Passive Aggressive

Barry sighs and drops another alcoholic beverage in front of him.

"Thank ya," Gnarly says, taking the entire mug to the head. Finishing the glass, Gnarly wipes his mouth as he states, "Pacing is for runners, and the only thing I run is my mouth," Gnarly burst out laughing at his joke.

Then, suddenly, he turns to Esquimo and Cordayl. "What's wrong? Y'all didn't think that was funny?" Gnarly ask.

"I didn't realize it was a joke," Esquimo responds.

Gnarly stares and sizes the two strangers up. "Yall aren't from around here, are ya?" he asks them.

"Nope, just old friends passing by. Well Barry, I see you are busy, it was good seeing you again my friend. Take care of yourself." Esquimo waves good-bye.

"It was nice to meet you, Barry," Cordayl says, standing up. Gnarly has his eyes locked on him the whole time.

"Ya say you're from out of town. But ya," Gnarly says, pointing his giant finger down at Cordayl, "Look familiar. Are ya Joseph's brother?" Gnarly ask, trying to remember.

Cordayl gets nervous. "No, I'm not," he answers.

"His cousin?" Gnarly follows up.

"No."

"His nephew?"

"No."

Gnarly gasp, "His son?" he whispers.

Cordayl gets tired of answering, "No, I don't know a Jo-"

"Ohhhh, I know ya!!" Gnarly shouts. "Ya, that one fellow who brought down that kingdom! Ya, hair is a little longer, but it is ya," Gnarly states in excitement.

"Ohh Joseph! Yeah, that is my cousin!" Cordayl tries to lie his way out.

"Shut up!" Gnarly cancels the attempt. "Damn, I'm face to face with a stone-cold killer! But ya don't look like a killer. Ya skinny, and I can even tell ya scared right now." Gnarly says, sizing Cordayl up.

"Hmm, well, I'm the baddest mug over here, but if I beat ya up, I'll be the baddest mug in the world." Gnarly's brain starts to formulate. "Yeah, I like that. How bout it, skinny? Let's see who the baddest of the bad is." Gnarly cracks his knuckles, warming up.

Cordayl heart starts beating too hard at the giant's challenge.

The voice in his head whispers to him, "Whoop his ass."

With anxiety taking over, Cordayl shakily replies, "Okay, let's take this outside. I don't want to mess up Barry's bar."

"Fine with me. I perform better with a crowd anyway." Gnarly cracks his neck.

Cordayl exits the door first and as soon as he does, he immediately takes off running.

"Barry, get me another drink ready, will ya?" Gnarly says, turning his head around to see Cordayl sprinting up the street. "Hey, get back here!" Gnarly shouts as he chases Cordayl.

Gnarly is trying to close the gap, but at his size, he is making no progress. He quickly tires out and is left gasping as he watches Cordayl speed off down the street.

"Should've drank that damn water," Gnarly says, gasping, as he walks back to the bar.

Cordayl gets back to the bar. "Okay, Esquimo, I think I lost him. Let's get out of here before he-" The door is thrust open again. "Returns." Cordayl sighs.

"Barry, about that water." Gnarly says, still out of breath. Seeing Cordayl in the bar, all of his energy returns instantly. "Ha, I finally caught ya!"

"I tried to be nice and take it outside, but since you wanna run around like a crazy ostrich, I guess we have no choice but to do this in the bar. Sorry, Barry," Gnarly says, not really meaning it.

Gnarly points at Cordayl with a twisted smile. "Ya can apologize after ya check out of the hospital

Gnarly locks the door behind him, "Sorry Barry, I'll pay for the damages later, but I don't want this punk tryna run away again." Gnarly says, walking towards Cordayl.

"See what ya about to make me do? Because of ya, I have to bust up another bar. A good one at that." Gnarly sneers, swinging a massive uppercut at Cordayl.

Cordayl dodges the swing, jumping back into the bar. Then he quickly jumps out of the way seconds before Gnarly's fist comes crashing into the bar.

"Stop running!" Gnarly and the voice in Cordayl's head shout in unison.

Cordayl listens to neither, as he scrambles around dodging all of Gnarly's hits as they slowly destroy the bar.

Barry, frustrated, makes a move to break it up, but Esquimo stops him.

Still avoiding contact, Cordayl, not minding his surroundings, trips on a bar stool. As Cordayl's back touches the ground, his chest is met by Gnarly's gigantic foot.

The impact causes Cordayl to lose his breath, but the assault doesn't stop. Gnarly keeps stomping on Cordayl as he continues to talk shit to him with each massive step. "This is the world's biggest threat? I've stepped on dog turds tougher than this," Gnarly laughs as he continues to dance on Cordayl's sternum.

With each step, though, Cordayl grows increasingly frustrated, and the voice in his head is far from calming.

"So you bout to let this goofy drunk line dance on your chest until you tap out? You're so pathetic. I'm throwing up in your head right now." the voice says, literally puking in Cordayl's mind.

A frustration mark appears on Cordayl's head as Gnarly's foot stomps down with enough force that Esquimo and Barry feel the impact.

Gnarly looks down to witness the defeated Cordayl under his boot. But to his surprise, he isn't there.

Cordayl unlocks the door of Barry's bar. "I apologize for the damages, Barry. Yo, let's finish this outside," Cordayl tells Gnarly as he steps out.

Gnarly smiles at Cordayl, who seems to have finally woken up. "Fine with me."

Outside, the two stare at each other with intensity. "Ya seem a little bit different. Did I do something to upset ya?" Gnarly mocks.

"Nope. That stomping was just a good warm-up. You said you perform better in front of a crowd. Now show me you at your best. Will ya?" Cordayl mocks Gnarly in return.

Gnarly snarls before chargeing at Cordayl. Cordayl catches the massive blow with one hand as the shock wave rattles everything around them. Gnarly doesn't stop, throwing punch after punch.

Cordayl doesn't budge an inch as he endures and blocks each blow.

Gnarly throws a vicious uppercut that shatters all the windows in the vicinity, even raising the dirt around them.

When the dust settles, Cordayl is seen holding the punch in one hand, smirking, as Gnarly strains to make his uppercut connect.

"That tickled." Cordayl, whose voice has merged with the one in his head, tells Gnarly before he uses the momentum from Gnarly's uppercut to help him knee the giant man in the face.

Gnarly yells in pain as he tilts backward, but Cordayl catches him and helps him stand upright. As Gnarly groggily raises his fist up, he tries to punch Cordayl again, who easily deflects the hit and starts to break Gnarly down punch by punch.

His body worn down, Gnarly drops to his knees. Cordayl grabs his hair and begins to knee him repeatedly in the face and torso. Cordayl drops the defeated Gnarly on the ground and proceeds to stomp him as Gnarly had previously done him.

With each stomp, Cordayl grows angrier, and random flashbacks invade his mind, only making him angrier.

It isn't until Esquimo tells him to stop that Cordayl's foot freezes centimeters above the unconscious skull of Gnarly. Cordayl looks at Esquimo with a glare that sends a chill up Esquimo's spine. But soon after, Cordayl's eyes soften and he calms down.

Looking down at Gnarly, Cordayl tells Esquimo that he thinks it's time for them to move on in their journey, to which Esquimo quickly agrees.

Saying a loud goodbye to Barry, Cordayl and Esquimo quickly walk away from the crowd and out of the town to their next destination.