ANGEL'S LANDING | BL

CHAPTER 5 | FOUR SHOTS, SIX SHOTS

Noticing that something was bothering the new addition to their group, Hakken leaned over to Eryx and whispered, "What's up with him?"

Swiveling his head to look at the blond-haired who had remained on the couch, Eryx sighed sadly as he saw Axel's thoughts. "He misses his friend."

Hakken pursed his lips together when he heard Eryx's reply. Taking a slice of strawberry shortcake from the display case, Hakken brought it over to the nook the four had claimed in the café and set the plate on the coffee table in front of the blonde-haired boy.

Seeing the plate of cake slid before him, Axel looked up at Hakken with watery eyes. "Thanks," he voiced quietly as he picked up the fork that Hakken had brought with the cake.

"Sugar makes the tears sweet," Hakken said as he watched Axel take a bite.

"I thought it's supposed to be that whiskey makes the tears sweet..." Eryx said in slight confusion as he came back to the sofa nook with a ham and cheese sandwich.

"No, that's a lie. It actually makes them bitter. Ah, wait, that's soju." Hakken closed his lips and looked down at his mistake before noticing the sandwich that Eryx was about to eat. "Don't you think that may be bad now? There's no telling how long the café has been without power," Hakken warned as Eryx brought the sandwich to his mouth.

Hearing Hakken's warning, Eryx brought the sandwich away from his mouth, but after thinking for a moment he sighed. "Eh, whatever. If I get food poisoning, my metabolism will take care of it. Plus, this ham has been processed like heck. And this cheese is probably fake too. This isn't that boujie of a café."

After assuring himself that the ingredients were fake and that his angelic metabolism would take care of anything that went wrong, Eryx confidently took a bite from the sandwich and happily began eating. While Eryx ate his sandwich, Callon munched on a few crackers and Hakken grabbed a croissant from the display case. The four ate in silence for a few minutes until they were relatively full, and Hakken gave the signal that it was time to head out.

"First thing's first," Hakken began as the four rose to their feet. "We need better weapons. Axel's the only one who's got a proper tool right now."

Eryx nodded in agreement before motioning to the gun tucked in Axel's waistband. "How many rounds are left?"

It took Axel a moment to translate Eryx's question. "Ehhh," Axel voiced under his breath as he pulled the gun out and turned it in his hand. How do I check how many bullets this thing has?

Noticing Axel struggling to handle the weapon, Callon silently reached out and took the gun from the silver-eyed's hands. Dropping the magazine from the handle, Callon checked the gun's storage before quietly answering Eryx, "Four."

Axel looked at Callon with awe. The way he handled the gun with confidence and ease reminded Axel of the difference in their education and training. Woah...students from Dawning High are no joke.

Returning to silence, Callon replaced the magazine to its rightful place before returning the gun to Axel who mimicked Callon's actions of dropping and inserting the magazine. While practicing releasing the magazine for the third time, Axel noticed that there were only three bullets in storage. Didn't Callon say there were four left?

Reading Axel's confused expression, Hakken explained, "There's another one in the chamber. So, you have four shots total. Use them sparingly."

Axel stood still for a moment as he processed the new information. "Ahh. Thanks," he said with a small nod of his head. He then returned to practicing releasing and inserting the magazine. He needed to become comfortable handling the gun if he wanted to be able to use it confidently in a crisis.