Chapter 290 - 290 Barry’s Request

290 Barry’s Request

Soon enough, we approached the front door, which Barry reached into his back pocket and took out a key.

“Keys are really expensive here in Raven’s Gorge, because muggers, especially Mr. Trilby’s guys tend to break into homes without consent a lot,” he said. “If you have a key, you have a treasure. In fact, they try to steal the keys instead to sell ’em.”

He opened the door, which revealed the living room. The floor was wooden. There was a large white sofa that was stretched across the room.

There were small sofas, with pillows laying on the arms of them, and bookshelves on both corners of the room. There was a chandelier of some sorts that illuminated light with candles on top of them.

There was a painting of two men that were dressed in 1800’s playing cards against each other.

“Well, this is my home,” he said. He set his weapon on the table near him, before taking a deep breath and looking around.

“Ahh, so, you guys wanna go on a little hike trip with me tomorrow?” Barry asked. I looked at him with a sense of confusion, which Hans did as well.

“What do you mean?” Hans asked. Barry darted his head around, and stammered, before he gestured to us to sit down. We walked towards the white sofas, where I rearranged the pillows and took a seat.

I found myself startled from the hard, brick cushion that I was sitting on. I turned to look at Hans, who sat down, but got up onto his feet from the sudden, underwhelming feeling.

.....

“Wow,” he mumbled before steadily taking a seat. Then, the sound of wood being dragged across the floor reverberated from behind us. Barry revealed himself into our sights, bringing a chair with him to which he placed facing towards us.

“Alright, I’m going to need you to follow me on this, okay? I don’t want to sound crazy, but I’m genuinely focused on this,” he said, taking a seat.

He, and his eyes were faced directly at both of us, not looking in front nor the back of him.

“Raven’s Gorge has a bad reputation. You guys know this from the past hour that you’ve been here,” he said. “But Raven’s Gorge could end up being a camping site instead of this sick village. It’s just the fear of this unnatural force that is lurking in the woods.”

“Mhm,” Hans said, as if he was trying not to break a smile.

“So, here’s what I want to do,” Barry said. “Seeing how you guys fended off those muggers, I’m certain we can do this.”

“Do what?”

“Kill the beast.”

The room fell silent as Hans and I both had our eyes widened in a sea of bewilderment.

“Beast?” I asked. “You’re telling me it just isn’t the people living here?”

“It is because of the people. But the people are the effect of the beast.”

“Huh?” I asked, with my eyes narrowed, and my brain more befuddled than ever. Barry sighed. “The beast is affecting the people which is affecting the village,” he cleared.

“Oh,” Hans proclaimed, nodding in understanding. “Well, how do you know there’s a beast?”

“Some days, we’ll hear this loud roar that is none besides it, and you would hear it get louder, and louder, and louder before it quiets, quiets, and quiets. It’s like the doppler effect.”

“You sure that just ain’t cars passing by?” I asked. Barry shook his head. “It sounds like cars passing by, but it echoes throughout the entire village of Raven’s Gorge. That—gentlemen—is unnatural.”

“Well, have you seen it?” I asked. The man stopped for a moment, which he leaned forward with a sigh, staying silent for a moment before he answered: “No.”

“No?”

“Nope.”

“So how are you not sure that it’s just cars?!” Hans asked. Barry opened his mouth, but refused to say any words, as he slammed his thigh with his fist.

“I can feel it. I can see it. Look what it has done to this village. Everyone is afraid, and angry. They kill, plunder, and hurt others just so that they themselves can survive. Fear breaks us all, and this beast is the cause of it. Now, I’m not sure if you guys know this, but every full moon, it has been reported that someone dies in cold blood,” he said.

“The Moonlit Murders,” I said.

Barry snapped and pointed at me, and began to nod quite excessively as a way of saying I was correct. “Yeah, those!” he shouted. “Everyone is scared whenever the full moon comes. Every single person in this village is scared to sleep.”

“Everyone?”

“Everyone.”

“But what if there is no beast, you think the Moonlit Murders are gonna stop?” Hans asked. Barry sighed. “I think the Moonlit Murders are caused by the beast.”

“What?”

“Basically, everything is going back to the beast,” Barry said. “And trust me, when we kill this beast, you can live life here in peace. Maybe we might even get recognized by the actual world, and probably even return to our homes.”

I looked at Barry, seeing his twinkle with hope. It would be a shame to let him down, but I’m quite sure there is no beast.

“How about this,” I said suddenly, which both Hans and Barry turned their heads towards me interestedly.

“Me and Hans need to get out of here, and for a good reason,” I said to him. “It may affect a lot of people if we don’t, so we can make a deal. You help us kill this beast, then you help us get out of here.”

“Uh, what?”

“You help us get off here,” Hans said, stammering for the first part and throwing glances at me. “We do our thing, and you can stay a coveted hero for two people instead.”

Barry did that thing again, where he opened his mouth but couldn’t produce words. However, he seemed to be speechless in confusion.

“You know what they do to people who try to escape?” Barry asked. The only guess I had was when that driver hit or did something to that lady. Just that sizzling sound of smoke, makes me even repellent to even want to know what happened to her.

“They basically force you into what they call the Exile’s Gauntlet.”

“The—the—but I thought the police only served the rich people,” I said.

“Well, that’s a funny comment. They do. It’s the citizens themselves that will throw you in there. The rich won’t veto them, it’s basically entertainment for themselves.”

“Oh, wow,” I muttered. “Trust me, we can do this. Think about it. You, me, and Hans can escape and return back home. Who did you used to live with?”

“My wife and kids, and my mom,” he said. Hans’s eyes widened, but not in a shocked or impressed way, but more of a suspicious way.

“Are you sure the wife hasn’t—”

“No, we don’t believe in divorce or cheating or anything. I’ve been here for two years. The reason why I want to do this is so that if I never escape, I could live somewhat in peace. But even if I escape, I would be glad that I was the one to save these broken people,” Barry said.

He got up to his feet. “They’ll put me on a statue for what I’ve done, and tell stories. Raven’s Gorge could end up becoming a campsite.” He stopped, as his eyes looked up at the ceiling, and he sighed.

“Oh, dreams. Those are some killers,” he said, taking a seat. “I’m sorry, there’s no way I can do that.”

“No, no, no,” I said. “Remember? Saw the way we fought? Throwing lefts and rights, and hooks all over their faces. Plus, you have an AK! You can blast them all!”

“Oh, really,” Barry said. Hans reached out his hands in assurance. “If they see that you saved Raven’s Gorge, they’ll definitely allow you to leave or do whatever you want. All in all, this is an amazing plan.”

Hans sighed. He looked out the window, as the crescent moon shone brightly in the sky. “Perhaps,” he said, turning his attention towards us. “We possibly do have a certain deal.”

“Great!” Hans said. “So what’s the game plan?”

“I’ve studied the forest for a bit, and I can estimate certain paths that we can go to find the beast,” Barry said. “I’ll show you tomorrow when we do it. But for now, get some sleep, eat real good, and just try not to have scary dreams.”

Silence followed the room, as me and Hans slowly nodded, unsure whether to even agree or disagree.

But just for the sake of this mission, agreeing was probably the best choice.

“Alright, you guys are probably tired as goodness from all that chaos you guys dealt with tonight. If you would follow me into the guest room, that would probably make your day—or night—better,” he said.

He chuckled as he did, which I had to follow up with a little snicker as well, just for the morale.