Splinters of glass tore away at my skin. The smell of gasoline and hazardous fumes overpowered all my senses to the point that all I could do was choke in horror as the insides of the car slowly filled with dust and fumes.
"Linette! Are you okay?" Leon screamed. His silhouette became clearer after he kicked the door beside him open, and the smoke permeated from the car, ameliorating vision.
I yelped as the leather seats beneath me began to grow increasingly hotter, even though I was suspended in the air. The car had completely flipped over and we were upside-down. Thank goodness for seat-belts or I probably would be dead about now.
"What the hell happened, Marcel?" Leon demanded anxiously, banging on the separating barrier between the front and the back.
No response.
"Marcel! MARCEL!"
As Leon scrambled to get a response, I reached for Alyssa, who had been completely silent after her bloodcurdling scream. Was she alright?
I inched towards her until I met with her arm, shuddering at the wet substance slithering down her arms. Blood.
Narrowing my stinging eyes, I gasped as the smoke cleared, revealing Alyssa with an enormous gash on her forehead that was bleeding profusely. Had she whacked her head against the window when the car flipped over?
She was completely unconscious and all that kept her up was her seat-belt, which was not looking exactly dependable considering the visible strain and rip in it.
"Alyssa, please, wake up!" I exclaimed, trying to gently shake her awake, but to no avail.
I shrieked when enormous white flickers of light passed along the side of the car. Were those sparks? The disgusting new smell of burning rubber made me gag.
"Linette, get out of the car, now." Leon ordered, his green eyes meeting mine. "I'll get Alyssa out, you just worry about yourself for now."
I nodded immediately, though I wasn't sure exactly how I was supposed to get out. The seat-belt was slicing into my skin and I was starting to lose feeling in my head and upper body with all the blood rushing upwards.
I glanced over to Leon, who took a deep breath, twisted his body sideways midair before landing in a squatting position, upright. Technically, he was on the ceiling, but that was the upright position as of now.
Gulping, I tried to follow suit, quickly unbuckling my seat-belt and trying to land sideways with as much agility as he did. If he believed I'd be able to do it, then I had no doubt that I would be able to.
Of course, I was not as graceful as Leon, as weird as that sounds, but I somehow managed to get myself upright, crawling out of the car on all fours and stumbling back to my feet. I quickly fell over again, with all the feeling completely gone from my feet.
Feeling was finally returning to the lower half of my body, but I was left with a terrible headache and nausea. I realized how strong Leon had to be to have the ability to break down a freaking mob car door while upside down. Talk about skill.
My shoulders heaved up and down as I crawled towards the front of the car, gawking as I spotted the two enormous air bags in the front seat completely puffed out. Were Marcel and Ares behind those? Or had they escaped?
Hoping it was the latter, I still fumbled for the door, squealing as I received a fairly powerful shock from the hot metal. The front window was smashed in, but the side windows were still completely intact, to my surprise.
"Ares, Marcel! Are you guys in there?" I exclaimed, banging on the window. It didn't look like there were any people inside, but if that were the case, where could they possibly be? They would never abandon us, which was for sure---so had something happened? In that short amount of time? That couldn't be possible.
"Ugh!" Leon groaned, fumbling out of the car with Alyssa thrown over his shoulder. "No time to waste. We've got to get away from the car. It's pretty much a ticking time bomb now." He spat, blood running down his chin.
"But what about---"
"I'm sure they're fine. They're definitely not in the car, so they've got be safe somewhere else. We just have to hope that our lovely Damon didn't get to them first." He added sarcastically, the bitter emotions resurfacing. "Now run!" He ordered, and I hobbled to my feet, pressing on forward even though it felt like I was walking on millions of needles.
The beautiful dawn had turned murky with grey clouds, and the thick smell of burning rubber overpowered the smell of salt. I followed Leon into the collection of warehouses, almost feeling claustrophobic with the looming buildings and eerie boxes stacked up. The whole area seemed like a labyrinth---keeping Leon and me inside.
Each warehouse was a mimic of another. A pallid, rusty metal colour with a putrid green coloured roof. I had no way which way we were going, how far we were going, where the exit was, or even how long we had to run for. The only thing I knew was trust. Trust in Leon. Trust in myself. That I could get through this. That I could avenge my father and set things straight---maybe then I could tell Leon my feelings.
I was so close, though... damn it. I blushed, recalling the serene expression on Leon's face. At least something gave me energy to keep running.
"This is far enough." Leon whispered, bending down. He gently lay down Alyssa on a lower stack of fairly even (though suspicious-looking) boxes and I joined him.
"Is she going to be o-okay?" I gulped, wiping some blood off of her forehead. She was absolutely pitiful: that strong-willed, determined young woman had been reduced to this.
"She'll be fine. None of her internal organs seemed to be damaged, though she may have some problems with her right eye. The cut goes all the way down from her forehead, past her eyebrow, and to the eye. There may be some vision problems." He grimaced, meeting my sorrowful gaze.
"Are you serious...?" I gasped softly, on the verge of tears. Vision impairment? Alyssa?
An explosion sounded. Scrapped pieces of metal flung from the car like bullets, and I could hear the projectiles smacking and probably denting the sides of numerous warehouses. A thick cloud of black smoke wafted into the sky, and a flame or spark would shoot up now and then.
I yelped as a huge chunk of metal landed in the pile of boxes next to us, passing through a few of them before hitting the wall of the warehouse. It was kind of disturbing to think that that could have been me.
"If my suspicions are right, then Damon was expecting us. He's definitely got a group of guys inspecting and guarding the place, so we have to watch out. They'll probably be checking around the explosion to see if they find a couple of corpses, though we won't let them have such luck, will we?" He smirked, pulling his black hood over his head.
"Like hell we are." I responded mischievously, sneering. I wound a piece of my sleeve around Alyssa's forehead. She had a peaceful expression on her face now. Clearly I had been underestimating her. Leon was right; she seemed completely fine, if not just sleepy.
"There's no time to lose. We've got to take action. I suppose I'll be in charge, and we should---"
"Now what do you think we should do next, boss?" I grinned, folding my arms across my chest. "Find Damon? Or find Marcel and Ares?" I raised my eyebrows. What mattered more to him? Vengeance? Or his allies?
Leon paused for a moment, lowering his gaze. From the perplexed expression on his face I knew he was fighting an internal battle. To find his friends? Or to kill his old one?
Before he could make his decision, one of the boxes that the metal piece had broken fell to the ground, followed by a huge collapse of approximately half of the boxes surrounding and above it.
"Over here! I heard something!"
Leon and I exchanged anxious glances as we tried to find somewhere to hide. The thudding of footsteps drew closer, and though we tried to open the warehouse door, it was locked.
"Into the boxes!" He hissed, pulling my arm.
"Are you kidding me? This is like the Tarra thing all over again!" I whispered under my breath, following after him. "Oh my god! But what about Alyssa? We can't just leave her there!" I retorted, glancing at her motionless figure in tranquil slumber.
"Oh sh*t." Leon's eyes widened and he leapt over the boxes, throwing a rain cover over Alyssa's body before he pointed to one of the boxes. "I'll be back in a sec. Just make room for yourself."
"O-Okay." I responded hesitantly, squeezing myself into the tiny box. I threw the strange entrails onto the pile of broken boxes, trying to figure out just what exactly they were.
They were small, brown, woven sacs and another white, woven sac. I cringed when I squished the brown sac, the feeling resembling squishing a grape. The white sac seemed to have something crunchy inside, though it was extremely light. Something like paper, maybe?
"What are you doing, stop examining and just get in there!" Leon whispered harshly before shoving me into the box. "Sorry 'bout that. An accident."
"Like hell it was an accident." I responded, sticking my tongue out at him. I wanted to scream as I felt the remaining sacs underneath me squish and crunch as I sat down on them. THIS IS FREAKING DISGUSTING.I resisted the urge to scream in agony.
"Now stay quiet until I come and get you, alright? I'll be in a box nearby; it'll all be over soon." He assured me, though I couldn't help but feel disheartened at the slightly unsure expression on his face.
What was going to happen? I'm sure Leon could take out any guys with ease... but we didn't know anything about our enemy. How many people he had hired, their strength, their weapons, their experience.... We were walking on thin ice here.
I could feel my worry intensifying as Leon passed me a final smile before throwing the top back onto the box. I lowered my shoulders and head into an extremely uncomfortable position, though I tried to keep my cool and breath normally even with little oxygen.
Why does the top have to be so freaking uncomfortable and the bottom so freaking disgusting?!
"Somewhere around here." A low voice shouted, and the clatter of footsteps sounded from all directions around us.
"Holy sh*t! What is this? Aren't these the products? The Boss is going to kick someone's ass for this! We finally got the shipment in, and all." Another voice responded nervously, and I could hear his breathing and voice draw closer.
"Tell me about it. He's already hella mad 'cause freaking Adonis almost caught him that last time, remember?" Another voice responded, and my eyes widened.
Adonis? As in Ares' and Arc's dad? I pushed my ear against the side of the box to hear. I shivered in disgust at the squelching sounds and feeling beneath me shifting with my weight.
"Don't worry. We're dealing with Van, head of the Sangria family this time. Not even god damn Adonis can stop him, after all." A voice laughed mercilessly, sending shivers up my spine.
Damon.
His voice was as frigid as been greeted by a bucket of icy water being poured on your head. That playful young man who I had only barely acquainted myself with at the welcoming party was nothing but a façade. The change was huge, even I could tell---I couldn't even possibly start to imagine what Leon was feeling right now.
"Take a few of the spared boxes inside, we got to show our customers a little bit of the products, no? Let them see this pile of crap and they're going to blow a fuse." He laughed, and I could hear splinters of wood breaking as he kicked one of the smashed boxes on the ground into bits.
"Or maybe I'll just blow a fuse, you know. So carry the stuff into Warehouse 14, a couple of customers are dropping by in about twenty minutes. I suggest you get moving if you know what's good for you." He threatened menacingly.
Why did I feel scared?! He wasn't even talking to me in the first place!
"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a few pests to hunt down. Wandering around in someone else's territory with no invitation... you'd think you'd know better than that, hmm, Leon?" He added in an eerie whisper. Did he... know?
I presumed that he had left when the remaining men began to gossip, whispering amongst themselves as the number of voices decreased until only a few were left, which meant they were following Damon's orders.
Just please don't find Alyssa. Don't find her. I pleaded silently.
"Holy sh*t, Damon is scary as f*ck sometimes." One of the men cursed, and I could hear him taking his anger out on one of the boxes. "Does he even realize how risky this operation is on us? The fuzz could be on our tail in a second."
The fuzz? Oh right, the cops. Jeez, all these mob terms were making me go nuts.
"Yeah, well, at least there's no death penalty nowadays." Another responded gratefully.
"Well I sure as hell don't want to lounge around in freaking prison for the rest of my life! Death would probably be the easier option." The first man laughed uncomfortably, and I could feel my entire body tense up as all my weight suddenly shifted downwards.
Oh my god.
He had picked up the box I was sitting in!
"Whoa, what's with this box, it's pretty freaking heavy for a bunch of berries and leaves, if you ask me." The second man complained, and I shifted uncomfortably from side to side inside the bus, muffling the screams that threatened to erupt from my mouth.
"Meh, packagers probably went a little crazy with that box then or something. Better to pack such fatal stuff in one box rather than a bunch, huh?" The first man responded confidently. "Wonder where they scrape up all this stuff from... nasty stuff."
"And to call it 'belladonna' of all things, talk about ironic." The second man chuckled. He had begun to walk as I could feel the uneven heaves in movement in his footsteps.
"Beautiful name for a deadly flower, what'd you expect?" The first man snickered. Wait a second... a deadly flower? They didn't mean the bitter nightshade, did they?
The poison that had 'killed' Damon and gotten Leon so violently ill, that plant? I was sitting in a box filled with that lethal stuff? And even worse, all these crates were filled with them? But for what purpose? What were they planning on doing with all of it? Mass murder?
"Warehouse 14... we're here." The first man proclaimed, and knocked on the door in a strange pattern of knocks and scratches. Probably should take a note of that...
I could hear the door scrape open with a forced heave. They exchanged some words in some sort of code before they entered the warehouse. The disgusting musty smell seeped into the box, and I hugged myself tightly. I did not want to be here---but I had to be. If I was going to set everything right again, I had to suck it up and be courageous.
"Where should we put the boxes?" The second man asked, as he dropped the box on the ground momentarily. I clamped my hands over my mouth to muffle the yelp.
That freaking hurt! Don't these boxes say 'handle with care'? Clearly someone is either blind or careless.
"Just put 'em in the backroom. And hurry it up; we've got a rare visitor who's shown up." A lower voice responded.
"And who would that be?" The second man asked. "A visitor's pretty rare when we're dealing with illegal transactions, you know." He sniggered sarcastically.
"One of the Tyrian brothers, or something." The man replied under his breath. "He's in pretty bad shape, if you ask me. He has that crazy look in his eyes, even makes me nervous. I think his name was... Tristan? Terrence?"
"TARRA?!" I screamed subconsciously before I realized how pitifully idiotic I was.
"Huh?" The two men said in unison.
"Well if you knew, why'd you ask?" The man asked suspiciously. "Anyways, just hurry it up. And get that voice of yours checked---you sound like a freaking woman. Hitting your second puberty or something?"
Phew. Somehow I was saved.
"A-Alright." The second man responded, sounding both perplexed and confused. He picked the box up again and began to walk. He had walked for a couple minutes before he threw the box down again, and I winced. Clearly venting your anger on a box isn't really going to cut it.
I waited for a moment, listening carefully as the man left, the door closing behind him with a loud thud. I hesitated, trying to sense any sign of movement or life in the room besides me. To be put in this sort of predicament... how were Leon and Alyssa faring?
How do I do this...? I pondered, staring up at the lid of the box. My body had become so accustomed to the cramped space that my bones cracked and my body ached with every irregular movement of struggle I made.
"Screw this!" I exclaimed, raising my legs and kicking the lid off. I closed my eyes, preparing myself in case some crazy mobster sprang up from in front of me, but, thank goodness, there was not.
I climbed out of the box, walking awkwardly until I stretched out my sore limbs.
"God. Never want to go through that again." I sighed.
"Oh, don't worry, you won't." A sweet voice responded politely. I froze on the spot.
"Cause you're going to die now, you know?"