Odd One Out

Killian shot Damien a look before smirking.

"Come on man, didn't you say you were going to eat it?"

Zenos blinked a few times.

"Before I said the only way anyone was ever eating one of these almond bars was if they would starve to death otherwise. It looks like I was wrong. I praised it too much."

Damien smiled bitterly.

"I'm going to eat it. I just... need time to mentally prepare myself."

He took a few breaths as he continued to stare at the bar, almost like he was getting ready to skydive. Then, he closed his eyes before taking a small bite. Before he even began chewing, he put a hand over his mouth and made choking sounds. It took him quite a while, but he was eventually able to get it down.

Damien's eyebrow twitched.

"Fuck. Are these poisoned?"

Zenos clicked his tongue.

"That would be the stupidest thing to poison. It's not like anybody would eat it."

Killian narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Welp. Looks like we aren't going to be able to eat that."

Damien let out a sigh.

"I guess in reality I'd be spending more energy choking on the damn thing rather than eating."

Zenos rubbed his chin.

"What if we found a way not to taste it? That would surely work, right?"

Damien smiled bitterly.

"Ah, so just straight up turn into a snake and swallow it whole?"

Zenos shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't see any other way we could do this. Even if we just eat enough for a few meals, that's already quite a few points."

Damien grit his teeth and shook his head.

"Ah, fuck it. I'll take the damn thing and try to eat it."

After saying that, he forced himself to eat half of the bar, choking as he did so.

"...Shit. Is this thing spoiled? Is that why it tastes so bad?"

Killian chuckled and crossed his arms.

"That's what I thought when I first tried it, and they were brand fucking new as well."

Damien clicked his tongue.

"Whatever then."

With an unwilling heart, he finished the rest of the bar. He continued to gag, and was taking deep breaths in an attempt to stop himself from throwing up. By the time he was done, he noticed that Adonis was shifting around. In fact, his eyes were open.

He got up from the ground and pointed to the box.

"Hey, are those almond granola bars?"

Killian smiled bitterly.

"Sadly, yes. No idea why they even made those in the first place."

Adonis looked at him as though he was crazy.

"What are you talking about?"

Killian was confused and gestured towards him as he spoke, thinking that he wasn't heard properly.

"Their goddamn almond granola bars. Nobody likes those. Literally nobody."

Adonis raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? I bet you haven't ever even tried one before. You're just one of those people that jump on strange hate trends for things that don't make sense."

After hearing that, Killian was rendered silent. He wondered if perhaps he was the one that was hearing things wrong. As for Zenos, he was massaging his temple with one hand and held out his other hand towards Adonis.

"I-I could be imagining this. But for whatever reason, my logic is leading me to believe a really stupid conclusion. It sounds like... like you actually enjoy these things?"

Adonis blinked a few times.

"Well yeah, almond is the best flavor. How is that so strange? If I knew they were gonna stop making them because of those stupid hate trends then I would've bought some more to keep for myself."

The three of them all looked toward Adonis like he wasn't a human being. After a moment of awkward silence, Damien spoke.

"If that's really the case, then you can eat one of these, right?"

From his tone, it was clear that he didn't believe someone could actually like it. As for Adonis, he looked a little stupefied.

"Uh... yeah? Can you give me one?"

It took Damien a moment to process that message, but after a while, he took out one of the bars and tossed it over. Adonis frowned as he held out both hands in the form of a bowl.

"Hey! Don't throw it around! You can't even get these anymore."

Damien visibly cringed.

"Where we're at, you can't get any normal food either."

Adonis ignored him as he opened up the wrapper gently. His eyes widened slightly, almost like he couldn't believe what he was looking at. Seeing this, Killian laughed.

"Haha! Looks like you can't keep up the act any longer! You clearly don't like them at all!"

Adonis furrowed his eyebrows.

"Shut up! I'm enjoying this moment."

After staring at it silently for a few more moments, he raised the bar up. Then, the three watched in horror as he took a big bite out of the thing before chewing. Adonis let out a sigh afterwards.

"It's a little stale, but still the same taste I remember."

Killian whispered to the other two.

"That guy is a freak. We can agree, he is some sort of rare species that appears to be human."

Zenos nodded.

"I agree."

Damien sucked in a cold breath.

"That's the only explanation."

The corner of Adonis' lip twitched, but he just decided to ignore them and focus on the taste of the bar he had missed so much.

"If you guys don't want it, then I'll take it."

The corner of Damien's lip twitched when he heard that.

"...I did say that I would eat it, but if you really like it that much then I suppose you can have it."

Adonis shrugged his shoulders.

"That's fine with me."

Killian raised an eyebrow.

"Say, weren't you sleeping just now? Are you already healed or something?"

Adonis shrugged his shoulders.

"Not really, but I feel a lot better after getting some good food in me."

The other three collectively had the corners of their faces twitch due to disgust by, "good food" however, they didn't say anything about it. Damien coughed into his arm.

"So are you good enough to start clearing some of the labs?"

Adonis nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Zenos raised a hand to stop them.

"Hold on, we need a plan for when we meet one of those bigger ones, right? We can't just suicidally fight all of them at once all the time."

Damien gave a small nod.

"Alright, what do you have in mind?"

Zenos' lip twitched.

"I asked because I wanted you to provide your opinion."

Damien shrugged his shoulders.

"My opinion is that I want to hear yours."

Zenos furrowed his brows.

"You... you're just doing this because I told you I'm terrible at making plans."

Damien nodded.

"Yeah, you're right."

Zenos blinked a few times.

"Alright then. Will you think of something now?"

Damien sighed while holding out his hands to his sides helplessly.

"I told you already, my plan is to listen to what you have to say."

Zenos looked back with a strange look. For whatever reason, he felt a little strange, a feeling he didn't really understand. However, he pushed it out of his mind before sighing.

"...Alright, fine. I'll try and think of something."

He intently thought for a couple of moments, mulling over it all.

"We definitely can't kill them stealthily like the normal ones. So..."

His brows furrowed intensely.

"Hm..."

The way that Damien looked at Zenos changed a little. It seemed that he realized that Zenos was a little slow. Or at least, what he deemed to be "slow people".

Damien coughed awkwardly.

"I mean, assuming we take it stealthily, we don't have to kill everything we come across."

Zenos' eyes widened slightly.

"Ah! That's... how didn't I think of that?"

Killian looked at him strangely.

"You couldn't even think of that? Are you stupid?"

Zenos looked down at the ground, trying to hide the shame he felt.

"...Whatever. So I guess we just avoid the ones we can't stealthily kill and go on to get the rest."

Damien let out a soft sigh.

"And is there anything we should do after we kill all the ones we can?"

Zenos furrowed his brows.

"Kill the giants?"

Damien blinked a few times.

"...We can use the element of surprise to quickly finish one of them off, then work on getting rid of any others there might be."

Zenos scratched the side of his head.

"Ah, that makes sense. Also... can you stop?"

Damien raised an eyebrow.

"Stop what?"

Zenos took a deep breath.

"Treating me like I'm stupid. Even if I really am, just don't make it so clear."

Damien rolled his eyes.

"If that's what you think, then whatever. Let's just go."

He then lowered the intensity of his flashlight beam before putting a hand on the keypad, letting the gate to the next room slowly open up.