Chapter 22 - Leaving 2

"The place seems deserted."

Rynold was walking along the office floor when he noticed that no one was around. Both Rynold and Jack were walking in a casual manner, without a care in the world.

They were waiting for the agreed-upon time to get back up to the penthouse to meet with Oliver. It's better for them not to get in the way between Oliver and his family, the slight provocation of his anger could end the guy's family.

"Anyway, what do you think they're talking about up there?" Jack asked.

The awkward atmosphere that they experienced up in the penthouse was something of an odd situation. Oliver's parents aren't the typical worrying type but they were more arrogant than anything else.

"Not something that we can say for sure," Rynold replied while opening a desk drawer. "His parents are just real asses to say stuff like that when he's the only one that actually has decent potential."

"What do you mean?" Jack added, he was curious as to what Rynold meant by that.

Rynold yawned before answering the question. "Well, not my secret to tell so it's better to ask him about the whole thing. Besides, I don't really know what the hell's going on with his family situation. I'm gonna hit the pantry and try to get some snacks."

Truth is, Rynold actually knew what Oliver's family was. There are the typical parents but instead of loving and caring, they're maniacal and harsh to the bone. Then, there is also the older brother that has nothing better to do but to make fun and is overall a good-for-nothing. Lastly, Oliver's younger sister was rather timid and shy. She didn't stand out much from a crowd either.

Regardless, Rynold continued to look at every drawer and cupboard to check what snacks he could get. Meanwhile, Oliver was having — for lack of a better term — a "spirited debate" with his parents.

"No!" His father scolded, "absolutely not! You're not gonna leave with some backwater alley dog to leave the damn city. You're staying here and take care of the business!"

"Business? What business?! The world is ending as it is and all you care about is money! What, are you still profiting from all of the chaos?!" Oliver asked, rather, yelled the question to his furious parents.

Apart from the spontaneous people that know what the New World has in store, Oliver's parents were old-fashioned. One way or another, his parents were mostly incapable of letting go of their way of life. What's more, is that Oliver didn't ask if they wanted to go with him or not.

"Look, I don't care what happens to your so-called friends but you have to stay here and only here. You have a place in this family that's not so easy to let go!" Oliver's mother yelled in response.

The fight was getting annoying, or at least that was what Elle thought as she saw one party yell to another. Skye, on the other hand, was getting worried for Oliver. As much as she wanted to reunite with her family, she was worried more about what could happen if she left Oliver alone with his family.

"I'm leaving! I don't care if I have to go over your heads if I have to. I've had enough of this family!" Oliver left for the elevators and didn't bother listening to his parents. His head was fuming and he was this close to end their lives with a single flick of his dagger.

Elle and Skye followed him out of the penthouse and headed down the floors of the building, stopping until they managed to meet with Rynold and Jack on their way down.

"So, how did it go?" Rynold asked as he and Jack entered the elevator.

"Heh," Oliver scoffed at him. "I should've left them to you and X to deal with. But I did manage to get this though."

He raised his hand to show a small medallion that was a size of a coin that is held by a chain. It looked like a small chain necklace but its significance was like no other. This is the Cole family insignia.

The insignia of a family is important in its representation of the family itself. The insignia is only given to high-profile families in Ark City that positively affects the economy in a big way. Just showing the insignia during business meetings makes sure that the family is staking its honor in the deal's success.

Regardless, the insignia has more than one meaning in the city. It could also be used for clearance.

"Nice, a necklace. Can we go now?" Rynold was indifferent since he didn't know what that meant.

Ding!

The elevator doors opened as they got to the parking garage of the building. The group went back to the pickup truck. Oliver started the truck and waited for everyone to be seated inside.

"Where do we go from here?" Oliver asked.

"You gonna come with me to leave the city?" Rynold answered with a question.

"Yeah, got nothing holding me back here, except, well..." Oliver looked at his girlfriend who was deep in conflict. She didn't know what to do.

"So, Jack's coming with and Oliver is good to go," Rynold recapped. "All that's left is the girls."

Elle still looked displeased at the statement, she didn't know what to do. She wanted to go to her boyfriend's but that's a bit hard to raise to his ex-boyfriend in the same car.

Meanwhile, Skye was still quiet and thinking of what she can do in this situation. She could leave the city and go with the rest of them or maybe find her family. The thing is, she doesn't even know where to look for her family. They left the city for a business meeting in a different place so either she waits for them in their Ark City residence or to go out to find them instead.

She was still deep in thought when Oliver drove out of the building and headed straight to the exit that led to where Rynold's house is.

The road that led to the exit didn't have anything on them. It still looked even more abandoned as they slowly approached the exit, away from the city square. Skye gave in about halfway through the ride and finally accepted the fact that she's following the rest of the group to leave the city. Elle, on the other hand, was still struggling to raise her voice that she wanted to leave.

On the ride to the exit, Rynold was still looking around. He noticed that some ghouls here and there were left but, overall, there didn't seem like anything dangerous was around. This just meant that the military response was fast to sweep out the random creatures here and there.

Regardless, the group was almost near the exit when the group became alert. There were gunmen that were stationed along the highway exit. It made Rynold's hand shaky and decided to strengthen his resolve — well, tried to anyway.

Oliver stopped at the car when they got to the barricade. It was simple but the number of guns that they had was nothing to laugh at.

Rynold moved out of the car and Oliver followed him out. They were standing between the car and the barricade when an officer went out to check what they wanted. He let Oliver take lead and let him handle the situation. He was a noble, after all.

A few seconds into the conversation, the three of them abruptly stopped talking as soon as they heard the car door open. It was then that Elle suddenly got out of the car.

"Babe?" She asked ever so lightly.

Rynold was surprised and instinctively stepped back. To avoid the awkwardness that might ensue, he slowly eased back and tried not to present himself too much to the couple. It certainly didn't help that the guy has a military background with high status.

'A rich and military guy, huh? The whole package wrapped up into one,' Rynold thought to himself.

It was a stretch for him to be jealous of a bitch that he has nothing but hatred for. Truth be told, he was glad that he could finally ditch his ex-girlfriend after two whole days of being together.

The couple hugged and made out in front of them, making Jack tell Skye, "that's gotta hurt," from inside the car.

Annoyed at the public display of affection, Rynold stood in silence while Oliver was looking away and tried to look busy. This situation was completely awkward.

Despite that, the make-out session was finally stopped by another officer who came out from the barricade. The new officer that showed up went up to Oliver asking for his identification while the couple behind him was finally getting reunited.

After a few moments of giggling and murmurs of the couple, the current boyfriend came up to Rynold and tried to intimidate him. "Hey, are you the guy who dated Elle way back?"

"Yeah?" Rynold responded casually.

"Well, thanks for getting her here, man!" the guy suddenly let out a hearty laugh. "If you don't mind I'm gonna take my lady off your hands now. Don't bother her again."

The last statement that the guy said was more intimidating than anything else but Rynold just didn't care and nodded in response. He turned around and went to where Oliver and the officer were talking.