Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

"The worst bankruptcy in the world is the man who has lost his enthusiasm." -William Howard Arnold 

Sal woke up in his bed from a bad dream and smelled pancake's. His friend Leroy was on the floor in a sleeping bag and snoring, so he tossed a pillow at him. Leroy sat up and his stomach growled. “She better be making chicken too...” Leroy said grumpily. 

Sal looked at Leroy and he flickered so he knew it was a dream.  

Sal followed Leroy down to the kitchen. He watched Leroy closely in awe. “Did I dream all of that?” He said out loud, so Leroy looked at him and noticed he was staring so he said, “What are you looking at faggot.” Sal quickly looked away because he hated confrontation. His anxiety started boiled up like it used to when kids would bully him, he started to breath more shallowly and hyperventilate and look to his mom for help or at least comfort while he died. “I can't die right now...” he thought and jumped up out of his chair. “I’ve never even had a girlfriend!’ He shouted out loud. 

Leroy looked at him like he was retarded and weird then said, “Ya, that's why I called you a faggot.” Sal wasn't mad or sad or even a little bit unhappy that he called him that anymore, "I hurt myself by holding his words in such a high regard. Leroy is just a butt head naturally. The episode of Adventure Time flashed through his head with Donny, the jerk who kept the Why Wolfs away.  

He felt sad for his friend, and he stared at him again. Leroy knew what he was thinking and exploded with anger, He grabbed Sal's hand and stabbed a knife right through his hand and the table. Sals entire body couldn't move out of fear. The confrontation of someone who was so angry they would hurt him. “I don't want to deal with this. This isn't happening,” Sal cried.  

“It isn't happening?” Leroy laughed at the top of his lungs. “Thank you, Sal. This is so much easier.” Sal's tears poured out and the kitchen started to flood. “This is illegal,” Sal shouted.  

“No one can ever tell me no. It's imposable to say no to me! Get used to it Sal.” 

A womans voice filled the air singing an old Church hymn Trust and obey.  

Leroy grew bigger and bigger and roared louder and louder to where he could barely hear the woman's voice. “A woman's voice? Thats my mom's voice.”  

“I’d be worried about me if I were you.” The growls coming from Leroy's mouth made his head feel like it would explode because they were so loud, and he started to Panick again. His breath was so short and shallow that he fell to the ground. He saw his mom in the kitchen, and he held a hand up as if to call for help, but he couldn't speak anymore he pulsed in and out of consciousness. She finally turned around and looked at him hearing his unspoken plea for help. Instead of being encouraging she only frowned and pointed a finger at him and said, “I didn't raise no sissy. Figure it out.” 

 
He was mad at her, “I'm dying and you don't even care. You hate me and no one likes me!” He shouted at her. Leroy laughed and howled with delight.  

“No, you will always be my baby, no matter how old you are,” She replied. “I'm not going to be here forever, so figure it out, or you will literally be a baby no matter how old you are.” 

Sal's Panick turned into being sad for himself then he started to feel his anger well up and he was mad at his mom, but she looked at him in surprise. “Be angry at the one who is hurting you.” He looked at Leroy with terror because he didn't want to stand up for himself. 

“No, not Leroy. You. You need to learn how to interact with him and if he hurts you physically then fight back.”  

Sal looked back at Leroy, and he looked like a dragon with a claw pushing the knife into his hand. Sal pouted and felt bad for himself but looked around for something he could use. There was a thick book sitting in his father's chair, so he picked it up and hit the dragon with it. It bent closer to his face and laughed so he hit it again with the book and the dragon shook its head in discomfort, so he hit it again until it backed away. The knife disappeared and the wound on his had wasn't there anymore, so he held the book in both hands and hit the dragon again, but it didn't hurt the dragon much, it only shook its head and laughed then blew fire at Sal's mother. She gasped and jumped backwards, and Sal yelled “no! Mom!” Sal ran at the dragon with the book and hit it over and over but the creature didn't flinch.  

He opened the book and slapped the dragon across the back; it paused and looked at him with concern. Sal barely noticed the anxiety the beast felt when he opened the book, so he looked down and started reading the words. He finished the thick book and read it over and over again in less than a few seconds "Thats imposable,” he thought. 

Looking up he saw the dragon turn back into Leroy and he was mad and started to yell but Sal said, “No.” So he started shouting louder, so Sal said no again. Leroy kicked and screamed on the ground and flopped around on the ground like a fish, but Sal just watched without pity.  

“Go to your room Sal commanded, and Leroy stomped off and slammed the door to his room. 

“I love you.” rings out in his mind. It's his dads voice this time. He really loved God because “God loved me first and sent his only son.” He would always say with a big grin on his face, “A look of complete peace.” Sal thought. “Because God said so.”  

Tremor's ran all over his body, the grabids started to take hold and shook him to his core but he felt his muscles relax in a familiar way, like he was with his family. He’s already been through, so he relaxed. 

His red eyes started to glow brightly then turned white and the darkness burned away, and he felt the sun on his face and a cool breeze then something hit his face. He looked to the right and left but only saw a forest on one side and a mesa on the other.  

That looks like camp hope he thought but the mesa was much smaller... then he looked down and saw the two armies fighting. They looked like swarms of small rodents to him. Id flew up with his weapon's drawn and he was crying and hugged his nose then said. “Sal! Come back to us we need you.”  

Sal couldn't speak but he nodded to Id who pointed at zombies that were breaching the city. He turned and started running and tried to avoid stepping on people, but he smashed both friend and foe, then said “Aaahhh, noooo. I'm so sorry I didn't mean to step on you.”  

But he kept running as fast as he could towards the mesa. The zombies on top were huge, looking up at them would have made him anxious but for some reason he was very calm. He tried to speak out loud but only, “Ahhh ohhhh uhhhhhhh.” came out.  

He jumped about halfway up the mesa and started to climb, staring at the zombies stomping around. Judge Judy flew past and kicked one in the back of the leg, and it fell onto one knee.  

Rubble fell down as Sal found hand holds and everyone on the ground had to run as rocks and giant clods of dirt flew and smashed the slower people. He wanted to cry but he felt nothing. He remembered the cure, and it warmed his body, like a warm Friday when you're in love. I don't know about you, he thought and that wonderful feeling welled up inside of his body. He looked at his huge hands, and they shrank until he could barely cling to the dust on the top of the ledge. Losing consciousness, he fell headfirst breaking his neck at the foot of the mesa. 

Id shouted but everyone else was too distracted. He ran disregarding what was happening around him and was stabbed. He punched the guy and kept running but he was still a mile away and Sal had already hit the ground. He fell to his knees, and a wave of enemies came from all around and Id prayed for Sal. His friend was dead; the world was going to crap in a hand basket filled with crap quickly. He started to give up; he wasn't going to dodge the swords. He was distracted because he was so sad and angry, he couldn't figure out which one to be, so he just stayed put.  

Romas voice rang out from the side lines and snapped him back to reality, Meric swept through enemies like he was flying over the surface of a calm pond they flew out and crashed into enemy soldiers nearby. Id punched through and met him halfway and they destroyed them in minutes. Roma waved towards Sal, and they all ran and found him, he was barely breathing but still alive.  

“I thought you were a zombie, you can't die Sal. No,” he cried. 

“He kind of just got cured on his own without the pill.” Roma and Merik both shook their heads.  

“Where have you guys been all this time?” Id demanded.  

But just then an old old looking wooden ship quickly fell from the sky and landed. Its mast and sails glimmered as if it was waving in the wind of the high seas. The door opened and a ramp slowly extended. They all saw footsteps walking towards them, but they couldn't see anyone, the dust puffed out with each step until it was close enough and they saw hair and a beard floating where a human head would be but nothing else. It hovered over Sal, and he floated in the air. His head cracked backwards in a horrific way and bobbed as the mysterious hair put him on his ship and took off back into space.  

No one did anything, they just watched with their mouths open in disbelief but a crash from the top of the mesa threw a wave of dust through the air and it puffed out like the top of a mushroom. Roma and Merik ran and fought the waves of enemies on the ground, but Id went to help Judy. Her hands were starting to bleed from wielding her hammer. She was years out of practice, but she held her own with the two gigantic zombies. The mesa was barely big enough to hold them, and one fell to its knee and its head swung and almost knocked the other zombie off the top and barely missed. Id defeated the downed zombie quickly. The other one swung on Judy, but she wasn't having it and smacked its hand so hard, and Duncan shot a laser at its leg simultaneously, so it spun fast and crashed into the ground. Thousands of soldiers crushed instantly, and Id’s heart broke all over again. He remembered the cure and ran to give the massive zombies the cure.  

They shrank back to normal size but were far apart, so Id ran and grabbed them and took them back to hope city to be checked out and quarantined until they could identify what kind of person they are. When the fighting stopped, they found out one couldn't remember anything, and the other was an evil person, so he wound up in jail. They didn't know what crimes he had committed before, but he attacked anyone who came close to him, so he went to jail. 

Duncan was waiting by a building that was still completely intact and wrote in more pages of figures and equations for his dream invention. A way to make an infinite storage device that stores items in a location and you can retrieve them from anywhere on earth.  

The sun was going down so the pages got dimmer and dimmer, but a light stayed on behind him. He was so enamored with thinking he didn't notice till it was completely dark all around him. He finally heard someone behind him saying “Ohg my. Brilliant my good man.” 

Duncan slowly turned and saw the man, and he screamed, and the other guy screamed so Duncan screamed again, then the light zipped up and disappeared, they both looked at each other like you're doing this to me until all the darkness of the night enveloped his surroundings so he went inside thinking he ate one of Ids medicinal concoction so he kept what he saw to himself. 

Back at Phoenix Ash  

Hordes of soldiers surrounded Phoenix Ash. Rick and the counsel were talking and deliberating on freeing some of the people on the wall. 

“I cannot break the code. It is set in stone and the criminals are unrepentant.” Rick stated.  

“The code is what keeps us safe but we have to try. I believe some of them will repent and be necessary if we are going to win.” A counsel member interjected.  

“if the spirit speaks to you then I cannot argue. We will try. Anyone who does not repent goes back on the wall and no one who has murdered will be set free.” 

 The lesser offenses other than murder were approached with the cure some of them tried to fight so they were put right back but the ones that immediately denounced their crimes and ask for forgiveness were allowed to help fight. 

 The man who had raped the woman fell on his face crying and screaming that he was sorry with his face in the dirt, he called the woman by name and repeated sorry over and over again. She started to cry too and said she had forgave him but he didn’t even look up he stayed bowing and crying without speaking.  

Rick called over and said “You are forgiven Bill, now we have to fight… weather your ready or not so get your mind right…”  

Then a tunnel exploded with dust that filled the inside of the mountain and metal exploded out. All the metal spike lined pathway was destroyed instantly. The repentant criminal ran and collapsed the tunnel, and it crushed many enemies, so he cheered. But the tunnel exploded again while he was close. He flew and smashed against a back wall. The woman he hurt ran over to help him, but he was dying, before his final breath she softly said, “I’m sorry you had a rough life because of me.” And she wept. He raised his only arm that still moved and touched her hand then said, “No, it was my actions, you were just trying to live your life… Do… do not..” blood gurgle up in his throat and he choked “blame yoursel…” he gasped and looked into her eyes and smiled, then stopped breathing. 

The room filled with cannibals and warriors and Jetson floated in holding himself in the air with his powers.  

A mind-controlled zombie that was fast like Id came in and the dust swirled behind him, blood flew into the air, catching the dust. Rick held it down with his power and faced off with his adversary. Jetson struck with air as fast as lightning and Rick countered. Jetson aimed at innocent people and Rick was able to stop him over and over.  

Rick hit back and Jetson dodged and blocked with his powers.  

Jetson laughed then screamed and filled the whole cavern with air that diced everyone it touched before Rick used his protective barrier. All of Jetsons men were puréed so a layer of blood and chunks lined most of the floor. More cannibals poured in laughing and some splashed around in the viscera. 

 The armies clashed again and the cannibals were flatted quickly except for his high generals who cut through the good people. 

Rick thought of how their enemies ate human flesh for so many generations they couldn’t become faster or stronger. They had to deceive and plan, but their plans were thwarted so Jetson did a blitzkrieg.  

They exchanged blow after blow, it was like lightning all around them but it always deflected off of the citizens and the cannibals exploded. It took all of Ricks concentration but he breathed and handed it one strike at a time.  

A lighting bolt deleted off of Ricks old armor and Jetson laughed and said “I almost got you old man.”  

Rick smiled and said “if your men are weak from generations of eating people, why do you have powers?”  

“I eat chicken, only I can eat chicken! They get the people but only I get chicken!” He laughed maniacally. 

One of his generals laughed and said “He comes from the before times and his goal is to make the world safe from rule makers like you!” 

Jetson looked at her and laughed maniacally again, “Its about the chicken. A black guy got the last bucket of chicken so I ended the world to stop black people from eating my chicken!! Its all mine! And he called Rick a slur. 

His generals yell “Ah dang it, Jetson. 

He muttered something about chicken again then his generals yelled “Well be free from the rules still at least,” and they laughed maniacally again with Leroy.  

Rick just shook his head and said “Really? This all is just about chicken? Have you ever been spanked when you were growing up? If you would have gotten a whooping when you were young, I wouldn’t have to be doing it right now.”  

Leroy smirked and said, “You just want to touch my but faggot.” 

“No, I mean dealing punishment.” Rick said not understanding Jetsons troll. 

Jetson was frustrated because he didn't know how to reply so he attacked. Rick dodged but a large rock on the celling fell so he had to dodge and fell by the north tunnel. Mandy was running out but Rick pushed her back before she could come out.  

Jetson cut out a section of the roof and had it ready to smash Rick with. He looked up at the massive boulder hovering over Leroy's head. “I can't dodge it.” He shouted to Mandy; she could only watch.  

To be continued! 

Here’s a little more about Sal. A special preview into other work I will start after this book. 

Sal's situation. 

Sal woke up on a bunk, he looked around. A man on the cot by him was snoring loudly, he looked around and saw all the bunks full. Men walked past the hatchway hurriedly. He jumped down off the bunk and peaked out then walked into the hallway then up the stairs. There was a blue tinted shield that encircled the ship. He could see the deep darkness of space and trillions of lights all around him. It made him fall to the deck. The anxiety of such a tremendous amount of space going out in all directions. 

He stood back up then stumbled around, looking down at the wooden deck attempting to ground himself. He started to think about and he walked faster and faster but ran into the back of a large hairy man and fell onto the ground again. The man didn't have any clothes on because he had a robot pelvic area. His legs and feet and upper body were skin, but his mid-section was metal fused into the skin.  

The man said “Arrrgg.” Then turned and kept working.  

Sal looked up at the shimmering sails and mast. The sailors were all over tying ropes and untying things and moving stuff around, but no one even paid attention to him. He walked towards the aft of the ship and walked up stairs and kept staring halfway seeing what was in front of him.  A large man with a big hat stood at the wheel. He watched Sal blankly. 

The giant sprocket split the whole aft of the ship down the middle and slowly spun, Sal walked directly Infront of the turning gear and he reached out to touch it when a voice bolted out behind him and he spun around, heart racing. 

“If ya are to be on my ship, ye better be keeping yer senses about ye.”  

His voice was like lighting snapping Sal back to reality. Sal froze because he didn't know what to say.  

“I'm the Cap’m. Beardy Beard is me name but ye can call me Bearding er just Cap’m.” 

“Yes, your honor... Captain... Er, Sir.” 

Captain Bearding let out a belly laugh and slapped Sal on the back.  

“Ye can't be timid here son. Theres no room fer the faint of heart eer on The AllGear.” 

“Why am I here? what happened? Where are we?”  

“Slow down son. We’re contracted by the bone heads to get ye.” 

A voice laughed and Sal saw a floating beard, and it spoke, “I told you not to call us that. Its Monogram.” 

“Aye, true be that bone head.” 

The floating beard sighed. 

“Yer not even bone anymore, don't get yer invisible panties in a bunch old man.” The captain belted out another laugh. 

“I am only a million and a half years old. I'm not old just because I evolved past my physical body.” 

“Alright old bone head, do ye have information fer the lad er not?” 

The beard silently looked at the captain for 10 seconds then turned to Sal. 

“You were always supposed to be picked up. We don't know why, we just know it is what happened, so we do what we always were supposed to do when it happens.” 

Sal wobbled and stared at the deck feeling sick.  

“Tha boy aint got his space legs yet.”  

“No, no.” Sal exasperated. His vision darkened, and the veins in his eyeballs glowed with white hot intensity, and they pulsated with his heartbeat. When he looked up, it was like a tree waving in the wind. The light was so warm. Sal felt his life ebbing away, but the image of tree branches penetrated his consciousness. 

He hyperventilated, then calmed and concentrated on his breathing and felt the deck of the ship on his bare feet. It was wood. The grain of the wood was beautiful and deep. He gazed at the waves in the grain of the wood and imagined a vast ocean. He felt the deep grain with his hands.

“Tis true Ironwood. Most beautiful wood fer a ship.” 

Sal stood up. 

“Nothing you said makes sense, and why do you have a beard if you evolve past needing a body?”  

“The captain is creeped out by me being invisible, so I grew it out.” 

The captain shivered, looking at his invisible first mate. “Thank the heavens ye did, Steve.” 

“Nonetheless, we are headed to my home world. We are just kind of figuring it out as we go.” His beard waved as he spoke. 

Sal looked at him blankly then asked, “If you poop, does it stay invisible?” 

“What?” 

The captain laughed. 

“No, we slowly outgrow the need to eat, so I don't have to poop.” 

“Speakin o’ poop, go swab the poop deck Son. Yer too bored ye be askin strange questions. Only cure is workin, now of with ye.” 

Sal worked ten-hour shifts and learned how to tie and untie rope, move stuff around, climb the mast and sails every day until he couldn't hardly move anymore.  

He dreamed of his friends, but he couldn't remember their faces. He forgot about his planet; all he knew was what was in front of him, so he worked each day as it came. The men didn't treat him like he was a part of the crew, so he ate alone a lot, but slowly he was able to make some friends after they saw they didn't have to pick up his slack. 

No worries in the world. Just the vast universe waiting to be explored. Sal had never felt more at home.