Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 216: Darkness Falls

-Channel 8-

"According to new data, the number of infected continues to rise in not only the country, but also the world. Channel 8 has recently received the new statistical data showing that the average number of people being infected has risen by almost one thousand percent over the past six months. As Global Sciences continues to research exactly how the virus spreads, there have been reports to the now federally backed company showing that while the fatality rate used to be as high as ninety five percent, the rate has slowly lowered, resting at around the eighty percent marker. While this news is promising, it is also problematic due to their being more and more people who have developed mutations caused by the virus. For more on this, we go to our anchor in the field..."

-Channel 17-

"The cause of the infection remains unknown but what is known is the dangers caused by people who have been infected. In recent days, the number of infected attacking healthy individuals has skyrocketed. In some cases, this has been brought about by the need for infected to defend themselves. More often than not though, it has happened while individuals were being tested and found positive. As such, the new federal department for infected containment, or DIC, has been formed in an effort to protect the citizens of our great nation. Agent Wallace, the new head of DIC, joins us now with information on what your government is doing to keep you safe."

-Channel 34-

-Message beep-

Channel 34 has been taken off the air temporarily by the FCC due to efforts of the federal government to stop the spread of misinformation resulting in dangerous actions on the part of it's viewers. Regularly scheduled programming will resume on the start of the new broadcast day.

-End Message-

...

The tv flipped over to a college football game as the grizzled bartender whispered "Fuckers" to himself. He then walked over to the till and started bagging some of the profits from the night to throw it into the safe in the back.

"Tina. Watch the bar for me. I'll be right back." The man said, not waiting for a reply. Tina just scoffed at this and couldn't help but wonder if the man was sober enough to even find his way back after he sat down in his office.

Although annoyed, she quickly turned back around and took a look over the bar, seeing mostly locals who were drinking beer while shooting pool or throwing darts. Luckily there was no Karaoke tonight or Tina would have an even bigger headache. As the single mother of two, she worked evenings while her mom took care of the kids and put them to bed. Although she would love to be there with them all night, she was grateful that she even had a job in this economy. Sadly though, this wasn't tourist season just yet so although some bikers came through every now and then, mostly it was just the local crowd and they didn't tip much.

The bar itself wasn't a dive, but that was only because her boss put quite a bit of money into it when he bought it and it did get quite an income during the travel season. On these somewhat quiet nights, Tina couldn't help but let her mind drift from time to time, wondering what she would be doing if she hadn't had kids with that deadbeat and had gone to college. Although she was still somewhat young and there was always the future, for now she had to focus on just doing her best for her family.

The one thing she like about working here was that there was always new people to meet. She figured that maybe if she played her cards right, she might just meet someone worth spending some of her free time with. Of course, with those handsome strangers also came the weirdos, but that was just a hazard of the job Tina figured.

Tonight, there was one such person sitting and drinking alone. She honestly wasn't sure which he was, handsome or weird. All the same, he was pretty mysterious.

"Anything else honey?" Tina asked. The guy had been sitting there, drinking most of the night. At first, Tina was hesitant to serve him since he seemed weird. He was dressed in jeans and had a black hoodie on along with some sore of a baseball cap, but it seemed too faded to make out the team. None of this was out of place as it was normal dress. The weird part was that the guy was also wearing gloves and didn't bother taking off his hood. In a bar where everyone knew each other, it was odd to have one guy sitting there completely covered. Although it was pretty cool outside, that didn't mean it was freezing inside with all of the people around. It just made the man stand out more.

"Just another one, please." The man's voice sounded pleasant to the ear, neither too high or too low. If anything, it had a soothing feeling to it, like the feeling of silk stroking the skin. At least, that's what Tina thought. Originally she had approached him to ID him, but after hearing his voice, she wasn't going to say no to anything he asked. If there was one problematic part, it was that the man was dead silent the entire time, as though he was lost in his thoughts. Tina had tried various things to talk to the man or attract his attention, but nothing work. Any good female bartender would tell you that flashing some skin was a good way to make a buck. But any great female bartender would tell you that it had far more to do with connecting to your client. After all, flashing skin was a double sided blade, but a good conversationalist had no drawbacks.

Tina had always thought she was pretty skilled in both areas, but now she was starting to doubt herself.

The man took his new Jack and Coke and continued to zone out, almost as though he was waiting for something. Despite being there for almost five hours, the man was very patient.

"Fucking hell Bob, why'd you have to sign us up for that job? You know how fuckin annoying that shit is? Normally, I would say fuck ya, give me the money. But you know what Nu Oleens is like right now? It's just this side of insane. Fucking crazies left and right, I'll tell ya. Sure, them partiers can go nuts all they want cause they just come for the fun and leave, mostly alive. But we live here."

"Yeah Bobby, I know. But fuck man, you seen the money they are offering for the help? Fuck man, it's triple what they were paying out last year. And it's just for a few weeks of work. Go down, help set up, work on clean up and boom. It's like a half a years wages in like seven weeks man.".

"Yeah Bob, they got to pay that price cause ain't nobody dumb enough to do that shit with what's happening right now. Fucking vampires, bible thumpers and the hoodoo cults taking action. Things like a powder keg."

"So what? Think they are dumb enough to do everything out in the open? They will have the feds down on them in a minute. And man, no one wants the DIC right now. So look, keep out heads down, focus on the money and get the fuck out of town once it's over. Easy peesy.

"I swear to god Bob, if we get put in a cage from any of them, I'm tellin em to eat you first."

Hearing the back and forth between these two seemed to grab the weird man's ear. It seemed like he was listening rather closely to the two youths conversation. No one could tell this though since they hadn't been talking loudly. Just as he was about to get up and ask them a question, they approached the bar instead.

"Hey Tina. Yo baby. Pour me and my boy here something. We got a great job lined up and we both going to be rolling in the money soon."

"Bob, Bobby. You two know better than anyone that I can't serve you anything until you either pay your tab or have cash on yah. No if ands, or buts."

"Ugh... Come on Tina. We've been friends for years. You know you could trust me for it. Soon. I promise."

"No deal. If you ain't got cash, get out," Tina said while pointing at the door. Just as the defeated boys were about to get up and see if they could get something out of the corner store, a hundred dollar bill hit the table. Looking up, Not only Tina but also Bob and Bobby seemed shocked.

"They can have a few on me." The stranger said in his soft silky voice.

"Uhh... Thanks, but uh... me and my brother don't swing that way friend..." The one named Bob said. If they stranger's face could be seen, there would definitely be black lines all across his forehead.

"Let's not even go there. How about you two tell me more about the situation in New Orleans right now?" The man asked back.

"Oh. Well, sure thing buddy. But it ain't no secret and flashing this kind of cash around these parts can be bad for yer health." Bobby responded back while jabbing a thumb behind himself. The entire bar had somehow noticed the interaction between them and was eyeing the stranger who casually threw out money for drinks for strangers.

"No worries. Tell me what you know, an insiders perspective if you will."

"Well. Alright friend. It's yer dime and all. About a year ago, strange things started happening right after the last Mardi Gras. You know, all the freaks usually come to the party during the party but leave after. But this time, some groups of people sprung up in the city. Them bible thumpers are the easiest to understand, going around and recruiting peoples, telling them they are the new chosen's of god and all that shit. Well, not that there is ever a lack of crazies, but strange thing is that people really started to believe them. Don't know if they are waiting for a commit or their god's a coming, but they started staying pretty low key after being real loud like. Then there are the hoodoos. Well, we call them that, but they call themselves the devotees of the Vodun. You know it as voodoo. They are all kinds of crazy too, but they restrain themselves. They don't go looking for members, but they claim the coming of their god will be the beginning of the end for this world. Then, on top of these two, you got the vampyres. We don't know shit about them, but they seem to be a group as well that's mostly just whispered about. Ain't no body going to find out if the rumor's are true or not. Either way, the vampyres are the ones who seem to be warring with the god's chosen while the Vodun seem to just be watching. Least, that's what we be hearing."

After Bod and Bobby finished their story, they started ordering drinks from Tina who had been listening too. Seems like even she didn't know what had been happening there except that people have been moving up north more. Of course, that's cause she was usually too busy to care about that stuff. As for the dark stranger, he seemed to take all of this silently and only spoke up again after the brother's started drinking.

"You guys said they are looking for people, right?" He asked.

"Yeah. Why, you interested? It's good money right? Depending on where you end up helping, you can get quite a lot from them drunk tourists." Bob said and pulled a card out from his back pocket.

"Here yah go. Just make sure to call the number here and use my name. I get a hook up payment for everyone I can recruit for em." Bob seemed to be rather happy that he had not only gotten himself some drinks but also was able to get someone else to go get a job.

"Stranger. Although it sounds interesting, I also know that things have gotten bad down there. We've gotten quite few new people living here who got out of the city for a reason. You got to be careful if you want to go there," Tina warned the dark stranger.

"Thanks. But it seems like it might just be the place I'm looking for." The stranger smiled and he passed over a few more hundred dollar bills, a strange glint in his blue eyes.

"Keep the change darling," the stranger said with a little bow of his head before grabbing the card off the bar and walking for the door while several people eyed him with a dangerous gaze.

'Looks like I know where I am headed next. It's about fucking time...' Laz said to himself as he left, not looking back.