Brakus patiently waits for the old man to begin his explanation. The old man turns towards him with a foreboding look. The terror in his eyes gave Brakus an uneasy feeling in his stomach at the idea of anything being able to strike fear in someone as hardened as him.
"The shade group, on paper, is the terrorist group responsible for the war that broke out six years ago. But, what they truly are is far more unsettling they are a supernatural force with the power to command legions of people using only their mind or some sort of dark magic." he walks over to a cabinet and begins fumbling through it, he pulls out a shot glass and a bottle of whiskey. He pours a shot and lifts the glass to his lips, throwing his head back as he swallows. "It was about four and a half years ago when my platoon of soldiers was ambushed, we lost some good men that day...." he throws back another shot before continuing.
"We received a S.O.S from the first wave of soldiers who were deployed along enemy lines, they went in two days earlier than my group. But on the other side of the radio all we could hear were gunshots and explosions and men pleading for help. When we arrived the whole platoon had been wiped out.." he takes a long drag from his cigarette causing ashes to land on his shirt.
"What happened after that?" Brakus asks with fear in his eyes, completely enticed by his story. The old man sighs with defeat, it was painful for him to recount that day, the things he saw scarred him for life. "We were attacked by our own soldiers, those bastards murdered all of them and transformed them into monsters, our regular guns stood no chance...". "They shredded through our lines like paper. Me and a small squad of soldiers ran to a nearby comes tower to call in air support. while our fellow soldiers got ripped to shreds. We rejoined the battle saving whoever we could and we fell back to hide inside, the Bombs came in blasting the Shade groups army into smithereens." he collapses to the floor, his blood boiling with frustration "We let so many soldiers die, I can't sleep knowing their lives were in my hands, and we hid inside like cowards!! Their screams still keep me up at night." he puts his cigarette out by crushing it into a glass ashtray, patting out the embers. "After that, we didn't tell anyone what happened, we told the highers up that everyone else was dead before the carpet bombing and we were treated like heroes, but we all knew what truly happened. Some of us couldn't live with our guilt and committed suicide, others went awol escaping from the war. I chose to continue to serve because I felt the need to honor the men we lost, but eventually I couldn't handle anymore death so I escaped to here 3 years later ." He takes one more shot , twisting the whiskey bottle closed before placing it back in the cabinet.
"I was lucky enough to avoid any more confrontations with the Shade group, but shortly before I decided to abandon the war a old war buddy of mine sent me a package containing sensitive intel asking me to keep it safe. I figured nobody would ever look for me or the intel, but now they've found me after all these years..." he pauses as sweat begins to bead on his forehead, and then I look of regret crosses his face. He looks like he wants to continue, but is keeping quiet about something major. Brakus' teeth chatter in fear as his blood runs cold, he doesn't push for him to continue, having heard enough.
"Wow... I don't know what to say, that's horrible gramps" Brakus closes his eyes, realizing that the old man is done talking. "Is there a way to defeat them? My mother always told me stories of monsters and how they could be defeated with silver bullets."
"Those are just tall tales, the only way to kill them with weapons seems to be Bombs and fire." with a calm voice the old man's response comes quick and cold, he wasn't the type to mince his words. "You should be grateful that you are even alive, the shade group aren't afraid to kill in cold blood, woman and children alike." This sends a shiver up Brakus' spine, he didn't realize that he escaped by a thread.
Brakus stares at the old man then asks "How do you know so much? didn't you say you avoided confrontations with them?" The old man burns his gaze into Brakus with an cold blooded stare,and then he smiles saying "That's classified, I would have to kill you.." he sits down in a chair grunting in pain before he contacts with the seat. "You have a lot to learn about curiosity, haven't you heard the term 'curiosity killed the cat'?"
"But.....considering you're in so deep already I can let you in on a little secret" he gets close to Brakus and whispers something into his ear, whatever it was caused his face to go pale. The old man chuckles at this reaction, amused with Brakus' plight . "We have a lot more to discuss, I apologize for my secrecy but its for your own good" he motions towards Brakus, who is as still as a statue inside of his cast. "And in your current state there isn't much you could do to help, once you recover we can finish our little talk."
"By the way I was meaning to ask, how long will it be before I recover? My mom will start to worry about me and believe me you do not want to see her angry!" The old man bursts into tears of laughter "You're gonna love this! it's gonna take about" he drags out the word about as he checks his watch "I would say a month and a half."
"What am I gonna do ?!?!" Brakus squeals with fear of the inevitable, he imagines his mom throwing her shoe at this head while yelling at him. "You could go to the hospital. but then you'll have to explain how you got there, or you can stay here and keep her in the dark while avoiding her. you don't have much of an option either way." He right about that and Brakus knows it , there is no weaseling his way out of his predicament.
"I'll tell you what, I'll go speak with your mom. But that wont go well considering how it would look. maybe I can convince her that you'll be helping me rebuild my shop over the next few weeks, there is tons of work to be done around here. You'll be well enough to visit your home in a few days, but this time I really mean it. Take it easy." He says that last part with a stern voice.
Seeing this is his best option, Brakus concedes to the plan with a nod. "Now get some sleep if you plan on recovering anytime soon!" The old man exclaims as he walks out the door of the backroom "I'll be in the front of the shop fixing my front counter if you need me." Leaving the room in complete silence as Brakus closes his eyes, going to sleep.