Earlier that day...
Two teenage girls walked down the hallway from their plane. Following the other passengers they quickly made their way to the security check out.
"Where are you two from?" One security guard asked.
"South Africa, we are here to site- see," one teenager said.
"Names?"
"I'm Marie Wilson, and this is my friend Ayanda Khumalo," Marie said.
Marie and Ayanda had been friends since high school. They had decided to travel before they settling in to college.
Marie had light brown hair, with greenish blue eyes. She had a kind face, with an amazing smile. Her skin was fair, She was slim, and wore a blue tank top, with black jeans. She was the youngest, at only seventeen.
Ayanda had short black hair and amazing dark eyes with a very kind face. Her skin was a light golden-brown colour , she was slim and very fit from playing hockey and wore a green tank top with blue jeans. Ayanda was eighteen.
The security guard quickly looked at their passports, and did a quick check through their luggage.
"Enjoy your trip," he said as he gave their passports back.
"Thanks," Marie said as they grabbed their stuff and headed out.
"Where to now, girlfriend?" Ayanda asked.
"Dunno? Where you wanna go?" Marie asked as she took out a map of the city.
"What's the map say?"
"Here," Marie said as she lifted the map in front of Ayanda.
Ayanda gave her look of annoyance. Then she took out a red marker and looked at the map.
"SHOPS! look at all da shops. AGH! I like died and gone to heaven. Stand back girlfriend, I got me a mission!" Ayanda stated as she marked all the shopping centres. Marie just rolled her eyes.
"You think the sites would come first. Its not like we don't have any shops back at home?" Marie said as she put a hand on her hip.
Ayanda mimicked her and raised one hand to her hip also.
"Girl, you got no taste. This is America, they got clothes. I mean look at all those rich folks," Ayanda teased.
"Yeah, but they have the money. We don't have that kind of money. Look at the Rands compared to the dollar. We will be broke on the first day with your shopping," Marie said seriously.
Ayanda broke out in a smile.
"That's why you and me are buds. You take everything way too seriously," Ayanda joked.
"Yeah, well, you don't take anything seriously, I swear if it weren't for me, we wouldn't be here," Marie joked.
They laughed as they made their way out of the airport and into one of the many waiting taxis.
"Where do you want to go, ladies?" the driver asked.
"Hotel," Marie said as she gave him the address then turned her attention back to her friend.
"See, plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark," Marie joked.
"Yeah, but the Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals," Ayanda teased.
"Izit?" Marie laughed.
The girls fell into a comfortable silence as they turned their attention to the scenery outside. The taxi drove by private homes and office buildings on it's way to the girl's hotel.
Arriving at their new home for the next few days they quickly checked in and unpacked their clothes in their room, which they were sharing to save money.
Then they headed downstairs and out onto the sidewalk.
"Where to now?" Ayanda asked.
"Dunno, how's about we walk and see what we can find?" Marie suggested.
"Cool," Ayanda said and they made their way down the street.
They stopped at every shop, much to Marie's delight.
"How many shops we gonna stop at?" Marie asked in frustration.
"Ag relax, loosen up, babes. We're on vakansie. Learn to relax, chickie." Ayanda smiled.
"Ya know I don't like shopping," Marie said in a more relaxed tone.
"Yeah, but I love it, and I know you gonna make me go to the computer shops. So its my turn now, ok?" Ayanda asked.
"Jawellnofine," Marie sighed as she gave up.
Ayanda just laughed as they continued on their way further down the street. They kept on walking even when the shops started to thin out. They even kept on walking even though they knew they had entered a bad area of town. To make matters worse, the girls had not noticed the clouds moving in until it suddenly started to rain. Marie and Ayanda quickly began to run for cover.
"Ouch, my foot. My FOOT!" Marie cried as she grabbed her injured foot.
Ayanda immediately went to her side, helping her stand.
"Wazit?" Ayanda asked.
"I think I pulled something. Ou!" Marie gasped.
"Okay, look there's a empty warehouse we can use, here use me as a crutch," Ayanda said as she helped Marie.
They walked a few steps more, entering the warehouse, then quickly moved to the one side, seeking a place where they could hide, just in case. Ayanda quickly helped Marie down, then turned her attention to Marie's foot, which had become swollen.
"Ewe, it gross. Its all big and turning bluish," Ayanda moaned.
"This is why you will never become a doctor," Marie joked.
"Yeah, but at least my job will be more interesting," Ayanda said as a come back.
"Ah, excuse me. But being an accountant is Not boring!" Marie said in defence.
"Please, baby girl. You think watching Star war, Starterk, Stargate... and so on, are interesting. You are such a geek," Ayanda said sarcastically.
"Oh, and the Bold and the Beautiful, Egoil, and that is more interesting?" Marie quipped.
"At least its down to earth. Your all aliens and conspiracies, I mean who loves the X-files, the Lone Gun men, Enterprise, Dungeons and Dragons, FBI cases, Murder detectives or what was it, oh, the Forensic Detectives and all those types of programmes? I mean that ain't normal," Ayanda argued.
"Its interesting!" Marie argued back. The girls continued fighting until they heard a car pull up outside.
"Ssh!" Ayanda whispered.
Marie nodded. They slowly peeked through a hole between several cardboard boxes they had hidden behind.
They watched as an older man wearing a very smart suit walked in, followed by three body guards. After them came two large men, dragging an injured man in between them.
"Oh my.." Marie whispered.
They heard pleading and barked orders as the older man walked away. They watched in horror as the body guards joined the other two men and quickly killed the injured man. Then the men calmly left the building.
Marie put a hand over her mouth, praying that she could contain her scream.
Neither girl could move. Both felt numb, cold, like they were trapped in a nightmare. They kept staring at the horrific sight. The man that was once on his knees begging for mercy, was now nothing more than a bloody mess. His body was covered in cuts, bruises, bullet holes, and knife wounds.
The man's body was now lying in a pool of blood. His face was turned in their direction and they could see his blank eyes stare back at them.
The girls lost track of time but the next thing they were aware of was seven men entering the warehouse.
"Dam, its Donald," a tall black man said as he examined the body.
Marie and Ayanda never made a sound. They just watched as the men looked around. They were a little bit startled when a young man with long light brown hair and blue eyes spotted them.
He immediately drew out his gun, pointing it at their direction. The other men drew their weapons.
"Come out with your hands up," the man with blond hair ordered.
Ayanda slowly got up, helping Marie.
"Please don't shoot us, please," Ayanda cried.
The other men looked at them.
"Who are you and why are you here?" a tall man asked.
"I'm Ayanda, this is my friend Marie, we're from South Africa. We arrived here today, we went walking when it started to rain. We come in here, then other men came in and...." Ayanda stopped when she realised what she had just done.
"But we never saw a thing, we were day dreaming, isn't that right Ayanda?" Marie added quickly, hoping these men would leave.
The other men looked at their leader.
"You're coming with us," he ordered.
"Who are you?" Marie asked.
"ATF," the leader spoke.
Ayanda and Marie looked at each other, then at the men with confusion.
"Law enforcement. We're a specialized group," the black man said.
"Oh, why didn't you say that it the begging," Ayanda asked.
The other men chuckled. The black man stepped forward.
"Are any of you hurt?" he asked.
"Yeah, I hurt my foot," Marie said.
The man stepped in and quickly helped to lower Marie back down, then he looked at the foot.
"Its just a bit bruised. Maybe sprained. Stay off it a few days and it should be fine," he said.
"Thank you..." Marie asked.
"Nathan, Nathan Jackson, at your service," Nathan smiled.
"Thank you sir," Marie said as they helped her up.
"Please call me Nathan," he said.
"Nathan, lets go!" the leader ordered.
"Come on. We'd better get you some place safe," Nathan said as they made their way out of the warehouse. Once outside they were introduced to the other six men.
"Hi, I'm JD Dunne, this is Buck Wilmington, Ezra Standish, Josiah Sanchez, Vin Tanner, you know Nathan, and our leader Chris Larabee," JD introduced everyone.
"Howzit," Marie said.
The men looked at her with puzzled frowns.
"She means, hello, how are things?" Ayanda filled them in.
"Oh," JD said.
"Lets get back to the office," Chris ordered.
Everyone got into a van, it was a tight squeeze, but everyone managed to find a place to sit. The men fell silent once the van started moving so it made the trip seem even longer. Marie and Ayanda looked at the men that were looking at them, then they looked at each other.
"What moet ons doen?" Ayanda said in Afrikaans, hoping the other men wouldn't understand.
"Ek weet nie. Ek is baie jammer, " Marie said sadly.
"Hey, what language is that?" JD asked.
"Afrikaans," Marie said.
"Af- ri-kans?" JD tried to pronounce.
Marie and Ayanda laughed.
"Afrikaans," they said together. Everyone laughed as JD still pronounced it wrong.
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Sorry that it ended off a bit lame, but I am still just warming up. Ha ha, anyway this was just to introduce my characters.
See ya
Kas