The Lost Vice Chapter 1.

Chapter One

I woke up screaming again sweat dripping down my face like the condensation off the half empty bottle of scotch that stands open on my nightstand. My heart felt as though it would beat out of my chest if not for my sternum keeping it in place. It happens less now after my return over a year ago, but still just as violent. The same nightmare that haunted my unconscious mind. The late afternoon sunset crept through the window blinds, the only bit of light in the small studio apartment I've called home for the last 9 months. It took my heart about two minutes to steadily slow down along with my breathing. I turned toward the only frame that garnished my off white walls. In the middle, a photo of my squad, all with halfhearted smiles and me in the center; uniform neat and an M-4 carbine held firmly in my arms. Above the photo hung the five-pointed gold star surrounded by a green laurel wreath and suspended from a gold bar inscribed "Valor", surmounted by an eagle. Valor, "great courage in the face of danger, especially in battle." That word burned in my mind like poison, it does not describe me. Not what I did.

After a few moments lost in my reminiscing, I finally looked downward toward my vintage alarm clock. It flashed 8:01pm in bright red numbers taunting me on how long I've slept.

"Shit! Late again"

I jumped out of bed almost tripping on my blankets, I grabbed the first pair of jeans I could find off the floor of my closet and a black and red plaid button up shirt. I ran out the door and just managed the catch the bus to 6^th street, only a stone's throw away from Rick's place where I've been working as a bartender for the last year. After the bus dropped me off I took my time to saunter over to the bars front door. It wouldn't matter how late I was at this point, old Rick was going to give me the same speak no matter what. I looked up at the flickering sign above the entrance 'Broken Pints' my home away from home.

The door creaked and chimed as I walked in, just enough of a sound to alert Rick to my late appearance.

"God Damn it Ria, how many times has that been?!" I heard Rick yell from the kitchen. I couldn't help but smirk a bit, my day usually didn't feel like it started without Rick's usual evening rant.

"Well good evening to you to Rick," I said jokingly. He emerged from the kitchen, his thick brown eyebrows pressed together into a scowl that would scare most people if they didn't know him.

"Eight o'clock woman, eight o'clock is when your damn shift startIt's eight thirty-five!"

"My god you are perceptive," I said as I walked around the bar and gave him a playful pat on his beer belly. A few of our early bird regulars chuckled in the corners of the bar amused by the usual display.

"I hired you to bartend, you can't do that if you're at home sitting on your ass" he pointed one finger at me as if he was scolding a child "You thank your lucky stars I don't fire you for a bartender who appreciates their job."

"Oh come on Rick, who else would put up with the delinquents that walk in and out of this oh so lovely establishment every night," I said pointing at Allen and Bill, the two regulars that enjoyed mine and Rick's squabbles.

"Hey! I'm a fine gentleman, thank you" Allen said with a sarcastic tone.

"Oh yeah, I can tell by the trucker hat and the holes in your shirt that you're a real prince" I replied while I poured Allen another drink of his usual scotch on the rocks.

"You're a real pain in the ass woman, you know real 'ladies' would show there appreciated to their handsome and kindhearted bosses. Especially when he gives them some time off." Rick's anger turned into a playful mockery. He could never stay mad at me for very long.

"Oh you mean the time off you and Liam are forcing me to take, yeah well, it's a good thing I'm not a lady then huh" I lightly tossed a piece of ice cubs at Rick as he walked back towards the kitchen.

"You giving Rick a hard time again Ria?" I heard a very familiar voice coming from the side door. I turned around ready with a smile knowing who was about to join our friendly conversation. Liam towers over me in height and is taller than most men. He also looks as though he spends all of his free time weight liftings, although I know all his muscles come from the same place most of my's do, from war and fighting. He was carrying a large crate full of alcohol as he walked over to the bar where I was now handing Bill his beer bottle.

"What are you talking about, Rick was just telling me how much he loves me, Right Rick!"

"Go to hell!" Rick screamed now in the kitchen again. Liam chuckled as he set the crate down on the bar. I walked over to help him empty the crate.

"So what are you doing with your time off tomorrow?" Liam asked, almost knowing what my response would be. I scoffed and replied.

"Nothing because I'm going to be here working" I starting putting the bottles of liquors behind the bar. Liam looked at me with a slightly irritated expression

"Come on Ria, you need to take some time off. You've been working nonstop for months now. You need time to relax, and rest"

I walked back over to Liam and rested my chin on my right palm. I looked up as though I was deep in thought "Rest. Relaxation hmm?" I looked back at Liam's forest green eyes and smirked: "That sounds awfully boring I'll pass on that thank you." I reached for one of the bottles but before I could lift it from the bar top Liam grabbed the same bottle his large hands engulfing mine keeping me in place. He gave me a stern look that carried a hint or worry.

"Ria..." his voice was deep but soft. "Just take the day off. Please, if not for yourself then for me."

I let out a long sigh of defeat. A grin grew a crossed his face, he knew those words were my kryptonite. I owed Liam my life and he knew he could win any conversation with a simple 'please'.

"Alright, alright I'll take the damn day off" I whipped the bottle and my hand out from his grip and with my free hand, tousled his dark chestnut brown hair "Scruffy, pain in the ass." Scruffy referring to the five o'clock shadow covering his chin that he refusing to shave because he knew how much I hated it. Although Liam and I act as though we are brother and sister also fighting, there's no one else in the world I trusted more than him. When I came back from the pointless war damaged, broken, and barely able to function in society he brought me back from the brink and help me get a job at Rick's. Rick being a veteran himself he took me in under his wing and showed me how to bartend, while Liam showed me how to release my pent up aggression though fighting in the ring.

The rest of the night went on as it always had before, by 10pm the bar was filled with the worst of the worst of New York City. Gang members, mercenaries, bounty hunters everyone with a reason to carry a weapon. All with a drink in their hand and a glint of rage in their eyes, ready to fight the first person to say the wrong thing or unintentionally bump into them. Although it was hard to blame them for their hard domineers and career choices, in this city the only way to survive and make a decent living is to be a hired gun. At least one fight a night was guaranteed to happen at the Broken Pints. Rick didn't mind it, this kind of life he was used to, and everyone respected Rick enough to keep the fighting in the pits. He kept a fighting pit in the basement of the bar, and anyone with an itch to spill a little blood would always be sent to the pits. Most of the time everyone would follow cheering and scream curses till their faces were red. It was actually a decent way to make some money, people would always bet on who would win. A lot of people tend to believe the biggest guy is the one to bet on, but that's not always the case. It's the look in their eyes; the fire; the spirit. If you look close enough you can tell who had the strongest will, and the ones with the unbreakable will and boundless rage, those are the ones to bet on. I could always sense this in people when they fought, so doubling my tip money was pretty easy on an eventful night, especially when Liam or I fought. I personally enjoyed the atmosphere of the bar, the adrenaline the danger at any moment, it somehow relaxed me, kept my mind at ease. Which is why I hated the idea of taking a day off. Staying home, in silence, lost in my thoughts, that's much more stressful to me.

By the time the clock hit 4:45am the bar was empty. It was a successful night, an extra three hundred in my pockets from a few pit fights and the bar wasn't its usual chaotic mess. It didn't take Liam and me long to clean up the mess of smashed beer bottles and flipped chairs. Rick was already passed out in his studio apartment upstairs from the bar, he trusted us enough to close up for him so we both had spare keys. Before Liam left he offered me a ride home on his sports bike, I gave out a loud sarcastic laugh and answered.

"Yeah right on that crotch rocket, no thank you. Come back when you have a Harley."

He's jaw dropped in a slightly insulted but amused smile before he replied

"Ouch, that's cold darlin'." As he walked out the door he yelled "You better not come in tomorrow, remember to relax! Don't make me drag you back home!" the last few words fading as he walked towards his bike.

"Yeah Right as if you could!" I yelled back right before he began to rev his motorcycle engine. I just laugh lightly to myself and cringed slightly as the loud roar of the motorcycle speeding away echoed through the morning air. I finished up shutting down all the lights and locking up before I closed the bar doors I looked inside the empty room that was just filled with excitement a few hours earlier, and signed. Time to start my day off.

I waited patiently at the bus stop for the next bus to take me home, it was 5:08am and darkness still covered the skies. It was mid fall so the sun rose a bit later in the morning. I leaned my head against the plastic bus stop walls and closed my eyes. Relax huh? I repeated in my head the words Liam constantly repeated to me.

"Ria! Good morning!"

The sudden high pitched voice startled me and I whipped my head forward in the direction of the noise. It didn't take my mind long to figure out whose cheerful voice broke the silence.

"Jesus Christ Sam! Don't you know better than to sneak up on someone like that?!" I said as if I was surprised but I should have known better by then. I ran into Samara every morning before heading home. She had her hand up to her mouth with an apologetic look on her face as she sat beside me and said.

"I'm so sorry Ria! I didn't mean to startle you. I guess I just have a little too much energy in the morning." I raised my eyebrow and responded.

"I little energy?" I scoffed a bit and continued jokingly "You should save some of that Ritalin for the hyper kids." she let out a little giggle and lightly smacked my arm. Sam was a nurse, one of the youngest in the city and was by far the kindest and most upbeat person I knew. It was always baffling to me how she could keep such a positive and humble attitude in the kind of world that we lived in. She worked in a small hospital in the city. She had patched me up a few times in the past after a couple rounds fought in Rick's fighting pit. She was a very talented nurse and I would often ask her why she did not work in a larger hospitals in the richer parts of the city where it was safer and the pay was better. She would always smile and say "This is where I'm needed, so this is where I stay." Selflessness, I thought it was extinct till I met her.

We were opposite in personality as well as appearance. Although we were around the same height I appeared much larger than her. She was small and petite like a pixie, and would often keep her medium length bleach blonde hair, in a French braid that was slightly darker in color at the roots. Her skin was very light but smooth and void of blemishes, and her eyes were a deep violet. Sam was beautiful and probably as close to the word perfect as you could be, but she was very humble about her looks and just kindly thank people when they complimented her. Then there was me, I only exceeded Sam's height by an inch but you would not be able to tell at first glance. I had a thicker waist and a curvy figure. My skin was a tan rich walnut color, and not smooth like hers. I was covered in small scars on various parts of my body and a large one down my back. My face was rounded but strong and my most defining feature was my eyes. I had this condition called Heterochromia iridum, it was a difference in coloration in the eyes; my right eye was hazel brown but my left eye was a light electric blue. Samara was pretty attached to me; ever since I scared off one of her ex-boyfriends she took any chance she had to hang around and force a friendship with me. It was a bit aggravating at first, her positive and optimistic personality could be a bit exhausting. She would also like to preach to me about God and how he was still with us even though people had lost faith. It was true, people stop believing in our so called lord and savior once the world fell to shit. Only the larger cities had a functioning economy, all the smaller towns and cities got the worst of the war. Most of them being wiped out completely while the rest turned into slums, overpopulated by poor families, drug lords and run down businesses. Even with all the misery in the world sweet little Sam still held tight to her religious beliefs, and honestly I kind of admired her for it. After a while she actually grew on me and I kind of enjoyed her company.

Are bus came about 15 minutes later, late as always. The bus door opened and we were greeted by around potbellied bus driver with a smile from ear to ear.

"Good morning ladies, where are you headed?" he asked cheerfully. I never understood how morning people could function with such ease. Sam and I replied with our destinations and I immediately walked towards the back of the bus, as I liked the feeling of seclusion. Although it was irrelevant since Sam would always follow and sit right beside me. There was about four other people on the bus besides us. Two young woman, one with short brown hair and the other who had her dirty blonde hair in a messy bun; they looked as though they had just finished a night of bar hoping. On the other side of the bus was a larger man in a security guard uniform; from his hunched over and tired domineers looked as though he had a rough day, and in the very front of the bus another man. There was something strange about this man; He sat up completely straight but his head was tilted downward and his eyes were closed. He wore a fine old fashion suit and a short black top hat over his scarlet hair. Both of his hands rested on the top of a silver snake head attached to a wooden cane, and his body was unnaturally still and statuesque. Even when the bus shook from hitting pot holes his body remained unmoved. I was too distracting from observing his un-human stillness to notice Sam was still talking to me.

"Hey Ria?" she said as I felt her small finger poke the side of my arm. It broke my concentration from the man in the suit.

"Huh? Sorry Sam" She looked in the direction of what captured my attention, and instantly noticed the man as well.

"Oh! Well, he looks interesting. Maybe he just got out of some sort of themed party." She whispered to me.

"Oh yeah because 1890's themed parties happen all the time." Sam just smiled and shook her head at my clear sarcasm. Even from where I was sitting I could see the slight sinister grin form on his face as if he heard what I had said. "Nah, there's something off about that guy." As I said that his head turned in our direction and he opened his eyes. I gasped at the sight of his eyes, his sclera were pitch black where white should be and the only thing defining his pupil from his sclera was the bright yellow irises. With the smirk still on his face, made more ominous by his piercing eyes he gave me a wink. I felt my heart skip with fear and I looked over at Sam to see if she had just seen what I had, but to my dismay she had her head down looking through her purse. My heart nearly stopped, I had a strange feeling something was going to happen but before I could say anything there was a loud POP!

The two other woman on the bus screamed as all the tires of the bus simultaneously burst. The bus came to a screeching halt, as the lights began to flicker until they completely shut off. I felt Sam grab the side of my arm as I saw fear start to cover on her face. I looked out the window to see where we were, it was still dark out but I could make out the area. I remembered passing this part of the city many times on my way to work and back. It was the only time on the ride that we passed by one of the abandon roads that were scattered throughout the city. No one entered these streets except the occasional bus that passed on their route. I knew immediately It was no coincidence that this would just happen to be the road that we've became abandon on. My adrenaline began to kick in and I turn back towards the strange man at the front of the bus. While everyone was becoming more panic and nervously asking the bus driver what was going on I watched as the strange man was now standing up leaning against one of the bus bars, legs crossed and head tilted downward covering his eyes. I knew he had to of had something to do with this. The bus driver stood up from his seat to face all of us.

"Calm down everyone. I'm going outside to check the wheels everyone stay calm and stay on the bus." he opened the sliding bus doors and walked outside into the darkness. The large security guard stood up from his seat and walked over to the two woman who were now slightly panicked and in a gentle voice he said to them,

"It's ok ladies, everything's fine. It's just a few popped tires, buses usually have spares in their compartments." The two woman shook their head agreeing with the man and trying to calm themselves down. Then he turned over to Sam and me with concern in his eyes. "You ladies ok over there?" I could still feel Sam's tight grip around my arm and I places my hand over hers. I felt her grip loosen a bit, I think the simple comfort of my hand helped her relax a bit. I looked back over to the kind man before us and responded.

"Yeah we're alright, thank you." The serenity guard then turned towards the strange man and asked him the same questions.

"You alright sir." I started to tense up, remembering the eyes that pierced into me moments earlier. If the others saw what I did they would panic and I was worried about what would happen after that, but to my surprise when he lifted his head in response to the man's concern his eyes were normal. White sclera's with hazel irises, normal with no hint of the sinister appearance they had only minutes earlier. The strange man tilted his hat towards the security guard as a response to his questions. I was confused as the adrenaline continued to rise in my chest, I knew we had to get as far away from the strange man as possible. I leaned towards Sam and whisper to her.

"Sam, we need to get out of here." I tried to hide the concern in my voice but from her tightened grip I could tell that she noticed.

"W...Why? What's wrong?...The driver told us to stay on the bus." Her pupils were dilated and her brows were pressed together in worry. I grabbed her hand and began to stand to nudge her out of her seat, she stood with me as I responded.

"Just trust me, Sam." With her hand in mine we went towards the exit at the back of the bus but before I could open it the driver came back on the bus and yelled in our direction.

"Hey you two!" we turned and looked back towards the driver. "You can't go out that way the doors are locked from the outside." He looked at everyone on the bus as he began giving us the status on the buses tires. "So all but one of the tires are shot. We're going to need to change all three. Luckily I have some spares in the lower compartments." He pointed to the only two men on the bus, the kind security guard and the strange man.

"You two, you know how to change a tire?" They both nodded their heads in response. "Alright I'll need some help out here to get these tires up and running." He looked back toward the all the woman on the bus. "The rest of you, I'm going to need you to step off the bus so there's no extra weight on the jacks when we lift." All the passages began to funnel out of the bus except me. I hesitated a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I felt a tug at my hand from Sam gesturing me to follow her outside. I took a deep breath and followed the rest of the passengers. When we got off the bus the sun was starting to rise, just a faint dim light enough to outline the empty buildings and abandon streets. The bus driver was standing next to the security guard and the strange man was behind them. Nothing had happened yet and the only thought in my mind was to get this bus up and running as soon as possible.

"Hey driver I've fixed a few cars before. I'll help with the wheels." I said in the direction of the three men. He nodded, accepting my assistance. I looked back at Sam, smiled and removed my hand from her, she walked towards the other girls and stood with them. "So where are these tires?" The driver pointed towards the back of the bus and replied.

"There in the last compartment near the end of the bus." He pointed towards me and the security guard "You two can get the tires out of the back, me and this fancy fella will grab the jacks and get started on lifting the bus." I was relieved that he sent me and the guard to get the tires I didn't want to be anywhere near the strange man in the suit. We walked towards the end of the bus, Sam followed close by and the other two woman followed her. As we were approaching the compartment I saw a strange dark liquid dripping from the edges. It was still too dark outside to make out what it could be but I stopped instinctively not wanting to get any closer. I tried to focus my eyes on the thick dark liquid that was dripping from the compartment. It only took me a moment till I finally recognized what it was. My heart stopped beating for a moment, as a felt a huge knot in my throat. Blood I thought but before I could say a word the guard was already at the compartment handle. The door flung open to reveal the source of the dripping blood. I heard two loud screams of terror behind me as we all stared frozen in fear at the dead corpse stuffed in the compartment. Throat torn open, blood still oozing from the pulsing muscles. It took us another moment to realize who the corpse belong to, it was dressed in a now blood-soaked blue collared shirt and blue pants with yellow pin stripes down the middle of them, and his face. It was the same face that welcomed us on the bus, the same face that told us to "Stay Calm" and led us outside to fix the tires. All I could think was but how? Almost knowing the answer to my question I slowly turned back towards the strange man in the suit and the bus driver that shared the corpses face. I was meet by the same piercing black and yellow eyes that had terrified me before, and next to him now stood a bald androgynous hominoid. Its skin was so pale it almost seemed clear; its face was feminine but the body was slim and masculine as though a woman's face was placed on a man's body. Its eyes were white and would have blended into the pale skill if not for the dark circles that surrounded them. It was void of eyebrows and was expressionless, with long pointed ears that passed the top of its bald head. I heard the security guard yell with a now frightened voice "What the hell is going on?!" as one of the woman yelled again at the sight of two monsters standing before us. A wicked smiles curled on the face of the monster in the fine suit, as he lifted his cane off the ground. With one swift motion the cane slammed downward towards the pavement and as the end of the cane meet the concrete a bright spark flashed. Five streams of electric current slithered through the ground like a snake and before I could try to dodge it the current was at my feet. It ran through my body and I could feel my limbs convulse at the unbearable pain that overtook me. In an instant my vision become masked in darkness as I fell to the floor unconscious.