Resuscitation - Chapter 2

Edmund Clarke calmly closed his eyes as he slipped another cigarette into his mouth, promptly lighting it. He deeply inhaled the smoke and slowly opened his deep blue eyes, removing the cigarette from his mouth and held it loosely in his left hand, slightly parting his lips to let the toxic cloud escape his lungs. He scanned over his fellow men in the room with him. They were of different sizes and various personalities. None of them were major competition – some too skinny, some too fat, most with faces their mothers probably weren't too proud of – except for a boy sitting to his left who had short spiked jet black hair and a wicked smile with a glare to match, perhaps gained from certain experiences Edmund would rather not know about. The boy was dressed in traditional black Nygan clothing, but the boy had not worn formal clothing, instead dressing in a stylishly ripped sleeveless black cotton shirt and a waist-length leather jacket. His pants were more formal, being black floor-length trouser pants.

Most of the men in the room were talking confidently to the men beside them, bragging about their better qualities and how sure they were they would catch the lucky lady to notice them. Edmund would not dare say anything that could come back to bite him later, instead calmly listening to each man's attribute as he mentioned it, taking a mental note if it seemed something worth noting. A few men did mention negative factors, and Edmund ensured he remember those. He planned to use whatever he could to pick the best of the lot that would come in, even if it meant exposing potential competition. He didn't come here because he wanted to come home with just anyone as a mate.

He took another puff of his cigarette and laid it down in the ashtray dish. He turned to the dark-haired boy who was bragging to a skinny auburn haired boy beside him.

"What's your name, kid?" Edmund motioned towards him to gain his attention.

The boy stared at him from the corner of his eye, stopping his conversation with the other boy. After a moment, he turned to the older man and smiled a wicked grin, leaning his arm on the back of the couch they sat on.

"Name's Tony. How about you, old man? Were you given a name or has your senile self forgotten–"

"How old are you, Tony?" Edmund quickly cut him off. He got annoyed quickly when subordinates got out of line, and he'd rather try to keep his cool as long as possible.

The boy squinted his eyes at him and, after a moment, chuckled, "Old man's got a bark, eh? I'm 26 years old. But that'll be the last question I'll answer unless you return the favor."

Edmund stared at him a moment without reaction and then calmly looked down at the floor before lighting another cigarette.

"Can I bum one, guy?" Tony motioned with his hand. Edmund tossed one at him without looking in Tony's direction. Tony smiled and lit his. "That's more like it."

"If you had called me 'old man' when you asked for it, I would've burned you with mine," Edmund replied calmly, breathing in the cigarette. He blew out the smoke and immediately tossed the rest of the cigarette in the ashtray.

Tony took a deep breath into his and laughed as the smoke rushed out of his body. "Ouch, that's pretty harsh, dude." Tony glanced at the ashtray. "That's a waste. That's, like, a whole cigarette in there – two if you count the other."

Edmund leaned back on the couch, closing his eyes, and silently replied, "I'm trying to quit."

"If you're just gonna do that, pass me all of them. I swear I'll use them well," Tony snorted.

"It's not that easy," Edmund argued, but he took out his pack and took out all but two of them and threw them at Tony. Tony bent over and picked up some of the cigarettes that fell on the floor and counted them up.

"Man, that's 15 cigarettes. That's a brand new pack. What, did you just decide to quit before you got here?" Tony scoffed, sticking them all in his jacket.

"My mouth needs something," Edmund simply replied.

"Chew gum," Tony said, taking another puff of his cigarette. "Alright, it's my turn for questions, guy. Let's start with a name."

"Edmund." Edmund closed his eyes again.

"OK, Eddy, how old are you?" Edmund cringed at the nickname but answered anyway. "30."

"Damn, Edmunster, you're right on the edge. One more year, and you'd have the Corps on your doorstep."

"That's why I'm here. Shut your mouth if you aren't going to say my name right."

"Sure, whatever. Kinda dangerous to wait until the end though. You're not gonna be able to go next year if you don't find a girl to your tastes. You might end up with an ugly one just so you don't end up dead."

"I realize that."

"Why wait?" Tony asked impatiently.

"I didn't think I'd live until now."

"That's depressing." Tony yawned.

Edmund opened his eyes and glared at Tony. Tony gave him a wicked smile. "Cigarettes killing ya?"

"Not quite."

"What then?"

"I'm Military, front lines."

"…Holy shit."

Tony's amused expression dropped and grew deadly serious. "For how long?"

Edmund thought about it for a moment. "About four years now, in the front. Ten years in the Military."

"How are you not fucking dead?"

"Luck."

"That's badass, man." Tony looked straight ahead with wide eyes and took another puff of a cigarette. "You better hope for a woman who likes that and doesn't care if you're a dead man walking."

"Now we're on the same page," Edmund said quietly. He turned his head and asked. "Now, you tell me, why are you here?"

"Obviously to get chicks."

Edmund lifelessly chuckled. "I suppose you can do that. You still have four years until you have to find a wife."

Tony shrugged. "If she bangs hard, I'll keep her. No reason to wait four years to have no one I like that year."

Edmund closed his eyes and genuinely smiled, "Of course. I suppose you expect women to just fall into bed with you to have confidence like that."

Tony chuckled, "Wouldn't have it any other way." He leaned in close to Edmund and whispered, "Wanna know a secret?"

Edmund glanced at him, "Go ahead."

Tony smiled.

"The trick is to tell them you 'like them' and that they 'seem different' from the rest of the lot, and you've already 'set your eyes' on them to be your partner. Even if they initially refuse you, chicks love the attention and will eventually come around. Then you bed 'em, and if you like 'em, then you keep 'em. If you don't, then you go home, and they'll never find you. Well, for me I can just go home. But once you marry one of them, the other girls won't find you either. Just make sure the girl you marry doesn't find out. Tip though: Don't try it on a girl from your country. I had a girl from two years ago stalk me for months – months, man – until I changed my entire identity just to get the bitch off me. Learn from my mistake, Ed. Don't do that."

"I see. Thank you for your insight."

"No problem," Tony grinned and slapped him on his back. "And if you need help, I'll be here for ya."

Edmund lifted a corner of his lips in a smile back at him.

Two women in light blue business suits opened the big double doors at the other end of the room. They each pulled a door back towards the wall. A few men stood at the action.

The women, after finishing their task, walked in front of the doorway and bowed. After raising their heads, one spoke.

"Greetings, Male Matches from around the Continent. We, the Oceanic Republic of Marino, welcome you to our fair city of Delmar." The other woman smiled and opened her mouth to say her line.

"It is our pleasure to host this year's Resuscitation Holding. We do hope that you will help us to make this event go as smoothly as possible without any trouble."

"We do hope that everyone here is seated comfortably and has settled well into their rooms. The Female Matches were shown to their rooms early this morning and are now being held in the waiting room to await further direction. They will be separated into age groups as you men were. The age group of women age 26 to age 30 will arrive in this room shortly."

"You will be allowed thirty minutes to view the entire group. After that time slot, you will be matched in pairs. Volunteer pairs will be matched first. After that, pairs will be selected by random."

"There are an exact number of men and women selected to be matched in pairs so do not worry you will not be matched with a partner."

"After thirty minutes paired, if you and your partner wish to view other partners, a switch will be allowed. Please only switch if you truly feel the partner you are with is unsatisfactory."

"We wish to thank you for your support of the Resuscitation Program our beautiful countries have graciously agreed to offer for us so that we may become closer to our brother and sister countries, and enjoy an era of peace and prosperity for our children."

The two women bowed and walked outside into the hallway, both facing opposite directions and ushered towards people hidden by the walls to come and enter the room.

Edmund had barely been paying attention to the speech the two women were giving, sitting bored on the couch when the women had walked out. However, when the two women re-entered the room, the Female Matches wandering behind them, his eyes stopped on one woman with a bright red dress, brown eyes, and dark brown hair.

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He unconsciously jumped to his feet.

"Sister…?"