Chapter 1: Andy

"There's ordinance in the parking lot."

Andy let himself into his boss' office without knocking. He spoke without inflection. His boss never looked up from his cell phone, engrossed in a game of chess. He did not return Andrew's gaze as he responded. "A fucking bomb?"

Andrew ignored the rude word. He enjoyed his job as a car mechanic but could do without the harsh language of his coworkers. He especially did not like his coworkers turning car parts into rude euphemisms, either. "Yes, Max, an actual bomb."

"Bullshit. Why aren't we dead?"

"It hasn't gone off yet. It crashed in the parking lot. You didn't hear it?"

Andrew's boss Max was a large man. His office seemed too small for his broad shoulders and enormous muscles. Even his desk looked ill-equipped to fit him behind it. Max focused on his game of chess. From the intensity of the game, it appeared as if nothing around the world mattered to him.

Max was not a detail-oriented person. His favorite version of chess was speed chess, where he could play as fast as he wanted and be rewarded for it. He was about even on win/loss- tactics came easy when he relied on brute force. Losing was still awful for him. Andy had to repair Max's phone every other day after Max threw it against the wall in frustration.

Andy was a hard-working mechanic. He had spent some time defending his country from attack as an enlist but killing people did not suit him. He preferred working on the back line repairing helicopters and Humvees. When his required enlistment period was up, he went right back home repairing cars and Max's phone.

Max set his phone down on his desk, pleased. He had apparently won. "What are you waiting for? Are you going to go check it out?"

"I was hoping you could go with me."

"I'm not going out there, I didn't hear shit."

Andy sighed. "Can you at least call the cops?"

Max finally looked at him and smiled. "I'll call an ambulance. If the bomb goes off, they'll pick up your pieces. If it doesn't, I'll have 'em check your head."

Andy did not have a great relationship with Max, who fought from the tanks Andy fixed. Max had a hard time hearing since he had spent so much time loading and firing tank shells, so he tended to yell a lot. Sometimes he and Andy would do army role-playing in the nearby woods and give away their position due to his lack of volume control. Andy would get blamed when the other team won. Andy hated how Max did things, Max hated how Andy did things.

"I'm going outside to check it out. Please call the authorities."

"I'll get right on that."

Andy knew he wouldn't. On top of it all, Max had a problem with authority.