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"I'd piss on my old man's grave but I don't wanna end up in a gimp suit like P2," Redux joked, lighting a cigarette, the latter rolling his eyes at being reminded of such a thing.
"But what if we want to see you in a gimp suit?" P3 asked, a perverted grin crossing his face.
"Keep dreamin'," Redux retorted, focusing his attention back on the desert road before them, snickering as he caught P3 scowling in the rear view mirror.
"How far are we from the place anyway?" P4 asked, watching the occasional abandoned billboard pass them by.
"Hopefully not long," P2 muttered, giving P3 a warning look, the other man clearly about to start being obnoxious if the shit-eating grin on his face was anything to go by.
"Are we there yet?" P3 was met with a collective groan in response, causing him to start laughing.
"Who didn't see that coming..." P1 muttered, half-dozing off in the passenger seat. This was gonna be a long drive.
After several hours of driving and P3 being threatened twice at minimum because he wouldn't shut his mouth for more than five seconds, the group finally arrived in the town of Dusty Creek, Arizona.
"So this is your hometown..." P4 said, glancing out the window, "Bet it brings back memories, huh?"
"Unfortunately," Redux muttered as he drove, eventually coming to what was left of a burned out house on the outskirts of the city. "I can't believe I'm stuck dealing with this wreck."
"I can't believe your dad had a will; from what you've told us, he never seemed like the kind of guy to care about something like that," P2 remarked as he went to the trailer to let Champ out.
"Because he wasn't," Redux muttered as he stepped onto the porch, watching his step to make sure the wood wouldn't break anytime soon. "So consider me just as surprised." He then went to open the charred front door, only for it to collapse backwards as soon as he touched it.
"I always said I was gonna get the hell out of this shitty town!" A younger Redux rolled his eyes as he tried to tune out his dad's nightly drunken ranting. "Was gonna get through high school and hit the open road until I met your mother senior year! Her yappin' about the "American Dream" with a white picket fence and everything!"
"I know dad, I know..." Redux muttered as he went to the kitchen, hoping the old man didn't find the left over pizza he was hiding in the back of the fridge. He felt his left eye twitch as the sound of an empty beer bottle missing the trash can next to him rang out.
"Did I make it?"
"No."
"Fuck! Clean it up then!" Redux sighed in annoyance and went to grab the dust pan and broom. "And get me another bottle when you're done!"
Redux shook his head as he stared at the burned out remains of the kitchen, the chattering of the others bringing him back to the present.
"Anyone have some dynamite or grenades? I think just one explosion would be enough to bring this shithole down for good," P3 joked. "Or hell, even some fireworks would probably do the trick."
"If you can find any in town then be my guest," Redux snarked, moving away from the kitchen, "it's always been boring as hell."
"I'll say, even the name is boring," P2 said in a deadpan tone, already looking ready to leave and head back to the car. "How long are we staying here?"
"Just long enough to make sure there's nothing valuable left behind," Redux answered as he began to head up the stairs.
"If there is then we should sell what we can!" P4 called up from the basement, having gone down there with Champ and P1 to explore out of a sense of curiosity.
"You know what your mother did?"
Redux sighed and played along just to keep from pissing his dad off further than he already was. "What did she do?"
"She took all my money! Anything valuable I had she took and left!" His dad ranted drunkenly from his recliner in the living room.
Redux grimaced at his words and thought carefully before he spoke, "She didn't leave...dad. She died-"
"Exactly!" His dad interrupted him, "Do you know how much a damn burial for her cost?! Everything!"
Redux bit his tongue, anger rising in him. Should have been him instead, he thought to himself as he headed upstairs to his room.
"So was this your room?" P1's voice asked him from behind. Redux snapped out of his thoughts and glanced around the remains, charred pictures of bands littering the floor, covered in dust and soot.
"Was," Redux confirmed, stepping into the area. As expected there was nothing of value to scavenge, a room that once served as a small safe haven now little more than a safety hazard. As he and P1 glanced around at whatever remained, the latter pointed to something outside, looking through one of the burned holes in the walls.
"Hey, what's that down there?" P1 asked, lowering his sunglasses to get a better look.
Redux walked over to look at what he saw and paused, "...Looks like a tombstone. Guess the city or whoever just decided to bury my old man on the property and be done with it."
"Damn...wanna go down there and check it out?" P1 asked, glancing at Redux.
Redux nodded, "Might as well. There's nothing in this damn house anyway."
As Redux stared at his father's grave site, images of the night of the fire flashed through his mind. He had put up with everything long enough and decided that it was then or never. As the house burned, he didn't even hear his father scream, the bastard too asleep in a drunken stupor to even realize he was stuck inside an inferno set by his own son.
"You should piss on his grave," P3 said, breaking the silence, a cheeky look on his face.
Redux looked confused until the earlier conversation they had hit him and he rolled his eyes, "You and your goddamn gimp suit dreams."
P3 burst out laughing, slapping him on the back while the others just shook their heads at him, "It was worth a shot!"
"So what are we doing with this place?" P1 asked, changing the topic.
Redux thought for a moment, glancing between the grave and the house. "...Leave it. It's the city's problem now as far as I give a fuck."
"Works for me," P2 said, already turning to head back to the car. "Come on, let's get out of this boring ass place." As if agreeing with him Champ barked from the spot he was sitting at outside the trailer.
"So where to now?" P4 asked aloud while P2 let the dog back inside their home.
"Eh, Java's place is about an hour away. We can crash there with him and Novel for a few days," Redux said as he got in the driver's seat.
"Dibs on the music!" P3 yelled as he bolted for the front passenger seat.
"NO!"