WELCOME TO SINCITY.

Chapter: 3.

****

The radiance of the sun greeted both sleeping teens and woke one up from the deep slumber they both didn't seem to want to ever wake up from. Eric forced his eyes open and blinked trying to adjust to the intense brightness in the room. Once his eyes were fully open and his brain finally awake, his glare fell on Mrs. Blackwell who stood with both arms crossed and a huge grin plastered on her face.

Eric smiled at her, he sat up in bed but made sure he pulled a blanket around his crotch so he doesn't tint the poor woman's eyes forever. "Good morning, mother."

She shook her head and turned around to pull a tissue from the table and hand it over to him. "Wipe your mouth, you drooled on the side."

"Keep it down you enemies of sleep. . ." Jason whined from sleep and Eric slapped his head causing the boy to jump awake with a jolt. "Ow!!" He cried.

The now laughing woman handed her son his own tissue and made her way out of the room. "Come down for breakfast in five." With that said, she shut the door.

Eric rushed into the bathroom to brush his teeth but not without smearing toothpaste on Jason's toothbrush and hanging it up for him. By the time Jason got into the bathroom, Eric was already in the shower. Jason took his brush and cleaned up his teeth before joining Eric in the walk-in shower which was big enough to accommodate both of them.

They helped each other wash up and soon made their way into the bedroom to dress up.

****

With two duffle bags hanging loosely on their shoulders both boys made their appearance in the living room. Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell stared at them worriedly when they saw the boys with bags.

Mr. Blackwell put down his coffee mug and asked. "Where are we going?"

His wife nodded to the question as she was about to ask the same.

Both boys threw the bags down and sat beside each other then began stuffing their plates with pancakes.

Jason mumbled with a mouth full. "SinCity."

Mrs. Blackwell asked. "When did you come up with that?"

Jason put down his finished glass of milk and smiled at his parents. "I have always wanted to go there."

All the while, Eric ate ignoring them as they talked.

"Eric?" Mr. Blackwell called.

He raised his eyebrows to acknowledge the man. "Mm."

"Did you tell your parents?"

"I did say bye to them." He answered honestly.

Mrs. Blackwell got up and made her way to the phone. "I will give them a call."

Immediately both boys jumped back on their feet and grabbed their bags. "Bye. . . see you in three weeks!" They were out of the house. Mrs. Blackwell spoke on the phone and Mr. Blackwell stared at them as if they have both gone crazy.

Jason sat in the car and Eric loaded their bags in the trunk.

"I swear I don't understand why I can't just let you do things on your own." Eric frowned.

Jason smirked. "We have eight hours to drive so you better knock that frown off your face and step on it."

Eric punched his rib before they drove off.

****

Having driven for three hours straight, they had long left their beautiful city and now they drove on a dusty lonely double lane. They have only come across one car since they took the turn for SinCity which was weird and exciting.

Eric complained "I'm starving" and Jason smiled.

"I packed us snacks, hold on and I'll grab something for you." Jason maneuvered into the back seat from the front, he unzipped the bag he tucked in there while Eric loaded the trunk, inside the bag was another bag which held the food, he grabbed the snack-filled bag he especially packed for his best friend, he returned to his seating position and unzipped the bag then he pulled out two snack bags and two cans of energy drinks, he smiled at his friend and helped him tear the bag open then began feeding the boy and himself.

"This isn't going to work." Eric groaned after a few bites, he stepped on the brakes and brought the car to an abrupt end.

"Oh, come on!" Jason cried.

"What?" Eric took the bag from him and shoved his hand into it, packing a handful and poured into his mouth. "I need food to stay alive, or in this case drive us to SinCity." He mumbled with a mouth full.

"We still have approximately four hours forty-five minutes more until we get to SinCity." Jason dug into his own bag.

"So? We have driven over three hours and I haven't stopped, not once, not even when I needed to pee."

Jason shook his head. "I held a bottle for you to pee in, why do you need to stop?!"

Eric hissed at him. "A bottle?" He met Jason's smiling face. "Dude, you also held my dick so it was uncomfortable, I couldn't get it all out." Eric tosses his now empty bag aside and picked up another, tore it open, and dug into it.

Jason laughed. "Yes, you did, you squirted some on my hands when I wiggled it!" He chuckled and reached for the bag of chips Eric held out for him.

Eric on remembering that made a sick face. "Yet you didn't wash and now you have fed me my own piss."

"It's your piss get over it and I also fed myself it." Jason ate his snack without a care in the world.

"You're so weird but I love you, Red." Eric nudged him on the side and Jason laughed.

"I love you too."

******

After consuming six bags and four cans of drinks, both boys came down from the car to go refill the gas tank. Eric walked over to the open trunk to pull out the gas can and Jason stood by the side, the sun beat down on them as Eric filled the car with gas.

Jason swung around taking in their new environment, dried bushes on both sides and dusty highway, no cars, no humans, not even an animal, it was dead quiet and they were the only ones on the road.

"Isn't it strange no one is going or coming on these roads?" He met Eric's eyes, the boy tossed the empty gas-can back into the trunk and shut it.

Eric wiped his hands with a wet towel. "It's your idea to come here so don't start complaining now."

They both made their way to the front of the car.

"Together, on three." Eric smiled and at Jason's nod of his head, he counted. "One, two, three!" And they both jumped and sat on the hood of the jeep, with legs dangling freely they both enjoyed the quietness and loneliness.

"This is peaceful," Jason commented and Eric agreed by pulling him to his side and holding him in place.

"Hello, boys!!!" The loud noise caught their attention, they watched confusedly when a black Hummer pulled up in front of them and six people emerged from it, the girls ran towards them giggling loudly but the guys walked slowly.

"Oh, my God, you're so hot!" One of the girls grabbed Eric and squeezed his bicep and the other two did the same with Jason. "How old are you guys?" One of the girls asked.

"Eighteen," Jason replied and Eric glared daggers at him.

"No way!" One of the boys yelled in disbelief, I'm older and I workout a lot yet, I am not close to being as muscular as you two. How often do you work out?" The boy gazed into Jason's eyes and asked. "You do workout right?"

"A little," Jason replied again and this time, Eric smacked him in the head.

He was talking to strangers and he did not like it one bit.

"Stop telling them about us, we don't know anything about them and they intruded into our private moment disturbing our peace." Eric seethed and glared at the group of strangers.

"We are so sorry. I'll do the honor of introducing my friends starting from me. My name is Nancy and we are all from FarmCity" She cleared her throat and stood all five of them in a straight line then she started from her right. "This is Tommy and his boyfriend Mike," she moved both boys together and shoved them aside. "This is Betty, my girlfriend," she touched the cheek of a beautiful blonde and the girl smiled at them. "This is Nora, her uncle invited us to SinCity which is where we are headed and since this road leads to only one place I take it that is where you both are headed as well." She met their eyes and Eric nodded in agreement. "And lastly but not the least, is Jamie, you see, Jamie here is lonely and needs a boyfriend or a girlfriend, but he can't date Nora because she says she isn't into relationships, whatever that means. So there you have it, oh and we are all twenty years old college students." She hugged her girlfriend's hips and pulled the laughing girl closer as they shared a quick kiss.

"What about you guys, aren't you going to introduce yourself?" Mike asked.

"He's Eric and I'm Jason, we are best friends," Jason replied, shooting a glance at Eric's way to see if the other boy approves.

"What City are you both from?" Nora asked.

"Dominion," Jason replied again.

"So, what are you going to do in SinCity?" Jamie asked.

Eric frowned. "We are on vacation. What are you going to do in SinCity?" He fired back now it's not common to see the boy like this so Jason was really starting to worry for his best friend.

Why was he so upset and uptight?

They're nice kids trying to be friendly.

"We better be on our way, hopefully, we stumble into each other again in SinCity!" The girls laughed as they made their way towards their car.

"And maybe by then you would have loosened up a bit," Tommy smirked pointing at Eric, he pulled his boyfriend by the hand and they walked away.

"I don't like them." Eric blurted out as soon as they drove off.

"Figures." Jason nearly rolled his eyes. "Well, are you coming?" He asked from inside the car.

Eric didn't know when he got in the car so he was surprised to see that he was already waiting inside, he must have been too focused watching as those strangers got into their car and drove off.

He soon joined his friend, and with a smile on his face, he apologized. "I'm sorry if I was a dick to them."

"It's alright, they didn't mean any harm, so you should loosen up, Black Boy." Jason shook his head and Eric laughed while firing the car engine and they drove off again.

*****

It was a long boring ride but they finally got to their destination just after sundown.

"What is that?" Jason pointed forward as they neared a huge Gate with men in black carrying guns and patrolling around the Gate with a serious expression glued on their faces like a second face.

The City was walled and sealed off with a huge Black Gate as if they were a part of another world, a world that doesn't belong to the one they knew.

"Looks like something out of a storybook," Eric noted as they got pulled over. He turned the engine off and rolled down the window.

"Please, step out of the car, slowly." The man instructed and they both did as was told.

"Hello, Sir." Jason smiled at the man but he didn't return the gesture.

"Are your IDs with you?" He asked.

"Yes." Both boys replied with a confused look on their faces, this was new compared to every other place they have been to, this was hands down the most strict.

"Follow me for your scanning." The man walked away and they both followed hesitantly.

As they walked behind the man they saw a black Hummer packed a few feet away from them, they quickly recognized the Hummer from that afternoon, just as they were about to share knowing glances with each other, they saw all six college students seated under a tent each grabbing bottled water as they waited for only God knows what.

Jason waved at them and they all waved back, they walked past them and into an enormous office, more men in black sat around computers, seriously tapping away on the keypads.

"This way, please." The man ushered them into a smaller office space, he offered them a seat before he left them seated there.

They sat and waited for what seemed like an eternity until two other men came into the room, one held a small black device in one hand and the other sat in front of the only computer that was on the table.

"Get up." The man with the device instructed, they did and he pulled down a curtain they hadn't noticed was there before, the curtain fell to reveal a mirror-like full-body scanner. "Well?" The man gestured to the scanner and Eric stepped in, after he heard a beeping sound the man asked him to step out and Jason got in. "IDs?" He asked and Eric reached for the small bag he kept on the chair, and pulled out their IDs from the side pockets, he handed it over to the man who gave it to the one seated in front of the computer. "Sit." And they sat.

The man ran their IDs in his system and they waited patiently, so many questions to ask but those men were too mean, they dared not ask a thing so instead, they sat like good children and waited.

The man in front of the computer raised his eyes to meet theirs and they gulped, the man went on to interrogate them."You want to enter SinCity?"

"Yes," Eric replied.

"What for?"

"We decided to spend our vacation here," Eric answered yet again.

"How long do you intend to stay?"

"Three weeks."

He returned to his computer and typed away on it. "Remember, once your three weeks are over you leave at once otherwise you both would be in violation of the rules, so if you would like to stay more than that, you had better say so now." The man gave them a stern glare and both boys just knew they wouldn't want to spend another week in this City.

"No, three weeks it is," Jason spoke.

"Good." The man got up and walked over to them. "Give me your wrist." He instructed and both boys made their wrists visible, the man took the black device from the other man. The thing looked like a tiny flashlight, he turned it on and blue light emitted from the glass head, he then went ahead to place the blue light on Eric's wrist while Jason watched with caution. When the man took the touch out four digits number had been etched into his wrist in blue, like a tattoo. "Your turn." He met Jason's eyes and the boy gave his wrist out for marking. "Now you may enter SinCity." The man smiled after he was done and they both hurried out of that office and stumbled outside. The first man that had led them to the office stood in wait for them.

"Follow me and I'll take you to your car." He threaded away from them and they followed once again. They all looked strange, none had a name tag on their clothes and since they wore the same clothes, it made them all look alike, it was creepy, they couldn't wait to get away from them.

As they got into their car they couldn't fail but notice the six college students, they appeared from another room that looked like an office, Tommy and Mike stared at each other's wrists and they knew they were looking at the weird numbers etched there. Eric and Jason looked on as they made their way to their parked Hummer but this time they were being escorted by a man who didn't wear black like the rest but he looked like your average old next-door neighbor. They didn't see past that as they focused on the huge Gate pulling apart to let them into the city.

"This is your very own map of the city, be sure you don't get lost." The man handed Jason the map and winked at him.

"Welcome to SinCity." Another greeted and Eric drove into the Gate.