Jack breathed a sigh of relief seeing that they lost the cops. Placing his head on the leather chair, Jack noticed that Gregory was slowing down.
"Slow down. We've lost them," Jack muttered, gripping the seat.
"Was that your first time experiencing something that intense?" Gregory chuckled, easing his foot off the gas.
Although their drive through was unexpected and terrifying it wasn't like this was anything new. Fatty Ground Doves were common birds.
People ran them over with their cars all the time. As long as you could prove the damage was caused by them the city government would handle the repairs.
So it was a bit surprising that it unsettled Jack so much. Especially when the City experiences even more terrifying events from time to time. Like migrating Fog Flies.
Those bugs were unavoidable during their breeding season.
Jack shivered, reminded of how out of place he felt in this strange world where even birds posed a hazard.
Memories of the vengeful ghost girl crawling out of his TV flashed across his eyes. A cold sensation caused him to shiver before he regained his composure.
"...I guess not." Jack said slowly as he rubbed his eyes.
Compared to the vengeful ghost girl, this bit of excitement was really nothing.
"I'm really not used to this world." Jack thought with helplessness.
He tried his best to mentally prepare himself but it seemed that he still had a long way to go.
Once Jack calmed, Gregory turned down the music and started chatting. For the rest of the drive he drove at the speed limit which made it seem like he was driving at the speed of a snail in comparison.
After driving for ten more minutes, Gregory parked in front of a small bar called Squid's Ink. The building was two stories and the windows were covered in wooden boards. From the boards you could see that the bar was packed with people making the place seem lively.
"We're here." Gregory said calmly as he turned off the truck and hopped out.
Not long after Jack got out he noticed that two young teens wearing a black waiter uniform walked towards them with haste. The first teen to make it over to them was a young girl with short black hair and a chubby face. She had a delicate smile across her face as she approached them without fear.
The other teen looked to be her brother. He had the same raven black hair and chubby face but he seemed to be agitated.
His eyes flicked to the car and seemed to look at it from every angle as he had a hose, bucket, and garbage bag in his arms.
Gregory recognized the two of them and walked over with a slight smile, "Tabby, Jabby, how are you two doing? Is your old man still making you work the family business?"
Tabby, the teen girl, nodded her head.
"Yeah, but our mom is making him only let us work on Fridays and the weekends." Tabby said softly before changing the subject.
"Dad saw the blood and told us to clean it up."
Gregory nodded his head with an expectant look.
"Don't let us stop you, we will head inside." Gregory said and grabbed Jack's shoulder and began pulling Jack towards the bar.
"It's nice to meet you both," Jack said with a friendly smile and followed Gregory.
"Who are those kids?" Jack glanced back at them, watching Jabby spray down the truck.
Jack stared as Tabby mopped up the bloody water with practiced ease. Not a drop splattered her shoes. It was surreal—too casual, too normal for something so grisly. His stomach churned.
"The owners' kids?"
"Yeah that's right. Their ma and pa are the owners of the bar." Gregory said calmly as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blade of grass and put it into his mouth.
"They are nice folks but I'm not too close to them."
After having his curiosity satisfied Jack turned his focus back to making small talk with Gregory.
Once the two of them stepped inside the cold air that was freezing their skin vanished. Replaced with a constant gentle warm breeze and smooth jazz.
The bar was as packed as it looked outside.
Every table brimmed with laughter and slurred chatter, as mechanics, office workers, and off-duty guards rubbed elbows over frothy pints. The faint scent of spilled beer mixed with flavored smoke wafted through the air.
Gregory led Jack towards a table near the bar. The table had three other people who looked around Gregory's age. They each were wearing simple and baggy clothes with plenty of pockets.
Now that Jack noticed it, their clothes were a similar style to Gregory's clothes which he seemed to have changed into.
The trio were busy chatting until they noticed them walking over. They fell silent as they raised their eyebrows with curiosity mixed with suspicion when they saw Jack.
"Jack, these are my friends, Samantha, Donald, and Gal. We go way back—met during my military days."
"Everyone, this is Jack. I met him when I picked up the TV donated to the police station." Gregory introduced everyone.
"Hi, it's nice to meet everyone." Jack politely greeted.
"Same here," The only girl at the table said with a nod. She had black and white hair that matched her eyes. She had a sharp look in her eyes as she kicked her thick boots on the table.
According to Gregory's introduction her name was Samantha.
The guy that Gregory pointed out as Donald nodded his head while lifting his drink. His red hair was spiky and with the agitated expression on his face he seemed to be the most erratic of the group.
While the last guy, Gal, was a handsome young man. He was short, from what Jack could see, he stood about five feet and five inches.
Gal yawned, rubbing his eyes as he waved half-heartedly. "Hey... Jack, was it?"
With introductions out of the way, everyone relaxed a bit as they smiled. Jack and Gregory took a seat at the table and were soon given a glass of water.
"Jack was it? How did you convince this dumb guy to bring you along?" Samantha asked with curiosity.
Her black and white eyes stared at Jack's body and eyes before seemingly coming up with a reason on her own.
"Tsk! Be careful Gregory is probably trying to recruit you into his donation squad." Samantha said with a smile.
"What do you mean? Did he try recruiting you too?" Jack asked with curiosity.
This time Gal answered, with a soft yawn "He always does. Gregory loves spending his free time helping collect the donations for the police station."
"He says it's a good way to make himself useful." Donald added.
Hearing everyone call him out, Gregory awkwardly coughed.
"Hey, I didn't rope him into anything—yet," Gregory said with a relaxed grin. "I just saw him jogging and figured, why not?"
"You're the same as ever," Samantha said with a sigh before reaching into her jacket pocket and pulling a deck of cards.
"Since we are all here, why don't we play a game to get to know each other."
"Sounds good to me. What game did you have in mind?" Jack asked with interest.
"Spot the Infected. Do you know how to play?" Samantha asked Jack and seeing Jack shake his head she began explaining the rules.
"The game is simple. We each get five random cards from the deck. Then we randomly put a card at the center of the table."
"Everyone has to play that card. Whatever that card is you have to play it or lie that you did. If caught lying you have to take a shot."
"To win you have to play a Joker card and have no cards in your hand by the end of the round." Samantha finished explaining the game.
Jack nodded his head in understanding before speaking up that he was the designated driver and couldn't drink. Although after hearing the rules Jack was more relieved that he wouldn't have to suffer a killer headache in the morning.
"In that case, we can play the family friendly version. You just have to tell us something embarrassing about yourself." Samantha said while rolling her eyes.
"That's enough explaining. Let's play." Donald said with excitement in voice.
Seeing that everyone else had no problems, Samantha shuffled the deck and gave everyone five cards before drawing an Ace card and placing it in the center of the table.
"I'm playing four Aces," Samantha said with confidence. She put down four cards face down right next to the Ace card.
No one called her out so it moved on to Jack's turn.
Gregory patted Jack's shoulder and smiled as he said something that made Jack's face twitch.
"You're screwed."
Jack glanced at Samantha's face and could see that she was looking at him with hidden expectation.
"Don't tell me she placed down all four aces on the first turn?" Jack thought to himself and glanced at Gregory who subtly nodded his head.
"Damn, she's ruthless." Jack thought to himself before reluctantly glancing at his cards he threw two cards down.
"I placed down two Aces." Jack said calmly.
A second didn't even pass before Samantha grinned and called him out.
"You're lying."
"Are you sure?" Jack asked as his lips twitched.
"Damn she's ruthless." Jack thought as he silently vowed to get his revenge back on her in the next round.
"Definitely, flip your cards over to show everyone. If I'm right you have to tell us an embarrassing truth and if I'm wrong I do the same." Samantha remained confident.
Jack sighed and flipped his cards over to show he tossed in a King and a Queen.
"Alright, what's an embarrassing thing you want to share at the table?" Donald asked with a smirk.
Jack thought about his answer before saying, "I once threw up into a water fountain inside school and in front of the whole class and still blamed it on a bird. Let's just say no one believed me."
"Nasty," Gal muttered as he rubbed his forehead.
"Round two, let's see who gets caught this time," Samantha smirked, shuffling the deck.
This time it was a King.
The table went around once before Jack got his revenge and successfully called out Samantha.
"So fast," Samantha muttered while frowning.
She didn't expect her ruthless play would come to bite her in the ass so quickly. Even so, she wasn't bitter and felt her competitive spirit burn even hotter.
"Sigh, I was originally a natural redhead and liked dying my hair black and white. I kept dying my hair so frequently that I didn't notice my natural hair color changing to black and white."
"Wait…" Gregory's eyebrows scrunched up.
"Yup, I was lying to everyone even when we were in the military together. Back then I was a fake but now I'm a natural." Samantha chuckled as she touched her hair with pride.
"Next round is the Queen card. Jack it's your turn first."
The rest of the rounds went well with everyone getting caught. And as the hours went by Jack began to win more and more partially due to a combination of getting better at the game and everyone else becoming more drunk.
As the game went on, Jack noticed Gal's attention drifting. His gaze lingered on the shadows near the bar, his fingers tapping nervously on the table.
Which made winning even easier.
Before long, Jack watched as four drunks were pounding their fists on the table laughing. They weren't even playing the game at the time.
"J-jack, tell Gregory that he owes me two hundred bucks." Samantha said, slurring her words.
"I don't owe anything. Remember when I…I bought dinner for everyone." Gregory retorted while his face was on the table.
"Stop arguing. Who is paying for my drinks this time?" Donald asked before hiccuping. He tried to stand up but fell back on his seat before instantly falling asleep.
The only one who was slightly keeping their act together was Gal. And that was only because he was frozen, staring at a wall with a pale face.
"N-n-no, not again." Gal muttered just softly enough that Jack barely heard him.
"Gal, are you good?" Jack asked with a frown.
He reached over and shook Gal's shoulder and snapped him awake from his daze. Unfortunately, Gal's face became even more pale.
Gal's trembling finger pointed behind Jack.
"I-it's behind you," he stammered before slumping forward, unconscious.