquired.

"The guys grabbed a few tarps on one of our earliest missions. We picked one of our own color. The guys like to think of each color representing a part of them." Allen stated.

"Red's the coolest one out of them all and that's a fact. So of course, I took it." Chris said.

"No, that just means you're the most likely to first one to wind up dead, considering it's well... red." Anthony commented.

"Then, how is yours any better?"

"Simple: it's the coolest one because it's blue and well... it's a cool color and all."

"Is... Is that supposed to be a pun?"

"Perhaps."

Chris groans facing this horror that would be 'puns'. I gave that a good chuckle.

"I got the white because well... it was the only one other than black... and considering the world's circumstances... I ain't taking that." Allen said.

"Like if it would give you the black plague." Lentil joked.

"Yeah. What's next after that? Pink would give me flowers?" Anthony joked as well.

The three kids laughed at this joke, with Allen only giving a little chuckle and I... I didn't find that funny.

Considering that anyone could have the disease and well... the plague isn't too much to joke about.

"So... Deus. Where do you come from?" Allen asked.

"Oh, I live close to where Lentil does. On Bisbon Street, I think." I replied.

"Isn't that a little too far from here? Like... kilometers long?" Allen inquired.

"Let's just say... we have great speed and we got great stamina." Lentil said.

"So it seems. Alright then."

"Hey, Deus, isn't it? What's your favorite thing to do?" Anthony asked.

"I'm not quite sure. I like to run and jump a lot through the town." I responded.

"That's quite normal. Anything else?"

"I like to think a lot sometimes." I continued.

"Think a lot? What does that even mean?" Anthony asked confusingly.

"He would be just stuck in his head a lot. Saying such the weirdest rubbish." Lentil told them.

"Like no one wouldn't think of that." I said.

"Yeah, because you made us think of that." Lentil replied.

I rolled my eyes.

"Well, I guess that's something. What do you often think about?" Anthony inquired.

"Oh boy..." Lentil said, groaning afterwards.

"Hey, I believe it's best you treat your friend with a little bit of respect. Otherwise, things won't be looking well for you on the streets." Chris told Lentil.

"Like you guys are doing well either." Lentil said narcissistically.

"Hey, we manage just fine. We manage just fine for three people." Chris replied.

"Yeah, yeah. Like you do." Lentil sarcastically retorts.

"Anyways, tell us what are your thoughts, Deus." Anthony tells me.

"Oh... Um, they're not really anything special. I often think about life in general and how everything basically sucks and is great at the same time."

"Story of our goddamn lives." Chris stated.

"I also think often of some kind of... state. Some kind of... reality." I continued.

"Of which reality?" Anthony asked, intrigued.

"Well... many. Like if the plague never existed. If I was in a different family. If I was a knight. Basically, just little fantasies that mostly everyone had."

"I see. However, do you ever expand upon that?" Anthony asked.

"Expand on what?" I asked.

"Like... For example, like it's fully realized. Like a tale."

"No, they're more like daydreams. They only seem to exist from events of my life."

"Ah, I see. And what life do you have?"

"Well... let's just say it's a interesting one." I replied cryptically.

"As interesting as cartwheeling across the town like a bunch of manics?" Chris said.

"...Maybe not that kind of interesting." I answered.

"Hehe." Chris chuckled.

"Well, on the behalf of all of us here-" Allen tried to say before being rudely interrupted by Anthony who said, "Since when you can act on behalf of anyone?"

"Since... now?" Allen replied.

"I'm gonna say it again, Allen. We do not accept you as a leader."

"And I'm gonna say it again, Anthony. You two aren't worthy of being one either."

"Like if you have any right to say that."

"I do."

Anthony groans, as he raises his voice slightly and uttered these words: "You don't. The whole reason why we stick together is to reject the rules and the expectations of civilization. We don't want anyone to tell us what to do. No one should. And now you're here, trashing all that we stand for."

"Well, we can't stand for anything if there's no direct controller to keep that code in place." Allen replied, also getting a little bit louder.

"Hah! Like if we can't. We could, god damnit! In fact, we already have. For 3 bloody years, we've lived independent of this wretched town, here, in this building when the green patches were covered in dust and not a single flower had grown. For 3 years, we've lived with only one principle in mind: 'Do what we want, say what want, and take what we want."

"Yeah, and we still do. Who said I was trying to change anything?"

"From the looks of it, we would say that."

"Hey, don't get me involved with this. I ain't saying or thinking bloody anything about this." Chris retorted.

As the two continued to argue over the own principles, Chris then sneaked up on me and whispered "Yeah. This is our life. Nothing but constant bickering between us."

I then whispered "And you guys ain't going to do nothing about it? Like perhaps find some common ground between the three of you?"

"You wish. The thing is... We like this kind of chaos. Sure, it may seem like things may be wrong with us, and it most certainly is. But we revel in this chaos, mate. It's exhilarating."

"That's why we call ourselves the "Brothers of Nowhere". Nowhere is safe for us. But at the same time, nowhere is safe for anyone to avoid the anarchy we make." Lentil whispered as he joined in into our little conversation.

"My man." Jesus told Lentil as they both smiled.

"Mate, you guys are like a family of kids." I said.

"Well... perhaps because we are one." Chris replied.

As we continued to joke around, telling each other some random rubbish, we suddenly stopped after a while by the strange silence that encompassed where the other two were arguing about. It seemed like Anthony and Allen calmed down a bit.

Allen turned back to us, with Anthony crossing his arms and mumbling to himself about something.

"Sorry about the interruption. Hopefully, it won't happen again." Allen told us.

"It will happen again." Chris swiftly whispered to me, winking as he went back to his tarp.

"Anyways, as I was saying... we are greatly pleased to meet you. You seem like a great kid." Allen declared.

"Same to you all as well. You guys are... alright. I think Lentil has some great friends to lean on. Just... don't get Lentil all riled up too much as you guys 'play'. Lentil's already too insane as he is. Not to mention a little... you guys will figure that out soon." I replied.

"No promises!" Chris said.

"We don't do promises." Anthony commented.

"Anywho..."

Allen said as he turned around and picked up a bag of something. He placed on the floor, right inside the circle we formed, and started to open it up. As he did, a certain smell started to flow out of the bag and into our noses.

"Aw yes!" Both Anthony and Chris excitedly said as Allen opened the whole thing wide open and proceeded to state:

"You guys hungry?"

Inside it was... It was something I never thought I would ever see. Not in years to come.

Inside was a grand assortment of foods.

But not just any food...

Meats.

Meats big and small. Juicy or dry. Cooked or raw.

And it was all there, waiting for us to consume.

"OH HELL YEAH!" Nearly all the kids said, as their hands basically dived into the bag, wrestling each other as they struggled to grab a piece.

But when they did, oh boy, how their faces would shift to just pure childish savagery.

They opened their mouths wide open and began to grind the their between the soft, raw meats.

It was disgusting to say the least, but they seemed to be hungry, so you could excuse them for such absurd behavior.

As I watched this, I felt a tap by my shoulders. I turned around from the carnage to see Allen passing me a piece of meat from the bag.

"Thanks." I said as I slowly grabbed the piece from his hands, muddled by red liquid that seem to have come from the meat itself.

For a while, I stared at it.

This... This almost felt like a dream for me.

To be holding this.

To be feeling it.

To even be smelling it.

"Well, what are you waiting for, mate?" Allen prompted.

As he said that, I woke up from my mini-trance and bit into my food.

And wow... It tasted great.

Just... it was so good. Way better than the broth mom would make.

Even if it had meat in it sometimes.

I made sure to savor this meal. I ripped apart chunks of the meat, and each piece was chewed until the bits were reduced into almost nothing.

I was enjoying my meal to the fullest and as I did, I continued to notice the stark contrast between how I ate and how everyone else did.

They just devoured their meals. In fact, they were eating it so fast, they could be one of those animals I saw outside of the town.

What was it called?

I'm not sure.

All I know is that those animals were very scary.

Maybe they were hungry too.

"You guys should settle down. You might get a stomach-ache at the rate you guys are eating. Or even food poisioning." I told them.

Alas, my words could barely go through their ears, which were just vibrating all around due to the erratic twitching their bodies seemed to go through, consuming all of that meat.

By the time I finished my meal, the bag was almost empty.

"Somebody better get their parents here quick, because their kids ain't movin' a inch out of this place." Allen joked.

"Unless those kids want to stink up this place even further by having to regurgitate all of that meat." I said.

The others started to burp. Their stomachs seemed to be pleased with the meals that they all just consumed.

"Great. No more food left to at least try to store." Allen stated.

"For the recordd..."

HICC!

"It's your fault for thinking we'll... we'll leave any foo-fo-food left." Anthony slowly retorted.

After a slight sigh, Allen then says "Well it looks like the sun is starting to lower so we should catch some sleep before you guys complain tomorrow about waking up too early."

Wait... Wait what?!

I looked up at the cracks all around the roof, revealing the sky.

What?!

The noon... The noon is about to end.

"Hey, Deus. You okay? You seemed a little stressed."

"God. No, it's not that. It's just... God. How is it already nightfall?"

"Time seems to sli-slip when you're screaming... at some kids." Chris remarks.

"Well, I don't know why the day seems to elude us. But, if I remember, your home's pretty far, right?" Allen asked.

"Yeah... Both mine and Lentil's." I replied.

"Hmmm... What can we do?" Allen wondered.

"They can just hitch a ride!" Anthony exclaimed.

"Hitch a ride? In what?" Allen replies.

"In that wagon of hay that we landed on. It isn't that far from here, right?" Anthony answered.

"No, it isn't. It's all the way at the other side of the town. Of course it's not far." Allen retorted.

"Hey, don't be all use that sarcasm on me. I only wanted to help."

"Maybe don't."

"You think you could've made up a better solution?"

"Yes, I could've. I just need a little more time to remember."

"Then you couldn't."

"No, I could."

"No, you couldn't."

"I could."

"You couldn't."

"Could."

"Couldn't."

"Could"

"Couldn't."

At that point, those two words became the only words said in that conversation, with each time it's said, their voices grow slightly louder.

"Psst.... Hey."

I looked around and saw Lentil slowly sneaking away from the others and motioning me to follow.

And so, quietly, I got up from the floor and proceeded to tip toe my way towards Lentil who decided that...

"As much as we still won't make it back home before it's pitch black, it's in our best interest that we leave now."

"I know." I replied.

"Plus, I don't want to stay in there for much longer. Those two just brutally murdered the mood there."

"Yeah. Who would want to hear two babies fighting over a toy wagon?"

"Ooooh. That's a pretty good one. Want to hear mine?"

"Does it involve something slightly inappropriate?"

"....I rest my case."

"Good."

As we finished the conversation, we troted out the room, through the greens outside and finally, we made it out of the hall, pushing on the doors hard just to enter.

"Oh yeah. If you ever want to come here again, just let me know." Lentil informed me.

"And if you are already there?" I asked.

"Then, just remember the code and the room and you should be fine."

"'Heed to no one?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Mate, these guys are strange deviating themselves from society."

"Yeah they are... But don't worry. They've made their own society."

"That's much, much worse than ours?"

"...Again, you got me backed up in a corner."

We both chuckled a little as we walked through the abandoned streets of this weird part of town.

Strangly enough... it no longer appears weird to me.

I guess those kids were infectious or something because to me....

This hollow wasteland almost look like home.

Weird...