Prologue – Meet The Triad (Part 1)

"Hurry the fuck up, JN!"

"C'mon, JN! They're right behind us!"

"Zip it, lad! I'm shot and holey, and you both are piggybacking my back, so of course I'm going to be slow!"

"We're here, we're here! Everybody get in the car!"

I hop on the driver's seat and start the car as quickly as possible. The gigantic and muscly man with a marine crew cut and brown eyes sit at the back of the four-seat sedan. Everyone in this car can absolutely see the gaping hole the size of a ring in his lower right abdomen. Yet, everybody seems to pay absolutely no mind to this abhorrently gruesome view.

"Shit! Shit! Fuck! I can't start the car!" I shouted as I looked out the window to see our chasers. They're about 100 meters away.

"Can't you do anything?! They're almost here, just start the goddamn car already!" The lady at the back screamed at me while punching at the back of my seat's headrest.

"I can't the fuse is all burnt up!" I said while scrambling around the cables, "We need to push the car first to get it going! JN, get out and push the car!"

"Are you crazy?! They have guns, he's been shot, yet you still want this old man to get out there and be shot again?!"

"Hey, I'm not old! I'm just well-riped!"

The girl shouted at me angrily. Meanwhile the man called JN just froze there with his right hand placed on the doorknob. See? He's about to go out and push the damn car, and we should've been well on our way, had it not for this girl thinking about our safety and well-being.

"Then, what the hell am I supposed to do?! I can't just unburnt a burnt fuse and magically fix the damn car!" I shouted back at her, while rummaging around the dashboard to at least find something to use.

"I don't know! You're supposed to be the brain of the group! So use it and get us out of here!"

"Wait, I know!" A brilliant idea that will ensure everybody's health just came to my head while punching the steering wheel. "Adeera, smash the back window open and use your barrier-thingy to repel the car off of that inn!"

I pointed at the front wall of the inn. The wall looks old but the dim light and the screen at the top of the building make it look futuristic and ancient at the same time.

"Hang on a minute! I've never tried to push something bigger than myself let alone pushing something as big as a car." The girl said that with a doubtful tone in her voice. "Also, you know damn well it's Cuboid not barrier-thingy!"

I look outside the window and see that our chasers are halfway to our car already. I need to convince this girl to do it now. The gears in my head start turning rapidly. I put my hands on her cheeks, I look at her blue emerald eyes, and I keep our faces as close as possible.

"Dee!" The surprised and confused look on her face tell me that she never saw this coming. Her face turns red. Though, whether that's because of shyness or anger, we will never know. "I would never doubt you in my life. I will always believe you with my life, because I know that you have the ability to do what it takes. Can you do it?"

Her face lit up, the traces of doubt in her face are gone. She looks as confident as she has ever been, and as she ever will. You can even see the moment she gathers her confidence.

That was almost too easy.

"O- Okay. Just let me off already!" She said meekly.

After that, she starts rolling up her sleeve and she begin to put her right hand's palm in the direction of the inn. There is about 20 meters between the car and the inn. She closes her eyes and begins to concentrate.

Suddenly, the rear window shattered as if a hard and solid object just passed right through it. You can't see anything coming out of her hand but you can clearly made out that something just crashed into the window. JN closes his ears as the glass scrambles and flies around everywhere. Yet, Adeera's face is as serious as ever been. She didn't even flinch when the broken glass scratches her hand and face. All she's thinking about right now is to depart out of here as hastily as possible.

She's almost done. Shoulder stiffened, face froze, anticipation peaked. No matter how clueless you are, you know that something is about to happen. Something big, something explosive, something violent. You know it's about to happen real soon. It's not the matter if it will happen, but when it will happen. And in the middle of all this, suddenly, Adeera's expression changes.

This is it. It's happening. We're getting out of here in...

3...

2...

1...

"WOOHOOOO!!!!" JN shouted at the top of his lungs while flying in the air. He is ecstatic with the fact that he's no longer shackled by gravity.

Or he was, until he realized that he didn't fly. He never flies, floats, glides, or takes off. Hell, the car didn't even jump off the ground for even a millimeter. All the car did was just sit there, much like all of us inside it.

"Hahhh! Hahhhh! Hahhhhhhh!" Adeera's panting like she just ran a full marathon. She's coughing and choking like crazy. That made it worse when you know she always casually does a full marathon for a morning jog. "I—" cough cough "I can't. It's too— it's too far!"

JN and I just look at each other and we both realize something at the same time.

"You're fucking useless."

"You suck, Dee."

We almost said it at the same time. What made the difference is that I despise her so much in this exact moment that I don't even feel like saying her name.

"So— sorry. We're all gon—" cough cough "we're all gonna die!" She still tried to speak while gasping for air between words.

"No, we won't! Not while I'm still alive!" I shut her down and told JN to go out and push the car. "JN! Go outside and put those muscles to use!"

"You owe me one, little lassie!" JN teased Adeera while opening the car door.

He goes outside nonchalantly, standing in the open as the bullets keep being shot by our hunters. He looks at them dead-straight and suddenly screams.

"WAAAAGGHHHHH—" Loudly, from the top of his lungs while ripping his semi-tight white tank top. Thank god he didn't do anything weird. I was almost sure that he was going to flex his biceps and abs or worse yet, move his pectoral muscle.

"—muacchh."

And there you go. He did something even worse than what I imagined. He gave them a flying kiss. Oh god it's burned to my mind now. I swear it's better to see him get shot by the bullets again rather than seeing those overgrown muscles.

Oh—

Oh no, he got shot, twice.

It's thrice now. Man, I need to be careful on what I wish for.

But he doesn't look like he's hurt, heck, he doesn't even flinch. He just turns his back on them and just grabs the frame of the back door with his hands. He starts pushing the car on the back door and keeps on pushing. He doesn't even close the door.

"That's it, JN! Keep doing that the car is almost on!"

I keep on trying to start the car. The bullets keep on coming for us through our window. Adeera keeps on coughing to the point of almost vomiting in the back. JN keeps on pushing the car easily with no look of exhaustion on his face.

'C'mon car! Start! For me, start!' I desperately said that to myself.

And all of a sudden, we hear a sound of an engine starting followed by a revving noise.

"Come in, JN! It's on! The car is on! Hurry!" I shouted to the back and told JN to jump into the car.

As soon as JN jumped in, I slam my foot on the gas and drift my way out of this place. "Hahaha! Adios, bitches!" JN gave the hunters a lovely middle-finger while closing the door.

After a while we can't see our chasers anymore and any sign of them tailing us is nonexistent. The wind hitting our faces feels so relaxing now that we get them off of our tail.

**********

"Dee, count the diamonds." I was about throw my bag to Dee to make her count the diamonds. She has stopped vomiting but her complexion has not come back yet.

"Huh? Oh please not now, I still don't have enough energy to do anything. You should just pass it to JN."

"Goddammit, Dee! Can't you be anymore useless?!" I complained to her.

"Shut up."

"JN! Can you count the diamond?" I threw it above my head to where JN was sitting. The bag made a thud sound as it landed on him but I hear no response from him. He is unusually silent.

"JN! Oh my god, Ky! He's not breathing!" Adeera panicked and tried to wake him up by slapping him in the face multiple times.

"What?!" I panicked. "Check for his pulse! We can't let him die!"

"It's still there but it's faint!"

"Okay, okay..." Almost had a heart attack there. "...it's fine as long as he's not 'dead' dead. Now slap his nipple."

"What?!"

"JN. NIPPLE. SLAP. NOW." I said while pointing at his hairy, muscly, sweaty, and bare chests.