“You know you want it,” the dealer said, his rotten teeth shown in a greedy smile.

The man glanced over at the thing in the dealers hand from his stool in a filthy pub. Alcohol was getting boring… weak. He turned back to his glass and drained it of its toxic contents.

“How much again?”

The dealer’s smirk widened, “20 g.”

“Must be good then, “ the man said staring down at his empty glass, at his own reflection. His startling, rare, blue eyes devoid of light…hope.

“The best,” came the greasy reply of the dealer, anxious to make the sell. “You will be sitting in heaven’s high chair for quite some time after taking some of this stuff.”

A hand suddenly rested on his shoulder, “You don’t need this poison, lets go.”

He smiled; Kyle was always there for him.

“Hey, this is none of your business! Let the man decide for himself what he wants.” The dealer protested, angry at the sudden intrusion.

Kyle, a strong built man with dark hair and eyes, glared at the greasy merchant of evil goods. “How dare you take advantage of a man’s sorrow to get what you so greedily desire?”

The smile widened and he asked for another drink. Kyle was always so dramatic.

“I’m warning you…” The filthy dealer started but was cut off by Kyle’s outburst.

“No! I’m warning you. You sell anything to my friend and I’ll kill you.”

“Damn he‘s serious…”, the quiet man thought as he drained the next glass. “Oh well, enough of this nonsense.”

He suddenly stood, interrupting the soon to be brawl, and stared keenly at the dealer.

“No thanks. I’m seeking something a little stronger.”

The other two men were briefly stunned as he paid for his drinks and started for the door, his dusty old coat trailing behind him. The sun wreaked havoc on his eyes and he quickly slid his sunglass on before staring down the cracked sidewalk of the small town.

“Landon, wait up!”

He didn’t slow down and only stopped when his friend ran up to him and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him around.

“What?” The one named Landon asked tiredly to his friend.

“Don’t do anything stupid!” Kyle said immediately.

Landon sighed, (“I knew it…”) .

“Depends on what you mean by stupid,” he said with a crooked grin, but his friend wasn’t buying it.

“I mean it, Lan.” Kyle looked seriously at him, “There’s much to live for.”

At this, Landon removed his sunglasses with a quick gesture, his eyes burning with sudden anger and frustration.

“Then tell me, Kyle! What is it? What in this God forsaken hellhole is there a reason to live for?”

Kyle, used to his friend’s outbursts and his avid glare by now, stood his ground.

“Plenty. You just can’t see it yet. Give it some time, it’ll show itself. You just have to be patient.”

Landon roughly brushed his friend’s hand off his shoulder, “I’ve been patient long enough.”

He returned the glasses to his face and ended all further conversation as he stalked away, a dark shadow following him always.

Kyle sighed, he could no longer do anything to help his friend. Landon would have to help himself…

Landon continued to walk, letting his feet guide him through the dusty streets. Cars rumbled by, spraying dust and sand at him, kids ran passed him playing some game while their mothers sat on their front porches in front of old electric fans, cigar and candy vendors pulled their hats closer to their eyes as they tried to tempt the kids to their melted candies.

Suddenly exhausted, he collapsed on a bench and rested his head on the back railing. Three years…it had been that long since Landon started this depressing lifestyle. It was then that nothing made sense to him anymore and his desire to live dwindled away. Kyle was there, sure, but he could do nothing but watch as he spent hours drinking and wasting his life away. In the end, Landon didn’t want help anymore, he just wanted it to stop.

Raising his head slightly, he stared across the street at the T.V. behind the glass of some pawnshop. It was an advertisement for Red Sun, an illegal organization bent on destroying Radiators. Every now and then, they would hack into a television network and play their ads over and over, until they were shut off. It raised their popularity with the public substantially, especially when they cut in government announcements

“Some things never change…” Landon muttered to himself, his head tilted as he watched the broadcast.

The commercial consisted of shots taken from a children hospital. Kids in beds with their skins peeling off and their hair falling out, some on medical machines. At the end, they showed happy, healthy children playing in fabricated green fields. That’s when the ad started over again.

Landon’s head snapped up as something suddenly dawned on him. Why didn’t he think of it before? It was so simple.

The answer to his problem…

AN: I know the chapters are a bit on the short side, but they’ll get longer once I know where the plot is going exactly ^_^;