Hello, King Spike Rules here and here is the next chapter to Lonely Wars. Here is the next chapter which would be fun since I based it after one of my brother's favorite songs.
Chapter 19: Nightmare Stop Part 1
After the diner attack, the group hadn't encountered any other trouble in Missouri. Now their van was moving through a long stretch of Kansas, traveling down an empty road. They were surrounded by empty plains in any direction, as they had been for several hours.
As time passed, everyone in the group was starting to get a little stir crazy. Only the gentle strumming of Doc's guitar provided any relief from the boredom. But he frequently paused to tune his guitar, and it wasn't quite enough to keep them busy.
Franky took a long drag of his cigarette, resting his arm on the window and trying to distract himself with random thoughts. So he was the first to turn when Mary shouted from the passenger seat. "We need to stop soon," she said, pointing at a sign for a gas station near the highway. Franky glanced at the fuel meter, and seeing it was only half-empty, he turned his head to look at her.
"What's the problem? Nature call?" he asked her, oblivious to the blush that spread across her cheeks. She quickly smacked him in the shoulder, making him yell out in pain and obvious confusion.
"No, you pig," she said with her arms crossed. She turned away from him to hide her blush as she continued, "It's one of my dead drops. From the Speedwagon Foundation."
"What's a dead drop?" Franky asked, growing even more confused. Keith also looked over, and the sound of Doc's guitar stopped, as if he was listening too. John and Kite both knew, but remained silent. They only looked at each other with narrowed eyes, each trying to make the other say it without actually telling them to.
But neither of them got the chance, as Mary took the opportunity to explain. "A dead drop is a secret place, where people put things for others in their group to find. Supplies, mostly." Franky nodded and turned towards the gas station while the rest of them stared out the windows. After all they'd been through, everyone was keeping an eye out for attacks.
Franky turned into the lot and parked, everyone rushing to climb out and stretch their legs. Mary headed off to the back of the building, and Keith stood by the gas pump, filling up the rest of the tank. Only Doc remained in the van, cross legged and humming cheerfully. But as John looked at him from the side of the van, he noticed something; Doc was still tuning his guitar, even after hours on the road.
"Hey, Kite," John called. Kite, who'd been looking over their route on a map, turned his attention to John with an inquisitive look. "Why is Doc always tuning his guitar like that? And I've never seen him take it off-well, not when it wasn't broken, at least. Don't you think that's all a bit...excessive?"
"That's his business," Kite answered, turning back to the map and looking it over. He had to make sure they were still on track to arrive in California within the next week or so. Into the ensuing silence, John sighed, more than a little irritated at the events of the last week.
Thankfully, Mary soon came back with a small bag in hand and a smile on her face. "The Foundation came through for us, so we should be good for the next couple of days. I mean, we have anything we could want...Well, almost anything," she added, slowly turning to look behind them. Kite followed her eyes until they came to a sign. A sign for a nice hotel just up the road.
"We can't stop on our schedule," Kite said, immediately understanding where this was going. But much to his displeasure, he drew the attention of the others, all of whom looked at him pleadingly.
"We've been sleeping in the van for a few days now," Franky said, rubbing his neck. He winced when his neck produced an audible crack. "That can't be a good sign."
"Listen, have you all forgotten about the last time we stayed in a hotel?" Kite asked, "As I remember it, Franky, your injuries were a bit more severe than a few sore muscles. That goes for all of you."
"Yeah, but I need a real rest and shower," Mary said. The others shivered at the reminder of the horrid smell, which they'd only managed to get used to after hours in the car. Kite sighed, realizing that perhaps they could use some freshening-up.
"Alright, I guess one rest day wouldn't hurt. But we all need to stay on the same floor. No more running off where we can't help each other," Kite said. Barely acknowledging his warning, most of the group grinned at each other. But Doc turned to look at Kite, seeing him nod. Doc silently nodded back, and before anyone noticed, slipped into the van with the others.
A little while later, they pulled up into the parking lot. As they climbed out of it, they looked admiringly at the nice-looking hotel, which was at least four stories tall. They grabbed their bags and walked in to see the clerk at the counter smiling at them.
"Good afternoon, how may I help you?" he asked them cheerfully. Kite talked to him about their arrangements while John walked around. Maybe it was Kite's words, but he couldn't help scanning for any possible enemies. Still, none of the other people around the lobby were acting weird, so he tried not to worry too much.
"Alright, listen up," Kite said, raising his voice as they gathered around the desk. Once he was sure he had their attention, he continued, "We each have a room on the third floor. They're all next to one another, but I still want you all to watch each other's backs. Don't want anybody getting lost or-"
"Wait, where's Doc?" Franky asked, the group only just now noticing he wasn't there. After a few moments of searching, they saw him standing by a wall with his eyes closed. He was smiling, and of course, tuning his guitar. Kite sighed, deciding not to finish his sentence as he walked over to give Doc his key.
"I'll give you a while to get comfortable. We can regroup once we're all settled in," he said. They nodded, each heading to their respective rooms. Mary locked her door and let out a long sigh as she walked towards the bathroom. She started her shower, washing away all of the grime and dirt from the last week. Keith, as he often did, began cleaning his revolvers and carefully inspecting them for issues. Kite unrolled his map to set their plans going on from their rest stop.
John, meanwhile, just rested on his bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. He slowly began nodding off to sleep before a knock at the door startled him to wakefulness. He groaned as he got up and answered the door.
"Hello?" John said groggily, opening the door to see Doc standing there, with his guitar in hand and a serious look on his face.
"John, I need to talk to you. It's probably nothing, but like Kite said, you can never be too careful," Doc said. John looked back at him with a confused look on his face.
"Sure, what is it?" John asked him, leaning against his door and crossing his arms. Doc looked around for a few moments, before summoning American Pie.
"I was looking for anyone near us on this floor, just to make sure there weren't any Stand users around," Doc explained. "But believe it or not, we're the only ones here." John's eyes widened, lowering his arms and looking into the hallway.
Before, he thought Doc was just being paranoid, but now, the lack of anyone else in the hallway was disturbing. "Did you tell Kite this?" John asked him.
"No, I wanted you there too so we can set up a plan for-" Doc was suddenly cut off by John's door suddenly slamming shut and knocking John into the hallway. Now on high alert, John summoned Lonesome Dove, and they both looked around cautiously.
"Let's get the others." Doc said. John nodded, following him as they ran down the halls to the rooms the others were staying in. But when they tried the doors, every one of them was locked up tight.
"We need to get them out of there," John growled, bringing out Lonesome Dove and having it punch the door. But the attack only seemed to backfire, knocking him back against the opposite wall.
"You okay?" Doc asked, running over to check on John, who rubbed the back of his head. Otherwise, he seemed fine, and stared with narrowed eyes at the door.
"Yeah, but I think we're stuck in the hall. We'll have to defeat the user ourselves. But they knew we were by that door, which means the user should be close by," John said as he rose to his feet. They both looked around the hall, trying to see if anything was out of the ordinary.
"Not sure, but we can check to see if the rest of us are okay," Doc said. American Pie took the speaker off his left hand, then placed it on the door to Mary's room. Its mouth speaker turned, allowing them to hear the shower running, along with a faint snore. They did this to the other three rooms, with snoring sounds coming from all three. "Well, I guess they're okay for now. But we still need to find the user," Doc said. American Pie was just removing its speaker when they both heard a light clapping coming from one side of the hall.
"Well, well, I guess two of you managed to escape from my net. Eh, four for six is still pretty good," a voice said. John and Doc turned towards the sound to see a man in a blue suit, standing near the door opposite them. Long black hair flowed down over his shoulders and back, casting a five o'clock shadow across his face. He had a purple undershirt on under his yellow suit jacket, as well as a few rings on his right hand, which knocked together as he clapped.
"Normally, I would have already had them dead, but you two being free changes things," he explained casually. John and Doc both had their Stands out ready to go.
"If you let our friends go, we'll let you live," Doc said with American Pie floating next to him. They stared intensely at the guy, who seemed to be ignoring him while looking at his watch.
"Let me live?" the guy said, looking up from his watch to offer them a smile. "I guess you haven't figured this out, but this war isn't one you can just run away from. It's for keeps. And Corporal Henley Eagle doesn't step down."
"Fine, we gave you a chance!" John yelled out, charging at Henley with Lonesome Dove out and ready to fight. But the man just smirked and stepped to the side, opening the door beside him. John almost managed to stop in time, only for the door to slam shut and knock him the rest of the way into the room. Except it wasn't just any room; it was John's own room, with all his belongings right where he left them.
With a frustrated shout, Lonesome Dove slammed its fist into the door, only to get knocked back into the opposite wall. "Doc," John groaned, realizing that he was thoroughly trapped.
Meanwhile back in the empty hall, Doc was left shocked as he looked to Henley, who was smirking back at him. Steeling himself, Doc tried to adopt a serious expression.
"What did you do to my friend?" Doc demanded.
"He's back in his room," Henley said with a small smirk, making Doc even more nervous. "That's the power of my Stand, Hotel California. It makes rooms, and if I open a door to one of those rooms, it can go to any of the others on the same floor. It also has the nice side effect of making anyone trapped in my rooms fall asleep, though only if they don't know about my Stand."
Hearing this, Doc realized just what the man's plan was. Divide and conquer, and the man had almost succeeded already. Doc let out a long sigh before rolling his guitar around to his front, placing his hands on it with a determined expression.
"I guess it's up to me to take you out and save my friends," he said. American Pie stood next to him, long hair and open shirt blowing in some imaginary wind as they stared down Henley. The man's cocky expression and outstretched arms showed he had no fear of Doc, or of American Pie.
TBC.
Here is the end of this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it with this battle, also the poll will be up for one more chapter and so please vote to decide if this fic will become a series.
