《Storm》Chapter 6
Advertisement
The slow dragging of footsteps coming down the stairs informed Dean that Wyatt was up. He crossed from the kitchen to the main room in time to see the old man reaching the final steps, sleepy eyes and white hair spiked and all over the place like he'd just been hit by lighting.
"Is it morning yet?" Wyatt grunted.
Dean looked out through the glass doors at the street. Day and night were so much alike in the Storm that making a distinction was more of a formality than anything else. "Looks like it. You want some breakfast?"
"I want some shut up."
Dean scooped some bacon from the pan onto his own plate, then Ray's. "Suit yourself."
"Did you fix the goddamned roof?" Wyatt grunted.
"Yes."
"Who broke it?"
"No one, it just –"
"It was you, Ray, wasn't it? You have a gift for doing stupid things."
Ray accepted his plate and took a bite from a particularly burnt piece of bacon and said, "No. But I was there when it happened. It just collapsed on its own."
"Well, next time don't be such a Nancy and deal with it without walking the house up. Where's my bacon!?"
Ray frowned. "You just said you didn't want any –"
Dean turned the rest of the pan's content on an empty plate and brought it to Wyatt. "Never mind, Ray. It's easier not to argue."
"Don't talk to me like I'm not here, you punk," Wyatt grunted. "I was killing vietcongs when you were still applying for the Sperm Swim Team inside your father's balls."
"You've never left California, Wyatt," Dean said, taking his seat and digging in. "And please refrain from mentioning my father's balls while I eat."
Advertisement
Wyatt and Ray. That's all Dean had left in the world. The ten-thousand-year-old guy who worked the cashier of the pizza place since the day his father opened shop and the delivery boy with a thing for smoking weed and sleeping on the job. That was his gang. His entourage.
The magnificent trio.
They had developed a sort of family dynamics by now, the three of them. Each one with their own assignments and responsibilities. Ray was (usually) in charge of cooking and cleaning, Dean would handle repairs and the frequent re-boarding of roof and windows and Wyatt would sit around drunk and complain about everything.
It wasn't the best of lives, but it could have been a lot worse. And it had been a lot worse for Dean's family and for Ray's family and for Wyatt's family (if he had any before this, that is – Dean never asked), so, really, they couldn't complain. At least they were alive, and they had food, and they even had luxuries like wine and a generator.
Most people should be so lucky.
Dean bit his lips and closed his eyes, shaking Vanessa's face out of this thoughts.
Thinking won't change what happened. Ruminating leads to pain. She's dead. Let the dead dead.
"What day is it?" Wyatt grunted, firing saliva-wrapped, semi-digested bacon bits a feet in front of his mouth.
"December Twenty-Sixth," Dean said. He still counted them. It was important, because Desmond's Pizza didn't open on Sundays or Christian Holidays.
Wyatt looked up and moved his lips and frowned like he was having a hard time remembering something. "Huh..."
"Why?" Ray asked.
"Nuthin. Rain seems to be gettin worse lately."
Dean stopped eating for a second and peaked outside. He had noticed it too, the last few days, but hadn't said anything in that silly hope that not mentioning something makes it not true. For the past week, every day and especially night the rain seemed to be falling a little bit stronger. The wind blowing a little bit harsher. A little a day, gradual enough that Dean had managed to convince himself that maybe it was just in his mind.
Advertisement
But the roof giving in, and now the Wyatt noticing it too...
He tried not to think of the Fall – the first week, when everybody died and the city crumbled and collapsed on itself under the weight of the falling waters. It couldn't happen again, right? It'd been months. It was over.
The world was bad enough raining as it was and with the Ghost panics and the looters. They didn't need another Genesis-style great flood making things worst.
But even as Dean thought that, as they ate in silent contemplation, as their eyes stilled out the window in fear, he could see the sidewalk river running downstream fast, faster than ever before and more violent, its margins wide reaching the end of the sidewalk in one side and almost half down the street in another.
Upstairs, the improvised roof of particleboard rattled and shook under the weight of the drops.
If another Fall was indeed coming, Desmond's Pizza wouldn't hold.
Advertisement
- In Serial31 Chapters
A Snake's Life
The Afterlife isn't always what you think… The loving father of three children, Alfred lived a life of few regrets. He served his country far from home. He outlived his soulmate. He died alone. However, Albert's intentions about a peaceful eternity, reunited with his wife, are thrown out the window when a meddling god digs his fingers into Albert’s afterlife. The positive? He has a chance to make things right—to live the life that was so cruelly taken from him the first time. Reincarnating into a world full of magical evolutions, monstrous deer, and sassy ten-year-old elves, Albert worries he doesn't have a chance of surviving the three-hundred-years the god promised it would take to reunite him with his beloved. But if life has taught Albert anything it’s this: If something is worth having, it's worth fighting for. And he intends to fight.
8 143 - In Serial22 Chapters
Samsara Cycle - Xianxia - Villainous Reincarnation [COMPLETED]
A thousand lifetimes ago, Qiu Xuanwu stood atop the world as the King of the Underworld. He sealed the righteous deities and reigned alone--until the last remaining righteous deity, Kai Bailong, tore him from his throne, released the righteous deities, and restored order to the world. Instead of exterminating Qiu Xuanwu, Kai Bailong consigned his soul to enter the cycle of samsara, experiencing countless reincarnations until his soul purified. Kai Bailong followed him into the mortal cycle, watching over the evil deity. For eons, the two reincarnated together, locked in eternal moral combat. As orange trees, bees, cats and dogs, and a thousand other lifeforms, the two struggled endlessly. A thousand lifetimes later, Qiu Xuanwu awakens as the young Chen Wuya, finally reincarnated into a human form capable of cultivation. With Kai Bailong nowhere in sight, he sets out to once more become the strongest martial deity and finally complete the vengeance that led him to become the King of the Underworld in his first life. Though a thousand lifetimes have passed, nothing will keep him from his goal... unless that damned Kai Bailong finds him again! -Low-fantasy for Xianxia, high-fantasy in general -Lightly comedic, mostly action/adventure -Updates biweekly Mon/Fri, daily updates until I catch up to backlog!
8 141 - In Serial50 Chapters
Death's Emissary
Caught in a conflict between gods, Scarlet is forced to serve the goddess of Death to save her own life. When her mother goes missing, Scarlet becomes determined to use her newly acquired prowess as a mage to rescue her—which means entrenching herself further in Death's battle against Riordan, a power-hungry god who seeks to control mortals and immortals alike. Dante would do anything to protect the people he cares about, but he isn’t safe himself. Magic is illegal, and it’s getting harder to hide that he’s a mage. Visions of the past and future haunt him, and it won’t be possible to protect himself and his magically-inclined sister forever. When his quiet life is torn away, he’s forced to face his powers and a whole new world. Someone stole Jarrett’s memories. He isn’t going to stop searching until he finds out who—and why. In the meantime, his focus is on commanding a secret rebellion force in hopes of securing autonomy for the oppressed mages of the kingdom. Their fates collide as they become entrenched in the battle against Riordan. To have any chance of slaying a god and freeing themselves from his tyranny, they’ll have to place trust in the right allies and master newfound powers.
8 175 - In Serial36 Chapters
Aftershocks
When the long-overdue Cascadia earthquake hits, Portland is not only devastated by the damage, but also abandoned by a corrupt government, isolated by broken infrastructure, and overrun by organized crime networks fighting the strict federal regulations on fossil fuels. Lacey, the captain of a high school outrigger canoe team, persuades her girlfriend Rede and the other paddlers to use their unique skill as a means of survival, acting as couriers who navigate the waterlogged ruins of the city. All goes well until a botched job leaves Lacey with no other option but to disappear in order to protect her team. Rescued from her attempted suicide by a criminal duo, Lacey reluctantly begins her new secret life among the community she once exploited. Meanwhile, Rede and the team try to move past their anguish at Lacey's apparent death, but when a mysterious newcomer sheds a new light on the circumstances, they find themselves embroiled in a plot to bring about justice. *updates every other Tuesday*
8 173 - In Serial8 Chapters
The fisher and the beast (Complete)
A ditzy goddess summons a bunch of humans to Nugaia and tells them to fight an undead horde. She then dissapears and leave them alone, fortunately before that blessing them with some skills to survive...
8 136 - In Serial47 Chapters
A Spark in the Wind
Though there has been mistrust between the Kingdom of Alinor and the Forest Kingdom for thousands of years, Prince Meneldir has naught but love in his heart for Lord Vilyánur, his oldest and closest friend.But something's coming: something that will turn their lives upside down, something that will consume them and everything they hold dear should they fail to unite their two kingdoms into one and rise up against this threat.But then comes the real question: if you tamper with essential forces of nature to save the one you love, is it even worth it? What can be the result of such an action? Is a world claimed by decadence and degeneration even worth saving? The board is set, the pieces are moving.[A WATTYS 2018 SHORTLISTER] [ALSO SHORTLISTED FOR INDIAN AWARDS 2019]
8 111

