1.02 - The First Wave

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The Stoney Jigger
11:30 am
Granite City

Kyle was intoxicated and feeling good. He had more fun that night than he had in nearly two years. He was sitting on a bar stool in their regular joint, The Stony Jigger.

The dive bar was tucked into an alleyway just off of fifteenth street. A passerby would miss it if they didn't know it was there. Decked out in a retro-style, or maybe it was just never renovated, it always gave the crew a fun and secure place to unwind after slinging groceries for eight to ten hours.

Another mug of beer slid down the bar and stopped in front of Kyle. He looked up drunkenly and smiled. "Derrick, I don't think I can drink another. Thanks though, man."

The tall, black barkeep stepped up to Kyle across the bar. He was that kind of well muscled where people would know he was dangerous, but he wasn't overly intimidating once you get to know him.

"Sure you can, man. I haven't seen you in over a year. Are you going to tell me hitting thirty did you in?" Derrick chuckled.

"Challenge accepted." Kyle cheered and clinked his mug into Marvin's, the only crew member still at the bar.

"Geez boss, he's right. You've lost your tolerance. What have you been doing for the last year?" Martin teased Kyle.

"Cassie worked here. It was too awkward." Kyle said flatly.

"You know I fired her over you, right?" Derrick said, handwashing a glass. Kyle was pretty sure Derrick did so only because of the stereotype as the glass appeared pretty clean.

"What? I didn't know that." Martin gasped dramatically.

"I tried to avoid that by not coming in. What happened?" Kyle asked, his fun mood evaporating. He really had wanted to avoid the breakup drama. As he was the one who ended things, he didn't want to cause Cassie more pain by infiltrating her work environment.

"She started telling blatant lies about you. I've known you long enough to catch many of them. After I asked her about it and told her to stop, she continued anyway. I gave her one more warning and she didn't listen. I don't tolerate that behavior in my bar." Derrick's tone had spiked into anger near the end.

"What did she say?" Kyle asked. He wasn't sure he wanted to know but part of him was burning and had to know.

"There's too many to remember them all, but let me just ask you this. Did you ask her to roleplay as an underage boy?"

Martin jumped to his feet, his mug tipping over and spilling beer everywhere. "What? I never heard that. That bitch really said that? Kyle would never!"

Martin's words killed all the anger Kyle felt building up. Despite his intoxication, he was able to let it all flow away. He shook his head, only looking sad.

"No way, Derrick. Maybe an Elf girl, or something along those lines. Never any age difference though. I prefer older women anyway. Damn, just the thought is making me sick." Kyle shuddered, looking as sick as he felt.

After he was able to get control of his stomach, he looked up at Derrick. The bartender was nodding.

"Just as I expected. There are a few others that I already knew were lies, or suspected they were." The bartender placed a hand on Kyle's shoulder across the bar. "I'm sorry she said anything in my bar and I want you to know I stopped it as best I could."

Kyle patted Derrick's arm and the bartender pulled it back. Kyle smiled and nodded. "I'm just sorry she feels she has to do that. She must have been hurt pretty badly." He took a long drink off his beer and set it down, leaving his hand on the handle. "You know, I should be pissed and worried, but I'm not. That might change when I'm sober, but for now, I understand. She wasn't expecting it to go like that."

          

"What happened?" Martin asked bluntly. He was the biggest gossip at the store, so Kyle wouldn't be surprised if the man knew everything already.

"She..." Kyle wanted to say this exactly right, because it wasn't anything she did and he didn't want to stoop to her level. "Honestly, it was because it wasn't working. The relationship didn't feel...right. You know?" He drank some more, thinking hard. "I figured I wanted it to end then instead of a month from now, or later. Dragging it out wouldn't help. It would only serve to hurt both of us more."

"Oh." Both Derrick and Martin said together. Martin sounded disappointed. Like he hooked a fish only to pull up a boot. Derrick was still nodding, his "oh" one of understanding.

"Yeah. I felt bad for her, but I won't have that behavior here. I'm glad I was the one who told you. It means no one really listened to her nonsense." Derrick said.

"No one around here would believe it anyway." A third voice added. Jose, the morning server, set a tray of snacks in front of Martin. He must have been leaving, because he had his college book bag slung over one arm. "We've known you and the crew for years. We made sure that talk stopped at the door. Can't say what she said outside of here, but I think it was seeing your crew here that sparked it. She couldn't handle the memories."

"Thanks, Jose. That means a lot." Kyle felt warm inside, and not only from the beer. The server nodded and left, waving to everyone on his way out.

"Now, let's wash out the bad with some good. Tell me more about this Juliana." Derrick said, pushing the tray to Kyle before Martin polished off the last bit then resting his arms on the bar to listen.

Kyle felt his face burn as he remembered her from earlier in the morning.

"Well...she walked up to me one day while I was facing the end cap on three. I recognized her from her live stream."

The early afternoon light was bright, making Kyle put his hand above his eyes for shade. His drunk was still floating pleasantly in the back of his head, but the food and chat made him feel a lot better. He wasn't sure why he'd isolated himself for so long, but he wasn't going to do so anymore.

Kyle sighed and turned down another street. Only a few more blocks and he would be home. He was ready to stream some series and take a nap before hitting his weekly chore list.

Kyle stepped up to the corner, waiting for the crosswalk light to turn green. His vision flashed an odd rainbow of colors for the span of a blink. When everything cleared up, he blinked rapidly for a moment, unsure as to what exactly happened.Maybe he had drank too much.

What made Kyle focus again was the rat across the street. It had crept out of the sewer drain, which was odd for that time of day. After the light show, the rat had collapsed and began to twitch and convulse. Then it started screaming and thrashing around. The rat's flesh began to ripple and expand like a grotesque puddle. Then it fell back down the drain in it's violent thrashing.

Kyle blinked rapidly again and once the light changed, he ran across the street. He tried peaking down the drain but couldn't see or hear anything odd. He straightened and staggered to the nearest wall, leaning against it.

"Damn. How drunk am I?" He mumbled to himself. There's no way that was real, right? It had to be his mind playing pranks on him. He had just started listening to apocalyptic LitRPG again and his mind must have been making things up.

Kyle took multiple deep breaths. After he felt stable once more, he started walking again. Then he panicked and fell onto the sidewalk on his butt.

In front of his face, about as far away as he would hold his smartphone, a small text box had appeared. The text was black and the background was just opaque enough that the words weren't lost in shadows. It was actually pretty plain looking.

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