The Future Will Change

Back with Chati, Sandbar, and Vertex…

Restrained by the threat of her claws at his neck, Vertex was frozen in place and shook his head while looking at Sandbar, silently warning his friend not to attack.

“Go on little bitch! Try me! I dare ya!” Chati hissed in his ear, egging him on to attack her.

Just when she thought she had the upper hand, Vertex drove his elbow into her midsection to knock her off of his body, but not before she dug her claws into his skin and shred through his neck. Vertex would muscle through it and whip around, smacking her dead in the face with the chair once more and send her flying aside.

“Vert--shit!” Sandbar raced over to the frat house leader who had collapsed onto the ground, “...we gotta get you to--”

“...get…get her…” Vertex muttered as his neck bled, pointing to the cat beast who had still tried to get up and run.

Sandbar grumbled and sprinted over to the beastwoman, stopping her head with more quicksand before she could even think to move. He placed a hand over her head to hold her in place to ensure she’d be stuck.

“I just got one question for you, you sick, conniving, inverted gastrointestinal cat bastard!” Sandbar ranted without so much a thought behind his words, “...why? Why are you doing this? Why did you attack Keiji?!”

“Hrrrgh…”

With a hefty slam into the dirt, Sandbar smashed her head down and lifted her back up, “Answer me asshole!”

“...a simple-minded ape like you wouldn’t get it,” Chati continued to strike back with a snarky tone of voice as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “Rich, wealthy assholes like that guy won’t wise up until…” she paused to cough, “agh! Until an example is made. Until then, they’ll keep putting us down. People need to see…see how hard my conviction goes!”

Sandbar grit his teeth then let out a sigh of disappointment. It was no use. There was no getting through to someone like this. Someone whose ego ran so deep that they refused to listen to reason no matter what.

“...never mind. I don’t even know why I asked,” he lamented, “Tried to be nice, tried to be patient…but what’s the damn point anymore? You thugs are all alike!”

With a quick swipe of her claws, Chati attempted to slash through Sandbar’s face but was only able to cut through pure sand as he slipped through her fingers and disappeared.

“...?!” Chati stood up, and looked around, wondering if she was free from it all until--!

BANG!

“....”

A hole had been blown through her head with one of her eyeballs popping out as the bolt of a shotgun was cranked once more. Chati's dead body hit the ground with a hollow thud. Coral Currents placed the weapon over her shoulder and sighed.

“...god this job gets messy,” she muttered as she dusted herself off with her bucket hat and placed it on her head.

“Great timing, Cici,” Sandbar praised his sister, then glanced over at Vertex, “Shit! We need to get him outta here!”

“Already done,” Coral replied with a snap of her fingers as a few other female agents jumped out of nearby bushes to load Vertex’s body onto a stretcher and into the back of a nearby van. “Don’t worry, they’ll get him to the hospital.”

“Gotcha. Guess the Amanita Girls arrived just in time, eh?” Sandbar noted the efficiency of Coral’s agency comrades, then switched the subject, “Guess we’re done for today, huh? That fight was a trip…”

Despite his forced smile, Coral could tell something was wrong with her brother’s demeanor given the bulging veins on his neck. “...big brother, you okay? You seem…antsy…”

“...that kitty-girl was insultin’ both you and me,” he admitted with an annoyed tone of voice, “...almost called me a ‘tard for not bein’ as smart as you.” He folded his arms and grit his teeth. Processing what she had just said, even after she was killed, had rattled him to his core and it was impossible for him to brush it off. “...fuckin’ bitch.”

Coral’s eyes shot open as she holstered her weapon. Hearing Sandbar swear was such an oddity that it flung her into a visible frenzy as she hurried over to his side and gave him a hug. “...hey. Come on, Sandbar. Let’s go home, alright? Mom and dad haven’t seen you in a while, so let’s relax until this all blows over.”

His sister’s words had eased his mental state. Sandbar nodded silently, and followed Coral to her truck. “...sounds nice, sis.”

All Coral could do was give a worried smile as she drove back home with him…

In the days that followed, Vertex would be placed in Vanhoover’s Hospital while Keiji was given medical treatment from his home privately to avoid the news of his vampire DNA spreading to the public. Another news article would explain the fallout of the incident as the police reports deemed Chati’s death as an assassination. All other parties, including Argos, were arrested and tried for their involvement in a kidnapping.

Nothing else anyone could do now but wait for Keiji and Vertex’s recovery…