Chapter 17
"This really blows that we have to do all this extra work with Mordecai and Rigby being gone." Muscle Man complained as he walked through the park in the darkness with Fives hovering beside him. Benson had asked them to check for damage from the storm.
"Yeah. At least Rigby's awake now though. Maybe he'll be back soon." Fives said.
"Yeah, but he'll probably just sit around on his butt playing video games all day and say he can't do anything because he's recovering. You know what a slacker he is, bro."
"Probably."
"What blows even more is that we don't have the cart cause Mordecai wrecked it." Muscle Man grumbled.
"Yeah. Hopefully the new one will get here this week." Fives agreed.
"Everything looks good to me. Let's go back, dude. It's getting cold out here." Muscle Man turned around and began walking toward the house.
"Wait, we didn't check the picnic area." Fives stated.
"So what, bro? I'm sure it's fine. Benson won't even know we didn't check it."
"But what if it's not fine and we didn't tell him? He'll know then and he'll think we're slackers too. You know Mordecai and Rigby totally blew it off when they were supposed to do the repairs awhile back." Fives reminded him.
"Hey, you know who else likes to blow things off?" Muscle Man asked. "My MOM!" The two friends exchanged a high five and laughed hysterically for a moment, despite the lack of humor in the joke.
"Come on, let's get this over with." Muscle Man groaned. "I've got a date with Starla and I don't want to keep my love muffin waiting."
The two walked for a few minutes in silence as they made their way to the picnic area of the park. Muscle Man shined his flashlight over the structures looking for anything that was amiss. "What the hell is that, bro?" He asked, squinting into the darkness as his flashlight passed over a figure at one of the tables.
"Looks like someone's sitting there. Let's get closer." Fives suggested. As the two neared the table, it became apparent that he was right.
"It's Mordecai." Muscle Man said quietly. He observed at the blue jay's lifeless form with his head down on the table and immediately sensed that something was not right. His fears were confirmed as they approached the table and saw the empty syringes scattered around. "Oh man. This isn't good, bro."
"Is he…?" Fives started, fearing the worst, but unable to complete his question.
"I don't know dude!" Muscle Man cried as panic began to set in.
"Well check his pulse or something!" Fives exclaimed, beginning to freak out as well.
"Mordecai! Get up, bro!" Muscle Man yelled, shaking the blue jay's shoulder forcefully. When he received no response, he hesitantly reached down and pressed his fingers to Mordecai's throat, looking for any signs of life. "I feel a pulse, but it's barely there." Muscle Man stated.
"We need to go get Benson!" Fives responded.
"Everybody went to the hospital to see Rigby, remember?" Muscle Man reminded him.
"Oh man, what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?" Fives muttered repeatedly as he flew around in circles, becoming more distressed by the minute.
"Fives! Chill out bro! I can't even think!" Muscle man shouted, throwing his arms in the air.
"Okay, okay!" Fives took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm chilled." He said, though he continued to fly around anxiously.
"I guess we need to take him back to the house and call an ambulance."
"Do you think we should move the body?" Fives asked.
"He's not dead, bro!" Muscle Man flipped Mordecai over and grabbed him around the waist, slinging him over his shoulder. "Damn, he's a lot heavier than he looks. Are you gonna help me, or what?"
"Sorry." Fives muttered. He swooped down and grabbed Mordecai's feet, taking some of the weight from Muscle Man.
They slowly made their way back to the house, working together to carry the lifeless blue jay. Upon arriving, Muscle Man laid Mordecai on the couch and proceeded to dial 911.
"Do you think he's gonna be okay?" Fives asked as they sat in the living room and waited for the ambulance to arrive.
"I don't know, dude. I hope so." Muscle Man said somberly.
They were startled when the front door opened and Benson, Skips and Pops walked into the house, returning from the hospital. They stopped in their tracks as they entered the living room and immediately noticed Mordecai unconscious on the couch.
"What happened?" Benson exclaimed, a look of serious concern on his face. "Is he hurt?"
"He overdosed. We found him unconscious at one of the picnic tables with syringes everywhere. I already called the ambulance." Muscle Man muttered.
"I had a feeling something like this was going to happen if we left him on his own." Skips shook his head regretfully. He knelt by Mordecai's side and picked up his wing, feeling for a pulse.
"I don't need a fucking guilt trip right now, Skips! You know I didn't want to kick him out." Benson shouted, already feeling terrible about the situation.
Skips dropped Mordecai's wing and slowly looked up at everyone with a haunted expression.
"What's wrong?" Benson demanded.
The silence was deafening as everyone waited with bated breath for Skips to say something. "We're too late. He's gone."