~June 18th, 1982~

~Cycle 207~

Henri awoke on a new cycle in his usual spot, beneath the underpass of a bridge. He quickly got up to his feet, brushed himself off, and jogged into the city. He wanted to make sure he arrived around the same time as the others. And before anyone else.

On the way he passed by a home that left a few empty jugs out. Like usual, Henri picked them up and carried them with him.

Near the gun store was a gas station. Henri would make sure to visit that once everyone had arrived. The gun store had a shattered window. Henri set the jugs aside and stepped in through the broken window.

Inside was a horde of weaponry and ammunition, with Aveline arming herself and gathering things into her backpack.

She beat him there again.

"Hey babe." He greeted.

She turned and calmly smiled, "Hey, yourself."

Henri picked out the pistol that he always grabbed and tucked it into his pocket. Aveline had taught him how to handle a gun. In one of her fun ideas, her group gathered in the shopping mall, set up a series of mannequins, and used them as target practice. The mall was largely empty ever since the day started repeating, and they had the entire place to themselves. Henri was competent enough, though he was glad he never had to defend himself.

More of Aveline's group converged on the gun store and they secured it for themselves. Their group had grown over the repeated cycles. She started calling them, 'The Wolves'. As everyone gathered what weaponry they wanted, a few other individuals were seen approaching the gun store.

Aveline stepped towards a window near those individuals, pulled a pistol, a fired off a few warning shots into the air, scaring them off. There were people in the city who could do some terrible things if they got a hold of weapons, and Aveline thought it best that they keep them from doing so. It was why it was so important for them to reach the gun store first.

Once everyone had armed themselves, Henri grabbed the jugs he brought and filled them up at the gas station. From there he poured gasoline over the unused weaponry and ammunition, rendering them unusable by anyone else.

With that out of the way, they could enjoy themselves. Aveline and her group always sought to try things that they never could've before. On the previous cycles, they spent some time destroying some of the contents of a retail business one of them used to work for. Swimming in hidden area. Visiting places that would normally have been too expensive for any of them to afford.

That evening, Aveline had a surprise in store that she wanted to share with Henri. Luis and Olivier filed into a car they with them, and they started driving through the city. Henri didn't bother asking where they were going. He'd just come to accept that she had a good time in store.

But he started to worry when he saw the setting sun's light reflected off a sign that they drove past a saying they were leaving the city limits. Luis didn't seem concerned as he drove past. Olivier and Aveline didn't either.

"Hey... should we be leaving the city?"

Aveline quickly answered, "As long as we return to the city before the day resets, we'll be fine. We'll still remember everything that way."

Henri nodded. He knew that Patrice had been doing research about the bounds of the effect over their city, and that the reset had been occurring around 10pm each day. But that time was moving steadily out. They just needed to make sure they'd be back within a few hours.

"Can I get any hints about where we're heading?"

Olivier leaned back and looked at Henri, "I could tell him."

Aveline calmly replied, "Up to you."

Olivier smirked and said, "We're going towards my old bosses place, outside of the city."

"What for?"

"We're going to mess with him. He has some four-wheelers we could take for joyrides too. We could ride those back to the city."

Henri paused. They hadn't directed any of their exploits towards anyone specific before. "Do you not like him?"

"No! I used to work on his farm, and he used to shortchange his staff on paychecks. Never married, probably cause he's such a miser." Olivier replied.

Henri wasn't sure about messing with the guy, but he agreed, "There's some pretty bad bosses out there."

"Definitely." Luis muttered as he took a turn.

Henri thought for a moment, "Uh, at my old factory job, the manager would fire people just to keep the workers on edge. I heard him say, 'They need to be reminded that they're all replaceable.' Eventually I was replaced.".

Aveline asked, "What was the name of the company?"

"Bartri Manufacturing."

Aveline calmly said, "Maybe we could visit that manager of yours some time. Cause him some trouble after all he's done."

Henri chuckled, "Real funny idea."

He expected her to laugh along with him, but she didn't... was she serious?

"We're close." Olivier said.

The sun had completely fallen when they pulled onto some country roads until reaching a modest sized house with a big red barn in the back and a few acres of farmland as a backyard. The lights in the house were off. Just as advertised, they could see a few four-wheelers for off-roading waiting in a shed. Luis pulled past the house and parked the car a short distance away, out of sight.

"How do you want to do this?" Olivier asked as everyone stepped out of the car.

"Sneak up to the four-wheelers. If we're lucky he'll have left the keys on them. Otherwise maybe check his garage or something." Aveline explained. "With how far he lives outside the city, he probably doesn't even know the same day has been repeating over and over. It's just another day for him."

"We don't want him to catch us, right?"

"Of course not." Aveline calmly replied.

With a big grin Olivier said, "Once we get the four wheelers, I want to ride circles around his house a few times. That'll really mess with him!"

"Sounds fun!" Luis agreed.

Henri was having second thoughts, but it was too late for that. He snuck up to the house along with the others. Henri's eyes were firmly on the house as they crept towards the shed.

Olivier was grinning as he reached the four-wheelers. He dangled keys in the air and whispered, "Too easy."

Henri and Aveline jumped onto one, while Luis and Olivier took the other. In a cavalier manner Olivier revved up the engine before storming out of the shed, whooping and hollering as he drove over the front lawn of the house. He made a hard turn on the lawn, tearing up grass and throwing dirt around at the house.

From the front door came a man with a beer belly in a robe and slippers who must've been relaxing until there was a commotion. "You get off that right now!" He barked.

Olivier giddily continued to mock his old boss. The man rushed back into house with a frustrated gait.

"We should get going." Aveline said as he began to pull away.

Olivier began, "Not ye-"

The front door of the house was kicked open. The boss stomped out, this time holding a shotgun and leveling it at Olivier and Luis. Everyone hurried to drive off. A shot rang out through the countryside, and the tires of their vehicle popped.

Aveline acted calmly and quickly, driving around the house fast enough that the man couldn't get a shot at them. But even as she and Henri were out of the man's sight, another shot rang out. He was still going after Olivier and Luis.

Aveline stepped off the four-wheeler and pulled her pistol. Henri hesitantly followed, drawing his own pistol.

"We don't want to hurt the guy, right?" Henri asked as they circled to the front of the house.

Another shot rang out from up front.

"We don't want him to hurt our guys either." Aveline quickly replied.

They stayed close to the side of the building, as cautious as possible as they drew near the front. They saw the robed man walking across his lawn with his shotgun leveled at the vehicle. Luis and Olivier were hiding behind it.

Olivier peeked out from the side of the vehicle with his own weapon, but was quickly punished, a shotgun blast searing past his shoulder. He hurried behind his cover with a painful shout.

The robed man was close. As soon as he rounded the vehicle, he'd have both of them. But Henri had a clear shot at the robed man.

Henri's hand shook as he contemplated what he should do. The old man didn't instigate the fight, but it would feel terrible to just let this happen... Whatever he did, it'd be undone by the next cycle anyways.

Henri stood from behind his cover, raised his gun, and fired. The old man fell to the ground with a thud.

Aveline ran her hand across his back and said, "Good job."

"T-Thanks." Henri replied unevenly. He looked at the robed man, there was no movement from him. He was dead.

Aveline walked across the lawn and casually asked, "He's down. Are the two of you still alive back there?"

Luis stood, and helped Olivier up to his feet, some blood seeping from his shoulder. He wound up and kicked the robed man on the ground, spitting on him afterwards. "Ass hole."

"You shouldn't have tried to rile him up so much. We could've left without any trouble." Aveline chided him.

"Thanks, Aveline." Luis said.

"Wasn't me, Henri saved the both of you." She replied, gesturing to Henri, who was still wrestling with what he'd done.

"Thanks Henri!" Luis hollered from across the lawn.

Aveline glanced between Henri and Luis and said, "You two take the car and head back to the city. Henri and I will be along soon."

"Got it boss." Luis said. The two began walking down the road to where they had parked their vehicle.

Henri sat on the porch, and Aveline took a seat beside him, gripping his arm and leaning against him, "Are you okay babe?"

"I'm... I don't know." Henri replied.

Aveline placed her hand by Henri's chin and had him look at her, "Those two were idiots for riling him up so much that it turned into a shootout. That didn't need to happen. But you did the right thing. You protected one of our own, and it's not like the guy is dead forever. When the day repeats, he'll be back."

"Yeah..."

"And it sounds like he was a jerk anyways. I wouldn't feel too bad."

"Yeah." Henri muttered. "How do you do it? When Olivier was hurt, you put him out of his misery without any problem."

Aveline sat back and sighed, "Well, I guess I got used to it. Early when the day started repeating, I had to deal with some awful people. It took a lot for them to leave me alone. It's why I started heading to the gun store first thing every day. Why I grouped up with Luis and the rest of them too."

"Right... I guess I'm not used to it yet."

They were both quiet for a moment. All that could be heard was the sound of crickets of the countryside. But Aveline stood and gave Henri a stern slap to the back of the head.

"Oww!"

"Enough moping! Let's head back." Aveline said, heading to their four-wheeler. Henri shook himself out of his stupor and followed.