"Say, Mr. Bowman. Do you know any relatives trapped behind the Demon Occupation Zone?" William, the presumed military recruiter, asks Claude politely. It was a simple question, meticulously crafted to bait men into responding in a certain way.
Claude had already figured out their game plan and wanted to say yes anyway. The thought of mowing down those hideous beasts with an automatic machine gun felt exhilarating and exciting, just the thing that he needed. However, as he opens his mouth to lie and say yes to joining, nothing comes out.
"Take your time, sir. I am sure you know someone," William comments, assuming that Claude's silence meant he was unable to answer. Though he was partly correct, he was wrong regarding the reason.
Claude suddenly felt his heart rate rise. His lungs started to work in overdrive to keep his body running. Then, a wave of haunting thoughts and scenarios hit his head, depicting demons effortlessly beating and ripping him apart without any mercy. He could even start feeling pain in his joints and muscles, simulating a fraction of what he might experience on the battlefield.
He had no idea what was going on or why he was like this. He had no idea where this cowardice came from. He wanted to fight back, to lie, and to join the man, but he just couldn't. In the end, he gives in to the fear and answers honestly.
"Eh… no, I actually don't, and to be honest, I don't think there are any," he answered, keeping his reply short and simple. The recruiter, however, raised an eyebrow in suspicion, skeptical of his answer.
"Didn't you say that you lived in NYC, the biggest damn city in the entire country?" he asked, all while giving Claude a look of suspicion.
"I did, yes, but that doesn't mean I had friends or family there," Claude asserts with confidence.
"Well, there was my mother, but we both made it out of there alive. We do have other relatives, but they all live far away from the city," he adds to his answer, providing a bit more detail to wash away any suspicion William had in him.
"But other than her, there was nobody," Claude adds, clearing any and all doubt with the military recruiter.
"What about the people at work?" William proposes.
"What about them? They were just co-workers. I don't really care for them," Claude replies.
"Why is that?" William asks, acting as if he were Claude's therapist.
"Well, you see, I didn't really connect with them all that much. I mean, I tried, made small talk and everything, but there was something about them that just drew me away," Claude explains, granting William little snippets of information regarding his personal life back in New York City.
"Maybe it had something to do with the corporate environment; I don't know," he adds. William nods as he listens to Claude talk, making a few mental notes along the way. Once he was done, he talked back and continued the conversation.
"Hm… alright…" he sighs.
"Were you forced to leave anything behind as you and your mother evacuated New York?" William moves on to a different question.
"Like what?" Claude inquires for clarification, as his question was a little vague and confusing.
"Something valuable, like an apartment or a family heirloom. Anything, really," William clarifies, clearing any confusion Claude had about the question. Before answering, however, he started to giggle in pain.
"A house? In New York? No chance. They are way too expensive," he continues to giggle as he answers.
"I mean, I had this little studio apartment in Manhattan. It had everything I had ever worked for," he claims.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. Imagine this studio-sized apartment filled with things you like! For me, it was vintage video game consoles and games. All kinds of stuff like that," he adds, giving William a bit of hope.
"Sounds like you put a lot of money into that place," William comments.
"Yeah, I did. Too bad it burned down a day before the invasion," Claude finishes his statement, immediately destroying William's hope.
"Oh. I am sorry to hear that, Mr. Bowman," William offers his condolences.
"Where did you move after your place burned down?" he asks, fishing for information regarding Claude's life, hoping it would help him later on.
"Well, I did what everyone else in my position would do. I drove back to my mother's house in Scarsdale and asked her if I could stay there," Claude answers.
"Scarsdale? I thought your mother lived in New York City?"
"Well, she didn't; I did. Scarsdale is a township just 40 minutes away from the city. 20 minutes if you are speeding," he joked. William smiles a little and throws a joke back.
"Speaking through experience?"
Claude smiled, and then he paused. For the first time, his pride set in and whispered in his ear. It instructs him to spill the beans, to tell William the tale of what he did in Scarsdale to those demons. That will surely help him get enlisted.
"Actually, yeah, I am," he began, immediately capturing William's attention. "It was the day of the attack, when the demons invaded."
"I saw that demoness, Sylvia, kill a man with her magic. It scared the shit out of me. I drove straight back to my mom's place to pick her up and leave the city," he continued.
"But when I got there, I could immediately tell something was off. There were these things that didn't add up, like the curtains being closed, the fences being broken, stuff like that," he describes the scene, allowing the recruiting officer to paint a picture inside his head.
"It looked as if the earthquake struck there too," he tells William. He pauses to take a deep breath before continuing.
"I thought that the demons were inside the house, that she was trapped in there. I wanted to leave right then and there, but I didn't. Something stopped me and… I have never been the same since," he confesses, nearly ready to spill the beans.
"I controlled myself that day and walked right in. In there I saw, eh…" Claude stutters. His fear and cowardice bolt back up and shut his mouth, unwilling to let his pride and ego win. They could not let him speak on this matter and started concocting a lie to get William disinterested.
"I, eh… I… I… I, eh…" He continues to stutter.
"What is it, Mr. Bowman? What did you see?" William asks, still intrigued by his story.
"I saw… I… I saw the… eh, house was empty. My, eh… mother, yeah. My mother was safe, and eh… I found that I was... eh... I was just paranoid," he lied through his teeth, horrifically stuttering along the way.
"We then, eh… We held the city and came here. We are crashing with our aunt since she had rooms to spare," Claude finishes, telling the truth at the end.
"Sorry, I know you didn't ask for all that. I just… wanted to let it out," he adds afterwards.
"It's fine. I get it," William assures Claude, telling him that it was no big deal.
"It is a sensitive topic. I get that. You don't have to talk about it anymore, Mr. Bowman," William comforts him, before sending his question in. He was suspicious about Claude's story, especially when he started stuttering a lot. He knew Claude had left something out, and he wanted to prove it.
"What you did was very brave. I heard that Scarsdale had a few demonic portals opened up there 15 minutes after the original," William starts off.
"Did you see any demons while you were there, Mr. Bowman? While you were driving away with your mother?" he inquires.
Claude freezes, unable to speak once again. He now felt the sudden urge to lie to William's face, a task that was harder when it came to a stranger. In preparation, he wiped off the bit of sweat on his face, turned around to look at the supermarket entrance, and then responded as he was looking away from William, preferring not to maintain eye contact as he lied.
"N-no… Not, uh… Not really, no…" He lies, stuttering along the way. William immediately knew Claude was lying. His words were shaky, his eyes uncertain. It seems that Claude was not a very good liar, at least not when it came to strangers.
"Wow, you are a lucky man. Because from what I heard, that place started to get swarmed with those magical beasts pretty quickly." "Thank the Lord you didn't run into any, huh?" William smirked, but his eyes studied Claude carefully, as if searching for something. Claude slowly turns his head back to face the recruiter and smiles back, nodding.
"I… I… I guess… yeah…"
"Smart move, too—running away the second trouble appears. I guess that means you won't be willing to fight the demons, eh?" William joked. Claude forcibly gave out a little chuckle.
"Yeah, I guess not," he muttered.
It was at this very moment that Claude wanted to beat the shit out of himself for something he just said. He had been presented with an opportunity to escape his meaningless life on a silver platter, and he was outright rejecting it!
He could still remember the day when he went in and slaughtered those demons like the cattle they were! He could still remember how he felt so proud of himself, doing something so dangerous, yet so courageous and heroic. And yet, those memories already seemed distant now, as if they were a time he could never return to. That cowardly part of his mind was still present in his heart, unwilling to let him go.
"Do you have something on your mind, Mr. Bowman?" William suddenly speaks up, snapping Claude out of his train of thought.
Huh? What?" Claude blinks, confused.
"You were frowning just now. Looked like you were mad about something," William explains.
"Is there something wrong?" he adds.
"Eh, no! Nothing's wrong! Just got hit with some bad memories. That's all. Hehe…" he excused, stuttering along the way.
"Um… Can you… eh… tell me more about the job offer, or whatever? The recruitment thing? What's the, eh… pay like?" He asks, trying to change the topic to something else.
"As of right now, we are currently offering a sign-in bonus of 20 grand. Recruited soldiers that have gone through the training should expect to make 5 grand a month," William states, humoring Claude's request.
"But it would mean you'd have to be a normal operator, working on the ground, fighting the demons head-on. Every other non-combative role has already been filled," William adds a catch.
"So, what do you think, Mr. Bowman? Does this change your mind?"
Claude takes a deep breath and opens his mouth once again, ready to say yes. However, just before some words could make it out, he is hit with a barrage of chilling what-if scenarios once again. He could feel his heart beating rapidly while his gut shrivels to the size of a pea. He tries to resist, but no words come out.
To William, it looked like Claude wanted to speak but couldn't force the words out. It invoked suspicion that something wasn't right. Eventually, Claude did respond, but this time in a much more somber tone.
"I don't know. I mean, I got rich parents. My aunt and my mother are pretty loaded, so I don't really think I am that desperate for a job. Especially for that kind of money," Claude answers, this time sounding defeated.
Claude looks away for a moment, tightening his face, utterly disappointed in himself. Despite his desire, he doesn't seem to be capable of voicing it. His cowardice and weakness held on, sealing his mouth shut, hoping to bore the recruiter out. He then looks back at the recruiter and talks back.
"So, um… yeah. I think you should… find someone else. Someone brave. Not like me."
"Sorry for wasting your time, sir," he adds.
"Oh, I don't think you are a coward at all, Mr. Bowman. I think you just need a little bit of motivation," William claims. William's eyes never left him. The silence stretched, pressing down like an unseen weight. Claude swallowed hard. He suddenly felt small, like a rat trapped in a cage. Then, with a knowing look, he spoke.
"What really happened in that house, Mr. Bowman? Tell me, because I want to know."
Claude's throat dried up. His body screamed at him to run, but he couldn't move. He didn't want to move. He wanted to stay, and overcome his fear once more.