I liked trying to guess someone’s story, seeing how spot on I could be. Everyone had a tale they could tell.
From the grocery store cashier to the person that delivered the mail. No one person walked through life the same as another. There could be similarities and situations we related to, but in the end, we were all individual souls--some of us more damaged than others.
There once was a time I would go to the park just so I could people watch. That was prior to my life spinning out of control, before my rose-colored glasses were snatched away. Everything that happened afterward left me with some valuable, hard-learned life lessons. One being that appearances were almost always misleading.
That had me considering the man to the left of me again.
I was especially curious about him, more so than I should’ve been. He was someone I would never see again once we got to the airport, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to know him.
Our first (albeit dismal) interaction would leave me to believe he was a nice guy with a sense of humor—an undeniably attractive nice guy. That didn’t mean he was, a nice guy that is. He could’ve been the worst kind of sinner, could’ve been a saint. Or he could’ve simply been a regular mundane guy enjoying a vacation with his friends.
Relaxed and without a smile lifting strong-lined features, his default expression was uninviting. I’d go as far as to say intimidating. The hue of the setting sun drew attention to his hair. He was sporting a rather dapper style—an undercut that was long on top and short on the sides.
The smooth strands were dark brown with naturally lighter pieces weaved in.
It looked good on him. I imagined most anything would, though. He suddenly glanced away from the screen of his phone, and I pretended I was looking out the opposite window.
I probably looked twice as obvious now. It was hard to play off you’d been staring at someone once you made direct eye contact. He didn’t call me out on it, thank god.
“Are you guys from the area?” he asked, pocketing his cellphone.
“No, we--.”
“Where are you from?” Mel cut in.
I shot her a questioning look.
What was that?
“Not here.” His tone was casual. He didn’t seem phased by her rudeness, not taking his eyes off me to answer.
As we remained in a deadlock, his gaze seemed to grow that much more intense. Piercing. That was a better way to describe it. He wasn’t looking at me, but into me, as if the armored shell I’d encased myself in was transparent.
“Stop Lana. turn away.” I repeated inside my head to no avail, caught-up in a tidal wave of blue. Something about him was oddly familiar. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was or why this slithered into the back of my subconscious. I was one thousand percent sure I didn’t know this guy. He had a face that would be hard to forget no matter the circumstance.
“I’m Ciaran,” he introduced himself, as if he’d just plucked the thought of me not knowing him from my head.
“Maverick.” The guy beside him leaned forward with a smile, giving me a small wave after he palmed a few loose strands of hair back into place.
His dark eyes lingered on Melantha for a full two seconds before he sat back again.
“The two assholes behind us our Charon and Kyrous,” Ciaran continued.
His introduction invoked their laughter, but neither of them looked away from what they were staring at.
With him disclosing their names, it seemed only natural to share ours in return. I pointed to each of the girls. “Gracelyn. Melantha.” Then motioned to myself, “Liliana, but everyone calls me Lana for short.”
“I knew a Liliana once,” Ciaran mused. “You’re a lot prettier than she was.”
“Wow. How smooth,” Gracelyn jested with a laugh.
“Effortless too,” he shot back, tacking on a cocky smirk.
I was semi-confused. Was that meant to be a compliment? I was an average chick with some Hispanic roots. My hair was black as coal, long with soft waves. Eyes were brown, skin naturally bronze. I stood barely over five feet tall and while my stomach was flat, I’d inherited my mama’s hips with an ass that jiggled to match.
I didn’t have self-esteem issues or anything, but I was also acutely aware of how I looked in that very moment.
Yesterday I’d been glammed up and ready to take on the world. Now? I didn’t have on a stitch of make-up aside from some lip gloss. My red bottomed heels along with a hoochiefied bodycon dress, had been swapped for skinny fit sweats, a midriff T, and some retro Js.
The only thing going for me was that I’d taken a quick hoe-bath and brushed my hair right before zombie walking onto this shuttle.
“Were you staying at the Royal Palms?” one of the guys behind him asked.
I remembered their names seeing as Ciaran had just introduced them, but only now that they weren’t immersed in the screen of a phone was I able to see that they were twins with subtle differences between them.
One had amber eyes while the others were nearly the same shade as whiskey. Their hair was styled a tad bit differently too. Unfortunately, none of that helped me determine who was Charon and which one was Kyrous.
“Nope, we just decided to hitch a free ride to the airport,” Melantha replied.
Her tone was so casual, it would be easy to miss that she was being a smartass.
The twin closest to the window looked as if he were about to say something, but the shuttle suddenly swerved without warning. A horn blared from another lane as a mix of gasps, a surprised scream, and curse words filled the cabin.
I gripped the leather headrest in front of me to stay planted in my seat. Once we were moving forward steadily again, I quickly checked over Gracelyn and Melantha.
“What the fuck was that about?” Maverick wondered aloud.
As if to answer him personally, the music stopped, and the driver’s voice came through the overhead speakers.
“Uh, really sorry about that, folks. The usual routes shut down. I guess we’ll be taking a small detour.”
Someone up front, a man with greying hair began to complain. The driver cut him off while still broadcasting his voice through the speaker.
“Rest assured this will only add about ten minutes to the ride. I know you’ve all got flights to catch, you can count on me to get you exactly where ya need to be.” He clicked off and music began to play once more.
“He guesses?” Maverick questioned with a scoff.
Ciaran said something to me, but I didn’t respond. I was too concerned about the song that had begun to play. The soft strumming of a guitar and encore of drums accompanied a chillingly familiar track.
The paranoia it brought on was swift and aggressive.
I struggled to not make a scene and freak out, feeling sweat gather on the back of my neck. It’s just a song, I told myself. From my peripheral, Gracelyn picked up on it as well. She gave me a tight-lipped smile and gently squeezed my arm, downplaying her own concerns.
We cruised past the turnoff and continued for a good ten minutes before the shuttle took a side road. After another two miles or so it became apparent all signs of civilization were being left behind.
“This isn’t right Lana,” Gracelyn whispered.
Agreed. I didn’t have a good feeling about this either. I wanted to chalk it up to us being overdramatic, but the further we ventured down this stretch of road the worse my nerves twisted my stomach.
Why did it look like it was getting darker? Where were all the other cars?
There was a sign coming up on the right. I peered around Gracelyn to get a clearer look at it. “Route Six-One-Six,” I read out loud as we zipped right passed it.
Gracelyn turned to Melantha. “GPS how far the airport is from here.
“Already on it.”
“What the fucks that?” came from one of the twins.
I peered over my shoulder, and then straight ahead to follow his gaze, poking my head around the seat in front of me so I had an unobs
tructed view. When I saw what we were approaching, the knot in my stomach became almost painful. All that was visible was a vast blanket of white.
The driver kept going, his speed gradually increasing, like this was totally normal when it clearly wasn’t. There was no way he could see. None.
Low murmurs filled the air, a few people beginning to voice their concerns.
“My phone isn’t picking up our location, and this route isn’t on my maps,” Melantha said, leaning forward to show us her screen.
Gracelyn brushed her hair away from her face, tucking the blonde ombre locks behind her back. “Is that normal?”
No.
“I’m sure its fine,” Ciaran reassured her.
He didn’t sound as if he believed that. I wouldn’t say he seemed worried, more like aware of the fact that things were looking extra sketchy.
The front of the shuttle entered the fog and the radio crackled. Music was replaced with an audible static. As a thick cloud of white swallowed us whole, a rhythmic voice began to speak.
Ave Satanas, something wicked this way comes. It’s time for the reckoning to begin.
Enter the Devil’s Playground wary where you tread, for demons are lurking with trickery up their sleeves.
Here good and bad cease to exist, and not all will make it to the end.
The price of freedom will be revealed only after bloodshed and rapture.
A claiming of one and purging of others.
The voice stopped short and the song resumed. I shared a look with the girls. That didn’t seem like regular station interference.
There was no mistaking what was said. Each word had been precise and clear as crystal.
“What’s going on?” another man yelled at the driver.
He didn’t get a response.
The radio cut off just as a loud bang erupted from outside the shuttle. The sound seemed to come from every direction. Someone screamed as the bus rocked from side to side, swerving through the fog.
A girl with glasses was flung into the aisle, crying out as she hit the floor. I dug my nails into the back of the seat in front of me, holding on as tightly as I could. The sound came again, lodging my heart in my throat as we careened to the left.
Everything thereafter seemed to happen in the longest seconds of my life.
We tilted.
I lost my hold, falling from my seat.
There was nothing but screams, grating metal, and darkness.
OTHER BOOKS
Badlands Series
Savages
Deviants
Outcasts
Heathens
Degenerates
Hellions
Renegades
Miscreants
Old Money Trilogy
Queen Of Diamonds
King Of Hearts
Ace Of Spades
Pretty Lies, Ugly Truths
Sweet Poisons
Sick Remedies
Pretty Lies, Ugly Truths
Standalones
Covetous
Rose De Muerte
Dark Degradation
Dahlia Saga
Malice
Obscene
Depravity
Malevolence
Iniquity
Debauchery
Stygian Isle
Del Diablo
Muerte
Deviant Games
Crucible
Malady
Calamity--standalone
Devil’s Playground
Periculum
Coveting Delirium
Opaque Melodies
Melodic Madness
Reign & Ruin
Lawless Kingdom
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Renegades: Badlands Next Generation Page 21