UNTAMED

Part Twenty-eight

{I will start a fire that will rage unchecked; burn everything in sight to cinders.}
     As soon as he drove into the compound, he almost forgot he was supposed to be in a sad mood. There was no light when the gate was opened but everywhere lighted up as soon as he entered. Jason was standing at the entrance of a duplex. The duplex was facing an open home gym and a park.  There was the treadmill machine, stationary bike, workout machine, weight lifting gadgets and others. By the side of the house was a swimming pool with silver ladder. Then there was a road and by the side of the road was another smaller duplex. The compound was very big and the ground was brick tiled. There were flowers arranged in rows round the houses and fence. He drove towards the car park. There were was a Mercedes Benz and Jason’s jeep. He drove into an empty space and parked his pickup. He came out to unhook the chain connecting the pickup to the rescue van but Jason was already there. He had unhooked the chain and was already in the driver’s seat. He drove the van to another space and came out seconds later. He nodded an acknowledgement towards him.
“Where to?” he asked knowing fully well Jason was not in talking mood.
Jason pointed to the pickup and he understood what he meant. He went to carry Halima out.
“The bags are in the van” he said.
Jason opened the back of the van and came out with Halima’s bag and his military bag where he had kept all his things. Jason led the way and he followed. He stopped at the other duplex which was big just that it was smaller than the one Jason was standing close to. Jason placed his thumb at the place that was supposed to be the door handle and the glass door opened. He was expecting to see something exquisite but the first thing he saw was more than his expectation. The parlor was flashy and glassy. It was very spacious and black cushion chairs were arranged sparsely with a translucent rectangular table at the center. The TV should be the biggest he had ever seen. Jason went right which had the stairs. He flowed Jason up. By his right was a door, then his left had a corridor that contained four doors. Jason opened the door at his right. He followed him inside the room and he almost exclaimed but held himself. The room was rectangular in shape but very big. It was like a self-contained. It had a gigantic bed that someone like Halima would have to climb to enter it. It could contain six Halimas. There was a big black loveseat facing a huge mirror close to the big wardrobe. Just after the wardrobe was a door which would lead to the bathroom. Then at the center of the opposite side of the bathroom door, were black cushion chairs. Breadths of the room had glass windows from beginning to the end. Not the dark glass windows found in most houses, but clear white. The curtains were long enough to cover them. He placed Halima on the bed. Jason dropped the bags by the wardrobe then started typing something on his phone. His phone vibrated in his pocket.
‘The house was built for Cindy and me but we decided to stay in the main house. The fridge has been stacked up and the cupboard. Any other thing should be later in the day. You still need rest’ Jason wrote.
“Why is the house looking so clean?” he asked.
‘Robot cleaner’ Jason wrote.
“Where is the kitchen?” he asked.
“Downstairs has the parlor, kitchen, store room, visitor’s rest room while up has this room and four other rooms. Three are master bedroom while the fourth is a library. This room is the biggest. Follow me to get your finger print permit’ Jason wrote.
He followed Jason downstairs, down to the entrance door. Jason typed something like a tab on the wall close to the door.
He signaled for him to put his thumb on a space blinking light at the side of the door because there was no handle.
“Finger print accepted” a female voice said as soon as his thumb touched the light.
Jason signaled he should follow him which he did. The dining room was demarcated with a step and a big curve, from there was the door to the kitchen. The kitchen was also big, with long rows of cupboards filling up a long line. There was a door which he guessed must lead to the store room. There was the electric gas cooker, the type used to at the circle house. It had many burners. Up was also filled with cupboards but with a transparent glass as their doors. He could see which had the pots, plates, spoons beverages and others. By his right was a gigantic fridge, half of its body was transparent. Adjacent to the store room door, was another door. Jason pressed another tab on the wall and signaled for him to put his thumb which he did. Then he signaled for him to press the place with his thumb which he also did. The door opened and he was awed by the sight before him. It was a garden just few steps away from the door of the kitchen. He could see tomatoes and pepper plants, he could see all kinds of vegetable plants he knew of, and then there were those he did not know. Further away was a small poultry and he could see it was active. Then after the garden was an orchard, although the mango, peer, pawpaw, cashew, native apple trees could prevent it from being called an orchard. By the side, that’s the left of the garden and the Orchard was a field. Then the tall walls of the compound with barb wires.
“Wow” he said but Jason was already walking away.
He ignored Jason and studied his environment for a while then entered back into the kitchen. He went to check the main entrance door and it was closed. Jason had left. Somehow he preferred the new Jason not the old one he just met. He went back to Halima’s room to pick his bag but saw Halima had already woken up and was sitting on the bed looking scared. She jerked the moment he entered the room. He walked past her to the windows at the left. From there, he could see the garden and orchard and the grass field. He pulled down all the curtains, then moved over to the window at the right. From there he could see Jason’s house, the home gym and the car park then the swimming pool which was sealed but whatever was used to seal it was very transparent. The light went off in Jason’s house, same with the compound but there was still light in the room he was standing. He also pulled down all the curtains. He carried his bag and without saying a single word to Halima, he left the room. There was key by the door but he did not bother. He opened the second room by his right. That was the only thing normal he had seen. It had its bed, wardrobe and rest room but it was average. He opened the wardrobe and threw his bag inside. He entered the bed and as soon as his back touched the bed, he felt exhausted. The time was almost six in the morning. He had no idea what the day held for him but he needed his full strength to face it. He closed his eyes and surprisingly he felt himself drifting off to sleep.
A vibration on his wrist woke him up.
‘Briefing by 10:AM’ was written in capital letter.
He was going to ask who usually sent him those messages. He checked his time and it was already 8:43AM. He quickly left the bed and went straight to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and saw bread and lots of peak liquid milk, then drinks. There were eggs and some tomatoes too. He turned round and looked for the oil. He sighted it up. He brought it down and quickly prepared fried egg. He opened the door as the egg swelled up in the nonstick pan. Jason was doing some clearing and filling up of the soil around some nursery tomato plants. There were eggs in a basket close to him. He started picking the ripe tomatoes and pepper as he walked towards him.
“Nice garden Jason” he said bending down to pluck out a ripe tomatoes close to him.
“My mum orchestrated it. The land was a present to her from her dad” Jason surprisingly said.
“Where is Cindy?” He asked.
“Should be running on the treadmill machine. I can smell something burning” Jason said.
He quickly rushed into the kitchen. The eggs were all black. He switched off the gas, poured the burnt food into the waste bin he had seen close to the outside wall of the kitchen. He took out six sliced bread, then made a cold tea. He carried it to Halima’s room. She was sitting close to the wardrobe. There must be something about the wardrobe. Again, she jerked as he entered. He placed the food close to her and left the room without saying a single word. He came outside to explore the mini gym. Cindy was running on the treadmill with earpiece on her ear. She did not notice him until he was very close.
“Hi” she said shyly.
He nodded and went straight to the weight lifting area. The mass of stones connected by an iron rod were two hundred and fifty kilogram. He had counted up to twenty lifts when Jason came with two baskets. He dropped them close to the treadmill and joined Cindy on the run holding her on her waste and pulling her very close to him. Cindy spared a glance his way and quickly looked away but said something to Jason. Whatever she had said did not work because she started pushing Jason away but Jason pulled her away from the machine and spun her to face him. Cindy tried to push him away but Jason covered her lips with his. She gave in immediately. At least Cindy had some decency but Jason had none at all. He was like the complete opposite of who he knew. He dropped the mass and walked towards the car park, then moved further to the end of Jason’s duplex. Just between the end of the house and the fence was the best sight he had seen since he woke up. There was a mini boxing ring but was roofed and had punching bags hanging down from the roof. There were gloves lying close the edge of the ring. He climbed inside and immediately engaged a punching bag.
His wrist watch vibrated making him pause. His body was already sweaty from the exercise. He looked at the watch.
‘Ten minutes to briefing’ was written on it.