The young and the old, the burly and the skinny, the unkempt and the kempt, together, rolled their sleeve and dug into the ground. The door that had been locked earlier was open now. A big bed and the bodies of two women lay side by side on the floor, near it. Their heads, touched the legs of a table, and hot steaming food sat on it.
Other than the occasional sound of bad exhaust from a car, on the other side of the earthly mound, on the steady sound of shovel in the ground could be heard. Not even breathing from the two men broke the silence. They dug in rhythm with the practised ease of someone who had done this before. When the human lengthed hole was deep enough not to see the old man's head, they threw their shovels out and climbed out one after another.
"Bring the girls." the old man said and the burly one followed the command. However, as soon as he reached the door, the wide ajar door, snapped shut, the earth shook and the food on the table trembled, making the soup spill a little.
The burly one caught his balance.
"Earthquake?" the old man looked at the tools on the ground but nothing shook. When he looked back up, he only saw the butt of the hammer before he felt the pain behind his eyes and felt himself falling backwards. He didn't even feel hitting the bottom of the hole.
The burly man, unaware of what was happening behind him, reached the door, but the door snapped shut in his face. Surprised, he paused and looked back.
The old man was nowhere to be seen.
Unsure if he had gone ahead, the burly man turned the knob but the door didn't open. He jabbed his shoulder against the edge and pushed. The simple door, broke under his forceful weight. He looked about. The shaking the stopped, the door lock was broken and no one was inside.
He picked up one of the young woman by her shoulders and threw her over his shoulder, uncaring his heel stepped on the marrow of the other lying there.
The darkly dressed woman hung limply on his shoulder but as soon as he stepped out, she saw his hammer racing through the air, straight at him. He veered sideways before he could get hit. He turned around to see it change direction, as the woman on his shoulder hit her head into the frame. He closed the door quickly and stood holding the knob tightly, knuckles white, eyes wide as the flying hammer slammed into the door. It slammed again. And Again and again.
It kept throwing itself on the door until, the big man's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground, in a pool of something wet. The girl on his shoulder fell sideways her face in the dirt.
"I see the car," the man spoke on his phone, almost out of breath. His sleek white car skidded to a stop beside the black one. He rushed out and yanked the back door open. Nothing. Sia's phone was on the floor.
"Damn it." he grabbed the phone and looked around.
"SIA." The man behind her, dressed like bodyguard, stepped out of the car and called loud and clear, stepping around the car, looking in the dirt, as if for footprints.
The man looked about, fear and worry etched into his face, as he spotted the door.
He had taken just a step towards it, when his bodyguard called, "Mo. Here. She is here. There is blood. Someone hit her on the head."
The bodyguard didn't wait for him to come around. He hauled the body of Sia, pale with blood loss and matted in blood and dirt and head for their car.
They put her in the car and drove. Mo, called, "call the emergency number."
"Calling emergency." an automated voice responded from the phone as their car rushed onto the highway.
Almost immediately, a rickety car took a turn and the two men in it peared around, taking in the posh car, the run down structure and the general eerie of the place.
"Did we get fooled or what? Kesh, call the guy give him an earful. We will head back once we find Aria."
Kesh pulled out his phone and dialed an unsaved number just as the driver parked and stepped out. He didn't call for Aria like Mo had done for Sia. Instead he peered into the luxurious car, marvelled at the seperation in the middle and then headed for the only door in sight.
But when he pulled the door open, the empty inside made him pause.
There was no company here. Not even a wrong one. For the first time he worried. Quickly, he called Aria. No sound of vibration from the inside. He walked back to the luxury car and looked around. Something black and and liquid was on the floor on the other side of the car. Patrol or blood.
The young man hesitated to check. After a moment's indiecisoon, he turned away and called, "Aria?"
His voice came out smaller than it should have. He filled his lungs once again and hoping someone would hear him, called louder, "ARIA?"
Nothing. Unsure, he looked back at the blood like thing, hoping it was patrol. There was a lot of it. He hurried around the small structure.
From a distance he could see a big dug out with dirty shovels. He paused before turning the corner, hands joined, "please, please, let nothing happen to her. Not again. Please," he kept muttering under his breath as he tentatively peaked around the corner.
Much to his horror, on the ground face down, lay Aria, with her ankle in the hands of burly man.
"Kesh. Bring the bats," he screamed at the top of his lungs and hurried to Aria's side, first, prying the thick fingers from around her ankle, his eyes never leaving the big man.
He picked up Aria just as Kesh came running, red faced and sweaty, bats ready in each hand, looking about. As he took the scene in, his breath caught, his stance turned defiant as he backed away after his friend, eyes never leaving the corner where someone could jump on them anytime.
When they reached the car, Kesh opened the back door and said, "you get in the back seat too, I'll drive."
"Your license?"
"Get in Lock," Kesh shoved the man in with a little force, slammed the door and got in the driver's seat. Then he changed the gear and wheeled the car around as dirt was nothing more than a race track and zoomed out of their amid the honking on the highway.