#8. The Craic Brothers
(Year is 2018...1 year after the Personal Apocalypse)
The back of the van was a silent affair, which was surprising considering it was essentially a steel box housing six individuals who had a variety of heavy-duty weapons or armaments attached to their bodies. Usually, such a large assortment of metal and plastic travelling at speed would cause a certain degree of clinking and clanging. But no. Only the vague sound of passing traffic could be heard.
Now, as with a noisy one, a silent environment can stem from multiple reasons. These reasons narrow somewhat when people are included as people tend to be loud when gathered in one place. Unless, of course, they have been explicitly told not to be. Like in an exam room, for example, or during a bank robbery.
With regards to the van, the reason for the atmosphere of silence could very well have been misjudged as professionalism. After all, the six individuals who sat shoulder to shoulder were highly trained soldiers who had undergone countless hours of conditioning, both of the physical and psychological variety. This very conditioning had earned them a spot in the van on that night. As such, it would have been perfectly plausible to believe that energy preservation was the reason for the silence. This would have made logical sense. Yet, this was not the reason.
The truth was that the silence was born from a collective sense of dread. Five of the six individuals were clearly feeling this way, while the sixth was becoming increasingly aware of, and fed up with, his companions’ unease. This sixth individual felt no nerves; he was not agitated; and no looming sense of doom plagued his thoughts. Instead, he felt relaxed. In fact, he was actually in a rather good mood, one that could potentially even be described as chirpy.
As he looked around at his companions, it took considerable effort to resist his natural inclination – this being to deliberately increase the obvious doom and gloom being felt by those around him. For example, he imagined that asking what the meaning of life was would dramatically worsen the foreboding atmosphere present in the van. If he wanted to be a bit more direct, then enquiring if his companions updated their wills before Hunts would probably have done the trick.
Yet, despite his fondness for gaslighting, he decided to try a converse approach. After all, he was in command of this Hunt, therefore he felt a certain level of responsibility to ease his subordinates’ nerves. He was quite sure that, as the leader, it was his job to inspire his troops. Things like assuring them they’d all get home safely from the coming Hunt, or that losing limbs was such a rare thing to happen in the field. Things of that ilk. He presumed that’s what a leadership role entailed. Though, in all honesty, he really didn’t know anymore. Or care. Once, he had both known and cared, but these days he preferred to actively avoid leader of men roles at all costs.
It wasn’t that he didn’t think he would be suited for the job. No, he knew he could be a great leader if needed. It was just that it held no interest for him. Not anymore. Like ice-skating. He had once tried ice-skating, but had no real interest to do so again, yet was still confident that he’d smash it if he ever did find himself careening across ice on metal blades.
Finding himself drifting, much like in ice-skating, he refocused his mind on the problem at hand.
How to break the tension?
He needed to say something, he knew that, but he was struggling to come up with anything. This was unsettling as he considered himself a master conversationalist. A connoisseur of words, if you will. Yet now, he couldn’t even think of a joke. Or rather a joke that wasn’t shockingly morbid. As he mused over what to do, he absently cracked the thumb on his right hand. At the sound, three of the soldiers visibly flinched and one actually jumped.
Again, resisting his natural inclination – this time to snort in laughter – the reluctant commander tried to capitalize now that some of the soldiers had been shaken from their stupor. 'C'mon, guys, lighten up a bit will you?' said Finn McCool with a forced smile. ‘I’ve witnessed people being marched to the gallows that had cheerier dispositions. You’re soldiers. This is what you’re on the planet for. The lot of you should be in your element.’
'Sorry, sir, just nervous I guess,' said the soldier who had jumped.
Finn instantly christened him just that – Jumpy. Earlier on he had made a mental note to memorize each of the soldiers’ names, but, well, he’d soon forgotten about that mental note.
Finn nodded at Jumpy in an understanding way. He looked around in a solemn manner. Time to motivate. Time to inspire. 'Completely understandable, Jum…um, soldier. The Craic Brothers have rightfully earned their Grade 4 status. They’re heavy-duty threats, no doubt. But you guys have earned something much more impressive – your place in the Fianna. And what do the Fianna do better than anyone else? They deal with threats, no matter what grade they might be.’
Finn raised his hands. ‘Sure, the Brothers have killed dozens of Fianna that have gone up against them. They’ve even come close to killing me on a few occasions. Awfully close, actually. But that shouldn’t faze any of you. Why?’ Finn pointed at each of the Fianna in turn. ‘Because you’ve all done the training and you’ve gained the necessary experience in the field. When combined, these two things guarantee there’s nothing the Brothers can throw your way that you haven’t seen and dealt with before. Agreed?’
Hmm. They really don’t look like they agree. Not even a little bit.
If anything, Finn’s words of encouragement were having a negative effect. Looks of dread had now morphed into expressions of wild panic on the faces of Flincher One, Two, and Three. Jumpy was staring at Finn in open horror.
What the hell?
———————
“The Craic Brothers love to break and shatter bones. Especially those of the human variety. That’s definitely enough to make anyone a tad nervous, even ‘experienced’ soldiers. But wild panic and open mouthed horror?! That’s not right! Finn is missing something…something BIG! Click below to find out what’s what!”
- Aj