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[Sub][Color=Yellow]The Time to Act Has Always Been Now // Part 03[/Color][/Sub][/Center]

[B]Gala Park, Appleton City[/B]

The warm, sweet music of whistling lips saturated the park. Pleasant sunshine and the cheerful hymns of the birds lifted the spirits of everyone present, except for Mike. His doctor recommended that he have a certain amount of exercise, a total that he'd been dragging behind for days. So today he'd decided to make up for his mounting deficiencies.

His heart was thumping like a drum kit that someone gave a seven year old for his birthday. Messy and irritating. Draining. And good Lord, his lungs were tired. They felt like deflated balloons. He wished it didn't feel like an air hose had been snaked down his throat.

He passed by a bench, and caught sight of a familiar face. A dreadfully familiar face indeed.

"Gaugh!"

The sight of Mr Matt Dallas' face was half rotten and covered in a thin, sticky looking blood patch. One eyelid was hanging on by a thread of tissue. Despite this appearance, he cocked his head to the side and grinned.

"What are you--! How the-- H E L P!!!"

A few other park goers rapidly came to his aid, elbows out and eyes open. But they quickly wrote it off before smiling at the man on the bench and giving Mike a dismissive eye roll. They walked off and left Dave standing there like an idiot. Paralyzed by some combination of fear, confusion, and embarrassment, Dave could hardly move a muscle.

"Hey Dave. How's it going?"

[I]No response.[/I]

"Well, since you asked, I'm not doing too bad myself," he smiled with a mouth absent of teeth. "The wife, the kids, the whole nine yards and then some. That's that," he dropped the smile before the bones of his face redefined themselves and his flesh flapped about before tightening up, like the sheets of a freshly made bed. "So business: Two thousand dollars, not a lot to ask and for such a simple task, it should've been a snap. I get it. You didn't change your mind, the car accident did and you lost your grudge. But a deal is a deal."

He reached out his hand for the still standing man to hold. Mike grabbed hold. And the stranger pulled him in.

"I want my money, Mike. And I am going to get it out of you one way or another. Perk up now, this way doesn't actually involve you losing anything except possibly a few teeth. So you're coming with me."