Let the games eat (4)

After his mother's comment, Lincoln laughed slightly and, without taking his eyes off her, replied.

"I know how it is, whisky tends to have that effect on people."

Said Lincoln, with an innocent smile on his face as if he didn't know who had done such an act with the drink.

Rita, until that moment, had been normal. But, after hearing what her son had said, she opened her eyes wide for a brief second and slowly turned to him.

"... Don't tell me..."

After turning to her son, Rita was almost startled to see him with an innocent smile on his face, staring at her as if nothing had happened.

Lincoln, with the biggest scowl in the world, moved a little closer to his mother and, with a smile that was still fake, but innocent to her, made a comment.

"Oh, my goodness, that's barbaric. You don't look so good, mommy."

Said Lincoln, with a somewhat puzzled expression on his face.

After that brief but paused comment, Lincoln took the glass that was still full of that red liquid from his mother's hand and, at no point, did he show or feel any regret for having literally drugged his own mother.

"Mom, I think that's enough punch for you, because you'll know what kind of substances are in there."

Said Lincoln, with the same fake smile on his face, but with that slight hint of sarcasm in his voice, as he took the glass from his mother's hand, as if he didn't know who was really to blame. Rita, after handing the glass to her son, noticed a slight smile of satisfaction on his lips, but as she was already a little drunk, she concluded that she was just imagining things.

Rita, still a little confused by the situation and the mixture of feelings running through her mind, decided to remain calm and not confront her son at that moment. She knew she needed to sober up to deal with it later.

"You're right, darling. Maybe I went a little overboard with the punch."

Rita said, forcing a small smile as she tried to disguise her suspicion after seeing her son's smile.

"I think I'd better go to my room and get some rest."

She added, while cocking her head to the side, indicating that whatever was in that drink had started to take effect.

Lincoln, still maintaining his relaxed and suddenly manipulative posture, agreed with what his mother had said, but still trying to be as discreet as possible.

"Of course, Mom. Get some rest, you deserve it."

Rita felt a knot of uncertainty form in her stomach. She noticed that her son was acting strangely, and her mother's intuition told her that something wasn't right. However, she decided not to press the issue at the moment. Without saying another word, she went upstairs to her room.

As soon as her mother entered the room and closed the door, her expression, which had previously been a genuine smile, changed dramatically. What had once been a gentle smile disappeared and soon gave way to a serious, expressionless expression.

"Let the games eat."

Lincoln commented, with a serious look on his face as he headed towards the kitchen.

TWO HOURS LATER...

0 hours before the chaos...

During those almost two hours, nothing very relevant had happened in the Loud house. Not least because, at that moment, most people were either asleep somewhere or lying drunk in some corner of the house; some were in the kitchen, others upstairs. Only one person was still awake and getting ready, waiting for midnight. And that person was none other than Lincoln Loud himself, who was outside the house, sitting on the steps as he stared at the clock that read one minute to midnight.

While waiting patiently on the steps of his balcony, Lincoln, in order to pass the time, began to whistle a song from a movie he had seen in the future, but couldn't remember at the moment, but which was somehow still very much alive in his mind. And all this while sharpening a knife he had picked up in the kitchen with a flat stone. However, his attention was grabbed when his watch started beeping, announcing the beginning of chaos, or as it became known a few years later, the collision of worlds.

After hearing the sound of the whistle, Lincoln gave a slight smile.

"Time for some fun!"

Said Lincoln, giving a small smile as he saw a faint silhouette of a four-legged animal in the background, slowly making its way towards him.

A little further away, Lincoln could see the silhouette of a black wolf with red eyes coming out of something he could have sworn was a portal. However, from his somewhat confused expression, it could be said that last time, these creatures had not appeared in this way.

"Shit! Just what I need, apparently there have been some changes to their appearances."

Lincoln commented, with a less than friendly expression, as he stared at the wolves in the distance, coming out of a kind of purple portal with some red details.

After the wolves had completely emerged from the portal, they began sniffing and looking in all directions, until they smelled a different odor coming from the direction where Lincoln was still standing and, undeterred by the presence of the monsters, he stared back at them. After sensing the strong smell of meat coming from that direction, the wolves began to run towards where Lincoln was, with all the strength of a hungry monster that was starved for meat. However, just as they were about to reach Lincoln, they passed a lamppost, and without realizing it, they activated a rope trap that Lincoln had placed there a few minutes ago.

Lincoln, still with that indecipherable expression on his face, got up from the ground and, with the greatest calm in the world, began to walk slowly towards the wolves. After approaching one of the black wolves, Lincoln took out his knife, which was very sharp, and, without any remorse, plunged it into the monster's neck. It didn't even have time to react, let alone scream, as it was dead on the spot. After killing the wolf with a certain ease, its body slowly began to disappear in several purple particles that ended up back inside the portal. After the monster was completely gone, a reddish stone, which Lincoln smiled at because he already knew what it was, fell out of the portal. Just as Lincoln bent down to pick it up, a mysterious woman's voice began to ring in his head.

[WARNING: From chapter 26 onwards... this story will be written in the first person.]