We’ve been walking for most of the night and the heavens started opening up on us little by little. We are partially drenched when we stumble upon a house completely by itself and shrouded by trees. We had no choice but to run to the safety of the house. We have to risk it, or else we’re going to get tore up by the acid rain.
The house is pretty huge. Two-stories with a giant wrap-around porch, a nice southern feel with the wooden touch and the yellow shutters that accompany the big windows. Windows, I may add, that are not lit up at all. We all run to the porch, panting, some of us already feeling the effect of the rain.
“How do you want to go about this?” asked Brian. “We can spend more time in the rain and try to scope the area out or we can burst in guns blazing.”
“I say we just knock,” Ashton says while scratching the stubble on his chin. “If we come off as sneaky and suspicious, we might just be digging our own graves. At least if we knock, we’ll know if we’re meeting hostile people.”
“Or we will be losing our element of surprise and dig our graves faster,” reply Ashlynn.
“So, you just want to burst in and go all Rambo on them?” he quips.
“No, I want to scope out the house and see if we’re walking into a trap.”
“Fine, you go and walk around in the rain and we’ll stay under this dry porch while you play spy kid.”
“I think we should knock also,” I add. “Who knows? Someone might not be in there or they already know we’re here since we’ve been whisper shouting on their porch for a while now.”
“Kiani has a point, they probably already know we’re here, if there’s someone in there at all,” agrees Derrick.
“Of course, you’re agreeing with her,” mumbles Ashlynn.
“What was that?” I ask, getting up in her face.
“For the love of… I’ll do it,” Christine says while storming closer to the large, dark grey door and knocking like she’s the police with a search warrant.
“I was thinking of something a little gentler, you know, so they wouldn’t feel like they’re under attack or anything,” supplies Ashton.
“Probably should’ve said that before Christine blacked out on the door,” I joke.
“Guys, can we please pay a little more attention. We’re kind of knocking on Death’s door right now and you’re cracking jokes like we’re on Comedy Central or something,” whisper shouted Derrick.
At that slight reprimand, we all stand at attention. I watch the windows and Brian follows my lead after noticing where my attention was placed. We waited a full fifteen minutes before we unleashed Christine on the door again. After another fifteen minutes of waiting, we decide that it was time to get in and get warm.
“Well, let’s get this over with,” Derrick mutters.
I quickly replace Christine at the door so that Derrick doesn’t take the lead on this, yet again. He screws his face up towards me, but I pretend to not see it. I’m tired of him always taking the lead on things. He may be bigger than me, but we’re both equally trained in the same exact things. I guess that’s just his super alpha male personality coming through.
I count down on my fingers from three and I turn the doorknob and the door swings open. We all step cautiously through the entrance, and the sporadic lightning reveals a large, abandoned living room. The ceiling is very high with exposed wood beams, the floor is a dark hardwood, and the furniture looks very tasteful. The color scheme of the room matches the outside of the house with different shades of grey and yellow. It’s so much to take in, but it also comes together in some weird way. Not how I would decorate my house though.
“It’s dusty,” whispers Isaiah. I notice that he isn’t as close to me as he usually is when we’re in a dangerous situation. It makes my heart clench painfully a little bit, to see him trying to be brave on his own. I roll my eyes at that irrational reaction, seeing as this is what I’ve been wanting.
“That’s a good thing. Now we know that no one has been here for a long time,” Christine says.
“Let’s split up in groups and scope out the area before we drop our guard,” I say. “Derrick and Christine, you stick together. Ashlynn and Ashton are a team. Brian, Isaiah and I will be the third team. Keep your weapons ready.”
Derrick looks like he wants to object to my pairings, but I need to also be able to stand on my own two feet without him babying me. I guess Isaiah isn’t the only one that needs to grow up. My group stays on the main floor while the twins take the upstairs and Derrick and Christine take the basement.
We make our way into the kitchen and the first thing that I see is a giant wooden table. This family must have hosted a lot of dinners, or they were just really big. The room has an old Southern charm feel to it. Giant wooden eating utensils hang on the wall. Pots and pans hang over the island in the middle of the kitchen. As I look around, I could tell that the previous owners had a taste for black appliances, offset by the wooden cabinets and countertops made the room feel polished; although it wasn't really my taste.
“These people really were trying to bring the old south out in this kitchen,” Brian jokes.
“No shit,” I agree, looking around at this old-style kitchen.
“I bet they had a big ol’ fish fry here every Sunday,” he says in a terrible attempt at a southern accent. “I bet we can find a gallon of olive oil and coconut oil here.”
At the mention of olive oil and coconut oil, my tresses damn near leap off of my scalp. My hair has seen better days. Having an afro and being on the run, essentially, means that my hair has been sorely neglected. My hair is dryer than cracked lips on a summer’s day. A girl’s afro is supposed to be a crown atop her head, a beacon of queenliness and love for oneself. My afro looks like I’m trying to earn a role in Les Misérables as a beggar. Coconut oil and olive oil are perfect for nourishing and moisturizing my type of hair and they’re in almost every kitchen in America.
“We have to look for that olive or coconut oil,” I demand as I grab his arm . “Isaiah, look in the cabinets on the floor, Brian go in the pantry, I’ll check all of the wall cabinets.”
They both look at me like I’ve lost my ever-loving mind, but I didn’t have the brain capacity at the moment to explain to them why this means so much to me. We hurriedly break off to search in our respective areas. I quickly, but quietly, open the cabinets and I can see that there are a lot of canned foods in here. If I wasn’t so preoccupied with my current mission, I’d be so stoked to see that we’ll be eating our fill tonight.
“Found it!” Brian whisper shouts. I turn around and see him holding up a giant container of olive oil. He holds it over his head like a heavyweight champion would his newly won belt. I run over to him and snatch it out of his hands. I quickly pop open the lid and I see that it still has the plastic covering that protects this liquid emerald. After savagely ripping the cover off, I see that the olive oil is safely encased within its plastic home.
“I could just kiss you!” I exclaim to Brian as I jump up and throw my arms around his neck.
“I’d rather not have Derrick cave my face in, thanks though,” he chuckles as he hugs me before stepping back.
“Why would he cave your face in?” I inquire, honestly curious.
“Really?” he asks. “Don’t worry about it.”
I was about to demand he answer my question, but then we all hear Ashlynn’s scream ring from upstairs. I reseal my precious olive oil and gently place it on the ground before taking off towards the stairs. Isaiah and Brian are already at the top of the stairs, because they didn’t have a priceless treasure to worry about.
We follow the screaming to the bathroom, and I’m not going to lie, I expected to see Ashlynn with a knife in her stomach the way she’s carrying on. Instead, I see her jumping up and down by the tub as the shower runs. At first, I was livid! She could have alerted any Bandits in the house! But then I realize why she’s really screaming. A shower! A freaking shower! I don’t need to tell you, but just know that
we all smell like old milk and sad times. I run to the shower and proceed to jump with her. We’re so happy, we forget that we’re mortal enemies. “It’s salty,” I say as I smell the water in the air. “But you know what, I don’t think any of us care.” I know I don’t.
5
Kiani
What’s wrong?! Who’s hurt?” Derrick asks as he and Christine skid into the bathroom. We all look at his alarmed face and burst into laughter.
“We have a shower,” Ashlynn exclaims with the biggest smile on her face.
“I’m glad we have a shower, but we have to secure this house before we can relax,” he says.
I feel my excitement wane just a little because I remember that we didn’t finish our search of the main floor, because of me. “We have to finish checking the main floor. Derrick, if y’all are finished, can you help us finish checking it?” I ask.
“Yeah, let’s go,” he replies.
We all head back down to the main floor and split up. There are three rooms to the left and four rooms to the right. It takes no time at all to see that this place is completely abandoned. We all meet up back in the foyer and you can just feel the air thin, the tension lifts.
“Close off all of the windows so that no light will escape from them. It seems like we found a place to crash,” I enthuse.
Everyone runs off to secure the windows, high energy filling the area. We have been sleeping in our sleeping bags, on concrete ground, in the dirt. We now have the chance to sleep in fluffy beds and take hot salty showers. This is as close to luxury as we’ve ever had in a long time.
“I think we should all sleep in the main room,” Derrick starts.
“What?!” Ashlynn exclaimed.
“No!” Christine yells.
“I don’t see a problem with that,” Brian says.
“Me neither,” Ashton agrees.
“I like it!” pipes up Isaiah.
Everyone turns towards me like my vote will change everything. I look at Derrick and I ask, “Why do you want us to sleep together when there are enough rooms in the house for us to have our own?”
“Because if anyone breaks in and attack us, we won’t have to lose time looking for each other and we erase the risk of getting split up or getting outnumbered.”
I can’t fault his logic, it makes so much sense. But I also can’t help the desperate feeling in my chest of unwinding and being Kiani. Not leader of the Expendables. This may be the one and only chance I’ll have to just be myself and breathe.
“I think we should all get our own rooms,” I say, but I quickly continue to stop the cheering that’s about to start. “But I do think we should all get rooms on the same floor, that way it’ll be easier to get to each other.”
Everyone quickly ran up the stairs to the second floor, since it has the most bedrooms and also the most bathrooms. I claim the master since I know I will be sharing the space with Isaiah. I don’t mind too much. I know he won’t want to be alone.
“Of course, you get the master,” Ashlynn says.
I guess our small truce disappeared when she realized I’ll be getting the bigger bed and my own shower. I shoot her the one finger salute as I stalk into the room. I wait for Isaiah to come into the room, but I’m surprised when it’s Derrick.
“Where’s Isaiah?” I ask.
“He went to sleep with Christine. I wanted to talk to you before we all call it a night,” he replies.
“Ok, can this wait after my shower?”
“Yeah, go ahead. I’m going to go check to see if there’s any food.”
“Oh! I nearly forgot! There’s a lot of canned food in the cabinets and Brian found me some olive oil!” I shoot past him and head into the kitchen to pick up my treasure. I hug it close to my body as I make my way back to my room. Derrick is leaning against the wall by my door with a smile on his face.
“I’m glad you found something for your hair. ‘Cause that thing up there looks like a bunch of spiders are having a meeting,” he jokes.
“Hardy har-har,” I fake laugh. “And your hair looks like overcooked ground beef!” I hurry into the bathroom and slam the door.
This bathroom is huge! Like, “girl you wanna have a spa day in my bathroom?” huge. I really want to soak in the tub, but I know that I’m so filthy, and I don’t want to be soaking in dirt and blood.
The shower is huge, like everything else is, and it’s lined with shampoos and conditioners. I know that they’re probably not paraben or sulfate free, but I’ll take what I can get. I turn the water on and I undress. I pass time by staring at myself in the mirror. My body is still pretty athletic looking, but you can see my ribs and the inside my stomach is high-fiving the inside my back. I look scary.
No, I look scared.
I turn and get into the shower once it’s warm enough and I sigh in pure bliss. The water may be salty as hell, but it’s salting away all of the stress that I’ve been carrying. I stand under the spray and I watch as the water turns a dark brown and then slowly starts to clear up. Once the water is clear, I begin the long and tedious process of cleaning my body and cleansing my scalp. If I had more time, I’d spend a whole day pampering my hair. Before the world went to shit, I used to have a “Wash Day” for my hair; literally a day I dedicate to cleaning, and cleaning, and cleaning my hair. Oh, and moisturizing this bad boy. Can’t be walking around looking like I have a black cotton ball sitting on my head.
I spend over an hour in the shower, slowly scrubbing a sense of humanity back into my soul. When I finally emerge, I feel like my old self. Well, as close to my old self as I can get in this new world. I walk around the bathroom and I find some really fluffy and dusty towels in a linen closet. After shaking them out, I use one for my hair and one for my body. I really hope there’s some lotion around here, because I can already feel my skin drying out. The last thing I need is for me to look like I’ve been rolling around in old campfires.
I exit the bathroom and I see that Derrick isn't here. I walk over to the giant walk-in closet and hope and pray that there are some clothes left here for me to wear. I’ll have to wash my underwear, cause I’m not that desperate. Everything in the closet is so snooty and not my type at all. But you know the saying, beggars can’t be choosers. But I wish I could choose something else. The owner of this house must have been in a country club and probably planned all of the programs. But even she would have some downtime clothes. I finally found a pair of leggings and regular t-shirts in the shadows of the closet, like she was trying to hide the fact that she didn’t wear high-end clothes all of the time.
After putting the clothes on, I sit down and begin the long process of putting moisture back into my hair. Since I don’t have as much downtime as I would like, I pour a handful of olive oil in my hand and slap it on my head. I quickly braid my hair down so that it’s more protected from the elements. Once I’m satisfied with how I look, I head downstairs to look for Derrick and get something to eat. There’s something on his mind and I know I’m the only one he’ll be vulnerable with.
I find Derrick sitting at the kitchen table with his head in his hands. I stop and admire the way he looks. Even though I can tell that he’s exhausted, he’s still trying to hold himself with an air of confidence.
“Hey, a penny for your thoughts?” I ask, trying to drag him out of the dark place that he seems to have placed himself into. His head pops up and his eyes connect with mine and I feel my stomach drop to the ground.
“I was just thinking about traveling through such a large city, the dangers that are waiting for us,” he replies quietly. I belatedly notice that he only has a small table lamp on and not the main light. I guess that even though we covered up all of the windows in the house, he didn’t want to take any chances.
“Wanna grab some canned food and heat it up and then take this little powwow upstairs?” I ask. He nods his head and stands up. We head over to the pantry and browse around at all of our options. We can feast like kings for the first time in months. I grab
a can of baked beans and a bag of instant microwaveable rice and head over to the microwave. I can see that Derrick grabbed another can of beans and joined me.
We share companionable silence while we open and prepare our food. I head over to the fridge and I open it up to see if we are lucky enough to have any more water bottles lying around. Sadly, the fridge is full of expired fruit and vegetables and spoiled milk. I close the fridge and try to test the water in the door to see if it purifies itself or if it comes out salty. I press the button and let the water fill up the palm of my hand. Once there’s enough in there to taste, I bring the water to my lips and take a tentative sip from it. And I immediately spit it out. Salty!
“What are you doing?” Derrick asks.
“I’m testing the water to see if it was fresh, but it’s not,” I respond.
“Why would you do that?”
I look at him puzzled by his question. Why would I be looking for water that we can drink and survive off of? “Because we need water to live?” I respond sarcastically.
“Duh, I know that, Einstein. I’m saying why would you experiment on the fridge when there’s a purifier hooked up to the faucet right here?” he says as he points to the purifier.
I slam my forehead against the fridge and let out a frustrated groan. I know I’m exhausted, but I can’t be blind and dumb as well. I run over to the sink and I turn it on. I wait for the water to run for a little bit before sticking my cupped hands underneath and bringing it to my lips. Low and behold! Fresh water. I gulp so much water that my stomach starts to hurt.
“Better stop inhaling that water, or you’re going to throw up. Our food is done, too,” Derrick comments from beside me.
“Do the others know that we have water?” I ask.
“Yeah they know. They’ve all had something to eat and they took containers of water up to their rooms. You’re the only one that hasn’t been down long enough to fill your stomach,” he laughs.
Kiani’s Journey- Mayhem Page 4
