“Are you going to give Aida a sponge bath, too?” I ask as innocently as possible.
“I could really use it. I was just sleeping behind a dumpster with cardboard boxes as my bed and blankets,” Aida chimes in, batting her eyes innocently.
Ash walks away without a word to either one of us and we both burst out laughing. I don’t know what’s going on with those two, but I’m going to have fun with them. I walk over to Aida and extend my hand. “Hi, my name is Kiani. We haven’t formally met.”
She took my hand with a firm grip and grace me with a really beautiful smile. Hell, if I’m not careful, Aida might suck me in too. “Christine told me what you did for me. A complete stranger. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to repay you.”
I waved her words off, not needing any form of repayment or crazy gratitude. “No worries. It was the right thing to do.” I look around, noticing two missing bodies. “Where is your sister and Ravi?”
“They’re still sleeping. We rarely get a chance to just stop like this and rest, I’m sure their bodies really needed this.”
“I understand. Is there anything I can get you? I need to speak with Christine and Ashton.”
“I’m fine, thank you. I’ll probably try to get some more rest.”
I nod my head at her before getting up and heading into the kitchen. The sun is beginning to go down, leaving the kitchen bathed in a warm glow. Brian and I will need to leave in the next hour or so if we want to be able to see without our flashlights.
“Hey y’all, what are you talking about?” I ask them as I sit down at the table with them. They glance at each other before looking over my head. I turn around and I see that Brian has joined us in the kitchen.
They wait for him to sit down before Christine looks at me and says, “When are you guys leaving?”
I take a deep breath, happy that we could just cut to the chase. “In the next hour or so.”
“We figured as much,” Ashton responds. “What do you want us to do?”
“Stay here until Ashlynn and Aida are strong enough to travel. Pack up everything you think would be useful and practical for travel. If we’re not back by the time they’re well, leave us. We’ve already been in this one spot for far too long, any longer than necessary and you may be putting everyone’s life at risk.”
“We’re not leaving you, so give us a plan B,” Ashton says, face drawn. His green eyes burn bright against his tan skin. His black hair is falling on his forehead. He brushes it out of his face in frustration, probably not used to it getting so long.
“I won’t risk you guys. You’re my family, too. This is the best plan I can think of.”
“We should have a rendezvous spot, then. Somewhere we can lay low for a couple of days after they get better,” Christine adds in.
“That’s not a bad idea, Kiani,” Brian says. “That way they’ll know for sure if we’re dead or not. We owe them that.”
“Fine,” I nod. “What do you have in mind?”
“We’ll go to that pharmacy you got all of the stuff from. I can’t tell you where we’ll be staying, but we will go there twice a day before we leave. What was the name of the place?” she asks.
“Pharmacy.”
“What? This isn’t the time for jokes, Kiani.”
“No, she’s telling you the truth. The place is called Pharmacy,” Brian says, coming to my aide.
“How creative,” Ashton says, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. His words were dry, but the smirk on his face lets me know that he finds it to be as funny as I did.
“Christine, did you run any tests on Ashlynn?” I ask.
“Yes, that medicine you got is remarkable. I don’t know how I never heard of it. Her eyes are responding quicker to the light and she said that the pain medication helps her move around.”
“How long until you think she’ll be back to at least seventy percent?”
“Probably in two days.”
“And Aida?”
“You were right, she was extremely dehydrated. Once the IV bag finished, her fever broke, and she woke up not too long after. She’ll probably be up and running by tonight; tomorrow morning at the latest.”
“So, we have four days then,” I say, nodding my head.
“That should be more than enough time,” Brian says.
“I would hope,” I mutter. “Christine, you want to cook us a farewell meal? Or are you going to send us out there starving?”
“So dramatic,” she says while rolling her eyes. She grabs Ashton and tells him that he’ll be her assistant for the day. I get up and go to sit with Isaiah. I might never get to see him again, might as well spend some quality time with the little guy.
“What are you watching?” I ask, bumping my shoulder into his.
“Journey to the Center of the Earth. It’s reaalllyyyy old, but it kind of makes our adventure seem exciting too.”
“Except we’re trying to journey to get off the Earth,” I laugh, thinking how exciting everything would be if we had huge animals to ride. Then again, it’d be a little scarier since we’d have to fight those animals too. Can’t have the good without the bad, I guess. “There used to be crazy animals like that here in real life, just not that big.”
“Really?” he asks, turning towards me.
“Mhmm! Penguins and polar bears and huge sea lions!”
“There used to be lions that lived in the sea?” he asks with awe in his voice, making me laugh.
“Not like the giant cats. These were more like grey blobs with fins and whiskers.”
“Why did they call them lions if they didn’t look like lions?”
“Good question. It’s because of their whiskers,” I respond, voice getting more excited the more I talk about the past.
“What else was there?”
“Walruses! They had huge tusks and they used to fight to see who was more dominant. They had trunk-like appendages on their faces. They looked like a sea-lion that went to too many all you can eat buffets.”
“Eww, so they were really fat?”
“Super fat. And It used to snow. It didn’t snow a lot when I was growing up, but my mom showed me pictures of blizzards and stuff. They used to make snow angels, snowmen, go sledding and even have snowball fights!”
“I’ve never seen snow before,” he says quietly, voice almost as low as the TV that’s still playing.
“I’ve only ever seen flurries, nothing that stuck. They used to have a Santa Claus. It was this fat white man that would break into your house the night before Christmas and he’d leave you gifts. My mom said that tradition stopped because there really wasn’t a North Pole to use. I think they should have stopped because that sounds really scary and creepy,” I joke, trying to get him to crack a smile.
“We’ve missed out on a lot Kiani,” he says. “We missed out on all of the animals. On all of the landscapes. We were born into a world that was dying. It’s kind of sad, if you think about it. Our birth caused something to die, and now we’re left here to pay for the crimes we didn’t commit. The ones that could have changed everything, the ones that were in power, left when their denials became truth right before their eyes. Why are we the ones left to carry the burden?”
“Because we were the ones who begged for change but was ignored until it was too late. It’s usually the ones that care that suffer the most.”
We sat in silence for a little while, just enjoying each other’s company when he reaches out and grabs one of my hands. “I overheard you guys talking, you know, since this place isn’t all that big,” he says, eyes still riveted on the TV screen.
“I was going to tell you.”
“I understand. You guys are going to have to stop treating me like a kid. I should have been at the table, too.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry. It’s hard for me to get you even more involved in things than you need to be. But this will impact you like it will the rest of us, so from now on, you’ll be involved in the discussions as well.”
“You promise?” he asks.
“I promise.”
“Ok, great.” He grows silent for a little bit before leaning closer to my head, dropping his voice to an almost imperceptible whisper. “Are you and Brian boyfriend and girlfriend now?”
“What?!” I ask, trying not to choke on my spit.
“You guys are always together now. And I see the little ways you look at each other. That’s how my parents used to look. I thought you and Derrick were girlfriend and boyfriend.”
“Derrick and I are definitely not girlfriend and boyfriend! He’s like my brother!”
“So that means that you and Brian are girlfriend and boyfriend?”
“No!” I whisper shout. “He’s my friend as well.”
“Yeah right. I may be young, but I’m not blind or stupid Kiani,” he mutters. He perks up, head swiveling to look at Brian. I pinch his arm, silently warning him not to say anything.
“You say anything and I’ll put you in a headlock,” I threaten.
“You’re definitely girlfriend and boyfriend. If you won’t tell me, I know Brian will,” he states, already trying to get up and embarrass me further.
“Brian are you ready to go?” I ask instead, beating Isaiah to the punch. Brian nods his head, strapping on his weapons and standing up. Ashlynn walks back into the room, looking really refreshed after her shower. I nod at her, not in the mood to pick on her anymore. Christine comes out of the kitchen, carrying some more baked beans and rice. I guess we don’t have that many quick meals in the cabinet.
Brian and I inhale the food as quickly as we can, refill our water containers and head out. We refused to say bye to anyone, not thinking too hard on the fact that we could be walking to our death. I did flick Isaiah on his forehead, gotta remind him who’s boss.
Our walk back towards the towering building is slow and quiet. We don’t really have a plan, nor do we know what we’re really walking into. I’m more than positive we’ll run into more Bandits on our way there, I’m just not too sure how Brian and I will handle it. After thirty minutes of walking, we finally get about three blocks away from the towering building. Brian and I stop behind a dumpster, crouching down so that we can’t be seen by anyone.
“How do you want to go about this?” I ask.
“Wait a minute, you’re telling me that you didn’t have a plan before I tagged along?”
“No. I was just going to wing it and hope I didn’t get skewered.”
“For the love of… Ok, the sun will be setting within the next hour or so. If that’s where the Boss is living, then they will have Bandits at every exit. It wouldn’t matter if we came from behind or walked straight through the front doors.”
“I agree, but we don’t want to alert our presence any more than we have to. Buildings like that have to have a service entrance or something.”
“You have a blueprint of the building?” he asks sarcastically.
“No, smart ass, I don’t,” I huff. My heart starts to race as the impossibleness of this mission start to sink in. “You can always go back, you know?”
“C’mon, Ki, don’t be like that. I’m asking questions you should already have answers to, since you were planning on leaving by yourself.”
I sigh, “You’re right. I know for a fact that they’re on the top floor. Why wouldn’t they be? Every villain in every video game resides in the penthouse.”
“So, we think we know where they are, we just have to find a way to get to them.”
“Let’s get closer to the building. We’ll have to be a lot more careful, we’re coming up to the area where Ashlynn got knocked out.”
We set back out, using the shadows as our cover. My heart begins to thump against my ribs, memories of fighting the Bandits who nearly killed Ashlynn pouring to the forefront of my mind. I try to force them down, knowing that any distraction at this point could cost us our life. By the time we get into rock throwing distance of the building, the sun is nearly gone.
“There’s no one out there,” I whisper.
He nods his head, not bothering to comment. I’m guessing that he’s starting to regret this mission as much as I am, and we haven’t even really done anything yet.
“It could be a trap. They could be stationed at the inside of the door,” I say after he doesn’t respond.
“So, what do you want to do? Run in there guns blazing?” he finally responds.
“No, and alert the whole building to our presence? Be smart, Brian.”
“Then what, Ki?!”
I ignore his tone, knowing that he’s not used to doing anything like this. Hell, I’m not used to doing anything like this. “Let’s go around the back.” I turn around without even waiting for him to respond. It takes us awhile to get near the rear of the building since we circled it without getting too close to it. “There!” I point out, seeing a brown door sitting on the side of the building. It was unmarked and unfortunately didn’t have a handle on the outside. “That has to be for the kitchen or something. Most times they don’t want people to be able to easily walk in there.”
“So, how do you want to get in?” he asks.
“I don’t know, let’s get closer and see if we can figure it out.”
We walk quickly over to the door, not bothering to waste any more time than necessary. Once we got closer, I notice that there is a metal sheet with screws in them. I pull out my swiss army knife and use one of the tools to start unscrewing the screws. Brian stands guard as I’m working on the door. I finally get the last screw out, using the knife part to pry the metal out. There’s obviously still another part in the door, but all I need to do is pull the lock part back. After a little luck and a whole lot of cursing, I was finally able to pull the door back a little so that it wouldn’t lock itself again.
I put my ear to the small opening that I made, trying to see if I hear anyone. If I did, there would be a high chance that they already heard me as I was hacking away at the door. Thankfully no voices filtered out, which means that it’s better if we go in now instead of sitting out here like sitting ducks.
I tap Brian on his back, motioning to him that we need to go inside. He quirks his eyebrow at me, clearly surprised that I was able to get us into the building after all. I open the door a little more, granting me more access to look around. It’s actually not a kitchen, it’s a utility closet. I quickly slip in, leaving enough room in the door for Brian to squeeze in after me. Once the door shuts, we’re encased in darkness. I take out my flashlight and turn it on, placing my fingers over the face so that the light is filtered out.
If we get out of this closet, we could potentially walk right into a group of Bandits. “Grab whatever you can that may help us. We could be walking into anything.”
Brian nods his head, taking out his flashlight and searching the closet for anything. I find a toolset and grab all of the screwdrivers, putting them in my belt. There’s some soap and other useless things lying around. I decided to just stick with the things that I found most useful.
“Are you ready to go?” he asks. I take a deep breath, squaring my shoulders and nodding my head. Brian grabs hold of the door knob, twisting it and slowly opening the door a fraction of an inch at a time. He finally gets it wide enough so that he can peek his head out into the hallway. He brings his head back into the closet to give me the all clear nod.
We step into the hallway and the first thing I notice is that it’s extremely dim. Either they’re trying to save money on their electricity bill or they don’t come down here all that much. The latter choice makes much more sense, because there's no one here to charge them. My senses are stretched to the max, trying to detect footsteps before it’s too late. We look from one end of the hall to the other, trying to see where the stairwell is. Brian looks at me and I shrug my shoulders, not knowing which way is best. Since we’re closer to the back than the front, I motion for us to go back to the rear. A building this large, there has to be more than one stairwell.
I’m scannin
g the walls when I see the sign that marks that door as the entrance to the stairwell. My lungs and legs are already burning with the thought of climbing up all of those steps. I open the door, cautiously stepping into the lit stairwell. At least they bothered to keep this part well-lit. I take a deep breath and start walking up the steps.
After nine flights, I’m kind of ready for some Bandits to hop out and kill us. I’m not out of shape or anything like that, but nine flights of stairs will have anyone wishing they couldn’t feel their legs. We’re starting to walk up the tenth flight when I hear voices. We freeze, eyes wide as we stare at each other. The voices are filtering up from below us. I make a quick decision and begin to dash up the steps as fast and as light as I can.
We make it up to the last floor, only for it to be locked. “You have got to be kidding me,” I mutter under my breath, well, what breath I have left in my lungs. Brian is breathing hard, but quietly, beside me and he swears when he sees what I’m staring at. There’s a keypad on the side of the door, as well. I don’t want to risk setting off any alarms if I guessed wrong.
“Can’t you work your magic again like you did outside?” he asks.
“All I did was unscrew some nuts, I didn’t pick an entire lock!”
“Move over,” he says. I step to the side to let him get better access to the damned door. He wiggles the doorknob and I roll my eyes. Yeah, like it’ll be that easy to get in there. The voices are starting to get closer and I’m starting to freak out. I lean in to whisper in Brian’s ear, instructing him to go back halfway down the stairs and crouch low. The way these steps are set up, they won’t really see us until they turn to walk up the next flight.
We’re taking a huge gamble here. There are at least two Bandits coming up here, but there could be some that aren’t talking because they’re trying to catch their breath. They’re just a flight under us, and I grip my knife a little tighter in my slick hands. We have to do this as quick as possible, knowing that any loud noises could attract others to our location. I’m banking on one of them having a key since they’re walking this far up.
I hear the door to the floor below us open and I’m immediately dejected before I realize someone is still walking up. Just one Bandit then. If he makes even an ounce of noise, his friends would be turning around and sounding the alarm. We have to take him out. I rise halfway out of my crouch, preparing to tackle the person once they crest the top of that last step. What I wasn’t expecting was to stare into the eyes of a ghost. Holy shit.
Kiani’s Journey- Mayhem Page 15