As the two assistants slowly came awake, Al was calmly sipping coffee, eyes fixed on a book he had found on the table with the monitors in the room.
"You b-…"
"Do you need me to remind you that we're being recorded?"
His serene voice made the muscular man fall silent. His sister was glaring at Al, her eyes not hiding any of the animosity that she felt, but when she saw the steaming cup in front of her, she caught it with both her hands and took a deep sip.
Al motioned to the man to do the same. He cursed under his breath, his brow furrowed as if he was thinking about whether to continue, but taking a cue from the loud slurps coming from beside him, he caught his cup, too.
Al had had 20 peaceful minutes to himself. He had spent it all ordering his thoughts, and his priorities for this odyssey. So, now that this moment had come, he knew exactly what to say.
"Correct me if I'm wrong. You're the two assistants who have been hired to help me. In that case… you must have signed a contract, right? And in that contract… does it, or does it not say that you should follow all my orders, without putting forward a single question?"
Perfectly in sync, both assistants blushed. The woman then hid her face in her cup while the man glared at him with renewed ferocity, his bushy eyebrows making a 'V' on his face.
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Or maybe… I'm right? If so, I don't really see a need to apologize… but because I'm a gentleman, I'll still do it. I'm sorry for using you to advertise the products… but here's some advice: get used to it. I'm pretty sure this won't be the last time its going to happen, and even though I don't know exactly how it'll come to be the next time, you can rest assured that you'll be used, perfectly. You're probably taking a huge sum of money… so why not work for it?"
"How dare you—"
The man began again, but he stopped when his sister laid her hand on his arm.
They shared a look, making Al wish that he had the spell to read minds, and the Blessing to cast it.
They didn't even need to speak. It looked like their coordination was so perfect that it wasn't even required to communicate through words. After a few minutes, they nodded, together, as if a decision had been reached.
It was the woman who spoke, adjusting her short shirt that had slid to the side when she fell, exposing something that would have censored the odyssey if they had been broadcasting at the moment.
"Yes, you're right. If this was a regular odyssey, this would have gone a different way… but for now, we will follow everything you say. So, what we do now, boss?"
The way she called him was quite condescending, but Al smiled, nonetheless. If given a choice between cooperative, but rude assistants and uncooperative, but friendly ones, he would definitely choose the former any day.
Standing up and pulling down his mask that he had moved to drink the coffee he had made from a dispenser he had found in the corridor outside, he announced, "Let's explore!"
He only had vague memories of New York City, having been there when just a child. So, when they soon emerged from the door of the small office on an empty street, he breathed in deep to see whether the scent would jog his memory.
All he smiled was rotting garbage, which evoked nothing but a gagging sound from his mouth.
The big man shouldered through the doorway, pushing Al aside. He didn't turn around to apologize, and Al understood what kind of assistant he was going to be.
'Well… then I won't feel guilty, at all, about what's coming your way.'
The woman wasn't much better. Walked outside, she turned to Al and said, "Welcome to New York, the shithole of the 21st century."
She had a way of wrinkling her nose every time she spoke to him, as if she disapproved severely of what she was doing, but was doing it anyway as she was being forced. Al let it go, for now, and lead the way to the right where he saw a larger road.
They were in a small alleyway, but as they emerged onto the main thoroughfare, he understood that this was definitely not the New York of his memories. Even though he didn't remember it exactly, he knew, perfectly, just how crowded a city it was.
The one in front of him was empty, with not a sound to be heard from anywhere nearby.
It was strange. All the buildings looked fine, and there were no signs of devastation, anywhere. It seemed like a scene in a movie that was supposed to have called for a ton of extras, but was empty because none of them had shown up.
Puzzled, he walked forward. They passed residential buildings of all colors and shapes, with some of the doors open and some closed. He even ducked into one of the houses in the hope that he would find something, but all that he came upon was a pristine home, scrubbed clean and possessing all the effects that one would expect from a place where people lived, except for the people, themselves.
His stomach rumbled every step of the way. After all, he had set out from his home to get food, but the trip had ended midway as this odyssey had come along. He had hoped that the coffee would keep the hunger at bay, but it seemed to have failed.
This was why he only hesitate a little bit before walking into a diner that came on their way. Making his way into the kitchen, he crossed his fingers before opening the fridge… and almost jumped with joy when he found rows after rows of chocolate-chip cake neatly packed in plastic boxes.
Picking up as many as he could, he put them all down on a table outside and began to gorge on the delicacies. He didn't care less about the fact that the chocolate was getting all over his face; the taste was heavenly, and he found himself so caught up that he swatted away the hand that came close to take one of the unopened boxes in front of him.
"Okay, yeesh! Did they pick you up off the road or something?"
Hearing the woman's agitated voice, he looked up to see her massaging the hand he had hit away and felt a bit guilty. He ate with moderation after that, but the man who walked in a few seconds later still shot him a dirty look before turning to his sister.
"It's all empty. I checked the street beside this one, too… it doesn't really make sense."
"Is it a setting with a biological attack? I had a friend go through one…nasty stuff."
Her brother shrugged. "Could be. But I didn't see any police, too. In that scenario, the police should be all over."
"What if its an evacuated city? Maybe they-"
Al didn't really appreciate being ignored, but he let it pass as he was still busy enjoying the food. When he was done, he washed up using a basin nearby and patted his stomach.
Letting out a silent burp, he smiled. As if right on cue, the speakers in the diner came alive, and together, all three of them listened as the answers to their questions arrived.
"Theme: Kill, or be killed!
Objective of villains: The mayor of the city has evacuated all the people temporarily due to an imminent terrorist attack. To win the odyssey, kill the mayor after he returns. The citizens and the mayor will return 10 hours after this announcement.
Objective of heroes: Protect the mayor, or kill the heroes to win the odyssey.
Good luck!"