Fatal Attrition: Chapter four

Damon finally woke two days later, "Where the hell am I?" He jumped up into a sitting position and started yelling for Seth. A nearby nurse came running into the room trying to calm Damon down. Seth was just down the hall, talking to Judd about how he had found Damon, "SETH WHERE ARE YOU, IF YOU'RE DEAD I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Damon thought he was being funny. Seth and Judd came running.

"What? Are you alright?" Seth was panting from the short run down the hall. He had one hand on the door frame and the other on his knee, "Damon you're fine; you're in the hospital so you're fine, you jerk." He said this between panting breaths. Seth left as the doctor walked into the room. Damon struggled to escape but failed due to all the pain he was in. The doctor didn't say a word as he strapped Damon to the bed and walked out of the room. "Uh doc… is he going to be alright?"

"Yes, he's fine. Yeah he's going to be in pain, and needs rest, but his problem here is that, like you said, he's a jerk." He was upset with Damon's behavior. "He woke up as I was giving him his stitches. That kid has problems… you should look into what's wrong with him, mentally." He walked off clearly not wanting any response. Seth and Judd stood at the door. Seth gave his brother a smug look, and then smiled.
"You get what you deserve, no matter how brutal it was." Seth's smug smile slowly disappeared. "What really happened Damon? What did they do to you or what did this to you?" he looked at Judd who was thinking the same questions.

"Tell you and your friend later….Tonight." he sounded annoyed by the straps. "Meet me outside the hospital. Nine." he struggled to turn on his side, away from Seth. Seth and Judd left the room. Damon fell asleep.

"I guess we just wait now." Judd sounded uncertain. The two sat in the waiting room for the day, not eating and not talking. "I'll be back later, if you need me for any real good reason call me." Judd handed him a small piece of paper with a poorly hand written phone number.

Nine o'clock rolled around as Seth waited outside the hospital; spending most that time reading. A loud bang rang out from a window nearby. "Let's go," Damon walked over bleeding. "I overheard about this place not far from here; some old fashion dinner, called Ruby's, I think." Damon walked over in his torn jeans and wept the small amount of blood on his jeans. "This is all I could find other then the night gown. Want to find me something else or I'm just going to walk around like this." He smiled

"Alright… There might be something close by that we can get you some clothes." Seth said thinking of anything that may or may not be open at nine.

"Hey" Judd drove up in a car not far from where the two were talking. He threw Damon an old back t-shit with the words, '#1 Dad'. He kept his eyes on the road ahead, muttering, "You can keep it."

"Uh, thanks…" Damon said with a confused look on his face. They hopped into the back seat.

"I'm not a taxi, kid."

"Just this once, man," Seth said, frowning slightly. "We need to get out of here. You must've come here for a reason anyway, right?"

Judd sat there for a long moment, then switched gears and drove away from the hospital. "Where to, then? I'll take you there, but I ain't stayin…"

"Well, apparently there's this diner… Ruby's?"

"Yeah, I know it... Nice place." He turned down a smaller road and continued on in silence. Seth stared out his window as they passed dark trees that extended out into nothingness. He was nodding off as they pulled into the dusty parking lot, the garish red lights of the diner's neon sign shining down on them. "Alright, get."
Damon muttered something under his breath and Seth glanced at him as they both got out. "Thanks, Judd," Seth mentioned quietly, walking to the driver's side window, flashing a small smile.

"Right, right. Get going," the older man said, handing him a twenty dollar bill. "Ain't much, but it should help." He nodded in some kind of acknowledgement when Seth took the bill and drove off without another word.

Seth stared after the car, it leaving a paint dust trail, almost dumfounded.
"Alright," Damon said, snatching up the money with a grin of smug triumph. "Free food."

He cast his brother a disapproving look before heading towards the restaurant's entrance, ignoring his 'what'.

The dinner was very old fashioned; like an old movie. As they walked towards the building Damon noticed a bulletin board that contained a menu and nearby announcements. One of which had a photo of a man that looked to be in his mid 20s but said that he was turning 27 this year. 'Old photo I guess' Damon thought. He stared to read what it said. It read 'have you seen this man'; and continued to give a description of the man 'Dark green eyes, black/brown hair' and so on. The name; Timothy Jones. 'Huh, he looks so familiar' he thought as his brother pulled him into the doorway.

The two boys looked funny walking into the old dinner. Seth looked worn down, dirty and tired with dark rings around his eyes; he hadn't slept since Danny passed. Damon looked like he had kids some place with a wife, a real family man, but underneath that little disguise he had been given, he had almost been torn to shreds; bloody scars ran along his arms and lower legs. Damon also gave off that cocky know it all vibe that no one in town would want anything to do with; Seth disliked that about his brother.

They found a secluded seat in a darker corner of the restaurant; trying to act as nothing had happened. Trying to act…normal. But it did just the opposite; the waiter walked up. "You boys won't be causin' our little diner any trouble, now are ya?" her southern drawl was prominent. She gave the two a mean look, turning her head and giving them a 'lazy eye' kind of thing.

"No ma'am; not at all," Damon looked at her with his sweetest charm he could. Damon always had his way with the ladies, but he could never fail to break their hearts when he was done toying with them. This didn't work for him this time because the woman only made him feel bad when she didn't even give him a smile. This was deftly not his night.

"I suggest that you knock that off kid. Now how may I help you?" the women said sarcastically with a hint of a smile geared to Seth. Damon turned and didn't say any more.

"What can we get under twenty; for the two of us?" Seth stared at the simple menu in front of him and he turned it sideways, trying to be funny. The women took both of the menus that sat there on the table, and told them she would be right back. The two boys looked a bit confused. They could hear the women yell something at the chef in the kitchen and yelled over the counter that something would be on its way to their table shortly.

A man walked in, looking worried and tired. He was walking from table to table asking questions. The man looked to be about the same age as Damon, 25. The dark haired man walked to the brothers table last. "Hey, my name is Dave. I was wondering if you two maybe have seen this man; my brother..." he said as if it were routine for him.

'He must have gone to that diner everyday sense the boy in the photo went missing.' Damon thought, taking a flier.

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen him. We just got into town a few days ago; a lot has been going on for me to recognize a 'most wanted' man." Seth looked at the boy as he shook his head sorry.

Damon looked at the photo for a long while. His eyes widened. "I think I may have seen him." He said underneath his breath. He got a little angry as he looked more into the photo, realizing who this was.

Seth and the man who introduced himself as Dave were talking, deep into conversation now. The waitress walked up with two bowls of noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches' which were set on the table. "Oh, hello Davie. good to see you again."
"Hello Pat, and, uh, please don't call me that...it's Dave, remember? Not Davie, just Dave. You know I've never liked that nickname... I thought we went through his, like yesterday," He grimaced of the thought of being called 'Davie'.

"Well that was yesterday, Dave. I think it's a name that might grow on ya. But I could be wrong." Pat smiled and walked back to the kitchen and brought a third bowl of soup and sandwich out for Dave. "Well it looks like you have some new friends, I'm sure they won't mind you sitting with them for one meal." She left the food on the table and went to help another costumer.

"Oh sorry, she wants me to get 'involved' with others. Pat doesn't think I'll find him. 'You're wasting your time; he's a grown man he can handle himself.' She tells me. She's probably right but I don't know, I think I can find him. One day." Dave sat down across form Seth and continued. "I get that he's like 26 and all but I miss him and no one knows where he went." He was silent for a moment. "None of them knew what he went through down South... I'm determined," Dave gave Seth a smile, which Seth returned kindly. The two talked lots about Dave's older brother, and where they were all from. Damon just ate, annoyed that he knew who Tim was but didn't know from where. The more Dave talked about him the more he grew upset, until it hit him. Tim was the one who caused the accident.

"He's the one I tried not to hit. He just came out of nowhere and I swerved out of the way. We hit the tree instead. They were all grabbed from the car. John, he was lost before we even hit the tree; something took him," Damon mumbled under his breath staring at the flier photo in his hands near his lap. "He called me 'worthless' and told me 'I shouldn't be here'"

"Damon what are you talking about?" Seth looked at him confused. "Speak up and more clearly." He waited a moment then went back to talking to Dave. "So… anyway, yeah, I've lived up in Chicago my whole life, nothing real special or anything, but I like it." before he could continue to talk to Dave about Chicago, Judd walked over to their table fast. "Uh hey, I didn't know you were coming. Judd this is Dave, Dave, Judd."

"We don't have time for names kid. But yeah nice to meet you." Judd grabbed Seth by the arm and told him to get out to the car, leaving Dave and Damon alone.
"Uh well, what's wrong, uh Damon was it?" Damon looked up to meet Dave in the eyes. Dave saw, he knew that look; anger. Damon looked down again almost ripping the paper flyer he still had in his hands. "You know maybe I should get going."
"You're not going anywhere. I need to know what this little joke of yours is all about." Damon was flustered.

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"You need to get in the car NOW. Let's go, I'll get you there now." Judd wasn't making much sense. They left Damon behind and drove off. Judd still hysterical said "I got a phone call from the hospital, which Damon is missing from. We all ready know about that; and I got another phone call. The police station said that if you want to see Danny now you can but only right now. The investigation has gone in farther. They are going to try and take her apart to see what happened to her." He sounded like he was or wanted to cry.
Seth sat there wishing that the car could move faster; he wanted every minute he could with her, dead or alive.