Package

Tuesday, 1st September
12:33

Roaming down the half-abandoned industrial estate she had been directed to, the driver kept her eyes out for the company name she was looking for. Grip tightening around the wheel, the woman grit her teeth, causing her jaw to pulse rhythmically. The tension didn't go without notice from the passenger. Sniffling sharply with a taught twitch, the blonde opened her mouth to speak. Cut off by a desperately dry mouth, she fingered the silver flask from the hard plastic pocket of her door. Unscrewing the cap with her index finger and thumb skilfully, she took three chugs - emptying the item.

Continuing to watch the obvious signs of anxiety and irritation picking away at her usually intrepid friend, Domino finally gave in with a full-bodied flop in her seat. "Stop chewing your teeth. What the hell is wrong with you?"

Cracking her neck to the left sharply, the driver licked her upper teeth and chucked the empty tin on the dash. It wasn't a subject she wanted to get into right now - ever. She couldn't help but to held onto her reason for a few moments. "My last foster place is five minutes down the road. It was the last place before I ran away for good."

"That wasn't your choice."

"I used to hang around this very shit-hole. After getting out..." Alex pulled back into herself as if it had been a long time spent in a horrible prison. No matter how long she had been away, she knew she could bump into someone from her younger years at any moment and get caught up in all of the shit which had messed her up as bad as the place which sent her there in the first place. "When I got out," she swallowed down the acid building in the back of her throat from the nicotine and Jack, and blinked eyes surrounded by black. "I had an obligation here and I ran from it. The last thing I need is to come across someone from that time in my life."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here for you back then," sensing the odd feeling radiating from the woman beside her, Domino forced herself to push it aside for the time being, "but we have to get Jules out of whatever the fuck he's done this time."

Feeling a bit of the weight lift off of her chest at the brush-off she was sure was for her sake, the blonde turned the steering wheel left. Instead of parking in the direction she was facing, she drove diagonally across the narrow street and then reversed. Doing the same thing again, she turned the vehicle around and then settled the left wheels up on the curb - the car facing the way they'd come from.

Taking the keys from the ignition, the blonde flicked down the sun visor in front of her. "Lipstick."

Familiar with the code, the redhead pretended to fix her face in the visor mirror as her hand reached under her seat and clasped a curved blade. "What do you think it is?"

"Hm?" The driver hummed as she unclipped her seatbelt and fixed her eye-liner which was now bordering on looking like she was cosplaying a member of KISS.

"The package. What do you think it is?"

"I don't care." Catching a flicker of something in the reflection of her mirror, Alex stilled and looked around before fixing her eyes on the metal shutters over the front doors of the dilapidated exterior belonging to the building they were about to head for. "But if this is some kind of ploy to keep us here while something happens to Jules-"

"Don't think like that." Smacking the visor up, Domino patted her friend's shoulder and slipped her weapon under her jacket. "Besides, nobody could crack Jules' phone or laptop even if they had all day. I'm sure the fucker uses pig Latin and hieroglyphs in all of his passwords."

"Words from experience of trying to get into his them?" The blonde asked as they exited the car and stepped out into the air filled with the stink of burning rubber, car fluids and mist-like drizzle.

Untucking her hair from down her white leather jacket still partially smeared with the murky gunk from earlier, Domino elaborated due to the blonde's expression. "I was trying to delete a photo."

"Oh, aye?"

"You're twisted. He managed to get a picture of me with some inflatable dicks all around me like a wreathe while I was asleep, and he's been threatening me with them for months."

"That's not something you're usuallly bothered by."

"I'm sure he'll have no issue showing you if you ask him about it."

The older woman snorted a laugh at the seriousness painting her friend's face and hopped onto the curb. "You've actually made me curious now." Ignoring the deprecating statement which followed, Alex crossed the asphalt glistening with a myriad of purples and greens caused by an old oil spill brought back to life by the rain. Passing through one of the iron-bar gates which had been left open enough for an average-sized man to fit through, the two women followed the instructions which had been sent to them. Avoiding the front entrance of what was once a carpet factory, the pair made their way around the side of the building which was almost completely overgrown with spindly trees and weeds poking up through the broken tarmac. Coming to what they were after, the blonde knocked on the metal-plated door thrice with the side of her left gloved-fist. The pair waited in the damp miniature courtyard of a natural enclosure grown wild after years of neglect. After around three or four seconds, a slot just above her eye-level slid open with a clank.

"Package," was all the blonde said.

"Name?" The gruff voice from the other side asked.

"Julian Darby." The tone turned even rougher by the whiskey and smoke made her seem annoyed.

The security hole snapped shut. Another few seconds passed, but the clank of bolts soon told them that they weren't being ignored. The heavy-duty barrier swung open to reveal an overly large man, and two smaller males in tacky tracksuits.

"Payment?"

"Nothing was mentioned of payment," the blonde turned to face her friend, a comically exaggerated look on her face, "was there, Dom?" She tilted her head and then glanced back to the men after receiving a head-shake from her partner.

"'Heard nothing about it." The redhead solidified her answer with a matching shrug of mockery.

Flicking the tip of her tongue off the inside of her lower molar, the blonde extended her right hand sharply. "Package."

Scanning the pair, the biggest man's frown deepened. "What's your name?"

"My name is 'I will kick your fuckin' arse and leave your body strung up at the post office if you don't bring me what I came for quick-time." Lifting her arm only to throw her cigarette end on the floor, one of the shorter men caught something of interest.

Noticing the black outline of a pearlescent scar on the inside of the blonde's forearm where the sleeve of her jacket had ridden up, the shorter guard slapped his colleague on the biceps. "Go get the packa-"

"-No," the man booking at least 6'8 and over four-hundred pounds wafted the smaller man away, "we have orde-" Grabbing the fabric on top of the brusque man's shoulder, the smaller man attempted to drag his colleague's ear down to his mouth. Lowering his voice, the shortest hissed frantically, his beady eyes shooting back and forth from the blonde and her partner, to his company, and then back again.

Watching the scene with frustration for the time constraint, the female pair shifted from one foot to the other. They were covered in questionable gloop, aching from the early morning activities, and their hair was getting wet with the drizzle.

The burly man gave in to his new orders and waddled away. Returning within a couple of minutes or so, something had changed in the tallest's attitude. Not daring to look either woman in the eye, he held out the mundane package: a box around the width and height of an open laptop which was wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with twine. "We don't want any trouble."

Snatching the object which caused an initial jolt due to the unexpected weight of it, Domino immediately set off in a strut towards the car. Turning around to follow her friend, Alex was halted by a familiar question. "Are you actually her?" Debating on whether to acknowledge the curiosity which came with such work, the blonde forced her feet to move. "Are you really Hex Baines?"

Hearing the call, Domino stopped before she could squeeze through the overgrown path. Glowering something wicked under perfectly manicured furrowed brows, the redhead bared her teeth in a snarl. "Her name is Alexandria." With a click of her tongue for the trio of louts holed up in the abandoned building like rats, she reached behind her, balancing the package on her hip as she dragged the addressed along before anything else could be said.

Making it back to the car and getting seated, the blonde started the engine and they set off without a word. Driving out of the industrial estate which had been a pivotal part of the thriving community more than seventy years ago, heavier rain than before pelted down. Turning the radio on low, the pair listened to the travel news. The obvious statement that is was going to rain all day and that storms would likely happen sporadically was semi-acknowledged, along with the days' bullshit political headlines so far. Getting stuck behind at least five cars from what she could see for the rain coming down so heavy it was practically grey sheets that bounced off all surfaces, Alex tapped a leather-gloved finger on the window ledge in time with the beginning of a classic rock tune.

Staring out of the opposite window, the redhead watched the distorted lights of the cars going back and forth under the over-pass they were stuck on before the traffic lights leading onto the ring-road which led back to their place of work. "Did you know them?" Her volume was just above a whisper.

"Not that I recall." The driver told flatly as she continued to drum her fingers and keep her attention on the irksome way that piece of road worked with it's several turn-offs, a roundabout, and juntions from the motorway.

Examining the driver's profile, the younger woman tried to fathom what was going on in her friend's head. "Would you tell me if you did?"

Pierced by the quiet tone, the driver looked at her friend for the first time since getting in the car. "Yeah, I would."

Nodding once casually, the passenger took a cigarette from the packet in the well beneath the handbrake and lit it. Handing it off to the blonde, she went back to staring out of the window. "I'm glad."

3rd October 2020 - 19:25