After a long, mind numbing, self inflating ego identifying, vile meeting, we're finally heading back home. It was uncomfortable to say the least; Leon and Shushi wouldn't stop asking Eriq if he enjoyed my holes and Eriq frequently reminded him that he's happily married and is disinterested in sleeping with other people. But the agreement came through with ease, they had explained that they'll need a massive order of supplies and require it to be delivered within five days, Eriq was unmoved by the condensed timeline and agreed to have everything prepared and transported by then, not presenting even a hint of anxiety.
The ladies are silent in their seats while the men are excitedly shouting and chanting incomprehensibly, dodging bullets and explosives with wild, unblinking eyes. They're drugged, clearly. I don't know what happened in the room they went into, apparently it was one of the kitchens, so perhaps they were fed while they waited? I have no idea, but the subtle rumbling of the ladies' stomachs shows that if they were provided food, the men didn't allow them to eat.
Assholes.
"Eh, Jik!" Leon yells, taking his eyes off the road to focus on me in the back. "Did the supplier get to insert himself easily? Because I swear to god, if that bill comes in and it's missing the discount, Dima will have your head nailed to a wall!"
Nonsense, they were wrong about Eriq and they're wrong about Dima, who is now Antonio.
Sure, he'll be pissed off if I've created any loose ends, but he wouldn't nail me to a wall.
"And why are you looking so goddamn fat already?" Shushi adds, his voice mindnumbing. "You better not have already gotten pregnant!"
"It's important to remain skin and bones, men love a woman who is not so clearly obese."
"We'll have to put you on a diet once we return home, and you'll be lucky if Dima doesn't throw you to the curb the moment he sees how much blubber you've put on."
"Over there!" Shushi points off to the distance towards a massive truck with what appears to be eight or so people.
They shift gears and barrel straight for it, the group noticing us instantly and turning to face us head on. They bare weapons chirp eerily as we speed for one another. But Leon doesn't seem to have any desire to dodge. No. We're heading straight for each other, the distance between us closing as the finer details of their black vehicle becomes clear; a painting of a shark skeleton on the hood, a massive crossbow perched through the windshield, the logo for a towing company stickered across the top, and eight, no, nine wild eyes zeroed in on us, unblinking. The bits of clothing that are supposed to be covering their faces burned off, revealing their wide, maniacal smiles as the flames spread.
It's a trap.
It has to be.
"Oh shit! We have some brives! Hold on!" Leon shouts excitedly, gripping the wheel with all his strength as he hits the brakes and we begin to spin out. The world rotates haphazardly, bile rises to my throat, screams and shouts fly in every direction, a hand grapples onto me, only to be flung off a moment later. I hold my breath, saliva thick and sour as I grip my seat and pull my knees into my chest, clenching my eyes shut.
An ear-piercing bang erupts, and seconds later, all movement skids to a halt. Once I open my eyes again, I find us balancing on the edge of a cliff, harsh rocks and pulsing waves hundreds of meters below us in between a cavern as wide as a lake. Carefully and dizzily, Leon, Shushi, and one of the girls begin to climb to the back, and just as they reach us, another explosion rings out, rocks flying up to the windshield along with chunks of metal. The back wheels connect with the hard ground and we all collectively take a sigh of relief.
"Callum, go and reverse us." Leon orders, voice steady but hands shaky as he grips onto the backseats, perched uncomfortably close to me, smelling of piss.
"Me? Why me?" Callum cries.
"Because you're the lightest one here and Jik over here is too fat now!" Shushi shouts in response, balancing atop the headrests for the backseats, making my ears ring.
"Fine!" Callum carefully climbs into the front seat, causing the entire thing to shift forward, but not enough to lift the wheels. He switches into reverse and guns it, forcing all of us to jolt forward with varying yelps, Shushi, kicking me in the back of the head as he tumbles onto the seats.
We take a few moments to rearrange ourselves, I decide to check out the cavern, listening carefully to the voices behind me. "Those fucking brives have become far more frequent, I swear, we must have a competitor."
The cavern goes on for miles, the red, orange, yellow gradient rocks eventually breaking off towards an ocean.
"That's impossible, we pretty much have the entirety of Rapard wrapped around our fingers!"
Smoke rises from the truck, wild animals similar to wolves and coyotes carefully trudge their way to the roasted corpses.
"Well there's no point in arguing about it right now, we have to head back to camp and get started on production."
The river far below sparkles and shines beneath the high sun, glistening as though it is slowly embodying something magnificent and powerful.
"Let's get going already, we're wasting time and money just standing around."
A large bird, twice the size of a vulture takes flight to the far left of the cavern, speeding for the food being gnawed on by beastly canines.
"Eh, Jik! Let's fucking go already!"
Turning, I find they all have returned to their usual positions, and I march back, taking my seat silently.