Addiction
There was no flash or fanfare as there were in pre-apocalypse casinos when Tom entered the Gameroom. No sounds of slot machines paying out money or lights flashing to get your attention. It was a basic room where the tables held some green felt card table covers and a large shelf of board games off to the far side. A few people were gathered around tables playing some games to pass the time, but the shifts of standard day workers weren't over yet, so it felt a little empty.
At the far end of the room was a bar that had been set up to serve the alcohol brewed in-house and that had been found in liquor stores and brought back to the guild. A sign had been created and hung over the bar with LED backlighting that read "Mad Max 20/20". Tom shuddered at the thought of being a teenager and asking someone to buy them bottles of Mad Dog 20/20 outside a gas station. There were some evenings he still couldn't remember from those experiences.
"Most of the people here are the regulars. Since we set up the Gameroom, we have been employing people to run it as well. Opening some of these small businesses gives us more opportunities to employ people who either had no real-world skills or who were unable to perform the duties that some of the jobs required." Derek explained as they looked around the room.
Tom could see that many of the employees seemed to be either elderly guild members or women who Tom assumed had been stay-at-home moms, as a few of them had kids sitting with them.
"Why don't the kids go to the daycare? I know we have one." Tom asked.
"Some people aren't comfortable leaving their children there yet. It's hard to blame them after what happened to the world. We don't push anyone to do anything except contribute." Derek replied.
Tom could see the logic, but it had been months since it happened, closer to a year, really. He might have to consider what to do to encourage more trust in guild members. That would have to wait, though. They needed to find out what was going on.
Leading Tom over to a side room, Derek opened the door and gestured for Tom to enter first. In the broom closet of a counting room, a single man in his mid-sixties was looking over a book and using a calculator to run the numbers from the previous day. Another door to the left appeared to lead to the exchange counter.
"Leon, good to see you. How goes the Gameroom business?" Derek greeted the man with a smile.
"Huh? Oh, good, good. You know we have seen more people coming and needing to wait for a table. You think we can expand sooner rather than later? I don't want to keep turning people away." Leon replied.
"Come on, Leon. You know we have the invasion to prepare for first. All resources have to go to that. What's the point in expanding the Gameroom if everyone's dead?" Derek joked with the man.
"Hey, you can't blame a guy for tryin'. I gotta run the business, you know?" Leon chuckled as he replied in a thick New York accent.
"Leon, I want you to meet Tom. He's the..." Derek began but was cut off by Leon.
"The guild leader, I know that face. You're doin' a bang-up job a keepin' us safe. My wife and I thank you for what you do." Leon said, standing and taking Tom's hand to shake it.
He had a much stronger grip than Tom had expected from a man his age and reminded Tom a little of Mickey Rooney in his later years.
"Thanks, Leon. I'm definitely doing my best to try to keep everyone safe." Tom replied, blushing slightly at the compliment and sincerity Leon was showing in his appreciation.
"Leon, we need to ask you about someone who says they've been coming in here in the evenings for the past week—or at least the past few days. A woman named Terri. She works in the cafeteria and says she's been in with some friends from work," Derek said.
"Well, we don't have any cameras for me to pull up for you, budget being what it is and all. But I can see if I can find out for ya. We keep a record of each person that uses the exchange counter to get chips and any payouts we give away as well, just to be safe." Leon said, reaching up to a shelf over the desk he had been working at and pulling out a green binder.
Laying the binder on the desk over the one he was working in, Leon flipped through a few pages until he landed on one, he seemed to like and ran his finger down the names listed there.
"Got a couple of Terries on the list, but here's one with Camila, who I know works in the cafeteria. Looks like she was here one night. Terri Saxton. Exchanged twenty common cores for chips to play with. That's not a lot of chips to play with when you consider how fast it can go." Leon said, still looking at the list. "Doesn't appear she traded in chips in that evening either. Probably lost them all."
"Only one evening?" Tom asked.
Leon returned to flipping through the pages and looking for names. After a few minutes of searching, he turned to the two men again: "Sorry, it looks like just the one evening. I don't see her name in the exchange logs. Maybe she was here and didn't get chips, but not many do. Only a few of the die-hard board gamers I can think of do that sort of thing."
"Thanks for your help, Leon. I really appreciate it." Derek said, reaching out to shake the man's hand.
Tom noticed that when Derek shook Leon's hand, he slipped him an uncommon monster core in the process.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
"It's my pleasure. Hey, you guys should come down and play some games. Really helps you relax." Leon said with a wink.
"Maybe. But not Tom. If you ever see him in here playing the games, you let me know immediately." Derek said firmly.
"You got it, boss. Had a brother that couldn't be around the ponies anymore, so I catch your drift." Leon said, a smile spreading across his face.
"You get it. Thanks again, Leon. We gotta go ask some other people about a few things. We'll let you get back to your work." Derek said as he pushed Tom out the door.
Tom had a betrayed look on his face as he looked at Derek while he was being ushered out.
"You had to tell him?" Tom asked.
"I know you're embarrassed, but we need to watch out for you. Leon is a friend and a discreet man. Your secret is safe." Derek explained.
"He sounds like a mobster," Tom said.
"I can't confirm he wasn't. But he's old school if he was, so he's trustworthy." Derek said. "For now, we need to focus on the investigation. We can discuss the other things later."
"Fine," Tom sighed loudly. "Where are we going next?"
"Hey, Derek," Leon had wheeled his chair to the door and was leaning out to call to them. "You might wanna ask some of the dealers what they saw. They're out on the floor more than I am."
Derek shot Leon a thumbs up and turned to walk to the tables.
"Looks like we got our answer," Derek smiled broadly at Tom.
As they approached the card games, Tom was looking over the dealers.
"Where did they get matching vests and formal clothes like this?" Tom asked.
"We do have a very talented tailor on duty at all times making clothes for people. We don't see them much because their role keeps them busy pretty much every day. But where do you think you get clean clothes from?" Derek asked.
"I actually hadn't noticed. I thought it was just someone washing them." Tom admitted.
"And when they are torn or damaged?" Derek asked.
"I just usually wake up and they are there in my room," Tom said. "Usually, you guys are calling me out somewhere, so I'm in a bit of a rush to get dressed and wherever I'm being called."
"Well, we have a service that takes your clothes, repairs or replaces them, and then returns them to your room. Most other people have to request the service, and that's done by putting items needing repair in a bag and placing them outside the room with one of the forms we supply to it. But for you, we have someone who checks your room each day to ensure you have the articles of clothing you need." Derek explained.
"So, I get special treatment? That doesn't seem fair." Tom retorted.
"Neither does you jumping into battle every chance you get to keep the people safe. We do it so you can focus on the bigger picture, Tom. Why is this so hard for you to accept?" Derek finally stopped and stepped in front of Tom.
"Because I'm not special," Tom finally said in a loud whisper as he leaned in closer to Derek so others wouldn't hear him, an angry expression coming over his face.
"Oh, bless your heart," Derek said, looking at Tom with a bemused look. "You are the most special. You are the symbol these people look to now. You have become the face of this guild. And, like it or not, that isn't changing. It's way past the point of no return for that."
At that moment, Tom's reality shattered. He had thought he was just some guy that people did know, but not that he was that important. He hadn't even taken a moment to think about how everyone else thought of him, except maybe in a few moments of sorrow when others were trying to get him to see the light. How stupid could he have been to not see that?
His chest began to tighten at the thoughts that raced through his head of how important he really was. Here he was, jumping off the walls, diving into battle headfirst with no regard for his own safety, and people were looking to him to be the banner that they followed.
"So, all those times I just rushed into a fight..." Tom trailed off in thought.
"Well, that's a mixed bag. We are all scared to death that you'll just get one-shotted one of these days because you're just being a Leroy Jenkins, but the flip side of the coin is that it seems to have supercharged every other fighter in the guild's spirits and led to their invigorated desire to train harder, fight more ferociously, and dive into dangerous situations to save their companions. So, for now, we just don't say anything." Derek almost laughed at Tom, seeing he was just putting the puzzle together.
"How am I supposed to take this?" Tom asked.
"No different from how you've been acting. Just follow your heart, Tom. It hasn't led you wrong so far." Derek patted him on the back and walked around to head to the tables, leaving Tom to sort out his thoughts. "Come on, you can struggle with this internally later."
Tom turned, feeling in a haze as well as noticing anxiety starting to creep into his mind. He followed Derek over to the tables and stood there, all the while thinking about what he would do next.
"I don't have to change," he thought to himself, feeling the worry begin to seep away as reality hit him. I can just be...who I've always been."