"Yo bro. You ready to leave?" Chaz peaked his head through the door in a joking manner.

"Hey Chaz, glad to see that you got here....I'm ready to get out of this place," David said. He was pepped up to see his pal. David had called him about five minutes ago to come pick him up.....Chaz had already been on his way, so he got here pretty quick. David really wanted to get out of the hospital.

"Man, they were all talking about coming to pick you up back at the complex, but I figured that you wouldn't mind if your buddy picking you instead of some random dudes...unless you got some girl coming to get you," Chaz responded joking around.

"Nope. She already came, dumped me, then left," David said in a joking manner. He was okay with Karine's decision after all. It was a good decision on her part. If their future paths ever crossed, maybe they would hit it off again.

"WHAT??? That chick, Karine, dumped you? While you were in the hospital? That sucks dude. Want to go grab a few drinks at the bar down the road on the way back to the apartments?" Chaz said.

"No thanks. I kind of just want to get home and rest," David said as a feeling a slight unease washed over him for some unknown reason. Maybe he had just been in hospitals too many times.

"Alright man. Let's go. I'll go get the nurse," Chaz helpfully said.

After a few minutes, both Chaz and a nurse came into the room. The nurse made David sign a few papers, instructed him on how to properly use his crutches, and made him get in a wheel chair. His leg was pretty messed up and wouldn't completely heal for another day or so. After he hopped in the wheelchair, the nurse pushed him to the employee entrance of the Carmine Family's special entrance at the medical facilities.

After reaching the exterior entrance, the nurse said, "This is as far as I take you. You can use the crutches to move from here to the car over there in the parking area."

"Damn, I thought I was going to get car side service for a second," David said jokingly with the nurse. He was a single man now anyway.....and she was kind of cute.

Laughing she handed his his crutches and taunted, "Not a chance, Mr. Knox. I am already married." Waiving her hand to show her wedding ring, the nurse turned and left.

"Damn dude, you been single for 10 minutes and are already trying to pickup married women. I greatly underestimated you. You sure you don't want to hit up the bar? Last time I was at the place, I met a few pretty hot chicks. Good times too. You need to relax," Chaz said in a persuasive manner.

"ha ha ha.....your right. I could really use a good time. Let's pass by the bar for a bit. I hope it is as good as you say.....but nothing too crazy. I still need to get back and rest. My leg is steadily healing on it's own, but a good night's sleep should help out a lot.

After getting in the car and riding for a few minutes, Chaz drove David up to a small little bar room off the side of the main highway that went from the Carmine Estate to the apartment complex. The sign out in front of the bar read, "Blazing Deuces," in neon pink lettering. There were also about 12 cars in the small parking lot.

The place looked run down...and Chaz had actually bragged about the quality of women at this place. It looked like one of those backwoods bars you could go to to pick up prostitutes....

Getting out of the car, David couldn't resist giving Chaz a hard time, " Hey man, this place probably has two chicks and 10 guys inside. What kind of shit hole did you bring me to?"

"Na man, wait until you get inside to make your judgement. If their isn't any babes inside, we can always just get drunk and play a few games of pool," Chaz said making his way towards the front door of the bar.

After entering, David's fears were confirmed. This place really was a shit hole. It had one long bar and three pool tables. From the look of the pool tables, they were used for more of a coaster for drinks or a temporary stretcher for the injured instead of something for actual billiards play.

Sure enough...there were only two women at the bar and they both seemed occupied with at least 4 men.

"Judgement made...this place is a shit hole," David said as he walked behind Chaz to the bar.

"Go get us a pool table setup. What you want to drink man? Beer?" Chaz asked David.

"Nope....I'll take a bourbon.....make it a Old Fashioned," David responded as he changed course toward the pool table.

After a few minutes, Chaz came back to the table with two drinks. One Old Fashioned and one beer.

"Yep, I figured you were are beer drinker," David said to Chaz jokingly.

"Of course. I get stupid when I drink that hard stuff like you...you want to break the table or do you want me to go first?" Chaz said to David in reference to the pool table that was setup in front of him.

"You can break...Hey man, what are your plans going forward?," David asked Chaz trying to start up a conversation.

"Well.....I want to get strong enough that they invite me over to the family in The Other. That place sounds really interesting. I have always wanted to go on an adventure. What better place than another planet that is larger than Earth?," Chaz said in response to David inquiry as he broke the racked pool balls.

"Sounds good to me. I have been thinking about the future a lot lately. With Karine out of the picture and my parents dead, I really have nothing holding me here on Earth....well...except that I need to find out who killed my parents," David said.

"That should be over with shortly. I heard Mr. Lester say that the investigators had found some clues and were pursuing a few rouge cultivators who were probably involved," Chaz said trying to cheer David up.

"But we have to get stronger before we are invited to The Other....So what you going to practice next? Another body skill?," David asked Chaz.

"Yep, probably Body of Agility. If I was a little bit faster and moved quicker, I probably would have been able to make it to the Top 5," Chaz said.

"Oh ya....I forgot all about the tournament. Who won first place?," David asked.

"The new bosses' son, Gabriel. It wasn't much of a show though. The three other people in the top 4 were his bodyguards. They didn't even fight in the final....they just admitted defeat to Gabriel," Chaz said.

"Privileged asshole. I hope he accidentally stabs himself with the prize weapon," David said venting some of his frustration over the event.

"Ya, him and his goons were a real piece of work. They were boasting all around and kept calling people trash when the crowd got angry. Your girl Karine, her sister and Mr. Lester all left as soon as they won. They didn't seem to want anything to do with it all," Chaz described the final outcome of the tournament to David.

"WOW! Those guy's are a real piece of work. I wonder what life is going to be like now that his dad is in charge...I am sure he will run around unchecked like a spoiled little kid," David said.

"Most likely. Unless Mr. Lester can help reign him in," Chaz said.

After spending around 3 hours in the bar, David finally decided to call it quits on the night. He had a great time with his friend, Chaz. Although they hadn't met any women, they had had a pretty good chat about their futures. With a few glasses of whisky and a few rounds of pool, David was feeling really relaxed. He kept thinking to himself that he should get out more. Actually, he hadn't had this good of a time since he had went out partying in college. He hadn't felt this more in touch with the real world since his parents were killed.

"Hey Chaz. I'm getting ready to go," David said, "My leg still isn't functioning quite right and I need to go get some rest. Tomorrow is going to suck."

"Alright pal. How about one more shot for the road? I haven't seen you loosen up this much ever. It's good for you, you know?," Chaz said.

"Sure, one more shot for the road," David said, "I'll start clearing off this pool table and put the sticks back up on the rack....and I have to go take a piss. Then we can leave."

David spent about a minute putting all the pool sticks, chalk and empty beer bottles away in their proper places. Just as he was finishing up, Chaz showed up with two shots in his hand.

Chaz handed one shot of whiskey to David, then raised his shot in the air in toast, "May we get what we want, but never what we deserve."

"Cheers," David said as he bottomed up the shot glass, "Now lets get out of here."

The duo walked through the gravel parking lot. Well.....Chaz walked. David was still on crutches.

"Chaz, this gravel is hard as hell to walk on with the crutches and a few drinks in me. Can you come pick me up before I bust my ass?," David said.

"Sure, pal.....since you want to be a little bitch about it," Chaz said giving David a hard time as he walked the 250 feet to the car sitting in the dusty gravel.

After a few minutes, he pulled up the black town car right next to David standing in the gravel with the crutches supporting him.

With a plop, David sat down in the car, tossed the crutches on to the back seat and slammed the car door shut. He was seriously feeling a nice buzz from the alcohol.

"Thanks for picking me up, pal," David said as he started to recline against the car seat.

As Chaz pulled out of the parking lot, David could feel himself swaying in the seat. He felt like he was really drunk all of a sudden.

"Man.....I don't know if ... there were still drugs in my system from the hospital...or if I can't hold my liquor anymore....but this shit is hitting me pretty hard now. I can barely keep my eyes open," David said with a pretty heavy slur to his voice.

"Nope man. That feeling is from the drugs....that I put in your shot of whiskey. Sorry," Chaz said in an emotionless voice.

A feeling of threat enveloped David, but he was too intoxicated to react quickly. A hand smashed across his face and David lost consciousness.