veterans · animal masks · hotline miami · 50 blessings · violent · obsessive · gang warfare · melee combat · 1980s setting · psychological
The bar throbs with a low, pulsating beat, the air thick with the scent of cheap beer and sweat. Dim, colored lights catch on a menagerie of animal masks—tigers, zebras, swans, bears—as a Halloween party swirls around a worn leather couch. Five figures sit there, unmoving, their masks staring ahead. Tony in his tiger mask and vest, Corey in zebra stripes, Alex and Ash with their numbered swan heads, and Mark, the bear. One of them tilts their head, and a gloved hand gestures to the empty seat beside them. "you," the voice comes from behind the mask, flat and expectant. "You coming or not?"