"What in the Kentucky Fried hell is going on here?" James said.
"We don't see many visitors as of late. We are glad to welcome you to our city. What brings you to our humble abode today?" The man in the white suit asked with his Southern plantation accent.
"Uh...we are passing through on our way to check out the quest," Tom said. "Are you the mayor?"
"I most certainly am. Jeffery Stone is the name, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Jeffery said.
"Why do I suddenly want a mint julep?" Kiera asked.
"It's nice to meet you as well sir," Tom said. "We are just looking to rest before we continue on our way."
"Well, you certainly have chosen the perfect stop on your journey. Decatur is a lovely town with historic roots that date all the way back to the Civil War." Jeffery said.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Kiera commented.
"We have a rich history that celebrates the great state of Texas along with that of the United States of America. We have many wonderful things to do and see here and are known for such famous people as Daniel Waggoner and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams." Jeffery continued.
"Who?" Jay asked.
"Many families find Decatur to be a wonderful place to settle down and raise a family, and we have easy access to the DFW metroplex via Highway 287." The mayor went on, oblivious to the fact that no one seemed to understand any of his talking points.
"We boast such attractions as the LBJ National Grasslands, the Wise County Historical Museum, and the NRS Event Center," Jeffery said. "Tell me, fair travelers, from whence do you hail?"
"We are from Dallas," Tom said becoming more confused as Jeffery spoke.
"Well, I do declare. Dallas is a fine Texas city indeed. We are so glad you decided to visit. I can show you to a place you can rest your laurels for the night and you can spend some time getting to know this fine city." Jeffery replied.
"Is this guy for real?" Kedron asked.
"I have no idea, but I feel like I should be fanning myself in a rocking chair on a wrap-around porch," Bobby said.
"If you would be so kind as to follow me, I will show you to your accommodations," Jeffery said, turning and walking down the sidewalk.
"As you can see, we work hard to keep this city clean and in order. We did experience a minor event that resulted in an influx of riff-raff recently, but the good people of Decatur endured and are now back on track to be a shining point in the great state of Texas." Jeffery said as he walked.
"You call the apocalypse a minor event!?" Jay said in amazement.
"My dear boy, there was no apocalypse. The Lord never came back and therefore this cannot possibly be the apocalypse." Jeffery said, finally responding to one of them.
"Ohhhh, you're one of those types. Yeah, that explains a lot." Jay said.
"I'm quite sure I have no idea what you are referring to, but I assure you that no apocalypse has happened and the recent events have been but a mere setback on the path to making Decatur as grand as any other city in these United States," Jeffery said, holding onto the edges of his coat with pride.
"Yeah, this guy is crazy," James leaned in and said quietly to Kiera.
"I promise you, sir, I am not crazy. My mother had me tested." Jeffery said.
"So how has Decatur faired with the Grand System integration?" Tom asked, trying to be more direct with the issues that had been happening.
"I don't believe I know what you are talking about. Life here has not changed one iota. We remain as we always have been." Jeffery asked.
"So you are just pretending that you all don't have new abilities and can level up and gain XP?" Tom asked.
"Why, you sound like someone who wishes they lived in some of those children's video games. I never was a fan of those myself. I couldn't understand why someone would want to play in a fantasy world when they could interact with everything God placed on this earth." Jeffery said, pulling out a hanky to wipe his brow with.
"Full on loon," Kiera whispered to James.
"Here we are, the local Inn. It has wonderful reviews on Yelp. We even allow pets, so your little puppy friend there can stay with you. I hope you find the stay to your liking, though I must apologize as our fair city is currently without power. There have been some disturbances that seem to be interfering with the Texas power grid, but never fear, for I, the Mayor, and working on getting it restored as quickly as possible." Jeffery said, indicating the building they had walked up to. "As you have been the first guests we have received in quite some time and there are plenty of vacancies, we will give you the penthouse suite on the top floor as an apology for the lack of comfortable air conditioning at the time. It should have plenty of space to accommodate your entire group."
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Walking inside Jeffery leaned on the counter with one elbow.
"Well hello, Clarice. How are you this fine morning."
"Hello, Mr. Mayor. It's a pleasure as always to see your shining face." Clarice replied.
"Indeed, the pleasure is all mine I assure you. We need to book these fine people and their four-legged friend into the penthouse suite. They will be staying with us tonight, please be sure they have everything they need." Jeffery said.
"It would be my pleasure. If you all would follow me right this way." Clarice said to the parties.
"I will need to be heading back to the courthouse for some official Decatur business, but if you need anything, please let Clarice know and she will let me know if you need me," Jeffery said. "For now, I take my leave.
Following Clarice up the stairs, the group arrived at a set of double doors that Clarice unlocked with a key and led them inside. The stateroom that greeted them was elegant and luxurious with a huge living area filled with several couches and a leather fainting chair. An eighty-five-inch TV hung on the wall over a stone fireplace and there were eight rooms leading off of the main living and dining area. In the back corner of the room was a full kitchen with marble countertops and a fully stocked bar.
"I hope you can enjoy your stay here. If you need anything at all you be sure to let me know and we will do whatever we can to ensure your stay here in Decatur is as wonderful as possible." Clarice said, then she turned and left closing the doors behind her.
Still in awe of the immaculate room, the teams wandered around the suite claiming which rooms would be for which people. When they had settled slightly they met back in the living area.
"This place is really fucking weird," James said.
"It's like everyone has been brainwashed or something," Kiera said.
"I'm guessing that the trauma of everything was too much for them, so they are trying to get a semblance of normalcy back in their lives," Derek said.
"You can't just ignore end-of-the-world events and just hope everything works out," Bobby said.
"True, but they seem to be doing OK," Tom said.
"If you count being completely delusional as OK," Kiera said. "And what's with Colonel Sanders and being the primmest version of a southern belle?"
"Yeah, that is not how any politician acts now," Jay said. "Really gave me the creeps the way he just ignored certain things to get out the vibes he wanted to portray."
"Look, we are just staying here one night, then we move on. We can handle this odd situation for that long. Think of it as a vacation from all the shit we've been dealing with." Tom said.
Squirrel found a fake plant in the corner of the room and relieved himself on it then walked over and curled up at Kiera's feet.
"Seriously dude? Inside?" James said.
Squirrel just shifted his eyes to look up at James for a moment and then closed them as if he didn't have a care in the world.
Jerky appeared on the counter and sniffed the air. Turning his head back and forth he took in the room and smiled.
"Jerky like. House good." He said.
"Sure buddy. See, Jerky can see the good in it." Tom said.
"Still fucking weird," Jerky said.
"Really? Even you?" Tom said. "And I think you've been hanging out with James too much."
Jerky just shrugged and hopped off the counter to go explore a room.
"We can still rest while keeping our guard up," Derek said. "It's one night, and this is a nice place."
"I wonder how they deal with monsters here?" Kedron asked.
"You saw them picking up the bodies. I'd guess in a similar way to us." Austin said.
A moment later there was a loud boom sound outside. Everyone ran to a window to see what was happening. About a half mile away from the hotel there were now four ogres smashing up vehicles parked on the street.
"I guess we get to see how they deal with them," Briana said.
People began screaming and running away from the creatures as they continued to go on a rampage through the downtown streets.
"We should probably go help," Kedron said.
Men with assault rifles appeared from several side streets and began to pepper the ogres with bullets. Screaming with rage, the monsters turned their attention to the men and began running full tilt at them. They smashed through the front lines and began to mercilessly kill the men. One ogre went down from being shot in the face too many times, but the others just kept going.
On the top of one of the nearby buildings a man wearing what looked like a black trench coat appeared carrying a katana and wearing a red and white kabuki mask. Walking to the edge of the building directly above the ogres, he looked down, then jumped from the building doing a flip and lashing out with his sword. The head of the ogre closest to him was cut clean off and rolled to the ground as the body fell limply to the ground.
"Now that guy is a badass," James said.
Running around to the second ogre who had swung its club at him, he dove past it and sliced out at its leg. The creature howled with pain and it fell to one knee, the leg completely useless. It jumped on the creature's back and threw a shurikin at the ogre to its left which hit it in the face. The ogre lashed out at him with its club in a blind rage and as the man hopped off the ogre's back, the club slammed into the spine of the kneeling monster.
With a crack that could be heard in the room, the ogre went limp on the ground, its spine broken. The kabuki-masked man rolled out of the way of another strike and threw a grenade at the attacking ogre's face. Blowing off most of the ogre's face, the explosion ruined the flesh of the ogre. Grabbing at its face with both hands, the club completely forgotten, the monster screamed in pain and fell to its knees.
Running in close, the man slashed at the creature's throat and a fountain of blueish blood flowed out of the cut. Moments later the monster fell over dead. With one enemy left, the mystery man ran around behind it while the remaining guards with guns unloaded on it. With his sword held out perpendicular to his body, the man sliced at the Achilles tendons of the monster bringing it to the ground, then ran in front of it and sliced at both wrists, causing the monster to flop onto its face writhing in pain.
Walking calmly over to the beast that was now lying on the ground, unable to lift itself with any of its limbs, the man raised his sword and stabbed down into the eye of the beast ending its suffering.
"Holy shit, that was amazing. That guy just killed those creatures almost single-handedly." Jay said.
"Looks like this town has a few more secrets than we realized," Derek said.