20 REVELATION

"Let's go," Alex said simply.

The tension that had been in the air the entire time disappeared together with the pressure. Damn it, these Jones guys were weird.

Sylvester and David Sr. remained in the circle while the caravan leader, Ronald and I took a leisurely stroll toward the forest. Our squad followed me with their eyes, surprised and suspicious at the same time. Petrovich stared at me with anger, eyes narrowed as if he wanted to pierce me with his glare. As we walked in silence, I wondered what kind of parents would call their children by the same name. I didn't think of it right away, but I guessed that was because of old Jones' pressure.

Typically, the division into Senior and Junior is used when a father and a son have the same names. Or a grandfather and a grandson. And here we had two brothers, both Davids... Strange.

"What did David show you?" Alex asked as we moved far enough from the caravan, where no one could overhear us. But Ronald, nevertheless, moved away from us and began peering at the illuminated outlines of the circle of carts just in case. Does he think someone's going to spy on us? Guess I'm not the only paranoid one here.

"Not much yet," I replied honestly. "Unfortunately, he was forced to leave us when the Reaper came."

Not a muscle moved on Jones' face. He stared at me, waiting for me to continue.

"Thanks to your son, I began working on my stats," I decided that I could sometimes be frank with this person. So far, it was good for both of us.

"David is not my son," Alex said suddenly. "He's my nephew. His father, my brother, died. My wife and I took him in and raised him as our own."

I just nodded back, showing my understanding and maybe a little sympathy. That explained why there were two Davids in the family.

"But never mind that," Alex closed the topic. "You say a Reaper has come to you? Did he kill David?"

"No," I said. If Baldy really did survive, I will find it out now. If he died... I'll get deception points. The question was how would these dangerous men react if my lies were exposed? Perhaps I was being too hasty.

But nothing happened. My deception stats remained the same. Was Igor, aka David, truly alive?

"I thought so," Alex nodded slowly. "Otherwise I would have felt his death."

Well, I'd better keep my eyes open around the Jones family and not get involved in dangerous experiments. If he was not bluffing and really could feel if his nephew was alive, I shouldn't lie to him anymore.

"Can I ask you a question, Alex?" I asked cautiously.

"Yes," he said.

My heart was pounding. Could I shed more light on the mystery of this world? Surely the merchant knew things that a simple-minded schemer like Petrovich couldn't even dare to imagine.

"Has anyone ever gotten to the exit point?"

The merchant gave it some thought and noisily drew a breath.

"You want an honest answer?" he asked.

"Yes," I said hoarsely and cleared my throat. It must have looked inappropriate.

"Alex Jones has been in this world for so long that he has learned your language," the merchant said floridly. "And, as you can see, my sons are just as good at it."

"About...ten years?" I said, trying to look at the old man and not at the "Age" floating in the air. "Almost eleven thousand days." Compared with him, Baldy was, indeed, a "junior".

Suddenly, throwing back his head Jones burst out laughing. It was frustrating, humiliating and arrogant.

"You would think so," after a laugh, Alex became serious again. "Families rarely come to this world, lad. Maybe I'm the only one who got so lucky."

With a broad gesture he invited me to sit down and as he sat himself on a round boulder. I gently sat onto the cool ground thinking that it would be nice to make a fire since we were going to share secrets.

"Who's the president in the States?" the merchant suddenly asked.

Seeing my confused face, he waved his hand and continued.

"The last time I was there, Reagan was ruling our country," he paused for a moment, and I, after having done a couple of simple calculations in my mind, realized that the merchant had been here for at least thirty years! "My wife, my children and I were returning from the Independence Day Fair. We stopped at the gas station, that's where it all started."

He paused, looking straight ahead. He didn't look like the terrible trader of an unknown world anymore, or a person able to bend anyone to his wishes. Across me sat an elderly, slightly haggard, man who had clearly seen a lot in his life.

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"There was a little supermarket," the old Jones said again, "and a lot of people… Everyone was returning from the Fair. She was there as well. She closed off all the exits and said that she was holding everyone hostage. The owner of the gas station called 911, but the connection was cut off. We were isolated from the rest of the world. No one had come to the gas station while we were there. Not a single goddamn car."

Who was he talking about? Who was the woman who took everyone at the gas station hostage? Was he going to tell about the deadly trial that led his family into this world? Was this unknown lady a goddess, a mentor, or whatever she introduced herself as?

"So she offered us a choice," Jones said. "Everyone present had to determine who was worthy of being saved. I wasn't the only one stuck at that damn gas station with a family. But I said that I wouldn't hesitate to kill everyone to save my wife and children. She then offered to blow up the gas station in exchange for the lives of my family. As you see, I did it."

I shuddered. Well, of course… I also escaped leaving my companions to die in the supermarket. But... Jones' conscious decision led to the entire station being burned down... People inside and all… Other people's families, too! I definitely did not like this guy. But what did I know about the others? About Petrovich, for example? He hadn't told anyone about his trial. And those who knew didn't share this information. And now they would never tell… Suren, Alexander and Andrei... Maybe Baldy could.

"You probably understand," the merchant added, "that it'd be better not to fool me. David chose you as his follower, so I'll be open with you. Do you know where he is?"

Again that unpleasant pressure... But now I felt panic, too. I just wanted to jump up and run screaming into the forest, but an unknown force had me pinned to the ground. After thirty years and with such power he only managed to reach level 90? Fox reached level 40 in one evening.

No, man, you were obviously holding back. Baldy could hide his name… You must be able to do something similar. And this pressure… I bet I'm managing to stay on my feet only because of my intelligence and magical resistance.

"The last time I saw him was when we ran into the Reaper," I said in a trembling voice. Is that what they wanted me to do? How disgusting I must look. "He disappeared after that. The Reaper said he killed him, but…"

"But you didn't believe him, and that was the right thing to do," Alex finished my sentence for me.

The panic disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared and pressure returned to normal.

"It's not the first time he got out of trouble," the merchant said with satisfaction. "He wasn't with us at the gas station that day. Seeley, Ronald, David Sr. and I moved here. Sylvester was born here. And David Jr., my nephew, stayed in that world."

"But he somehow found a way to get in here …" I blurted out without thinking.

"He did," the merchant agreed. "And now you have to help me find him."

"Me?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Yes, you," Jones said. "Are you his follower or what?"

He said the last words with undisguised sarcasm. I didn't like that. He was either doubting that I had been following Baldy, or he simply considered me unworthy of it. I wished it was the latter.

"Let's go back," Alex proposed complacently. "And do not say a word about this conversation."

I was feeling rather cold by now, so I took the merchant's offer with enthusiasm. It was much warmer near the base. Judging by the smoke, they had already lit a fire near the cave and were preparing a late dinner. To be honest, it was no longer fun being alone with our guest from the eighties.

Replaying various banalities in my thoughts I managed to get rid of the excitement and worries about my future: I was a simple guy, I trusted the good and the wise old man, a relative of the teacher who had taught me how to live. Little by little, I managed to suppress my fears, and my companion, who was somehow scanning my condition, stopped looking at me with suspicion.

"By the way," Jones suddenly said. "You asked whether or not it was possible to get out of here."

I nodded. The merchant had already given me an answer…in a way. If he himself had been here for several decades, and if one of the sons had been born here, it was simply impossible to get to the exit point. Truth be told, that depressed me. Could a person born in this world get into ours? He hadn't appeared here because of a test and, therefore, at least theoretically, the entry rules didn't apply to him. Or did they?

"I grew old here, lad," the merchant said firmly. "And I haven't seen anyone reach the exit point. Face the facts."

Having concluded our conversation, he confidently walked over to the carts and our base. Ronald, who had been waiting for us nearby, joined his father and the two started discussing something in private. I thought I'd best leave them alone.

It's interesting, I thought along the way. Judging by what I know now, people started coming to this world in the last century. And no one, according to Jones, had ever gotten out of here. Many had simply accepted the fact that there was no way out, and even created some kind of a civilization. Why not? At least this world is appealing because it's very difficult to die here.

On the other hand, who was doing this and why? Was someone experimenting on people? Simply having fun? So many questions and almost no answers. My old friend Igor/David had given me a riddle… He had somehow managed to get here and meet his family. The most improbable assumptions came to my mind; the most reasonable ones were that Alex Jones' mentor found the adult Baldy and forced him to participate in the trial, promising him that he'll meet his uncle, aunt and cousins. However, I knew too little about the so-called "gods", so this assumption was no better than the rest.

So, lost in thought, I went to the campfire and sat down next to the fat man who was devouring a bowl of steaming soup. He smiled nervously when he saw me and then looked away. He's afraid, the poor thing. I couldn't blame him. He had just survived a deadly trial and immediately got involved in a bloody and merciless revolution. Compared to him, I was lucky.

Judging by the conversations happening around us, Jones and his guards would be staying near our base until morning. As the leader, Petrovich had a couple of important conversations with Alex, and the Major stood in a circle with the brothers and was talking to them about something. The topics were obviously not happy ones, judging by the expressions on their faces.

Some of the guards had already fallen asleep near the carts, while the rest of them were wandering around the base. No one objected.

"Hey, guys," one of the guards addressed Vadim and me. "Are there any women here?"

"No free gals here!" the redhead suddenly appeared and sharply ended the conversation. "None for you."

"Okay," the guard moaned in disappointment and stepped aside.

Perhaps Olga and Dasha really shouldn't come out of the cave now. Jones' guards were clearly not gentlemen. I even mentally applauded Petrovich. Who knew what would have happened if the girls were with us.

After warming up, I felt sleepy. Patting the fat man on the shoulder, and making him shudder with surprise, I got up and went into the cave. Almost no one looked at me. Nobody except Alex Jones.