CHAPTER 5
In the outside world, the sun rises in the east and descends in the west, like the night before. The birds sang and the sky lightened, like any other morning; unlike every other morning, however, the kids in this house were up at dawn; likewise, their souls restless and minds operating on all cylinders.
Jimmy, Darya, and the rest of the group gathered on the back lawn around the sloped entrance to an underground garage.
There was no need for any form of discussion. The plan, as discussed the night before; was to gather two of Jimmy's four seat ATVs and make their way through the backwoods to Darya's cabin where she was shooting her winter cover for her own published fashion magazine; hence, the odd winter and bikini combo she adorned the night before where she wandered in search of help to Jimmy's cabin.
Jimmy walked down to a terminal next to the plain white garage door, he heard the clicking of metal as he punched in the code on the numbered metal buttons and the garage ascended into the ceiling.
As the plain white garage door rose, revealing the garage's pristinely polished black tile laminate floor and two four seat all terrain vehicles front and center; one was shiny yet dark maroon and the other was a slightly darker cobalt blue. They came equipped heavy duty chests bolted to the back for carrying items you may take on a trip.
"Oh come on Jim boy..." scoffed Matt as he walked down the slope to the garage, his diamond studs were shimmering in the morning sunlight.
"What?" asked Jimmy who was annoyed yet amazed by Matt's jolly attitude even after the stories of absolute horror that Darya had told them and insisted was completely true without any exaggeration, despite disbelief amongst the girls in the super six. Around the fireplace and illuminated by the previous night's fire, she told how her friends were no longer friends but instead they were "Deformed Chernobyl rejects".
"Man... You know how I roll Jimmothy." he shook his head with a smile.
"Oh? And how's that Matthew?" Jimmy hated it when Matt called him anything but Jimmy; "Jim boy" was the one that irked him the most and Matthew knew it. Matt hated being called anything but Matt and he especially despised being called by his full name.
Matt's scoff riddled scowl turned to a grin, displaying a grill of yellowed teeth accompanied by ridiculously contrasting his caps that were dentally inserted in place of knocked out teeth; a downside to being a professional football player for the Miami Dolphins, but in his deranged mind the pecuniary attributes of a career of bashing heads and being a human crash test dummy far outweighed the health risk of the game and the Miami nightlife of a revered linebacker. All this despite only weighing in at 200 pounds and barely scratching five foot seven.
Matt smirked, showcasing an odd gold tooth here and there among the snow-white caps and the yellowed natural teeth. "Where's the Lambo?" he smiles and winks, putting a hand on Jimmy's shoulder, "Or Lambo's? More than one? Eh, eh?" he nudged Jimmy.
Jimmy gave Matt his signature smug grin while he punched in an entirely different code into the terminal, accompanied by the same metal clicks, almost sounding like the clicks of a typewriter. Across the garage a far right wall turned vitreous with a pattern of spaced out and randomly oriented white hexagons varying in size began to ascend into the ceiling flawlessly and without a seam visible. A squad of luxury cars, Bugatti’s, Lamborghini’s, Aston Martin’s, and the like occupied the space behind the risen glass wall.
"Yeah actually, more than just Lambo's." leered Jimmy, dumbfounding Matt and the rest of the group. The squad of seven cars was easily worth more than the half million-dollar cabin they were staying in.
Surely, they thought; that this cost more than just his cut from the profit of his self named law firm. Perhaps the rumors of the proclaimed attorney and prosecutor dabbled on both sides of the law were fact. He was also famed for his uncanny and almost fishy skill and unusually grand profits form the stock market and reports of Jimmy's grandiose winnings from every casino he hit weren't uncommon by any means. It was almost like he knew something other's didn't, most credited it to his rumored genius level IQ.
"But alas, not today gents." he punched yet another new code and with a beep the glass wall fell from the ceiling like a curtain falling upon a stage at the end of the final act and with a continuous light, creeping mechanical whir and gained back it's white base color.
"Today, off-roading is our game. These are state of the art ATVs," said Jimmy walking over to lean against the hood of the blur ATV, "Darya's cabin is across the backwoods and it's part of a small community of cabins, her friends and family may be in trouble."
"No. No friends, no family." said Darya quietly with a slight Russian accent; she had finally been able to speak clear english after the previous night of traumatizing shock.
"I know Darya," said Jimmy trying to calm down the Russian down as Ariel put a comforting hand on her back as tears began to well up in her eyes. "You couldn't tell us that enough," he continued with a half-hearted chuckle attempting to lighten up the mood, only to see his attempt was in vain. "But we have to see for sure."
Darya understood and nodded, wiping away her tears, "Thank you." said Darya thankfully. To the rest of the group, they drew parallels between Jimmy talking to Darya to an emergency operator instructing a mortified child on what to do after the loss of her family; Jimmy fully believed that Darya wasn't lying or delusional and a cocktail of morbid curiosity, animal instincts, and heroism and justness drove him in his decision to make a trip to Darya's grim cabin.
Kylie sensed the seriousness in Jimmy's eyes, it was weird and sort of otherworldly, like a sixth sense of sort; his brown eyes seemed a little more somber and far less bright than usual. She countered that thought with the realization that she had her own dilemma that she just had to share.
Jimmy continued with the briefing, "And the chests on the back of the AT-"
"Wait!" yelled Kylie form the small crowd, cutting Jimmy off who looked rather annoyed, he hated being interrupted. The group stood frozen in anticipation. "I'm pregnant. And James I love you!" the group let out a collective gasp as Kylie ecstatically screamed while latching his arms tight around James, binding his arms to his sides like restraints on a bundle of wood. The group stood dumbfounded and amazed at James' pitiful and dissatisfied expression. He couldn't believe the woman he once loved and the one who hit him whenever it was convenient for her had her arms around him just because she discovered she was pregnant! This was crazy!
In a move of shocking disdain and one that stunned everyone, James shoved Kylie off of him, not hard or anything... Just so she was off him, it hurt him too much.
It was in that sole moment that Kylie felt her heart shrink three sizes and felt for the first time the heart sinking feeling of angst and the gritty realness of being a pregnant single mother. It hurt more than she could ever imagine her blows to James could have ever been.
The group fell in completely silence collectively wearing increasingly saddening faces. Ed loudly cleared his throat and muttered, "You know, as much as we'd like to just stand here and feel sorry; this is a matter of life and death." Ed took a deep breath and turned to face his friends. "This is what matter right now. I'm sorry Kylie."
Sara nodded her head and folded her arms, "He's right." she put a hand on Kylie's shoulder only to have it brushed off by a disgruntled Kylie.
The group gazed upon Ed shockingly at his cold and blatant harshness, but they clearly understood the disparity of the whole situation and had to take his logic over Kylie's emotional devastation. Darya's family and her friends were in trouble... or worse.
"Jimmy," Ed stood tall and valiantly while he undulated his hand in Jimmy's direction, "continue, we're burning daylight."
"Of course, Ed" Jimmy said, smiling briefly. "Now everyone, not to cause alarm or anything, but, I've stashed each of these chests with five 9mm pistols, two shotguns, and one scoped hunting rifle."
The group murmured nervously and anxiously; the commotion reached a loud roar. "Quiet!" roared Jimmy, everyone stopped and transferred their gaze upon Jimmy once again. "I told you to not panic. We probably won't even need these," this was Jimmy lying for the stability of the group, he knew there was a very good chance they would need a little firepower on their trip. "Just in case. You know?"
Jimmy stopped talking as he climbed into the Driver's seat of the maroon ATV, starting the engine, "Who's with me? And who's ready?"
Darya eagerly climbed into the passenger seat next to Jimmy, Ed and Matt filled the two seats behind them. Sara, Ariel, Kylie, and James climbed into the posh leather seats of the blue ATV. James turned the key in the ignition and revved the engine, spiking the RPM meter, like he's seen in action flicks many times before. He looked across at Jimmy, inspiringly, he said with a confident nod at his confidant, "Ready."
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