"What's that?" Matt mumbles, his eyes squinting from the harsh sun beaming into his eyes from just behind the building. He had slipped on a black hoodie before we left and Nick just decided to wear his pjs.
Ivy gave me a hoodie in the car, it was black and had random colors on the back. It looked nice and it was thick enough to keep me warm, but now that I'm out of that car, I'm boiling.
"C'mon," Jackson ignores his question, leading the way towards the building as Ivy sticks herself next to me. Her shoulder grazing over mine and I tense myself up from the feeling of her being so close.
My stomach is heavy and my eyes are darting around as sweat drips down the back of my neck and down my spine. I'm scared.
This place is just screaming out the word dangerous and if these people are truly part of it, they're dangerous as well.
"You're safe Chris," Ivy whispers to me, the feeling of a delicate finger ghosting over the side of my hand made me almost flinch, stuffing my hand into the pockets of my sweatpants to avoid her touch.
"Let's just get this over with," I breathe out, trying to keep my nerves at bay as Jackson stops at the only door in view. He raises his knuckles, knocking four times.
A thin slit in the door is yanked to the side, revealing a dark set of eyes staring at us with their eyebrows wired shut.
"The fuck are you doing here Jack? You're supposed to be looking for-" They stops.
Their eyes spot Ivy standing confidently up besides me, growing wide and a chuckle comes from the door. "There's our superstar,"
"Open the fucking door," Ivy spits, not a single strand of vulnerability in her tone as the man nods. The slit is shut and two clicks are heard before it cracks open.
A large man steps into the doorway, he wears a black leather jacket and has a buzzed head. A large scar on his chin that seems to drag out until disappearing into his chest. His eyes bounce between my brothers and I, his eyebrows tightening.
"Who the fuck are they?" He asks, staring us down like we're bugs he could easily squish.
"New recruits, can we come in?" Sophie explains with a bright smile beaming on her face, tilting her head to the side as she rolls the sucker on her tongue.
The man huffs, shaking his head while stepping aside. "Z isn't gonna like this," The man mumbles while everyone begins walking inside.
As Ivy and I pass him, she pats his head with a sly smirk on her lips. "You let me deal with Z, it's nice to see you Greg,"
As I step through the doorway, I'm hit with a wave of cold air that engulfs my senses completely. I suck in a sharp breath from the temperature change, my eyes darting around the area and I realize, it's pitch black in here.
"Ivy, what the fuck-" I hear Matt speak up but he's cut off by Ivy's sweet voice, heels clinking around as I feel her step away from me.
"Relax, it's a safety thing." She explains and I hear her walking around the room, stopping periodically before continuing. "Put these on, it'll help prevent you from walking into things."
She stops in front of me and her soft hands graze over the side of my head, I instantly take a step back, not wanting her to touch me. She doesn't take the hint, instead, she grabs me tightly and I feel something slip over my eyes.
I blink as a bright green light makes my eyes pulsate with pain, my teeth clenching as I hiss in pain. "You're welcome," She mumbles and I see her staring back at me.
Night vision goggles. Couldn't they just turn the lights on?
"Okay, ready?" She looks around and I see that everyone already has theirs on. We all nod and she turns around, leading us deeper in. As we walked, I could see large boxes stacked up passing by and there were even some people hauling them around.
Sounds echoed around us as I decided to just stare at the back of Ivy's head as she casually makes her way deeper in until stopping in front of another door. She lifts her finger to a small rectangular pad next to the frame, pressing her thumb against it and a beep comes from the device.
She then pops open the door as my stomach begins to ache from the nerves tightening more and more, this entire thing feels wrong.
She steps in then hold the door open and we all pour in, I instantly step towards my brothers who are also looking around with their mouths sealed shut while they lean closer to me as well. They're scared too.
The door is shut and Ivy walks towards me, I tense up as she stops right at the tip of my shoes and looks up at me. She stands there for a moment, thinking about something I obviously have no idea about.
"Are you sure?" She whispers, checking to see if I was ready to go through with whatever this way. I nod despite my gut telling me to get the hell out of here and never talk to these people again.
"No," She shakes her head, "Tell me you're sure about this and that you won't run away with your tail tucked between your legs."
I gulp, looking down to our shoes as my fingers tangle themselves with the fabric of my shirt and my teeth begin bitting on my bottom lip. "I'm sure," I whisper lightly, my voice tight and wobbly from my nerves.
"Okay," She agrees before stepping away, allowing my body to release some tension and I look up to see her at the opposite wall from us.
"Goggles off," Her voice echos around and we all listen, taking off the goggles and the room is back to being dark.
A click is heard before the wall she stood next to turns a bright green. It's a bit fuzzy at first and I take a step forward to try and let my eyes adjust, is it a screen or something?
Matt and Nick follow me, all of us basically pressed against whatever this is. The fuzzy filter disappears and my eyes scan around, spotting almost fifty men scattered around large boxes and huge trucks with the back open.
There were men at tables filling bags with white powder and some other stuff, then throwing them to the end where people stuff them into boxes before finally throwing them into the back of these trucks. I lift my hand and press my fingertip against the screen and heart drops as I feel the cool touch of glass. It's a window.
Besides there being trucks filled with what I'm sure are drugs, there are men also sorting and packaging guns. They vary in size with small open boxes besides them, men shoving their hands inside and loading each gun quickly before bringing them into the back of a black SUV.
"Well kids," Jackson chuckles at our stunned state, stepping next to me and laying his hand on my shoulder but I'm too distracted by the amount of drugs and guns there are.
"Welcome to the Salvation,"
//
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