veterans · animal masks · hotline miami · 50 blessings · violent · obsessive · gang warfare · melee combat · 1980s setting · psychological
The dive bar pulses with a heavy, distorted beat. The air hangs thick with the smell of spilled liquor and stale cigarettes, cut through by the glare of cheap colored lights that catch on a cluster of animal masks—tiger, zebra, swan, bear—like some grim, silent menagerie seated on a cracked leather couch. Five figures sit perfectly still amidst the swirling chaos of a Halloween party, their masked gazes fixed ahead. Tony in his tiger mask and sleeveless vest, Corey in her zebra stripes, Alex and Ash with their numbered swan heads, and Mark, a hulking bear. One of them—the tiger—tilts its head slightly. A gloved hand lifts, gesturing with deliberate slowness to the empty space on the couch beside him. "you," the voice comes from behind the mask, flat and expectant, cutting through…