Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Doing adult stuff sucked, and today was much less awesome than Daniel thought it would be. He had held such high hopes after being invited to hang out with Drew, but reality quickly set in, and he had decided that maybe it was okay to still be a kid for a few more years. The doctors gave verbal reports based on the condition and any improvements of their patients, and Drew had sat there the entire time nodding his head and asking questions politely. How did the man manage to keep his composure despite the content of those reports? At first, Daniel had thought it was all part of one big joke or a prank that was being pulled on him, but as time continued on, he felt very shaken.

Drew and Daniel left the medical tent and the older man decided to sate his hunger at the new food stall in the community. How could the man even be hungry after everything they'd just heard? Drew led Daniel to a picnic bench nearby before digging into his food.

"So, what did you think?" Drew asked.

Daniel wasn't sure what the man was asking, but he had the gut feeling that it involved the doctors, rather than the food stall.

"The food looked good I guess, not that I can really enjoy it." Daniel said, hoping to avoid the discussion.

"Hmmm? Oh, yes, the food here is very good. I'm sorry that you're not able to enjoy it. The other soulflames told me about the side effects. But no, I was asking about the reports from the therapists." Drew said as he was digging into his food.

"Uhhh... it all sounded really... scary. Gross, really messed up, and scary."

Drew nodded his head.

"Yeah, my stomach turned a bit on a couple of parts, but I'm glad to hear a few of the patients are doing better."

"If it made you sick, how can you eat? How did you remain so calm even after hearing all that... stuff?" Daniel asked.

Drew shrugged.

"It's not easy, and I wasn't calm. In fact, I was incredibly angry and sickened." He answered.

"But... you sat there, you listened to everything, you nodded your head and asked questions and everything. I... I don't think I could do that. My emotions are dulled since I'm dead or whatever, but I don't think I would have been able to ask any questions or talk at all." Daniel said with his head turned down.

"When I was your age, the world was a very different place. Hell, I didn't even have a cell phone until high school, and it was this folding thing with twelve physical buttons that only had 'Snake' on it. Texting was impossible, and I really only used it for emergencies to contact my mom or my grandparents. But, I think I was similar to you, ya know? I couldn't wait to drive, to have my own car and go out cruising with my friends. I worked at a shitty pancake house every day I had off from school just to make the payments for that piece of junk car... I guess what I'm trying to say, is I've tried to put myself in your shoes, and to think about how you would feel..." Drew started.

"...and honestly, I think I'd feel pretty shitty. I asked you to hang out today for two reasons, the first being that I haven't made enough time for you and the other people here. There's not much I can do about it because I have responsibilities and most of them suck, but I still wanted to hang out with you, even if it was just for a bit today. The second part, well... I never had a dad in my life. Not really. He was a bum trucker that blew all his money on toys and gadgets and I never got to see him growing up. Back then, I really wanted a dad, or someone that would do guy stuff with me. I had my grandpa, and he taught me to fish, but he was very old even when I was young..."

"...I guess I see a bit of myself, in you. Maybe that's me going senile, but with the world having gone to shit and all... I don't know. I figured you'd enjoy doing guy stuff, like a normal kid would do before the world ended." Drew finished.

Oh man, that, that was not what Daniel had expected to hear. At all. It wasn't a bad thing, it was just... unexpected. He thought Drew had brought him to the report to show him what being an adult really meant or something cheesy like that, but the man just wanted to spend time with him and hang out. The dad thing though... Daniel hadn't thought about that in a long time, not in many months. His grandparents had died when he was a kid, and his dad... his mom just said it wasn't meant to be and Daniel had never met him. Guy stuff though...

"So...you didn't bring me into that meeting to show me what adulthood was like or anything?" Daniel asked.

Drew laughed.

"Nooooo. Though, I suppose that's a bit of a happy accident." Drew continued to chuckle.

"So you really just wanted to hang out, but you had stuff to do so you invited me to join you?"

Drew nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much. But, the thing with those reports... that's not normal adult stuff. Not that the world is normal at all anymore, but what I mean is, being an adult is hard, in fact it outright blows most of the time. On the other hand, being an adult does have some good things to it too. This isn't applicable to you, but just take it as an example. I was twenty-three years old when I realized I could go to the store, and buy a birthday cake... any day of the year. I could buy a cake and go home and eat the whole damn thing if I wanted to. No one could stop me, no one could tell me that it wasn't okay to have cake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three days in a row." Drew said.

"But... like... really? Wouldn't you get sick or something?"

"Oh yes, that's a definite possibility. You could also burn yourself out on cake to the point that you'd never want one for several years later. But that's the thing with being an adult, just because you're free to do whatever the hell you want, doesn't mean there won't be consequences." Drew chuckled as he stared off into space.

"You're serious... you really did that, didn't you?" Daniel laughed as Drew turned slightly red.

"Yeah I did. True story. Funnily enough, I was a mostly good kid. I didn't really get into trouble, although I was often grounded when my grades dropped below an eighty. But as a young adult, man I was hell on wheels! I was always into some kind of mischief, rarely getting caught, and oh man, the girls... so many girls. But it all came to an end, as most things tend to do."

"What do you mean?" Daniel said while leaning forward.

This was the man everyone basically worshipped, and here he was telling Daniel how he used to chase women around, stuff his face with cake for breakfast, and was a huge troublemaker. How could this not be interesting? This guy was so cool, so calm, he even had awesome armor, and come to find out he was just like everyone else.

Drew leaned back, and tilted his head up looking at the sky.

"I'd love to say there was a big moment or something meaningful, but really it was lots of little things. Over time I came to realize I was doing nothing with my life. I didn't have a serious career, I wasn't going steady with a single girl, I spent a lot of time playing video games... It just finally hit me that I was a loser, that I didn't have a future."

"So...what did you do?"

"I shaped up. I got into a career that I enjoyed, I started taking relationships much more seriously, and I apologized to the people I had negatively impacted." Drew turned his head to look at Daniel.

"So, happy ending then?"

Drew chuckled.

"No, I mean yes in a way, but no in another. I met the woman who would later become my wife, and we had started to build a life together. I had a good job, I was making pretty decent money, I even bought the Mustang I always wanted as a kid, V8 and everything. But then I got sick. Real sick."

"Like a cold or something? Did you go to the doctor?" Daniel asked.

Drew shook his head.

"No, it wasn't like the flu, or anything that went away on it's own or had a cure. I was diagnosed with a severe panic disorder. It's hard to explain to someone whose never had a panic attack before, but needless to say it was bad. Something clicked in my brain, and the chemicals went all haywire. One day I was fine, and the next I was in bed, so afraid I was going to die just from getting up to use the restroom. I did see doctors, and I eventually got on meds that helped control it. It never went away, and leaving the house to go do anything was still scary, but I could take care of myself. Kinda. I needed someone to be near me, almost all hours of the day, or I'd lose my shit and start freaking out. My body would tell me I was dying, even when my mind said I was fine. Shivers, feeling hot and cold, then sweating so much that it left me dehydrated. I'd feel like I was about to die any second... for thirty minutes at a time."

"Holy... but... you're better now right? I'm pretty sure people would notice something like that now..." Daniel asked.

"Yes I'm much better now. Thankfully, that was one of the few good things to come from The Descent. When The System hit, everyone was cured of their mental illnesses and diseases from my understanding. Although, I specifically got better a week beforehand. I'm what The System calls a 'progenitor', it's a fancy word that basically means that I was given a heads up a week before doomsday, and I was given the ability to change my race."

"That... you knew?! Why didn't you tell anyone? You could have saved so many lives!"

"It isn't that simple. Think about it, if I went around telling people that the end of the world was coming, I would have been labelled as a complete nut job. No one would have believed me. If I showed off my spells to prove that I was right, the cops would have come, the FBI, ATF, Homeland security, and whatever other agencies are out there. I would have been locked up in a government warehouse somewhere and experimented on, and maybe even killed so they could study me. My family and everyone I've ever known would have likely disappeared as well. In the end, our leaders in congress would have sat there bickering and blaming one side or another instead of actually doing anything about it... if they were even informed at all. No, I wouldn't have been able to save anyone."

"...The government... but we're America! Or we were... It's not like we lived in ya know, a bad country."

Drew simply shook his head.

"I know it sounds strange, but the older you get, the more clear things become, and it's not always a blessing. Think about it this way, if you had to tell someone half your age, like an eight year-old, how the world worked, how would that go? Someone that young hasn't seen everything you have, they haven't done very much yet. That doesn't mean they're stupid, they're just inexperienced. How easy would it be, explaining something as simple as TV? I'm sure you remember what life was like before all the streaming services took over, when your mom still had a home phone, and when electric cars were science fiction right?"

Daniel nodded his head.

"I guess... but that's different." He said.

"It is. But it's not. I'm twice your age, certain things stick to you. You'll have to trust me on this, because explaining it could easily take up the whole afternoon, and I'm sure it would bore you."

"Wait, did you say you got to change your race? Is that why your friends look so weird?"

Drew chuckled.

"Yes, that's why we all look so weird. I was chosen, and given the chance to give five other beings the same opportunity to change races. That demon woman, that's actually my mom, and she's seventy-one years old, believe it or not."

"No way! The one that looks like Beefcake is that old?! That's like, before cars or something!"

"Shhhhh! Don't let her hear you say that! She doesn't look strong, but she'll smack ya upside the head with a wooden spoon so hard it'll make your head spin." Drew motioned with his hands.

Daniel laughed.

"Does that mean you changed your race too?"

"Yup! That's how I was cured early. What, you think a normal guy in his early thirties would have gray hair, and be this buff?"

Drew flexed his arm and Daniel could barely hear the fabric of the man's shirt start to rip.

"You look human though, besides the glowing eyes and all."

Drew pulled back his hair to one side and showed off one of his slightly pointed ears, and then smiled wide so his enlarged canines were displayed while he pointed at them.

"So what, a vampire or something?" Daniel asked.

"Half vampire. Part elf, part vamp. Can suck blood to heal, extremely resistant to mental attacks and trauma, pretty good with magic, that sorta thing."

"Wowwww! Does that mean I could... change back to... not being dead?" Daniel said hopefully.

"Uh... I don't know. That's something you'd need to ask Spock or Beefcake about. If there's a way to do it, I'm unaware of it. Anyways, give me a minute or two for my food to settle, and I'll take ya out driving."

Driving...

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Driving wasn't as fun as he'd thought it'd be. Drew was a good teacher and all, but the go-karts and ATVs Daniel had driven previously were much more enjoyable, and far less scary. The old pickup was even older than Drew, but not as old as his mom. It didn't have the modern features that even his ATV used to have. There was no power steering, and you had to shift gears with a stick. It wasn't difficult, but everything looked like it belonged in the super old Flintstones cartoons. A deer, or what used to be a deer, jumped into the middle of the road and he thought he was going to hit it. He had blinked his eyes and it was gone.

He'd barely gotten a look at it, but it had red eyes, fangs, and it looked like it had gone to the gym five days a week. Drew's creepy birds were on the roof of the car, and swooped in so fast, and grabbed the deer and took off. All in the blink of his eyes. He really needed to get some more levels soon. He wasn't sure what level Drew was at, but Daniel was hovering around level fourteen still.

After the driving lesson, they'd gone back to the community. It didn't take too long, the hardest part was learning how to downshift to slow down without stalling the engine. Honestly, he was kinda glad it was over. Like, he was glad he got to do it, but it was just... it wasn't that great. He thought it would be this magical thing and it ended up being kinda lame. Most of the time, the truck was going just slightly faster than he could run, so it wasn't like highway speeds or anything either. He was thankful to Drew for allowing him to use the truck, and teaching it, but honestly he had more fun just hanging out with the guy. Not that he was going to tell him that, he didn't want to make things weird, or make it seem like he was an annoying kid. He parked once they made it back.

"So, what did you think?" Drew asked.

"Uh..."

Drew chuckled.

"It sucked, right?" Drew followed up.

"Yeahhhh...but like, thank you for teaching me!"

Drew chuckled.

"These things are old as hell. Sadly, the days of fast muscle cars are gone. I would have loved to take you for a drive in a sports car or something. That would have been fun."

Daniel nodded his head.

"Oh! I have a question!" Daniel said.

He remembered a thought he had while driving back, something that had been bothering him for awhile.

"Well, when a man loves a woman..." Drew started with a smirk on his face.

"No! Not that! Besides, I don't think..."

"Don't worry, I'll ask some experts. Discretely, no worries. Now, what was the question?"

Daniel would have blushed from embarrassment, but...

"Erm, when are you going to name the community?"

"Uh... what?" Drew asked, clearly perplexed.

"Yeah, everyone just calls it 'the community', or whatever. But doesn't that make it seem kinda... lame?"

Drew sat there and blinked his eyes twice.

"I guess it is lame, huh? To be honest, I haven't given it any thought. Huh... well, what do you think we should name it?" Drew asked.

"Me? Why are you asking me, I just thought it needed a name."

"It's a good idea, but I'm awful with coming up with names. I'd probably name it something generic and it would end up sounding boring as hell."

"You mean like, Haven? Or New Ryansville?" Daniel asked.

"Uh... yeah... you're right. Haven sounds totally lame..." Drew shifted his eyes back and forth.

"How can you be so cool, and have such awesome armor, but want to name the community something so...boring?" Daniel rolled his eyes.

"I told you I was bad at this!" Drew waved his hands back and forth.

"Alright, what about Sanctuary? That's kinda close to Haven right?" Daniel asked.

"That's... not bad. I'll see what the family thinks."

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Daniel joined his mom and the others in the shelter for the night. He talked at length about his day, the time he had spent with Drew, the things he'd learned, and the fun he had. Many people came around to listen to him talk, most of them interested in his interactions with the mysterious man that everyone respected. When he finally laid down for the night, he felt more at ease than he had in several weeks.

Driving ended up not being that cool, and the adult stuff sounded awful, but he did have a fun time. Being undead still bothered him, but maybe life wasn't so bad after all?