From the garage, Mongo screamed in protest, waving his wings while Rend—wearing his new headband—also complained loudly. Dong gave us a salute as the garage door closed.
I blinked. We had a giant “7” painted on the outside of our gray garage door. I assumed that “7” meant we’d come in seventh place in our heat.
Welcome to Hungry Eyes. You are standing in your Team Roundabout.
Safe room rules apply.
I turned, examining the roundabout area. We stood facing a large asphalt cul-de-sac ringed by nine garage doors painted with numbers from one to eight. The final, ninth door was still there, but it had a giant skull painted on it with red runny paint.
Above, a blue sky with a red sun blazed, and the air was a little hot. Tall trees ringed the small neighborhood, and thespaces between driveways were filled with manicured green grass. It gave me the strange sense we were standing in the suburbs. The whole place even smelled like recently cut grass.
The cul-de-sac was a complete circle. We could drive our truck out of the garage, but there would be nowhere to go after that. There was a small paved walking path between garage number one and the one with the skull. It led to a shimmering arched portal that wasn’t wide enough for our truck. Unlike with most portals, we could actually see through the flickering, glass-like threshold. Beyond it was a neon-filled settlement.
“Oi!” a voice called to my right. I turned to see a pair of bugbears sitting on lawn chairs. Radoslav and Jasha. Jasha had a kiddie pool on the ground in front of him with his furry feet within. The bugbear held a can of beer in his hand resting on his tie-dyed belly, and he wore sunglasses. He snored softly. The beer was slowly, slowly starting to tip.
Radoslav was the one who had called us over. From their closed garage I could hear faint music playing. I recognized it as “Smoke on the Water” from Deep Purple.
“Hi, Radoslav!” Donut called.
“I’m glad to see you guys made it,” I said, stepping off the driveway and into the soft grass. Donut jumped from my shoulder, also landing in the grass. She did a quick circle and then rolled over on her back, her new crupper jingling softly before she jumped back up and moved to sniff at the kiddie pool.
This close, I could smell the alcohol wafting off the sleeping Jasha.
Radoslav reached down into a cooler, produced a can of beer, and tossed it at me. I caught it. It was an ice-cold Busch Light, peach flavored.
“Peach flavored?” I asked. “Uh, no, thanks.”
“Damn,” Radoslav said. “I was hoping someone would like the peach stuff. Doesn’t matter, I guess. You can keep it. Another one will appear in a minute. I’ll get you a regular one.”
I pulled the peach beer into my inventory and caught the second can. This was just a regular Busch Light. I hesitated and then cracked it open. I took a drink and gave an appreciative nod. He pulled another and offered it to Donut.
“No, thank you,” said Donut.
The bugbear cracked the beer himself.
The garage door with the number four opened, revealing a dark space filled with white-and-brown fur.
“What is that thing?” I asked.
Donut peered hard at the darkness. “It’s a bear.”
Before I could ask for more clarification, three figures flipped out of the garage, spreading into the cul-de-sac in a V pattern. The three figures were bipedal, each about four feet tall, and they were literally somersaulting as they moved, feet over hands as they spread out. They made no noise whatsoever other than the soft smack of their hands and feet on the asphalt.
“Carl, what is happening?” Donut asked. “Are they attacking us?”
“Can’t attack out here,” I said.
“Today, I think I need harder stuff than just this beer,” Radoslav said. “Is like a madhouse.”
All three of the newcomers were decked out head to toe in bodysuits. The two on either side were in black suits. The one in the middle was in a red suit.Ninjasuits. All three wore bandoliers covered with ninja stars. They turned and weaved around the cul-de-sac, flipping the whole time, like they were performing some sort of bizarre dance routine.
“Would you look at that!” Donut said, swishing her tail, watching. “Remember the monk seals from the eighth floor? Should I pull Raul out? He could probably use a friend.”
I tried to examine them, but I received an error.
You are unable to examine this creature. But it’s a ninja. You can see that much.
The middle, red-suited creature finished its performance at the end of the bugbears’ driveway, facing us. It did one final somersault and stopped, legs spread out in an attack position. It pulled something from its back and spread them out with two hands over its head.