The Map

12:00 p.m. March 5, 1962, Mexico City. The air around me was filled with the horrible stench of rotting flesh. To my left an abandoned warehouse with boarded up windows and doors falling off their hinges. The bodies of my friends lying in front, limbs torn off, it was a massacre. To my right a deep dark red ocean filled with the blood and bodies of its previous victims. And there I stood, the beast in front of me, with bloodshot eyes from all of the sleepless nights. Clothes torn falling off my body. Nothing to protect me but a small piece of glass from the taxi, I run to attack head on and...

FOUR DAYS EARLIER

It was a very sunny morning Johnny came running down the stairs tripping over the last step and falling flat on his face. I walked in from the living room to find him lying there.

"What happened?" I asked

"I tripped coming down the stairs."

Laughing I said, "Way to go smart one."

"Oh shut up Greg! It's not funny."

"Trust me it is. How did you trip anyways?"

"I was running down the stairs because I had something to to show you, but now I don't think I should."

"OK fine! I'm sorry. What is it?"

He pulled a ragged map from his shirt pocket.

"It's a map, OK whats it lead t-"

"It's a map!"

"I just said that. What's it lead to?"

"I don't know yet, but I thought we could..."

"Oh no! No! No! No! No! No! I'm not going on another one of stupid adventures Johnny. I nearly lost my neck trying to save you from that tribe of cannibals in Fiji. I'm not going!"

"Oh, come on Greg this will be fun."

"Fun how do you know this wont be just like last time? We didn't even find anything last time."

"No trust me this ones real. Es la Ciudad de Oro."

"The city of gold? OK now that just sounds fake. You haven't convinced me."

"No really it's real this gypsy told me when she told me were to find the map."

"A gypsy Johnny seriously. You want me to believe you, and you tell me about a gypsy."

"I swear I'm not lying."

"OK let's just say I believe you. What do we do?"

"Well first we need to get some money from your dad."

"My da.. he doesn't have any money. Why don't you ask yours?

"He's on vacation in Hawaii."

"Call him.

"He doesn't like to be bothered when he's vacationing. Plus he's always in the spa or," he put up his fingers to make quotation marks, "relaxing in his presidential suite."

"Oh wow. Lets just ask Jason he should have money."

"OK but that means we'll have to give him a cut of the money we find."

"Oh well, he's the one that's gonna sponsor this wild goose chase anyways."

"OK lets go get him.

We drove to his house in the fabulous fourties. He had a beautiful, white, three story house. Smooth, green lawn with a white picket fence surrounding it. We walked up the stone walkway to his 10 ft. tall front double doors. We knocked on the door.

"Who is it?!" someone yelled from the from inside the house.

"It's Greg and Johnny!" I yelled back.

"Coming!"

He ran to the the door. I could hear him kicking something metal out from in front of the door and it hitting something made of glass making it break. He opened the door.

"What's up guys? What are you two doing here?"

"Well we just had a question for you"

"OK shoot."

"Well we were wondering if you might want to sponsor us is a little treasure hunt we've got going?"

"Well that depends what do I get out of it?"

"You get 40% of whatever we find and we'll split the rest.

"Sure why not let me just get my credit card." He ran upstairs into his bedroom to retrieve his wallet.

I turned to Johnny and asked, "Are you sure this is a good idea? What if we don't find anything? What are we gonna do to pay him back?"

Johnny stood there with his mind traveling somewhere else I had to smack him on the head to get his attention.

I yelled, "Johnny!?"

Startled he jumped, "What sorry what did you say?"

"I said, are you sure this is a good idea? What if we don't find anything? What are we gonna do to pay him back?"

"Don't worry about it we'll find something."

"OK I hope for your sake your right, because if not the money to pay him back is coming out of your wallet."

Jason came running back downstairs yelling, "OK I got it. Lets go."

"OK lets g-"

"Wait where are we going anyways?"

"Mexico!" Johnny yelled.

"Mexico? Really? OK well that's different. Eh whatever lets go."

We took a cab to the Greyhound bus station. And got the 6:00 p.m. bus going toward Mexico. The bus ride took a day and a half. We arrived in Mexico at around 6:00 a.m.