They walked back to the gathering of people at the walkathon. During the trek, Hunter’s hand floated around Xander’s. At first, Xander rescinded his hand, drawing it close to his body. Boyish anxiety ensued. Hunter decided to take his hand by force, capturing it by intertwining her fingers with his. Her incredibly soft palm felt warm. Between the lover’s embrace and now hand holding, Xander wondered if they had advanced past into unknown territory, somewhere less familial and a bit more romantic. Sexual thoughts remained alien in his head. He forced any such desires from his consciousness, fearing that embracing them would make him relieve their first fateful meeting; More importantly, he didn’t want to drag her through that trauma again. Unsure of what was going on behind those eyes, Xander kept stealing glances at her, nothing that foreign smile plastered on her beautiful face.
Her eyes lit up when they came in view of the menagerie of shelter animals in small pens. Guests petted the more sociable dogs. Each cage bore the animal’s name, a brief description for what was an advertisement to convince the attendees to adopt them. Their group dispersed amongst the other attendees that weren’t walking in the track. Hunter went straight to the largest dog, and that dog was incredibly gigantic. She reached forward without any hesitation to pet the canine that dwarfed her in comparison. He was a furry creature of a breed Xander didn’t know. He barely fit within his pen, where other dogs had much more room to move. He watched everyone stoically, minus a tongue hanging from the corner of his panting mouth. She reached over, scratched behind her ear before hugging the dog. In the distance, Ducky’s squeal sounded muffled, distant as if Xander’s head had been kept underwater. Xander didn’t care about his Trios partner; instead, Hunter’s interaction with the dog left him in a trance. He even drowned out Gavin’s incessant whining about his still missing trophy.
“He reminds me of you,” Hunter broke their shared silence. Xander had stepped up beside her but made no efforts of joining in on showering the dog with affections. He didn’t want to give the poor creature any false hope. “Well, doesn’t he?”
“How so? I don’t see any resemblance.”
“On first glance, you’re blown away by his immense size. No other dogs come close to his stature. You think, maybe this dog might be a brute, more wolf than dog, rabid without actually having rabies. Show him any affection, whether he wags his tail or not, he accepts it. I think deep down, he’s actually enjoying this far more than he would like to admit. And I feel like you’re the same way,” Hunter said. Xander nodded, not in agreement but accepting her take. He tried to picture what she saw and he just couldn’t make the connection. He gave the dog a second lookover. There was no resemblance. The dog seemed to be at peace in the world, striving in a state of primal nirvana. Xander lacked such a comfortability with the universe around him and his place in it. Where Xander’s exterior failed to convey the swirling toxic sludge of raging emotions underneath, this dog’s presence transcribes the placidity underneath the tufts of fur.
“You want to take him home with us?”
“Of course.”
“You think that’s wise?”
“No. Not at all. Of course, I want us to adopt him but we can’t.”
“We can do anything. That’s the perk of having money, right? We can afford a dog.”
“But then he’ll be alone when we’re traveling. We can’t take this giant with us. I’m sure he doesn’t want to fly in planes, wait in a cage backstage, shuddering when all those pyrotechnics explode on stage as well as the crowd applause,” Hunter said. She withdrew from the cage after patting the dog one last time on the top of the head. Xander saw the rationality in her explanation, and couldn’t agree anymore. Their vagabond lifestyle wasn’t inclusive for pets. Still, he always wanted a dog. Calli refused to let one in their house when Connor was just a boy. Dogs could maul a child but also, she once told him, a child could also inflict abuse upon the family pet. “Are you disappointed with my answer?”
“Why would I be?”
“I can see the sadness in your eyes. You feel sorry for him.”
“I guess I empathize. I’d hate being alone in a cell.”
“Your greatest fear, isn’t it? But don’t worry, Xander, I’m sure someone will come along and truly appreciate his majesty. I’m sure they will take him in, give him a chance, and bless him with all the affection and love he needs,” Hunter explained. Xander noticed she didn’t look at the dog while speaking those tender words but at him. Was she really speaking about him? He convinced himself he was overthinking things again. He shouldn’t allow for such strange thoughts to enter his head.
“Valid point. Let’s go gather the others and go back to the hotel. It’s been a long night.”
He turned away from the dog; his attention turned towards Gavin and Ducky. Gavin found himself a Golden Retriever, who he started to play catch with. The dog chased to the far end of his enclosure to pick up the squishy small chew toy in the form of a football. Gavin then passed it to the same spot. Meanwhile, Ducky had her face pressed against a glass case that held creepy crawlers, almost trying to get as close as humanly possible to inspect them. When she finally pried herself off the glass case, she left a huge smudge and full sets of fingerprints. Xander barked a short laugh, reflecting how much a child she really was.
“You’re concerned about her? My, haven’t we grown soft?” Hunter observed.
“She’s such a child.”
“Not by her age. She’s older than me.”
“Her mentality is that. I can’t help that this industry will sink their fangs into her. Use her, abuse her, spit her out and leave her on the side of the road,” Xander said. She knew how to fight but that doesn’t mean the girl’s nativity was shielded from exploitation. The number of their peers that mastered the art of manipulation always surprised him. Psychological warfare was just as much of their sport as holds and pins. “I guess I do want to protect her.”
“You’re not the only one that she won over. Dillusion seemed genuinely concerned about her. After all, he orchestrated all of this in order to give her a morale boost. Must be nice to have a mentor willing to go so far out of his way to help a girl like that,” Hunter said. Together, they admired Ducky in their natural habitat as if she happened to be their adopted daughter. Once more, their hands acted like magnets, attracting each other until they intertwined once more. This time, Xander didn’t recoil from her touch.
“How did he treat you? He didn’t do anything crazy, did he?”
“He didn’t force me to go with him, Xander. I went on my own free will.”
“Good. I’d kill him if he had.”
Hunter started to explain, “I mean, he’s batshit insane just like the rest of us. But he presented such a compelling argument. Not only was this trip for Ducky’s wellbeing; after all, she has been reeling from a tough loss. But this was for your own sake. He told me that when I was gone, you—”
“I don’t want to talk about that.” Xander cut her off before she could finish her explanation. He sensed they were starting to head towards an argument. They always argued in a way but this would become heated. He didn’t want that. He felt emotionally spent and rather focused on this happy ending to a very long night.
“Why not?”
“It’s in the past now.”
“Is it though?”
Xander sighed, his frustration with this line of questioning bubbling to the surface already. He started to walk away but stopped. He didn’t look at her now, releasing her hand to take a step ahead. “I was in a vulnerable spot, okay? I kept forgetting you were with James. I kept looking for you. Later, I found out that Dillusion had to explain to me constantly what happened to me, what happened to you. I lost sense of time. Felt like a phantom. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“You missed me?”
“Is that your takeaway?”
“No. But I did miss you and I hoped you felt the same longing I did for your company. I should never have gone with James. I thought if I did, you would be okay. But now I feel guilty that I wasn’t there for you when you needed me most. I could have helped you, not Dillusion, but me. I’m sorry—” Hunter spoke. He didn’t look back. He didn’t want to see the guilt on her face. Her guilty conscience flared up his temper. She didn’t owe him anything but he couldn’t formulate the words to tell her so. They got caught in his throat that became incredibly sore at that moment.
“I was in a bad place. It was—”
“His doing. Is that why you’re so fixated on taking my brother out?”
“It might be petty, but I want my revenge. I refuse to let anyone make me feel that way.”
“You already had it. You hurt him like he hurt you. Xander, he was out much longer because of your assault than you were. Isn’t that enough? An eye for an eye?” Hunter argued. Xander finally made the mistake of looking back. Hunter’s gleeful expression earlier had withered into teary eyes above a dropped jaw. Xander never stopped to think that Hunter didn’t hold some lingering loyalty to her flesh and blood. She might have told Xander months ago, back when they were first reunited, that he was her family more so than James was but he sensed it was a lot more complicated than that. His revenge too was complicated, why couldn’t she understand that? “He’s a fragile man himself. He’s not right. He’s unwell. You see it, don’t you? He’s not a threat to you any longer. He’s only a threat to himself.”
“It’s different.”
“You can go out there, win this stupid tournament, use the opportunity to get to the top. Isn’t that what you really want? Isn’t that your aspirations? But all I hear you is talking about how you’re going to use this contract on James, to make sure he will never come back. Can’t you just let it go?” Hunter raised her voice, but her delivery was shaky. She stumbled on some words. He sighed, feeling guilty himself. Tonight was turning out to be a very happy occasion for the both of him but once again, he found a way to muck things up. Defeated, he went to her and hugged her. “A hug isn’t going to relieve me of my worry..”
“I’ll try. Hunter, I’ll try to move on. But I can’t promise you. My brain is telling me you’re absolutely right. I shouldn’t look back, I should forge forward. Win this tournament, cash in for my long overdue shot, and finish my career on a high note. But— but—,” Xander stopped. But he couldn’t let go. That hatred, the resentment he harbored towards James Evans. He knew that they were far more alike than he wanted to admit. They both struggled with serious mental illness. James happened to be where he was years ago but that connection simply served a reminder. What James did to him what Xander had done to many others. James was a reflection in the mirror, a perfect embodiment of his bloodstained past. James was Xander when he hurt all those around him. James was Xander when he grinded his beloved Calli into the earth. Xander hated his former self and when he laid eyes on James, he saw the opportunity to bury the past under six feet of earth. But to do that, he had to eradicate the man. It was all self-righteous bullshit, if he had to be honest with himself. He should know better. He should do better. But it was so hard to bring himself to that actualization, clogging his head with ‘what ifs’.
“GROUP HUG!” Ducky came barrelling in. She attempted to hug Xander and Hunter, who still shared an embrace. She snuggled against the two before Xander felt something crawling on his neck. Xander panicked, jumping back, slapping what was on his neck. To his surprise, he whacked a tarantula onto the pavement. The tarantula, shunned by the blow, started walking in confused circles.
“What the hell, Duck?”
“I should be asking you! WHAT THE DUCK! How could you do that to Tony Furballs!” Ducky dropped to the ground. She scooped up the spider. The creature still moved in circles in the palm of her tiny hand. “You could have killed him! He just wanted to be in on the group hug, that’s all! You need to check your attitude, mister!”
“Don’t drop him down my shirt! What do you expect to happen? You’re lucky I didn’t step on it!”
“Tender. Loving. Care. TLC. Someone wasn’t raised right! And that someone is you, Xandypants! Apologize to Tony!”
“I’m not apologizing to a spider. You are the one that should be apologizing!”
“Nuh-huh! I didn’t do anything wrong! You did!”
“Xander,” Hunter interjected. He shot him the look. She expected Xander to be the bigger person. Taking a moment to breathe, he did feel very childish trying to engage Ducky in such a matter. He wanted to resist the urge to push back on the notion that he’s supposed to apologize to a bug that doesn’t understand the English language. But she tapped her foot, arched her brow. He understood what he needed to do.
“I’m sorry, Tony.”
“Now kiss him so he feels better!”
“What?”
“Didn’t your mommy kiss you booboos to magically make them feel better?”
“I never knew my mother,” Xander answered.
“Well, that sucks BUT that doesn’t mean anything. Tony Furballs didn’t know his father, because his mommy ate him after sex BUT he knows how to be a respectable member of society. Kiss him, jerkface! Kiss him and make him feel better! Don’t tell me you’re scared of spiders,” Ducky demanded, raising the spider up. The commotion started to attract the attention of everyone around him. He needed to defuse it and get them out of there before they got in any more trouble.
“Not many things scare me, Duck. And spiders are definitely not one of them.” Xander relented. He lowered himself and kissed the hairy spider. Its hairy body brushed his lips, sending a chill down his spine. He lifted to see Ducky smiling widely. He then looked over at Hunter who nodded approving. Despite feeling slightly creeped out by the spider’s texture, he survived the experience and made two women happy. That was enough for one night.
“What are you doing to that spider, dude? Gross. Find yourself a real woman, why dontcha?” Gavin called out, pointing an accusatory finger at him. Xander turned towards him, not pleased with the comment and Gavin sank away, cowering in worry that he made the big man angry.
“Your turn,” Xander announced.
“No way! I hate spiders!”
“Too bad. Tony Furballs is lonely. Come on, pucker up,” Xander demanded, pushing Ducky towards Gavin. Ducky seemed far too excited to follow through on Xander’s demands. On the other hand, Gavin seemed terrified, he started backpedaling. Ducky chased Gavin with the spider.
While they were distracted, Xander turned towards Hunter. “Look, we can talk more about this another time, okay? I think you’re right but I’m having a rough time trying to come to terms with it.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apol—”
“Oh! NO! TONY! I’M SO SORRY! I DIDN’T MEAN TO STEP ON YOU!” Ducky screamed. She dropped to her knees. She must have dropped him onto the ground and stomped on him in her hot pursuit of Gavin. She lifted his broken body up with both hands and raised it to the skies. She hugged the dead spider and unleashed a blood curdling wail. Xander and Hunter hurried over to calm the child. He didn’t know how to motion to the crowd to signal that Ducky was ‘special; instead, he ushered her to the parking lot. She cried. Gavin kept trying to apologize. Xander had a headache again.
No one spoke on their way to the rental. They all received a stern talking to by the event’s organizers. Ducky had taken the spider without permission and thought that was enough to be considered the new adopted parent of the recently departed Tony Furballs. Gavin’s request to bring home the Golden Receiver that he dubbed ‘Airbud Extreme’ was promptly denied. Xander hoped that this incident wouldn’t be reported back to corporate. He knew somehow he would be slowly blamed for the whole fiasco while Gavin and Ducky would probably be let off the hook, the powers that be ultimately deciding that he probably intimidated them into going along with him on this misadventure. Xander could already tell that if he told them the true story of the night’s events, they would think he was crazy or deceitful. Dillusion didn’t have the time nor the resources to pull all of this off. Paired with the headache that left him very irritable.
Ducky bounced forward, already forgetting about the tragedy befallen on her. Gavin mumbled about his trophy and how organizers probably hated him for being Canadian. Xander and Hunter remained quiet. He unlocked the doors with the keyfob and with a loud click, Gavin and Ducky jumped in the back. Xander lingered behind, rubbing his tired eyes.
“Want me to drive back?”
“If you don’t mind, I’m exhausted.”
“Keys?”
“Here,” Xander tossed the keys. As Xander climbed into the passenger seat, all he heard was loud muffled yells like the backseat occupants were enjoying something delicious. Xander looked back and saw both his teammates donning black hoods. Confused at the reason, he exchanged looks with Hunter. “What the—?”
“Who knows? Maybe she thought it’d be fun to wear them on the way back to the hotel?”
“After all we’ve been through— whatever. They can knock themselves out.”
“I like that you’re starting to grow some tolerance towards others.”
“I hate to admit it. They might be growing on me,” Xander commented. There were more yelps in the back but he closed his eyes. He reclined back in his seat, trying to block out. Something kicked the back of his seat. He flickered open his eyes, confirmed that it was Gavin behind him in the rear view mirror.
“Motherfucker,” Xander exclaimed. He spotted three ninjas in the far back of the van. They looked right out of an old Kung-Fu film. If this didn’t scream Dillusion to him, he didn’t know what did. He watched as two of them held down hoods while the third scrambled to handcuff their victims. Xander debated about closing his eyes and not saying anything, maybe they would just go away. He knew better though. And the more yelping and struggling, the more irritated he became. “I’ve had it! No more. No fucking more.”
“You’re going to save them, right?”
“I got this. I’m going to end this here,” Xander stated prior to jumping out.
He circled around the back. Hunter popped the rear door. Xander waited impatiently as the slow door sighed while opening up. Finally, he popped in and yanked on the closest abductor. He threw him out the back where Hunter kicked him square in the groin. There was a loud cry. Xander climbed further in, reaching around each attacker with an arm. He dragged them out the back and dumped them onto the concrete. He reached down and whipped off the mask of the man he suspected to be Dillusion, revealing a cheap Ronald Regan halloween mask. Xander ripped that off to reveal Dillusion. Xander already gathered that Dillusion must have watched Scooby Doo earlier that day to find the inspiration of this latest stunt. The last thing he needed was another six hours of ‘team building exercises’ inspired by old shitty Saturday morning cartoons. Hunter kicked another in the balls. The two wither in pain while Xander focused his attention on the mastermind.
“I would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling— ow!” Xander kicked Dillusion’s shin then threw his old friend face first into the blacktop. Dillusion pushed himself up to speak. He looked up at Xander, shaking his head. “I knew I needed knockout gas. Squid Games knew what was up!”
Xander stomped on his back. “Enough.”
“Ha, stop… that! It tickles! Why are you doing this, comrade? Everything I’ve done for you and your team. It’s all part of my evil genius plan but I swear, look at the results so far. You’re united, you’re stronger, you’re going to be able to work together. Think of it, your guys are like the Avengers now!” Dillusion sat up, dusting him off. The other two men didn’t make any moves. They were rubbing where they had hit the pavement.
Xander knelt down before Dillusion, clamping his hand on Dillusion’s shoulder. “We’ve indulged you enough. It’s been a long night. We all need rest. Plus, don’t you think this was a little risky? What was your endgame? You know what? Who cares? I don’t. I just want to go bed..”
Thinking that was enough, Xander stood up. He extended his hand, expecting the keys to the handcuffs that currently restrained his teammates. Dillusion sighs sadly, digging his hand into the pockets and dropping them into Xander’s hand. Xander turned to uncuff his friends but before he reached the car, Dillusion screamed: “YOU’RE TEARING ME APART, LISA!”
“What?”
“Obligatory The Room reference.”
“What?”
“Don’t you get out much, Xander? Buddy Jesus, watch a movie for a change. Seriously, I feel like every pop reference I’ve dropped has gone right over your head. You’re a monster you know with your disrespect towards cinema,” Dillusion noted. Xander shrugged, turning back to the van. “WAIT- WAIT, Xander, if you must know… I was going to let you and your fair lady go back to the hotel. You can have all the beauty sleep you want even though you’re always going to be ugly. I’m telling you, this was a journey planned for just the Duck and the Jock.”
“You’re serious?” Xander paused.
“Of course. You’ve learned what you needed to. But these two have much more growth that is needed before they finish their character arcs. So… PLEASE, Dad! Please, can we stay up late tonight and have some more fun! I promise we’ll be home before the crack of dawn, maybe?” Dillusion clapped his hands together, crawling towards Xander who sits down onto the van’s bump. He crossed his arms. “Pretty please! I promise after this, I’ll be good!”
“You’re not seriously going to let him take them tonight?” Hunter asked.
Xander looked at her. He shrugged his shoulders.
“Really? Don’t you think we should ask them what they want?”
“It’s none of my business. I got what I came for,” Xander said, pointing at her. He tossed the handcuff keys over his shoulder. He knew if Ducky and Gavin were away from the hotel that meant he was going to have a peaceful night’s sleep. He didn’t trust Ducky to leave him alone, she probably would find some excuse to interrupt his slumber. Sure, Gavin would probably stay in his hotel room and not be a pest, but Xander really didn’t care what he got caught up with.
“This is why I’ve always liked you, Xander. You see the big picture, babe!” Dillusion stood up. Dillusion then turned towards Xander. “One more thing, we took an Uber here… mind if we borrow your rental?
“What? No.”
“Come on, Xander. Do it for me! For old time’s sake!”
“Haven’t you asked enough?”
“Pretty please with rainbow unicorn droppings on top?”
“Fine, only if you promise me that you will never pull this shit again— and then you will return it with a full tank. If you can do that, then why the fuck not,” Xander decided. He didn’t exactly trust Dillusion with the rental but if he could at least avoid having to suffer from another headache like this, he would do anything. Xander turned to Hunter who had the keys.
“No. After everything, haven’t you learned anything?” Hunter protested.
“What? I paid for ice cream and their entrance into the zoo tonight. I never did that much for either of my kids. So, they should feel special,” Xander shrugged. He approached her, placing his hands on her sides. He looked into her. “Plus, you’re safe and sound. And that’s all that matters. Come on, let’s go call a cab.”
“Wow, I am disappointed in you.”
“What? Don’t do this. Please?” Xander’s face withered in confusion. Xander glanced over his shoulder at the two worms in the back of the rental. He turned to Hunter and brandished a fake smile. “They’ll be fine. By now, you have to know that Dillusion wouldn’t hurt them—”
“Not too much!” Dillusion chimed in.
“Yeah, see? They will be just fine. Hell, they might find it fun. I don’t, they’re the weirdos who go to escape rooms and enjoy that shit. I’m sure it will be alright.”
Hunter crossed her arms. The keys were still tightly concealed in her fist. She shook her head. She refused to look at Xander. Xander groaned; all he wanted to do was to go back to the hotel room and crash before their flight home. Dillusion popped in between them, bouncing around her. She swatted him away. “I’m not going to let them go alone. You should know better. This is a very important decision, Xander. Think long and hard.”
Xander threw his head back in frustration. He understood but he didn’t want to be. He wanted to continue to play ignorant. “You think we should go along. We should stick together because we’re a team. Is that it? What do you think this is, Hunter? Some goddamn Disney film? We had fun tonight. Wasn’t that enough?”
“What do you think?”
Xander growled. He knew what she wanted him to do. He knew that was probably the right call yet every fiber in his being wanted to leave. He had enough of this circus act. He looked up at her one more time, scorn plastered on her face. Yet there was one more thing he knew he wanted more than to sleep, not to disappoint her. She was right too.
“For fuck’s sake. Let’s go.”
“Well guys, since I have the big man, I no longer need your services. He’ll move the bodies. Here’s some money for the Uber home,” Dillusion tossed them each a sack of coins.
“Quarters?” One of the ninjas said. “Dude, you said you would venmo us both a hundred bucks.”
“I’ve collected those for years. Don’t be ungrateful! That is my reward for your quest. Besides, neither of you were SPECTACULAR. Try some acting lessons. You didn’t convince anyone you were really ninjas and that’s a real shame,” Dillusion declared, shaking his head with utter disappointment. They wanted to argue with him but Xander spat out his disgust. They determined they didn’t want to cross the giant of a man. Together, they filled back into the van without the amatuer actors from the local theater. Xander leaned his head against the side of the van, trying to get some winks before encountering what’s the next level of this never ending game.
They walked back to the gathering of people at the walkathon. During the trek, Hunter’s hand floated around Xander’s. At first, Xander rescinded his hand, drawing it close to his body. Boyish anxiety ensued. Hunter decided to take his hand by force, capturing it by intertwining her fingers with his. Her incredibly soft palm felt warm. Between the lover’s embrace and now hand holding, Xander wondered if they had advanced past into unknown territory, somewhere less familial and a bit more romantic. Sexual thoughts remained alien in his head. He forced any such desires from his consciousness, fearing that embracing them would make him relieve their first fateful meeting; More importantly, he didn’t want to drag her through that trauma again. Unsure of what was going on behind those eyes, Xander kept stealing glances at her, nothing that foreign smile plastered on her beautiful face.
Her eyes lit up when they came in view of the menagerie of shelter animals in small pens. Guests petted the more sociable dogs. Each cage bore the animal’s name, a brief description for what was an advertisement to convince the attendees to adopt them. Their group dispersed amongst the other attendees that weren’t walking in the track. Hunter went straight to the largest dog, and that dog was incredibly gigantic. She reached forward without any hesitation to pet the canine that dwarfed her in comparison. He was a furry creature of a breed Xander didn’t know. He barely fit within his pen, where other dogs had much more room to move. He watched everyone stoically, minus a tongue hanging from the corner of his panting mouth. She reached over, scratched behind her ear before hugging the dog. In the distance, Ducky’s squeal sounded muffled, distant as if Xander’s head had been kept underwater. Xander didn’t care about his Trios partner; instead, Hunter’s interaction with the dog left him in a trance. He even drowned out Gavin’s incessant whining about his still missing trophy.
“He reminds me of you,” Hunter broke their shared silence. Xander had stepped up beside her but made no efforts of joining in on showering the dog with affections. He didn’t want to give the poor creature any false hope. “Well, doesn’t he?”
“How so? I don’t see any resemblance.”
“On first glance, you’re blown away by his immense size. No other dogs come close to his stature. You think, maybe this dog might be a brute, more wolf than dog, rabid without actually having rabies. Show him any affection, whether he wags his tail or not, he accepts it. I think deep down, he’s actually enjoying this far more than he would like to admit. And I feel like you’re the same way,” Hunter said. Xander nodded, not in agreement but accepting her take. He tried to picture what she saw and he just couldn’t make the connection. He gave the dog a second lookover. There was no resemblance. The dog seemed to be at peace in the world, striving in a state of primal nirvana. Xander lacked such a comfortability with the universe around him and his place in it. Where Xander’s exterior failed to convey the swirling toxic sludge of raging emotions underneath, this dog’s presence transcribes the placidity underneath the tufts of fur.
“You want to take him home with us?”
“Of course.”
“You think that’s wise?”
“No. Not at all. Of course, I want us to adopt him but we can’t.”
“We can do anything. That’s the perk of having money, right? We can afford a dog.”
“But then he’ll be alone when we’re traveling. We can’t take this giant with us. I’m sure he doesn’t want to fly in planes, wait in a cage backstage, shuddering when all those pyrotechnics explode on stage as well as the crowd applause,” Hunter said. She withdrew from the cage after patting the dog one last time on the top of the head. Xander saw the rationality in her explanation, and couldn’t agree anymore. Their vagabond lifestyle wasn’t inclusive for pets. Still, he always wanted a dog. Calli refused to let one in their house when Connor was just a boy. Dogs could maul a child but also, she once told him, a child could also inflict abuse upon the family pet. “Are you disappointed with my answer?”
“Why would I be?”
“I can see the sadness in your eyes. You feel sorry for him.”
“I guess I empathize. I’d hate being alone in a cell.”
“Your greatest fear, isn’t it? But don’t worry, Xander, I’m sure someone will come along and truly appreciate his majesty. I’m sure they will take him in, give him a chance, and bless him with all the affection and love he needs,” Hunter explained. Xander noticed she didn’t look at the dog while speaking those tender words but at him. Was she really speaking about him? He convinced himself he was overthinking things again. He shouldn’t allow for such strange thoughts to enter his head.
“Valid point. Let’s go gather the others and go back to the hotel. It’s been a long night.”
He turned away from the dog; his attention turned towards Gavin and Ducky. Gavin found himself a Golden Retriever, who he started to play catch with. The dog chased to the far end of his enclosure to pick up the squishy small chew toy in the form of a football. Gavin then passed it to the same spot. Meanwhile, Ducky had her face pressed against a glass case that held creepy crawlers, almost trying to get as close as humanly possible to inspect them. When she finally pried herself off the glass case, she left a huge smudge and full sets of fingerprints. Xander barked a short laugh, reflecting how much a child she really was.
“You’re concerned about her? My, haven’t we grown soft?” Hunter observed.
“She’s such a child.”
“Not by her age. She’s older than me.”
“Her mentality is that. I can’t help that this industry will sink their fangs into her. Use her, abuse her, spit her out and leave her on the side of the road,” Xander said. She knew how to fight but that doesn’t mean the girl’s nativity was shielded from exploitation. The number of their peers that mastered the art of manipulation always surprised him. Psychological warfare was just as much of their sport as holds and pins. “I guess I do want to protect her.”
“You’re not the only one that she won over. Dillusion seemed genuinely concerned about her. After all, he orchestrated all of this in order to give her a morale boost. Must be nice to have a mentor willing to go so far out of his way to help a girl like that,” Hunter said. Together, they admired Ducky in their natural habitat as if she happened to be their adopted daughter. Once more, their hands acted like magnets, attracting each other until they intertwined once more. This time, Xander didn’t recoil from her touch.
“How did he treat you? He didn’t do anything crazy, did he?”
“He didn’t force me to go with him, Xander. I went on my own free will.”
“Good. I’d kill him if he had.”
Hunter started to explain, “I mean, he’s batshit insane just like the rest of us. But he presented such a compelling argument. Not only was this trip for Ducky’s wellbeing; after all, she has been reeling from a tough loss. But this was for your own sake. He told me that when I was gone, you—”
“I don’t want to talk about that.” Xander cut her off before she could finish her explanation. He sensed they were starting to head towards an argument. They always argued in a way but this would become heated. He didn’t want that. He felt emotionally spent and rather focused on this happy ending to a very long night.
“Why not?”
“It’s in the past now.”
“Is it though?”
Xander sighed, his frustration with this line of questioning bubbling to the surface already. He started to walk away but stopped. He didn’t look at her now, releasing her hand to take a step ahead. “I was in a vulnerable spot, okay? I kept forgetting you were with James. I kept looking for you. Later, I found out that Dillusion had to explain to me constantly what happened to me, what happened to you. I lost sense of time. Felt like a phantom. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“You missed me?”
“Is that your takeaway?”
“No. But I did miss you and I hoped you felt the same longing I did for your company. I should never have gone with James. I thought if I did, you would be okay. But now I feel guilty that I wasn’t there for you when you needed me most. I could have helped you, not Dillusion, but me. I’m sorry—” Hunter spoke. He didn’t look back. He didn’t want to see the guilt on her face. Her guilty conscience flared up his temper. She didn’t owe him anything but he couldn’t formulate the words to tell her so. They got caught in his throat that became incredibly sore at that moment.
“I was in a bad place. It was—”
“His doing. Is that why you’re so fixated on taking my brother out?”
“It might be petty, but I want my revenge. I refuse to let anyone make me feel that way.”
“You already had it. You hurt him like he hurt you. Xander, he was out much longer because of your assault than you were. Isn’t that enough? An eye for an eye?” Hunter argued. Xander finally made the mistake of looking back. Hunter’s gleeful expression earlier had withered into teary eyes above a dropped jaw. Xander never stopped to think that Hunter didn’t hold some lingering loyalty to her flesh and blood. She might have told Xander months ago, back when they were first reunited, that he was her family more so than James was but he sensed it was a lot more complicated than that. His revenge too was complicated, why couldn’t she understand that? “He’s a fragile man himself. He’s not right. He’s unwell. You see it, don’t you? He’s not a threat to you any longer. He’s only a threat to himself.”
“It’s different.”
“You can go out there, win this stupid tournament, use the opportunity to get to the top. Isn’t that what you really want? Isn’t that your aspirations? But all I hear you is talking about how you’re going to use this contract on James, to make sure he will never come back. Can’t you just let it go?” Hunter raised her voice, but her delivery was shaky. She stumbled on some words. He sighed, feeling guilty himself. Tonight was turning out to be a very happy occasion for the both of him but once again, he found a way to muck things up. Defeated, he went to her and hugged her. “A hug isn’t going to relieve me of my worry..”
“I’ll try. Hunter, I’ll try to move on. But I can’t promise you. My brain is telling me you’re absolutely right. I shouldn’t look back, I should forge forward. Win this tournament, cash in for my long overdue shot, and finish my career on a high note. But— but—,” Xander stopped. But he couldn’t let go. That hatred, the resentment he harbored towards James Evans. He knew that they were far more alike than he wanted to admit. They both struggled with serious mental illness. James happened to be where he was years ago but that connection simply served a reminder. What James did to him what Xander had done to many others. James was a reflection in the mirror, a perfect embodiment of his bloodstained past. James was Xander when he hurt all those around him. James was Xander when he grinded his beloved Calli into the earth. Xander hated his former self and when he laid eyes on James, he saw the opportunity to bury the past under six feet of earth. But to do that, he had to eradicate the man. It was all self-righteous bullshit, if he had to be honest with himself. He should know better. He should do better. But it was so hard to bring himself to that actualization, clogging his head with ‘what ifs’.
“GROUP HUG!” Ducky came barrelling in. She attempted to hug Xander and Hunter, who still shared an embrace. She snuggled against the two before Xander felt something crawling on his neck. Xander panicked, jumping back, slapping what was on his neck. To his surprise, he whacked a tarantula onto the pavement. The tarantula, shunned by the blow, started walking in confused circles.
“What the hell, Duck?”
“I should be asking you! WHAT THE DUCK! How could you do that to Tony Furballs!” Ducky dropped to the ground. She scooped up the spider. The creature still moved in circles in the palm of her tiny hand. “You could have killed him! He just wanted to be in on the group hug, that’s all! You need to check your attitude, mister!”
“Don’t drop him down my shirt! What do you expect to happen? You’re lucky I didn’t step on it!”
“Tender. Loving. Care. TLC. Someone wasn’t raised right! And that someone is you, Xandypants! Apologize to Tony!”
“I’m not apologizing to a spider. You are the one that should be apologizing!”
“Nuh-huh! I didn’t do anything wrong! You did!”
“Xander,” Hunter interjected. He shot him the look. She expected Xander to be the bigger person. Taking a moment to breathe, he did feel very childish trying to engage Ducky in such a matter. He wanted to resist the urge to push back on the notion that he’s supposed to apologize to a bug that doesn’t understand the English language. But she tapped her foot, arched her brow. He understood what he needed to do.
“I’m sorry, Tony.”
“Now kiss him so he feels better!”
“What?”
“Didn’t your mommy kiss you booboos to magically make them feel better?”
“I never knew my mother,” Xander answered.
“Well, that sucks BUT that doesn’t mean anything. Tony Furballs didn’t know his father, because his mommy ate him after sex BUT he knows how to be a respectable member of society. Kiss him, jerkface! Kiss him and make him feel better! Don’t tell me you’re scared of spiders,” Ducky demanded, raising the spider up. The commotion started to attract the attention of everyone around him. He needed to defuse it and get them out of there before they got in any more trouble.
“Not many things scare me, Duck. And spiders are definitely not one of them.” Xander relented. He lowered himself and kissed the hairy spider. Its hairy body brushed his lips, sending a chill down his spine. He lifted to see Ducky smiling widely. He then looked over at Hunter who nodded approving. Despite feeling slightly creeped out by the spider’s texture, he survived the experience and made two women happy. That was enough for one night.
“What are you doing to that spider, dude? Gross. Find yourself a real woman, why dontcha?” Gavin called out, pointing an accusatory finger at him. Xander turned towards him, not pleased with the comment and Gavin sank away, cowering in worry that he made the big man angry.
“Your turn,” Xander announced.
“No way! I hate spiders!”
“Too bad. Tony Furballs is lonely. Come on, pucker up,” Xander demanded, pushing Ducky towards Gavin. Ducky seemed far too excited to follow through on Xander’s demands. On the other hand, Gavin seemed terrified, he started backpedaling. Ducky chased Gavin with the spider.
While they were distracted, Xander turned towards Hunter. “Look, we can talk more about this another time, okay? I think you’re right but I’m having a rough time trying to come to terms with it.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apol—”
“Oh! NO! TONY! I’M SO SORRY! I DIDN’T MEAN TO STEP ON YOU!” Ducky screamed. She dropped to her knees. She must have dropped him onto the ground and stomped on him in her hot pursuit of Gavin. She lifted his broken body up with both hands and raised it to the skies. She hugged the dead spider and unleashed a blood curdling wail. Xander and Hunter hurried over to calm the child. He didn’t know how to motion to the crowd to signal that Ducky was ‘special; instead, he ushered her to the parking lot. She cried. Gavin kept trying to apologize. Xander had a headache again.
No one spoke on their way to the rental. They all received a stern talking to by the event’s organizers. Ducky had taken the spider without permission and thought that was enough to be considered the new adopted parent of the recently departed Tony Furballs. Gavin’s request to bring home the Golden Receiver that he dubbed ‘Airbud Extreme’ was promptly denied. Xander hoped that this incident wouldn’t be reported back to corporate. He knew somehow he would be slowly blamed for the whole fiasco while Gavin and Ducky would probably be let off the hook, the powers that be ultimately deciding that he probably intimidated them into going along with him on this misadventure. Xander could already tell that if he told them the true story of the night’s events, they would think he was crazy or deceitful. Dillusion didn’t have the time nor the resources to pull all of this off. Paired with the headache that left him very irritable.
Ducky bounced forward, already forgetting about the tragedy befallen on her. Gavin mumbled about his trophy and how organizers probably hated him for being Canadian. Xander and Hunter remained quiet. He unlocked the doors with the keyfob and with a loud click, Gavin and Ducky jumped in the back. Xander lingered behind, rubbing his tired eyes.
“Want me to drive back?”
“If you don’t mind, I’m exhausted.”
“Keys?”
“Here,” Xander tossed the keys. As Xander climbed into the passenger seat, all he heard was loud muffled yells like the backseat occupants were enjoying something delicious. Xander looked back and saw both his teammates donning black hoods. Confused at the reason, he exchanged looks with Hunter. “What the—?”
“Who knows? Maybe she thought it’d be fun to wear them on the way back to the hotel?”
“After all we’ve been through— whatever. They can knock themselves out.”
“I like that you’re starting to grow some tolerance towards others.”
“I hate to admit it. They might be growing on me,” Xander commented. There were more yelps in the back but he closed his eyes. He reclined back in his seat, trying to block out. Something kicked the back of his seat. He flickered open his eyes, confirmed that it was Gavin behind him in the rear view mirror.
“Motherfucker,” Xander exclaimed. He spotted three ninjas in the far back of the van. They looked right out of an old Kung-Fu film. If this didn’t scream Dillusion to him, he didn’t know what did. He watched as two of them held down hoods while the third scrambled to handcuff their victims. Xander debated about closing his eyes and not saying anything, maybe they would just go away. He knew better though. And the more yelping and struggling, the more irritated he became. “I’ve had it! No more. No fucking more.”
“You’re going to save them, right?”
“I got this. I’m going to end this here,” Xander stated prior to jumping out.
He circled around the back. Hunter popped the rear door. Xander waited impatiently as the slow door sighed while opening up. Finally, he popped in and yanked on the closest abductor. He threw him out the back where Hunter kicked him square in the groin. There was a loud cry. Xander climbed further in, reaching around each attacker with an arm. He dragged them out the back and dumped them onto the concrete. He reached down and whipped off the mask of the man he suspected to be Dillusion, revealing a cheap Ronald Regan halloween mask. Xander ripped that off to reveal Dillusion. Xander already gathered that Dillusion must have watched Scooby Doo earlier that day to find the inspiration of this latest stunt. The last thing he needed was another six hours of ‘team building exercises’ inspired by old shitty Saturday morning cartoons. Hunter kicked another in the balls. The two wither in pain while Xander focused his attention on the mastermind.
“I would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling— ow!” Xander kicked Dillusion’s shin then threw his old friend face first into the blacktop. Dillusion pushed himself up to speak. He looked up at Xander, shaking his head. “I knew I needed knockout gas. Squid Games knew what was up!”
Xander stomped on his back. “Enough.”
“Ha, stop… that! It tickles! Why are you doing this, comrade? Everything I’ve done for you and your team. It’s all part of my evil genius plan but I swear, look at the results so far. You’re united, you’re stronger, you’re going to be able to work together. Think of it, your guys are like the Avengers now!” Dillusion sat up, dusting him off. The other two men didn’t make any moves. They were rubbing where they had hit the pavement.
Xander knelt down before Dillusion, clamping his hand on Dillusion’s shoulder. “We’ve indulged you enough. It’s been a long night. We all need rest. Plus, don’t you think this was a little risky? What was your endgame? You know what? Who cares? I don’t. I just want to go bed..”
Thinking that was enough, Xander stood up. He extended his hand, expecting the keys to the handcuffs that currently restrained his teammates. Dillusion sighs sadly, digging his hand into the pockets and dropping them into Xander’s hand. Xander turned to uncuff his friends but before he reached the car, Dillusion screamed: “YOU’RE TEARING ME APART, LISA!”
“What?”
“Obligatory The Room reference.”
“What?”
“Don’t you get out much, Xander? Buddy Jesus, watch a movie for a change. Seriously, I feel like every pop reference I’ve dropped has gone right over your head. You’re a monster you know with your disrespect towards cinema,” Dillusion noted. Xander shrugged, turning back to the van. “WAIT- WAIT, Xander, if you must know… I was going to let you and your fair lady go back to the hotel. You can have all the beauty sleep you want even though you’re always going to be ugly. I’m telling you, this was a journey planned for just the Duck and the Jock.”
“You’re serious?” Xander paused.
“Of course. You’ve learned what you needed to. But these two have much more growth that is needed before they finish their character arcs. So… PLEASE, Dad! Please, can we stay up late tonight and have some more fun! I promise we’ll be home before the crack of dawn, maybe?” Dillusion clapped his hands together, crawling towards Xander who sits down onto the van’s bump. He crossed his arms. “Pretty please! I promise after this, I’ll be good!”
“You’re not seriously going to let him take them tonight?” Hunter asked.
Xander looked at her. He shrugged his shoulders.
“Really? Don’t you think we should ask them what they want?”
“It’s none of my business. I got what I came for,” Xander said, pointing at her. He tossed the handcuff keys over his shoulder. He knew if Ducky and Gavin were away from the hotel that meant he was going to have a peaceful night’s sleep. He didn’t trust Ducky to leave him alone, she probably would find some excuse to interrupt his slumber. Sure, Gavin would probably stay in his hotel room and not be a pest, but Xander really didn’t care what he got caught up with.
“This is why I’ve always liked you, Xander. You see the big picture, babe!” Dillusion stood up. Dillusion then turned towards Xander. “One more thing, we took an Uber here… mind if we borrow your rental?
“What? No.”
“Come on, Xander. Do it for me! For old time’s sake!”
“Haven’t you asked enough?”
“Pretty please with rainbow unicorn droppings on top?”
“Fine, only if you promise me that you will never pull this shit again— and then you will return it with a full tank. If you can do that, then why the fuck not,” Xander decided. He didn’t exactly trust Dillusion with the rental but if he could at least avoid having to suffer from another headache like this, he would do anything. Xander turned to Hunter who had the keys.
“No. After everything, haven’t you learned anything?” Hunter protested.
“What? I paid for ice cream and their entrance into the zoo tonight. I never did that much for either of my kids. So, they should feel special,” Xander shrugged. He approached her, placing his hands on her sides. He looked into her. “Plus, you’re safe and sound. And that’s all that matters. Come on, let’s go call a cab.”
“Wow, I am disappointed in you.”
“What? Don’t do this. Please?” Xander’s face withered in confusion. Xander glanced over his shoulder at the two worms in the back of the rental. He turned to Hunter and brandished a fake smile. “They’ll be fine. By now, you have to know that Dillusion wouldn’t hurt them—”
“Not too much!” Dillusion chimed in.
“Yeah, see? They will be just fine. Hell, they might find it fun. I don’t, they’re the weirdos who go to escape rooms and enjoy that shit. I’m sure it will be alright.”
Hunter crossed her arms. The keys were still tightly concealed in her fist. She shook her head. She refused to look at Xander. Xander groaned; all he wanted to do was to go back to the hotel room and crash before their flight home. Dillusion popped in between them, bouncing around her. She swatted him away. “I’m not going to let them go alone. You should know better. This is a very important decision, Xander. Think long and hard.”
Xander threw his head back in frustration. He understood but he didn’t want to be. He wanted to continue to play ignorant. “You think we should go along. We should stick together because we’re a team. Is that it? What do you think this is, Hunter? Some goddamn Disney film? We had fun tonight. Wasn’t that enough?”
“What do you think?”
Xander growled. He knew what she wanted him to do. He knew that was probably the right call yet every fiber in his being wanted to leave. He had enough of this circus act. He looked up at her one more time, scorn plastered on her face. Yet there was one more thing he knew he wanted more than to sleep, not to disappoint her. She was right too.
“For fuck’s sake. Let’s go.”
“Well guys, since I have the big man, I no longer need your services. He’ll move the bodies. Here’s some money for the Uber home,” Dillusion tossed them each a sack of coins.
“Quarters?” One of the ninjas said. “Dude, you said you would venmo us both a hundred bucks.”
“I’ve collected those for years. Don’t be ungrateful! That is my reward for your quest. Besides, neither of you were SPECTACULAR. Try some acting lessons. You didn’t convince anyone you were really ninjas and that’s a real shame,” Dillusion declared, shaking his head with utter disappointment. They wanted to argue with him but Xander spat out his disgust. They determined they didn’t want to cross the giant of a man. Together, they filled back into the van without the amatuer actors from the local theater. Xander leaned his head against the side of the van, trying to get some winks before encountering what’s the next level of this never ending game.
Executioner's Plight 