Episode 16

After waiting at my house for 30 minutes, Ken Finally showed up with his trucks. At this moment, both of us were on the way to the Old Terry store in downtown.

"Old Terry was still alive and kicking,..as usual, he's still working at his store…anyway you're looking good though…..". (Ken)

"Thanks for the compliment Ken…but, stop it…it's Getting kinda creepy….".

As soon as I step into his car, Ken doesn't stop saying how different I look. I'm sure that I look different, but I don't expect my visual would be this distracting.

"Hey, I'm just telling you what I saw...Hey, I got certain Villian Costume that suits your whole appearance..would you…". (Ken)

"No…now Shut up and Drive..".

Seeing that I already getting annoyed by his antics, Ken shrugs it off and turns back to focus on his drive.

After 30 minutes of driving we finally arrived at Old Terry Shop, Located at the edge of downtown, Was 'Terry Pawn Shop' it's a small 2-floor white shop, right next to it was a Bakery store and on it's far left is a gas station. The place was quite mild, there are traffic and people around but not as busy. Ken park the truck in front, both of us got down and casually walking towards the front door.

<Cling! Cling!>

The doorbell rang as Ken opened the door. The shop hasn't changed in the past few years since I came here, Although it's a pawn shop, the interior was made to look like a small museum, Antiques displayed in a glass box carefully mounted on the wall and shelves, Long Glass counter on the left side, serve as a product display and a transactions counter. As I was deep in my nostalgia, there are several people wearing black suits near the glass counter, 4 to be exact, all of them take a quick glance at us before turn back to their business transaction with a male shop clerk in front of them.

"Maddie~~Daddy home!!..get yo big ass out here!!~". (Ken)

Ken as aloof as he was, start to lean inside the counter and calls for Maddie. Maddie was Old Terry's daughter if I'm not mistaken she was about 19 years old by now. Seconds after Ken stupid shout's, loud footsteps coming from the back room at the end of the store near where the 4 men in suits, the backroom door suddenly fling opened, a large muscular African American man wearing a checker pattern shirts and blue rustic jeans, he has a shotgun in his hand but due to his large stature, the shotgun looks like a toy.

"DADDY!!??…..WHO THE FUC...KEN??…..KENNN!!!!!!…<PAK!> Stop leaning you idiot, you gonna break my glass…..<PAK!>".

Seeing it was Ken who was shouting, Old terry begrudgingly put down his shotgun back in the back room, and slowly coming towards ken and me. As soon as he gets near Ken he swung his right hand and slaps ken on the back of his head, as Ken rubbed his head another slap lands on top of his head one more time.

"Hey! What's the second one for?..". (Ken)

"That's for that stupid 'Daddy' phrase,…so, what's the occasion?…I'm sure you weren't stopped by just to see me right?..". (Old Terry)

"ah yes….Mies was looking for you….". (Ken)

"Boss?…why?…is he okay?…". (Old Terry)

".…..Terry, are you blind? He's right there!…". (Ken)

Ken pointing right at me, I was standing behind him all this time. Old terry suddenly snapped and he looks at me, his eyes were all over me, gazing up and down, he rubs his eyes again in disbelieves.

"it's been a long time Ol' terry…...".

"...Ol' Boss, Is that you?…..you look good?…Plastic Surgery?…". (Old Terry)

Hearing my voice, Old terry finally recognize me. But just like Ken, he's bewildered seeing my unusual visual appearance.

"Right~~ that's what I thought too…..but there's no sign of surgery thou…probably he used that ultra-effective anti-aging cream or something…". (Ken)

"Could be...well the world-changing every day, so…it's possible…probably that collagen thingy..". (Old Terry)

Both of them nod in agreement, it made me feels as if I was judged by their eyes.

"....Let's just leave it at that, Terry I need to speak to you in private..".

This antics won't stop if I just let them be, As terry hears my voice in a flat tone, he tilts his head to the right in the direction of the back room where he comes from just now.

Following Terry into his shop backroom, we stop near a 2-meter metal shelf, he pushed the shelf in, then suddenly the wall behind the shelf along with the shelf itself shifts to the right revealing a hidden room. Terry closed the door behind us and flick the light switch on, both ken and I make ourselves comfortable, sitting down around the oak round table in the middle of the room.

"Woah…Ol' Terry you still doing business with the family?….". (Ken)

As the room brightens up, the whole room comes into view. Stack neatly on the wall was racks and boxes of firearms, bullets, etc.

"Business is business Ken,…I buy and sell to anyone..not just The family…..Here, you go…". (Terry)

Terry is always like this though before, this family business of his was once owned by the Family, after having my guarantee when we leave the Family together, this shop along with terry was set's free. Terry serves each one of us a bottle of cold beer before sitting down in front of me.

"How much of this worth?…".

Seeing that Terry and Ken already settle down, I pulled out 5 gold coins and put them on the table. Both Ken and Terry, slightly taken aback but quickly recovered, Terry, pick up one of the coins and carefully inspect the coins for a few seconds then put them back on the table.

" 90% Pure gold,…Old design, seemingly ancient gold coins, quite heavy for a single coin, 2 gram…nope 5 grams…wait…yeah 5 grams….according to market price…it's 48.90 per gram…then….". (Terry)

"244.50 per coin…1222.50 for all five…".

I'm a genius now, simple maths got nothing on me, Terry nodded at my interject.

"So…Boss, how do you get this thing?…..you know what, no…I don't want to know…so, how many you plan to sell this?…knowing your style, this..probably no even the tip…Look, I can only give you around 20K, I'm not really into this gold thing….". (Terry)

Terry lay his back on the chair, and sip the beer as he looks at me.

"....…20k will do, I need cash right now…by the way, do you already have a buyer for all this?…".

I twirl I index finger signaling for the whole thing in the room.

"...Hmmm, some of it..why? You want them?…". (Terry)

"Yeah…you know what, I here's the list of things I need..get them for me…".

I slide a piece of paper on the table, Terry picks it up and read them.

"...Boss, are you building a freaking town?…and why do you need so many tampons for?…". (Terry)

"Huh?..wait, Tampon?…Let me see...HUK!…can food, building materials, tampons, medicine…Laptop?, Pc?…Lorry? Humvee??…what, the hell do you need this for?…". (Ken)

Two of them stupefied by my weird list, their eyes alternate between me and the list.

"....…Apocalypse Survival shelter?…..I'm sure it's gonna be crucial when zombies roam around..or something like that?….".

".......well make sense, you definitely need that if the zombie apocalypse does happen….". (Terry)

"Yeah, make sense…it's realistic to planned early, better safe than sorry right....". (Ken)

I know my reasons were absurd, these two guys also knew that but, they know my boundary. They know if I in trouble and needed help I would just say it since I was unwilling to tell them anything, it definitely means that it's better for them to just drop the whole thing and went along with it.