This started out as some joke to write about anything, which then escalated to people sending me random words/concepts in private to include in a story in a fun and cohesive manner. The prompts for sure didn't help, but everyone enjoyed how it turned out. I hope you'll enjoy it too!
***
Loud thumping, incessant, almost painful... Waning for a moment, then coming back in force, slowly driving her mad.
- AAAAAAAVEAPEEEEEEEEEEE-...
What hellish sound! Where did it come from? Had things always been like this? Who knows... Maybe this was some messed up dream? Could be it. Time to wake up properly then and figure stuff out.
- Where am I? What's going on? - she drawled.
Jay had no idea where she was, not even a faint clue. Her memory was hazy. The ground was rough on her cheek, coarse, the smells assaulting her nose were anything but nice. Asphalt, burnt rubber... Her eyes slowly opening, she started to take in the scenery and it struck her as odd. A race track? What the hell?!
- I don't understand. How did I get here?
She tried getting up and only barely got on her knees. No one around to hear her veiled cries for help. She didn't know where she was or how she got there and her body felt worse than worse for wear. The incessant thumping, like some odd music, was doing her head in and she felt sick to her stomach with the pungent smells coming from all around her.
The thumping wasn't just in her head either apparently, so at least insanity was out of the picture... Perhaps. It was however a very odd sound and the way it rolled in like a breaking wave before pulling back was unlike anything she had ever experienced, like her senses were playing tricks on her.
This was definitely not what her horoscope had predicted for her week, absolutely ridiculous really. There had been something about a transformative force helping to give greater strength to her ego and vitality and bla bla, possibility of falling in love at first sight and so on. This didn't feel anything like it, at all.
Abruptly, she became even more tense and soon came a sense of urgency as the sound was surely getting louder, along with that somewhat rhythmic thumping that could pose for some kind of weird music, but was impossible to discern at this time. It took all her strength to drag herself off the edge of the race track where she had been lying and the grass that she now felt under her fingers gave her some measure of relief – no immediate danger, at least. Not like she'd get run over now.
The source of the sound suddenly revealed itself as a small dot appeared on the horizon, coming at a speed that was mind-blowing to behold. Fast approaching, the small dot took the shape of a F1 racing car, burning through the track like a god-like mechanical beast and when it was just a few dozen yards off, in the fraction of a second it took, Jay realized the racing car didn't clear the last curve properly. It was coming in too wide, beginning to go off-track, going straight at her, impossible to dodge.
This was the end. And no sense to be made of any of it.
Death by McLaren MCL35M, a beautiful racing car to be sure, powerful, absolutely terrifying. Little more than a bloody blob with assorted body parts spread over a hundred yards would remain. Damn, what a way to go.
Inches away from making contact however, the racing car simply disintegrated. Actually it was more like going up in smoke... Literally. One moment it was there, the next there was simply a tall figure in the middle of all that smoke, no more than a couple of yards away.
- What the hell is going on... I'm losing my mind. What-
The tall figure then stepped forward, coinciding with Jay jerking back and falling on her buttocks, eyes wide with panic, vision tunneling, too much stress and shock already, just an hair-trigger away from blacking out completely yet enthralled by the absurdity and perceived threat of everything happening in quick succession since waking up.
As the smoke dissipated, the tall figure was shown to be a man, McLaren's livery, racing helmet still on. Was it Ricciardo maybe? Lando? They were both kind of cute. Lando was a Scorpio though and they don't pair off well with other Scorpios, but Ricciardo was a Cancer, the perfect match, in theory at least... Not that it matters much at this point though, does it? Wait, was this the love at first sight bit from her horoscope? Accelerated heart rate, check, flustered cheeks, check, ragged breathing, check. The underlying dread and fear for her life quickly dismissed such silly thoughts however, though such thoughts had provided a few blissful seconds of respite.
The need to know who was under that helmet, the need to try and make some sense out of everything, was all almost overwhelming at this point. And just like a prayer had been answered, the man began slowly removing his helmet.
What followed was nothing short of a Lovecraftian eldritch horror encounter, because as the helmet was being slowly removed, the sounds became louder and louder - a song sanity-defying in nature made clearer -, and underneath it was not a human head at all... It wasn't even the head of a beast, but what appeared to be a grotesque pineapple.
Jay was agape, a scream stuck in her throat but unable to take form, her vision wavering, but the sweet embrace of unconsciousness would not come still, until from the gruesome pineapple came a sort of gurgle. Its visage began to warp and morph and what looked like a bloody jagged teeth-filled hole formed as a nightmarish scream surged:
- PENPINAPPLEAPPLEPEN!
And then everything went dark.
***
Those that weren't completely passed out, and still had some modicum of awareness, little as it may be, became alarmed when they started noticing blinking red and blue lights coming through the few warehouse windows, though most were unable to react further than being startled. Most windows were covered with newspaper and paint, 'twas simply that the top ones near the ceiling had seemed like too much hassle to cover up, and in any case the current job had been more than enough to keep the warehouse quite dark and nigh impossible to peer into, which is pretty much all that's needed to keep a drug den running nice and proper.
On a secluded room, among a variety of drugs, guns and money, was Alec, one of the top dogs present, casually enjoying some F1 racing on an old TV, its volume maxed, though it didn't travel that far since it was a pretty old and battered model. It was a bit of pure luck that he even noticed the approaching police, since there had been no word from the lookouts or any tips from insiders in the police force, but one shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Anyway, Alec, a dealer, occasional user, had some fair connections, did well for himself without going too high in the great scheme of things where stuff often gets a bit more gory when something goes wrong. In sum, he was at the sweet spot, little chance of getting randomly whacked, but also not having to run the streets like some other losers that whatever money they made ended up wasted getting more stock and fueling their own addictions.
Nevertheless, the approaching cops were way above any hassle he'd be bothered with and going out on a dumb shootout was definitely not in his plans, not to mention some of the bastards that should be on lookout and guard duty were probably also sprawled and stoned out of their minds in the various makeshift rooms of the warehouse, most of them little more than tarp and cardboard to give the patrons some privacy... Yeah, like anyone would be too bothered with that when they didn't even know which planet they're on anymore.
So he did what any sensible man would do in his position, swiftly and silently gathered a couple of duffel bags that were stacked with money that wasn't exactly his own, though in all the confusion that was soon to happen, he expected his suppliers to accept some losses, and after all he was about to lose his cut as well. Haha, suckers!
- As if!
Crap. For a moment there he nearly blew the stealth approach. But no matter, he was already heading toward the old underground shaft that connected several of the warehouses together and he'd be out and far away enough before any of his boys even came to the realization that they had been stranded. This whole debacle could very well work in his favor and provide a nice cash out, so he was even less bothered by leaving behind some of the guys he'd worked with for the last few years.
***
The task force set up to go on this bust wasn't expecting to find much resistance. The police had been tipped off on the dealings and drug use going on in this warehouse, part of a larger and mostly deserted compound, and had been informed that they shouldn't expect there to be many individuals on the lookout, but ultimately you never knew. Desperate people are unpredictable people and there were sure to be quite a few individuals with firearms in there, so best to approach things swiftly but carefully, full safety measures and equipment, proceed as though skirmishes could erupt at any moment until the whole building was secured.
Thankfully, it turned out to be almost unnecessary as there had been virtually no resistance, not a single gunfight occurred, but always best to err on the side of caution.
A couple individuals had gone so far as to pull out firearms on the invading policemen, but would drop them in seconds and get on the ground, or attempt to make a run for it, when they'd realise that they were completely outmanned and outgunned. A flawless operation and one that would result in fair prestige to everyone involved. All in all, more than 150kg of an assortment of drugs had been apprehended, 23 firearms, including an assault rifle, and considerable ammunition. Some money had been apprehended as well, but definitely less than expected, but still probably around a million pounds, so this was sure to make big headlines in the papers and the news. The Chief of Police was also going to love it, for sure, given that the term was near its end and this sort of public notice would contribute greatly towards his reappointment.
And yet, this night wasn't one for elation. No, despite the operation being a resounding success, there was a feeling of dread and sorrow as multiple bodies had been found. Looked to be overdoses all of them, possibly a bad batch, how the product had been cut, most of them were still warm, so it had been recent. Just a few hours earlier and some of them might actually have been saved.
Such human waste, not a pretty picture at all, because most of the bodies didn't even look like your run-of-the-mill junkie hopping from shelter to shelter or living under an overpass. Not at all. There were quite a few young people among the dead, early 20's or so, looking groomed, proper clothing, not the kind you'd expect to see in this kind of scenarios. It was going to be quite a sorry task ID'ing everyone, contacting next of kin and so on.
Among the newbies of the task force, Paul wasn't really expecting for a drug bust to look like this. Criminals, violence, possibility of injury or death, he was prepared for all of it, but all the dead people in that warehouse had gotten to him and he had to consider that moving up and joining the task force maybe wasn't the career path he'd like to continue on.
Paul had been around the first to get ahead and start sweeping the building, so he'd been among the first to start noticing a lot of still bodies, checking on them and realising most of them were already dead. He'd never forget moving from ramshackle room to ramshackle room, taking in every sight, the dampness in the air, the smells of sweat and mold and eventually coming across a room, way in the back of the warehouse, with a single woman in it, mid-twenties, unresponsive, and if she wasn't dead, she was probably already too far gone to make it even if the paramedics got there fast, with an uncanny resemblance to someone he used to know from prep school, though people can change a lot in a decade, so what would be the odds anyway? There was a low sound coming from the room, some soft music playing on loop on an MP4 player, barely noticeable over the much louder F1 racing coming from a nearby TV, with a screen that read Pikotaro – PPAP, but he didn't really recognise it.
In any case, he had got to thinking about that girl from prep school who he had had a crush on. A bit weird, but he liked her anyway. He had confessed his feelings to her at the end of Year 8, since he'd be going to a different school, a bit far away, and he just really wanted to tell her how he felt. Unfortunately, she had absolutely crushed his spirit when she had flat out rejected him, simply telling him she was a Scorpio and he was a Leo and how that would never work out and so on, and he had felt his heart break, but in a sense it was almost funny and endearing, because she really was a weirdo and he couldn't help liking her anyway.
He'd never hear from her again, but it was ok, he'd made a lot of friends in the new school, had even gotten a girlfriend, so he got over that rejection in record time. They were just kids anyway, it's not like anything would have ever come out of it. But yeah, something about all the death he witnessed and the uncanny resemblance of that particular soon-to-be-dead woman had got to him and made him think about his past and also life in general.
- I wonder how Jay is doing these days? - he whispered to himself.
