All right, guys! It's time for Chapter Four of inFamous: The Beginning of Tyranny!!
~Chapter 4~
~Week One: Paul~
"Daniel!!" yelled Paul as he ran to his best friend's body and picking him up, taking one arm around his neck while the man took the other arm around his neck as well. They walked away from the burning building that was formerly known as I-Hop and headed for the hotel with the young girl Molly in tow. It was during the journey back to the hotel did the man introduced himself as Zeke Dunbar and Paul did the same.
"Ahh.. You're the guy that hung out with the Electric Man. Cole MacGrath, wasn't it?" asked Paul to Zeke as they walked along the street to the beat-up hotel.
Zeke nodded his head and commented on the fact he knows about Paul's family and their company, Vladamir's Genetic Industries. "I'm not big on people trying to change the world for the best, but in your case, your family is doing a great service to the world and its citizens," he replies to Paul and also tells him that he's here for the job that the senior runner-back football player had posted on the internet the night before.
"You need someone to drive the bus home back to Archville, I'm your man. Money is of no issue.. and it sounds like from your ad that your, ah, situation is bad," said Zeke as Paul nodded his head to every word Zeke said, but he was in deep thought as how to explain this to Daniel once he woke up from whatever it was that happened to him.
It was nearly noon when the threesome reached the hotel and walked up the stairs to the room where Daniel stayed. Paul had to reach the left side of Daniel's pant pocket to get the key out and unlocked the door, kicking it in the process and both Zeke and Paul slowly and carefully set the sleepy Daniel down on the bed.
Releasing a big deep sigh coming from Paul, he turned to Zeke and thanked him for his help while Molly sat by Daniel's side on a chair that was set next to the bed, staring. It was at this time one of the cheerleaders, Dani, came in and asked Paul what the hell happened to poor Daniel. He explained to her that he was simply tired with an not-so-convincing smile. That just made Dani go downstairs to her room and came back with medical supplies.
She checked his vitals and concluded that he was simply exhausted and required rest for the night, if not for the week or so. With that, Dani walked back down the stairs to her room.
Paul blanched at this news.
" A week?! This means I'm in charge for the duration of this fiasco... Ugh, I'm not one to be in charge; that's usually left to Daniel to handle this stuff." Paul thought to himself about this. He decided to go talk to Zeke and see if he's ready to take him and the classmates back home to Archville. He also noticed that the girl named Molly was still there beside Daniel's side and wondered how she met Daniel and why was she so interested in him, but that's for another time as seeing his business to do is getting himself and everybody home.
With that, Paul walked outside while closing the door halfway and lent on the fence that Zeke was lenting as well. Clearing his throat, Paul told him that his friend was going to be all right but he'll be out for a while. "You know, Zeke... I may not know you well enough, but you're pretty much my only hope of getting us back to Archville. And now that you have seen the bus, you sure you still want to do this?" asked Paul in his uncertain voice.
Glad to know of his new friend's friend condition, he let it slip that he is still going to take them home, but would rather do it soon than later. "After all, that fire back there is sure bound to bring some attention to you three and uh, I have nothing else to do now that Cole's dead." said Zeke, thinking about his dead friend.
Thinking about what Zeke said, Paul gave his sympathy to Zeke and told him that while he agrees, he'd rather wait until tomorrow.
"After all, Zeke, you just met me and everybody and it's still noon anyway. Best to get our rest while we can, huh, man?" Paul told him, laughing as does Zeke. That laughter lasted for a minute when the news from Daniel's TV came on. Paul and Zeke looked at each other and went inside only to be greeted with the news that was given by CNN, saying that while the police are starting their investigation on to what happened to their fellow officers and the burning I-Hop, they have gained some insight that it was caused by an Bio-terrorist/Conduit named Hank and that at least two eyewitness reporting that two men and one young lady ran away from the scene and wishes they would come in for questionings as the news came to an end.
Sighing, Paul turns to Zeke and tells him to get the bus started while he gets everybody up and packing their stuff and load it up on the racks inside the bus. He also hands over the keys to Zeke who quickly went downstairs and straight to the bus.
Paul ran to the senior boys' room and told them to pack up then ran down the stairs to the senior girls' room and told them to do the same. He also pointed out to them as soon they get their stuff up, they are to hand over their room keys to him so he'll take them straight to the hotel owner. "Remember guys, be sure to double check for your stuff; Once we're out of here, we're gone."
He asked Zeke if the bus is good to go. Zeke responded by one-indexing salute to Paul. Encouraged by this, he went upstairs to Daniel's room and with some help from Molly, packed what was left of Daniel's suitcase and lunged it back to the bus. As Paul went back to Daniel's room to pick up his friend, he was greeted by his classmates who gave all their keys to him and changed his course and headed to the hotel office.
As Paul opened the door and entered the office, he was greeted by the owner and handed over all the keys to him explaining that he was able to get a driver for the bus and they were leaving. "Sir, thank you for having us for a bit and I hope you have a good day." The owner smiled at this and bade Paul and his classmates goodbye.
With that, Paul went back to his room and packed his suitcase which was thrown down to one of the member of the football team who put it up on the rack. He headed to Daniel's room and was surprised to see the girl has disappeared, but shrugged his shoulders and with an grunt coming out of him, picked up his sleeping friend and walked outside while closing the door behind him. He went down the stairs and right up the steps on the bus, putting his friend on the left seat which was being used for a bed, not knowing that he had one stowaway inside the bus.
Nodding his head to Zeke who proceed to drive out of the hotel and on the road straight to Archville, but stopped at the local gas station to fuel up. Once the bus was gassed up, Zeke drove for a bit and was able to get onto the highway that lead them to the border of Arkansas/Louisiana. It took them at least 5 hours to reach the border which Paul paid for the toll road and another 2 hours, they reached Rock City, Arkansas.
Once they reached Rock City in Arkansas, Paul was able to call ahead to the hotel they were supposed to use for the night and was surprised to hear that they didn't have to pay for everything, seeing that it was their dead teacher that covered everything from food to lodging for their hotel, Holiday Inn. Happy to hear that, Paul told Zeke to go ahead and park which Zeke happily did.
Once Paul got all the students' rooms in order and let them put their stuff up, he went ahead and order pizza for them. It was nearly dark when their pizza arrive and this time, Zeke paid for it. Munching on his pepperoni pizza, Paul and Zeke started talking about their plan for when they arrived in Archville. Zeke told him that as long as he's their driver, he's not going anywhere until then. "After all," Zeke said as he was munching down his pizza, "I have this feeling this isn't over with your amigo just yet, considering what happened back there and I would be willing to help you out. In fact, I got some sources of mine I might put to use to find out what happened after we left."
Paul smiled at this and told him that as long as nothing else bad happen, he's cool with it. " I'm going to bed now, Zeke.. You should do the same." Paul said as he walked to his room, opening his door with his key, not knowing that the stowaway was next door. As he closed the door, Paul went to the bathroom and stripped down and took a shower. Once he was done with his shower, Paul walked to his bed, turned his light off and drifted to sleep.
The next morning, Paul, Zeke and the rest of the classmate, along with the still sleeping Daniel and the one stowaway, were on the road once again. It took them 3 hours to reach the Arkansas/Missouri border. As the fourth hour came, Paul was woken up by the slowing of the bus. He got up from his seat and stretched, rubbing his eyes asking Zeke if everything all right. Zeke didn't respond.
"Zeke?" asked Paul as he made his way to the front and discovered, to his horror and shock which must have been the same as Zeke, the road ahead was full of traffic due to the fact there was an roadblock, manned by the newly funded government department known as the D.U.P (Department of Unified Protection) set a few days later after the New Marias Blast.
"Bro, what are we doing to do? I mean, look at that!" said Zeke as he pointed to the APC vehicle that was sitting on a hill. Paul looked to where Zeke pointed and gasped. Pondering on what to do, Paul turned to go back to his seat and was surprised to see Molly sitting next to Daniel.
"Molly?!" said Paul in his shocked voice. "How did you get inside here?" asked Paul and Molly replied saying, "I sneaked inside the bus while you weren't looking... I couldn't leave Daniel behind, knowing he probably wants some answer to what happened to him and I care about him deeply."
Groaning and shaking his head, Paul didn't need another problem and walked up to Molly and grabbed her arm, pulling her to the front door. Molly struggled to get away, but he was too strong. Paul told her that even she cared for Daniel, she doesn't belong on the bus. " You should have stayed home with your parents, who I think are worried of you." He said as he opened the door by using the handle and proceed to push her out of the door to outside. But before he could do it, Molly screamed loud which caused Paul to pull her inside.
Smiling, Molly simply told him that if he touched her one more time, she'll scream again, but it would be a cry of rape. "After all, I do hear that boys your age doesn't do well in prison.." smiled Molly and snickered at the senior's annoying face while looking at her nails and winked at the girls behind Paul, who were also trying to cover their own snickering.
Full of fume, but with a sigh and defeat in his voice, Paul bent down to Molly's face and told her he'll let her be because he didn't want to risk it and seeing that she seems to know what's going on with Daniel, but stated this to her: " You know you're one little psychopath, don't you?"
"Thank you for the compliment, Paul.. You're an nice man, after all." Molly smiled and went back to sit beside the sleeping Daniel.
Irritated in this change of events around him, Paul went back to Zeke, who was trying so hard to cover his laughter from seeing Paul and Molly's actions. Paul gave Zeke an hard look and that quickly shut up Zeke's laughter. With a deep sigh, he pondered on what to do next.
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