Chapter Two Playlist:
•Guerrilla Radio ~ Rage Against The Machine (Fight Scene)
Note:
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It had been a long, and... off day. And Johanna didn't know why. Nothing bad had happened. No nightmares came to haunt her. And, as far as she could recall, nothing could have triggered this weird feeling.
So it didn't help when Johanna woke up earlier that morning, and suddenly felt... different. And that feeling remained there, lingering, always making her question in the back of her mind, was something going to happen?
And, so far, nothing did. Because her normal, daily routine was just that —normal. She woke up and went to the gym, came back home and slept, got back up, went to work, and came back again; just in time to get ready for school.
Though, when she entered her Wednesday afternoon class, there he was. If only her regular professor had planned her vacation wisely, then Johanna wouldn't have had to interact with whoever was behind the desk; sitting in Miss Rachel's seat.
The man had introduced himself as Mr. Hunter, and by the way he looked —scruffy, dark facial hair, hands and arms covered in tattoos, muscles ready to pop out of his tight sleeves at any moment— his name would fit him perfectly; if he had a more dangerous profession. But despite his name, and his creepy dark eyes, something about Johanna's substitute teacher rubbed her the wrong way.
Was it his greasy hair that seemed to look too moist, soaked with whatever cheap product he chose to use? No.
Was it his scar —a thin, pinkish mark that ran down from underneath his eyebrow and faded towards the end of his cheek; looking like it could've been given by a human, rather than an animal? Okay, that was a bit weird.
Or...
Was it the way he looked at Johanna? Almost like how a predator would look at its prey —constantly observing it. Waiting. Ready to attack when you least expect it. Eventually mauling the little gazelle, who only wanted a drink of water and—
Okay... watching Animal Planet after dinner had to stop. Because this wasn't the animal kingdom. This was community college for crying out loud! Where students, such as herself, could attend without judgement —despite one's age or how far back you graduated high school. And now, looking back, Johanna had no regrets for waiting this long.
Because the money that could've gone to her classes, went straight to helping out with either the phone bill, the utilities, or any other little necessities that her mother needed to pay when they had lived together. Before she died. Which was three years ago. Three years since her mother, along with her friend's parents, died from the virus that lasted from 2019 to 2021.
After their sudden deaths, her friend Lori —thanks to her family's wealth— bought them both an apartment near the college. And after putting everything that once belonged to their families in a storage unit, they've lived there ever since.
They needed a fresh start. A place where they could settle down, without the constant reminder of the heart ache, loss, and death that seemed to constantly roam around them. They both needed a break from their old lives. Especially Johanna, who had also lost her cousin eleven years ago. He was only seven when he went missing.
No one saw him before he mysteriously vanished.
There were no suspects.
And no one found any leads or evidence.
Eventually, they had a funeral for him —despite not finding his body, or any answers as to what exactly happened that warm, November afternoon. And to this day, Johanna was still convinced that Malakai wasn't dead. He was out there... somewhere. And wherever he was, she was going to find him...
"EARTH TO JOHANNA!!!" Her friend suddenly shrieked.
Bringing her back into reality, Johanna winced.
Lori King was normally soft spoken. Normally. One of her many talents, was being musically gifted. Professionally trained since the age of three, having the most talented fingers, Lori was heavily blessed by the greatest piano players to have ever played. But... even if she was held up at gunpoint, Lori couldn't even sing 'Happy Birthday'.
Standing in front of her bedroom mirror, Lori held up two shirts.
"As I was saying... the olive one makes my eyes pop and the blue one matches with one of my glasses. Which one should I wear tonight?"
Tonight...
Tonight, both Lori and Johanna were meeting their classmates, Lexi and Leah, at a local bar and grill. "It's going to be fun!" Lori promised Johanna earlier that afternoon. "And it's another excuse to get you out of this darn apartment, so COME ON and GET DRESSED."
An excuse to get out of the apartment, huh? Well... truthfully, all Johanna ever wanted to do nowadays, was stay in the apartment... and sleep.
Yet, here she was. Already dressed —wearing an Army-green jacket with a white tank top, her mother's hoop earrings, Johanna's favorite stretchy black jeans, and combat boots— and now helping her extremely persuasive friend pick out her outfit.
"Wear the olive shirt," Johanna smirked. "That way we can... coordinate."
Lori shot Johanna a glance, sticking out her tongue. Acting more like sisters than friends, Lori loved to coordinate with Johanna; who thanked God every day that they both shared similar tastes in fashion.
Once they were ready, they both plopped onto the couch and turned on the Tv. It was only eight o'clock, and they all had agreed to meet at nine; so, they had an hour to waste on their favorite show. And in no time, they were both laughing.
"Michael... is so... retarded!" Johanna gasped between laughter, followed by Lori, who slid onto the floor; squeezing her stomach.
"My ribs are killing me!" She squeaked.
Both girls continued giggling and paused the episode —right in the middle of one of the characters having a heart attack, and his manager trying to shove a wallet in his mouth.
"Ugh, only twenty more minutes until we have to leave!" Lori groaned, glancing at the clock, which only read eight-forty.
"Why don't we just leave now?" Johanna suggested. "We can get a good spot... by the Tv... that always plays MMA?"
Lori playfully rolled her eyes. "Geez, girl. You and your love for fighting! However..." she dramatically paused. "Not only could we grab a good spot by the tv, but also... we could get some appetizers before we eat!"
Without any further suggestions, since both girls loved to snack, Lori and Johanna grabbed their purses. But before they both left, Lori gripped Johanna's arm, clenching her jacket and a little bit of skin; which was now stinging.
"What the hell?" Johanna growled. Quickly whipping her head back, Johanna noticed Lori's face had turned pale —her hand covering her mouth.
Cocking a brow, Johanna froze. No one said a word, until Lori pointed to their open laptop.
"I heard something." She mouthed.
"What do you mean—"
Lori began to frantically wave her hand, before placing her pointer finger on her mouth. She then pointed to the computer again. And not long after... Johanna heard it too.
First, there was static, and then a beeping noise, soon followed by a man's voice.
"The targets are leaving the premises. I repeat, the targets are leaving the premises."
The voice became silent after that. And the silence terrified both Lori and Johanna. So much so, that when Lori's phone dinged, both girls jumped. Slowly opening her purse, Lori carefully grabbed her phone, glancing at the text from Lexi, that read "We're so excited for tonight! See U there!"
Lori wanted to text back, but she just couldn't. This was all happening too fast, and now, she didn't even want to hang out; much less eat anything. When she would get nervous, Lori would shake. And if you add food to the equation... well... it was all too simple. Her stomach would erupt. And it was extremely difficult to make it stop, most times having to punch herself in the stomach to focus on something else — a painful distraction— for the nausea to go away. But come on, who really liked to punch themselves after getting queasy?
Questions began to race throughout Johanna's mind.
Could it be a prank? Not likely, since Lori wasn't the 'pranking' type. And they didn't have a lot of friends, if any, that would hack into their computer just to scare them. So that was out of the equation.
What about a pop up commercial? Quickly scanning the computer, Johanna's stomach suddenly sank. There weren't any browsers open. It was blank.
The Tv? Given that they had Netflix, and the episode was still paused, Johanna now wanted to vomit. Or pass out. Probably a mixture of both, in that order
As for Lori, she had disappeared into the kitchen.
Quickly coming back out, Lori took a deep breath. And as Johanna glanced back at her friend, she realized it was too late. The hammer began smashing the laptop, only taking a couple hits to completely destroy it. Throwing the hammer down, Lori snatched Johanna's hand and dragged her into the bathroom; the only place without an electrical device —like a phone, Fitbit, or Tv.
Lori started shaking Johanna. "What the hell is going on?!?"
Johanna swallowed a nervous laugh that desperately tried to escape —knowing that somehow, someday, this would be a funny story to share... and also because she was really afraid she was going to pee herself.
"How should I know? It's your computer!"
Lori narrowed her eyes. "I bought that computer for the both of us, you jerk! Now what are we going to doooo?"
After a brief moment of silence —realizing that watching too many crime and spy movies finally came in handy— Johanna and Lori turned towards the tiny window that led to the fire escape. Nodding in silent agreement, both girls —hesitant yet determined— grabbed their closed hamper, and the first one that climbed out was Lori —then Johanna; who could have sworn she had heard someone banging on the front door.
Quickly pulling herself out, Johanna swore under her breath. Her Latin butt was normally small and plump. But now... NOW it was too big for the stupid window!
With a little help from Lori, desperately tugging on Johanna's arms, she managed to roll onto the landing —and the girls began to climb down; jumping onto the cement when they got a little closer to the ground. Without a second thought, the girls began to sprint —ignoring the fiery pain, scorching their lungs. Once they entered the parking lot, Johanna scanned the vehicles, only to find her blue Vespa missing.
"Son of a gun!" She panicked, remembering she had dropped it off at the mechanics the day before.
Looking back, Johanna knew they had limited time to escape —whoever was after them was probably close by. Which only meant one thing. They would have to continue running.
The area where all the restaurants were at, was thankfully not too far from their apartment, since the tiny district was mostly catered towards college students. And college students always equaled two things. Food and Alcohol. And Johanna was normally interested in one of those. But not tonight —food would definitely have to wait.
Once they arrived at the bar and grill, completely out of breath, both girls went straight to the bathroom; leaning on one another for support.
Music blaring, young people yelling, laughing, and singing —this was the perfect opportunity for Johanna and Lori to discuss their story; because it was certainly not normal to leave your home without keys, purse, your phone, money, and a freaking vehicle!
"Okay," Lauri clapped her hands together. "We decided to go out for a walk."
Johanna nodded. "Alright... yeah... And then... then we almost got mugged!"
Lauri jumped, clapping her hands even harder. "Perfect! We had to run away —which explains why I feel like my chest is about to explode."
Johanna groaned. "It'll pass. But same here." Her hands were shaking, and she began to open and close her fists to try to stop it.
Pacing back and forth, checking to make sure no girls were in any of the stalls —which they should've done from the start—Lori began slamming the sink; turning back to Johanna.
"What is going on? Is someone spying on us?!?!"
Johanna snorted. "Who would wanna spy on us? We're so freaking boring, not even the Soviets would wanna take a peek! One look at us —lounging around in our sweats eating chips— and they'd be like, 'Oh God! We made a terrible mistake. Dosvedanya!' And however you say oh hell no in Russian!"
Lori laughed, but then stifled a cry. "Then who? Who would tap into our laptop and have the nerve to scare us like this?"
"We did," came a pair of voices near the bathroom's exit.
Turning around, both girls realized they were not alone anymore. Lexi and Leah were fully clothed in tight, black attire —their mouths covered by a dark, cloth mask.
"Wait, what the hell, guys?" Johanna demanded.
"Yeah!" Lori joined in. "What the hell?"
Leah's mouth gaped. "If you two honestly don't know what's really going on, then, damn... this mission is easier than I thought!" Lexi followed Leah, laughing; leaning against the cement wall.
Wait... mission? What miss— and then it hit Johanna.
"Are you two with the FOH?" She asked. "Because you can just go back to wherever hellhole you came from. There are no mutants here."
"Really? No mutants, huh?" Lexi taunted. "Because, if we're spinning lies here, then Leah and I aren't here to take you both in. And little blondie over there, isn't a mutant."
Lori began to tremble, her hands now covered in a dark mist —the lights above the stalls and mirrors flickering on and off.
"Who are you? And who do you work for?" Lori spat. "Because we haven't done anything wrong. Just leave us alone!"
"Sorry, girly. Who we are and who we work for is strictly confidential." Leah said. "But tonight, you're coming with us, mutie."
"Mutie?" A southern voice called from inside the last stall. The very stall both Lori and Johanna checked just minutes prior.
"Is that the best you could come up with?"
Slowly, a woman emerged, smirking; her eyebrow cocked. She was wearing a green and yellow spandex suit, with a brown leather jacket, brown leather gloves, and bright yellow boots. Her hair was what Johanna admired the most —a curly, Auburn mane that flowed down her back; with thick white streaks of hair parted at the top.
"Because, sugar... you're dealing with the most powerful mutie here." After the woman uttered those last few words, she disappeared into the ground —only to reappear from up above, dropping onto Lexi; clutching her by the hair and smashing her face into the porcelain sink.
With Lexi down, Leah screamed in rage, grabbing Lori's shoulders and shoving her into the stalls.
Everything happening in just moments, Johanna had had enough, pulling Leah by her hair and kicking her in the stomach. But Johanna was too slow, instantly getting tackled to the ground; receiving —for the very first time— a couple punches to her nose.
Before getting punched again, the woman grabbed Leah by the neck with her bare hand —and in seconds, Leah's eyes fluttered; slumping over Johanna.
Lori stumbled out of the stall, quickly pushing Leah off of Johanna; helping her friend get back up.
"We need to go," the woman warned, putting her gloves back on; her southern accent extremely thick. "Before she wakes up."
Looking at the two young women on the floor, one beaten to a pulp, and the other most likely dead —her skin a grayish color and her body completely still— Johanna didn't want to take a chance and wait any longer.
"But wait... who even are you?" Johanna groaned, gently massaging the bridge of her nose.
"My name's Rogue," the woman said proudly. "And I was sent to help you."