Derrek did his best to keep up but fell behind pretty quickly, with Jeffrey lapping him while he was only on his second lap. At that point, Jeffrey kept pace with him, and in the fashion of a true drill sergeant, he gave as much encouragement as he could, in the form of extreme deprecation, his favorite line being, “How do you expect to run a company if you can’t even run ten miles?”
Despite his exhaustion, Derrek kept going, and he managed to finish his tenth mile, roughly the sixteenth lap, in just under two hours. He collapsed on the track while Jeffrey stood over him, brimming with pride. He got down on one knee and pressed a button on his leg, causing a section on the inside to pop out and produce a metal bottle of water, which he gave to Derrek.
After chugging the entire bottle, he felt almost completely refreshed, and said, “Jeez, that leg of yours sure is convenient.”
“Hells yeah! It’s got a cooler on this side. I keep my sidearm on the other, and I can charge my phone in the back of my knee. Things got crazy battery life too; a full charge gives about a month of full use.”
“Wow, I didn’t know Frostbyte even had prosthetics like that. I’ve gotta give it to the guys in research and development. They really know what they’re doing.”
“Enough chitchat. On to the rest of our workout!” Jeffrey said, heading toward the equipment in the center of the field.
They set up in an empty area designated for bodyweight exercise and started with the sit-ups. Derrek began to cramp after ten, but with Jeffrey’s aggressive encouragement, prodding him about his “flabby” middle, which struck a nerve with him, he powered through. He rode the same wave of anger through the push-ups and jumping jacks, utterly collapsing and nearly passing out before Jeffrey splashed some water on his face.
“Damn, kid! I wasn’t sure if you were gonna make it! You looked like hell until I poked fun at your flabby bits.”
“Yeah, I guess it’s a bit of a … soft spot.”
They both burst into laughter, but Derrek was too exhausted to maintain it. Jeffrey grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet, and Derrek went to change back into his clothes while Jeffrey struggled with his Velcro.
When they were both done, they rendezvoused at the truck, and Jeffrey started driving back toward the hotel.
“You’d best get yourself a shower. You’ll feel like a new man.”
“Don’t I still have weapons training?”
“Yeah, but we can pick that up around noon. Get yourself some water and some protein. I’ll get you when it’s time.”
“Think I’ll have time for a nap?”
Jeffrey laughed and said, “Maybe a short one, but don’t be surprised if I wake you with the business end of Ole Tootsy.”
Derrek’s face turned to the same one he had after Jeffrey shared his theory earlier, except he saw it this time. “Like you could do better,” he said with a cocky grin.
Without thinking, Derrek said, “King Tootankhamun.”
Jeffrey was silent the rest of the way to the hotel. He parked, killed the engine, and just sat there for an uncomfortable amount of time. After about thirty seconds, Derrek slowly exited the truck, keeping his eyes on Jeffrey, who was completely unresponsive.
He went back into the hotel, boarded the elevator, and went to his room. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. Derrek was impressed by how quickly they had fixed his lock, and he used his key. He immediately jumped in the shower, where he saw that the body wash, shampoo, and conditioner were all full-sized bottles, possibly the fanciest aspect of the hotel he had seen thus far. When he was done, he emerged from the bathroom, feeling completely revitalized but still exhausted. There weren’t any clocks in his room, so he called the front desk to give him a wake-up call at 11:45, giving him a couple of hours to sleep while still getting ahead of Jeffrey.
He closed the blinds and climbed into his bed, quickly drifting off to sleep.
He found himself in a black void. Nothing around him. Nothing to see. No up, no down, no left, no right. He floated in the nothingness for what seemed like ages when suddenly, he heard what sounded like a door opening.
The scene shifted in an instant to that of a drab office, no furniture save for a plain wooden desk perfectly placed in the middle of the room. There was a window, but there seemed to be nothing on the other side, just a white void. He faced the desk, which was unoccupied but had a nameplate which he couldn’t read, along with a bird dipping into a glass of water.
“Is there a reason I opened my closet door and walked into here, or was there just something funky in my milkshake?” a voice behind him said. He turned around to find the same red blob he had seen in his dream the night before.
“There’s a reason for everything, but that milkshake was from 2014, so I’d say it was pretty funky,” said another voice from behind him. Turning again, he saw the desk now had someone seated behind it. The man behind the desk was adorned in a gray pinstripe suit and had slicked-back black hair. He had no scars, marks, or blemishes and seemed average, save for his eyes. He had no irises, just black dots with shockingly white sclera. His voice was firm, but he sounded a bit off, as if his voice wasn’t genuine.
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The man behind the desk continued, “I need something of you.” The next word he said was incomprehensible, sounding like a series of guttural noises.
“You know damn well that isn’t my name. Say it like a human,” the red man protested.
“Fine, I need something of you, Kahli.”
“Close enough, I guess. What do you need, my brother from another plane of existence?”
The man behind the desk smiled coyly. “I need you to accept this gift.”
“A gift? I’ve been doing this shit for a long time, and I never even got a paycheck from you. What’s the occasion?”
“I’m sure I gave you something here and there. I’m not a slave driver.”
“The closest thing to you giving me something was when you offered me a mint the first time we met.”
“See? I still gave you something.”
The red man, whom Derrek assumed was named Kahli, laughed as the other man reached under his desk and pulled out a plain shoebox, which he placed at the end of his desk. Kahli walked toward the desk, passing right through Derrek, who was standing between the two, prompting him to step aside to try to get a better look at what was going on.
The man behind the desk opened the box and pulled out a necklace. It had a long leather strap, letting the pendant sit around the solar plexus when worn, and the pendant was a stylized longhorn skull made of hand-carved dark wood.
“I’ve taken to calling it the Spirit of the West, but you’re free to call it as you wish.”
“Oh, damn. Really sprung for me, didn’t you?” Kahli said as he accepted the gift, presumably putting it on.
“It did take a while to find, what with it belonging to Samuel Colt himself.”
“I knew Sam. Dude never wore this. He had a gun on a string.”
“I said it belonged to him. He never actually wore it, partly because of its properties.”
“Properties, you say? Do tell, desk guy, do tell.”
The man behind the desk rummaged around in the box, throwing tissue paper everywhere, and pulled out a small paper pamphlet. He flipped through a few pages. “Ah,” he said, “here we are. For one, it soul-binds to whoever wears it, so it’ll always be around your neck. I thought that would be pretty nice, considering your track record.”
“Showering might be a bit of a pain, but I’m still liking it.”
“It’s also indestructible.”
“Oh, great. I won’t have to make up a story behind how I accidentally destroyed it.”
“And that’s pretty much it.” He snapped his fingers, causing the box and the booklet to disappear but not affecting the tissue paper. He looked around and quietly said, “The universe at my fingertips, and I can’t figure this stuff out.”
Behind the blob, Kahli appeared to unsuccessfully try to remove the necklace as he said, “So, you just gave me a permanent chunk of wood?”
“And the strap, don’t forget the strap.”
Kahli was quiet for a few seconds. “Has anyone ever told you you’re an asshole?”
“Nobody still living.”
“Makes sense. Was that all you wanted?”
“There is still one thing; I wouldn’t waste your time with just a small present.”
“Then shoot your shot, space cowboy.”
The man behind the desk leaned forward in his chair and said, “I need you to trust me.”
There was a short bout of tense silence until Kahli broke it. “Seriously? I’ve been doing your dirty work all this time, following your orders to a T, and you only now need me to trust you?”
“I know you’ve been loyal thus far, but I need to make sure you stay loyal.”
“Oh, come on. When have I ever been disloyal?”
“Ponce de Leon, for one.”
“Hey! They turned on me!”
Kahli burst into laughter, and the man behind the desk smiled meekly. “That’s all I needed to hear. Thank you, Kahli.”
“No probert, Robert,” he said, opening the door, “I’ll see you whenever the next hungry boy shows up. And thanks for the jewelry.”
He closed the door behind him, leaving the man alone at his desk. The smile faded from the man’s face, and he turned to make direct eye contact with Derrek. The black circles grew, drowning his eyes in solid matte black, and he calmly said, “Count yourself lucky I had company. Otherwise, I would have cut this quite short.”
Derrek, having never experienced anything like this before, tried to respond. He moved his mouth, but no sound came out.
“Interesting. I’m going to ask you a few questions. Shake your head for no and nod for yes. Understand?”
Derrek understood and nodded his head.
“Good, but know I can tell if you’re lying. Do you know where you are?”
Derrek shook his head.
“Do you know who I am?”
He shook his head.
“Are you human?”
He nodded.
“Last one, I promise,” he said as he stood up. He snapped his fingers, causing the desk and all of its contents to disappear, except for the tissue paper, which slowly drifted to the ground.
“Can you fight back?”
Derrek’s eyes grew wide as the man snapped his fingers again, causing his hands to start dissolving away. He felt himself becoming completely obliterated, his very existence being undone. The last thing he saw before his eyes dissolved was the blackness in the man’s eyes receding to a small dot in a sea of piercing white sclera.
Then he woke up