Part 271: Reflex

The door to the elevator slowly rose up. The doors gently hissed open and allowed Mia to step out, followed by Seth and Shanna. The three walked down the purple velvet hallways, to the awaiting double doors. Micheal was standing there with his massive afro, followed by Jin who still sported long hair. Mia paused in front to of them. The black man coughed as he opened the double doors. The three friends walked inside to the greetings of The Bastard Squad. Cecil sat behind the desk, calmly lighting up a cigar from a lighter which had the painting of an Hawaiian dancer. Underwood tucked his hands inside his pocket, while Poteet poured himself another drink. Calhoon munched on some peanuts next to a statue of Kate as Athena. Seth eyeballed the Sonny Bono lookalike with distain.

“Hello, Mia,” Cecil smiled, “It’s good to see you again.”

“A pleasure as always, Sawyer . .I mean, Cecil.” The Lakota girl smiled.

“Why the hell Jack Largo sending the damn Brat Pack to talk to us?” Poteet slopped down a drink,” We deserve more respect than this.”

“Respect is earned, Mr. Poteet, “Shanna whispered, “ And you haven’t even come close.”

“The reason Tony Shepard sent us is because we are efficient,” Mia smiled, “And plus, no one else is kind enough to talk to you.”

“At least it’s good to see you leading the bunch, Mia,” Calhoon said, munching on some Doritos.

“Oh?” the Lakota girl responded.

“Yeah, unlike that filthy Chinese yellow half-breed, Brendon. That scum should have-“

Before the short man could finish his sentence, Seth ran over to him, flung out his sword and chopped his head off.

“OH, JESUS!!!” Poteet ran, as Calhoon’s dancing body began to spray blood over the whole office.

Seth held his pose as the body jolted from side to side and then finally fell down. Mia smirked a little while Shanna giggled like a school girl. The young singer then flung his sword to the wall, flicking the blood off of the blade. He slowly slid it back into it’s sheath and then picked up Calhoon’s head. He calmly walked back to the corner and dumped it into a waste basket. Mia then took out a hankerchief from her jean jacket and handed it to her friend. Seth slowly began to wipe the blood that got onto his face. The Lakota girl stepped forward to the three shocked men. “Let me make one thing clear in how me and my two friends function, “ she said, in the sweetest of tones,” We function as a unit. We help each other and we stay together, through thick and thin. We welcome opinions of how we do our job at all times. And I can promise you right now, no subject is too sensitive . . . . .except what was just uttered by that sack of crap bleeding on the floor.”

Mia slowly walked over to the desk, and placed her hands on the desk. “The price you pay for bringing up Brendon’s memory as a negative is . . . Seth will collect your freaking head.”

Cecil felt like his heart was pounding through his chest. Poteet almost urinated his pants and Underwood had to really go to the bathroom. “Are we clear?” the Lakota girl whispered.

“Yes, “ they all replied in Unison.

“Good,” she said, rubbing her nose.




Seth jolted from his slumber. He coughed and leaned up, spitting out a small bit of mucus from his mouth. The burning sensation in his chest was unbelievable. Seth gagged as he leaned up and got to his feet. He massaged his face, wondering why he had such a strange dream. It felt like something out of a bad action movie. The burning feeling his chest didn’t seem to go away. Seth started to worry he had contracted some sort of a jungle illness. He then turned around and slowly began to walk toward the caves. “Time to see the doctor,” he whispered to himself.


After a few minutes, Seth arrived at the caves, walking past all the people who still stayed there. He looked up ahead, glad he spotted Jack in his medical area. The singer walked up and as he past the area of the water falls, Sawyer was there and it was easy to tell it was him by the smell of his cigarette, which didn’t make Seth feel any better. “Geez, Sawyer, “ he coughed, “Don’t you know second hand smoke kills?”

“I’m counting on it,” the redneck said, not missing a beat.

Seth ignored the southern man and walked up to the doctor. “Hey, Jack, I need your expertise.” He said.

“What’s up?” he said, turning to him.

“I got a burning sensation in my chest, damn thing won’t go away.”

“When did it start?” the doctor replied, motioning for him to sit down.

“It happed with I was taking my nap.” He said, sitting down, “I woke up with the burning pain in my chest, and I coughed up some vile mucus. I think I may be sick.”

“It felt better when you stood up?”

“Yeah, actually but not by much.”

Jack smirked as he walked over to one of his small cabinets then reached in, grabbing a small item. He walked back over and handed it to Seth. “Rolaids?” the singer scoffed.

“You’ve been eating a lot of the citrus fruits, haven’t you?” Jack asked.

“Yeah but who hasn’t?”

“You’ve been eating them most of the time. The acid content in your stomach is high. You just got a minor case of acid reflux.”

Seth began to eat the Rolaids and within seconds, felt better. He smiled as he chewed them. “Thanks, man,” he said, “I am glad it was something minor.”

“Yes, minor problems I love.” Jack agreed.

“Thanks, Jack.”

“Hey, Seth, if you got a minute, I’d like to ask you a question.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah . . .how . . .how close are you and Kate?”

“Me and Kate?” Seth raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah, I have seen you and her . . .you seem to share a closeness that . . that . . .”

“That you don’t have?” the singer answered for him.

Jack’s cheeks flushed red for a brief second. He then slowly sat back down, crossing his arms. “It’s that obvious?” he asked.

“Everybody can see the twinkle in your eyes when talk with her, Jack. If you are worried, that I might get in the way, I won’t. I got a girl back home and I will remain true to her.”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Really?” he asked.

“Oh, come on!” Seth grunted, collapsing his face in his hands, “Why is it so hard for everybody to believe?”

“Probably cause not many men would be as loyal as you, Seth.”

“Their loss. I would do anything for my Tanya.” He leaned up, “But back to the subject at hand, if you want to make a move on Kate, Jack, don’t worry about me.”

“It’s not that easy.” He said.

“Sure it is. But if you are waiting for her to make a move, you might have a long wait.”

Jack laughed. “You speak from experience?” he asked.

“More or less.”

Jack then grunted as a cigarette bounced off his knee. He looked up to see Sawyer, letting a trail of smoke arise from his lips. “In my humble opinion, “ he smirked, “I think you BOTH need to lay off my kool-aid.”

Sawyer chuckled to himself as walked way with his backpack full of bottled water. Jack massaged his knee and calmly looked to Seth. “You know . .there are some days when I actually like him.” He doctor whispered.

“Yeah, and those days are few and far between,” Seth smirked.