Chapter Two: Makes sense.

Tom and Jack catch up a bit before getting down to business.

“I mean, I guess that makes sense,” Jack responded.

“Really?” I asked, surprised.

“F*ck no! I can believe you were jumped by assassins and managed to fight them off, but doing some voodoo black magic sh*t and then having your soul ripped away from your body for three f*cking months? Whatever you’ve been smoking you gotta get me some, man.”

I sighed. “I swear to you Jack, I’m telling the truth. Look, I even have the scars.” I pulled my shirt up to show him. His eyes widened and he covered his mouth with his hand.

After a big gulp and a deep breath he shakily spoke. “H-holy s**t dude. That’s no joke,” He reached his hand out slowly, “Can I?”

I nodded. He tentatively put his hand on the pale, grotesque scar on my stomach. The skin was abnormally tight and textured. Jack gagged a little.

“Believe me now?”

Jack took another deep breath, “It’s just… hard. You have absolutely no reason to make this stuff up, and you have those… scars. Still, it’s just…” He struggled to find words to describe his thoughts, “It’s too insane.”

“Believe me, Jack, I agree. But it happened.”

Jack nodded in agreement.

“But what about you? What the hell happened to this town?”

“The f**k do you think happened? The recruiters came by…” Jack briefly explained, looking away. “And… you know how that song and dance goes. Anyone who doesn’t join… Doesn’t survive.”

“Then why are you still here? Why aren’t you with your family?” I asked.

Jack just spread his arms, motioning around the room. “This is all I can do. Everything I have is here. I needed to come back and get my tools. My parts. Anything that made life seem normal.” He sighed, crossing his arms on the table. “Soon, though, I’ll be heading to see Jane and the kids.”

“They doing okay?”

Jack nodded. “They’re doing alright. They aren’t far from here, and they aren’t hurt, so that’s good.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Hey, man, you remember that one time, back in freshman year? You were on the football team and Jane was on the cheer squad.”

“When that d****e- what was his name? Ah, whatever- when Shitface McGee started hitting on her after halftime?”

“Yeah, exactly! And he started getting handsy, grabbing her wrists. He did not expect the freshman quarterback to come flying through the fence,” I laughed, “I think he just about s**t himself! How long were you suspended for again?”

“A whole four games! For standing up for my girlfriend!” Jack retorted, annoyed.

I smiled a little. “Dude, you were such a badass.”

Jack smiled a little from the compliment, but shook his head. “Nah, I was just angry. You, though… You took it to a whole new level.”

“What do you mean?”

“Remember when that dude Devin slapped Alex’s a*s?”

“Oh, yeah. F**k that guy.”

“Apparently. I didn’t know how flimsy those goddamn tables were. I don’t know how you got away with that s**t.”

“What do you mean? I didn’t do anything.” Jack looked at me, confused. I smirked. “He fell.”

Jack audibly sighed, gripping the bridge of his nose shortly before bursting out laughing. I laughed as well. It felt good, but… Strange. It had been so long since I’d laughed.

“Say…” Jack began, “When are you gonna settle down with Izzy? I know it’s coming.”

I smiled, “As soon as we can. Right now… Things are just too hectic. I want something better than this for her.”

“I can understand that,” Jack replied, nodding.

“By the way… You’ll be our best man, right? Whenever that time comes?”

Jack looked surprised at the statement; like it caught him off-guard. “Oh… yeah, of course, man.”

“Thanks.”

We sat in silence for a little bit. It wasn’t tense, but it was… A little awkward. Considering everything that had happened, and all the information we both had to absorb; it made sense. Before too much time passed, Jack got to the point.

“So, you’re gonna go find them, right?”

“Izzy and Alex? Yeah.”

“And then what? Keep fighting?”

“Yeah… If that’s what they want. I won’t force them to fight my fight.”

Jack agreed, “Of course, of course. Alex said they were headed to Longston. Last I heard, they were going to hide out there while they figured out what to do.”

“Longston? Damn, that’s a ways…” I thought out loud. I held my hand to my chin. I was never going to make it there before they left. I looked over at the motor against the wall. Jack apparently caught my glance.

“Yeah, I know, and yes, I can help.”

I breathed out a sigh of relief, “I owe you, Jack.”

“Consider it a rain check,” He laughed, “That motor there is faster than anything you could buy in the next ten years. It’s the best one out on the market and I've been working on it for months, making modifications and improvements. I was going to try to sell the prototype, but…” He looked back at me with a coy grin.

“Dude, I can’t even thank you enough.”

“Before you do… It’s incredibly unstable. It overheats in a matter of minutes and- wait…” Jack paused and opened his eyes wide, apparently just realizing something.

“Let me take a look at your arm. I think I have an idea.”

I shrugged and twisted my arm at the shoulder, then rotated it and pushed, popping it free of the joint. I let out a long sigh. It always felt like a huge weight being taken off, but always hurt like hell to plug back in. I handed my arm to Jack.

He took the arm over to his workbench, putting his glasses on to look at the different parts and mechanism, muttering to himself.

“If it can hold… Yeah, I see how that works… Maybe… Wait, what?... No…”

He turned back to me.

“Yo, who designed this thing?” He asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, then stopped. “I… I’m not actually sure. I always assumed it was some resistance tech company, but they weren’t from any of the ones I know of.”

Jack shook his head in disbelief. “Whoever it was, they’re f*****g geniuses. I think I can stabilize the motor with some of the tech from this thing. Adapted, of course, but still. Wanna give it a shot?”

“Sure, but what kind of ride are we talking about? I need something maneuverable and easy to hide, so… maybe a bike? Ooh, do you have a chassis for one of those bikes that you lay down on? It would make it a lot harder to shoot me,” I explained, before mumbling, “Plus, it would be super cool.”

“You’re a pain in the a*s, you know that?”

“I have a few other ideas too…”

“Of course you do.”