After the meeting we had to suffer through yesterday with those two addicts, Antonio and I immediately decided to sleep the day away and try again, though the deep rooted anxiety within us continues to grow ever stronger. We have fourteen days until our deadline, our two major sources of information have fried their brains, and it should be a few more until Pierre returns from Qorboon. Granted, we can destroy the supply and all those who know the recipes whenever, but the information is what we're after. There is so much more we need to learn, and yet, some piece of me suspects that this entire set up was planned.
We rise out of bed once more, this time not awoken to the sounds of chants or cries or screaming, but instead, quiet, smooth winds. The rage within me continues to bubble, however, even as we get ready and cover up. Those fuckers couldn't even keep their hands off their own supply. I should've replaced some of our in house products with the energy drinks, it would've been risky, especially if the herbalists choose them at random for testing, but at least their brains would still be working instead of whatever the fuck is going through their systems right now.
When we finally leave our tent, the world is quieter than usual, all the people living in these grounds freeze upon seeing Antonio as they circle the exterior of the warehouse door, worry riddling their expressions. When we head inside, there is a bit of a mess, but not much. Some of the cars are dented and there are chairs and metal parts thrown all around the room. But a red stream pools at the bottom of the staircase leading to the upstairs lab. Voices murmur, watching Antonio anxiously as they await for his call, a reasoning for what could've happened here and an order to either relax, or torture.
I wonder which these people would prefer more.
As we ascend the steps, the flowing crimson growing thicker, the body of the head herbalist, Callum Von, lays disfigured and head completely dismembered from the remainder of his chubby weasel-like body. Spine still protruding clearly halfway from where his neck ends, spiked, like someone was planning on using him as a spear.
Not even five feet away from his body are Shushi and Leon, pale, half naked, and passed out in a puddle of their own piss, glass, and several litres of drugs. Their shirts are torn open and pants covered in holes and blood. The lab itself is destroyed as well, our supplies contaminated and equipment cracked, dented, and smoking, soaked in water from where the other herbalists likely rushed to avoid an explosion.
We take one fucking day off.
Antonio doesn't ask questions or hesitate, instead, he marches straight for the two addicts, grab them each by their collarbone, picks them up, and slams them hard against the wet floor, forcing them to jolt awake from their deep slumber, and when they do, their eyes are red and blotchy, smiles crazed and wide, cheeks rosey.
"Oh hey boss!" Shushi speaks with delight, causing Antonio to slam him into the ground once again, a hard yelp escaping him as red begins leaking from the back of his head.
"What the fuck were you idiots thinking!" Antonio shouts, splittle clinging to his mask as they wince from the sheer volume. "Do neither of you have any idea just how far you've set us back! How much more work it's going to be to meet our deadlines! And you both killed the man who actually knows these products and processes inside and out! Are you stupid? Have your brains turned to mush beneath the Rapardin heats?"
"What is your explanation?" I finally speak up, ignoring all the men staring at me, shocked at the fact they'd just heard a woman speak.
And if I didn't know how fried Shushi and Leon's brains were, I'd think they were planning on using me right here and now.
But instead, they stare at me like I'm a creature from another world.
It's happened, they're officially gone. Our major sources of information have melted their brains with their own supply.
Hopefully Pierre finds something good in Qorboon.
"He was mooing like a goat and it was damaging the atmosphere." One of the idiots say, no clue which since Antonio is quick to throw them both against a wall.
"You're both far too stupid to even know what atmosphere means!" His fists are clenched, his dark skin turning pale with his ferocity. "I'll have both your heads on a pike of arsenic once I'm done with you! This shit is absolutely ridiculous!"
"It's alright, we can just start over."
"No! This is not just something that can 'start over,' this shit is serious, we had irreplacable equipment and the person who was literally our book of knowledge is brutally murdered with his life spilling down our rotten moldy staircase! His blood is stained to the botton of our fucking shoes!"
Serves him right.
"He was a horse!"
"Shut up!"
The noise radiates like a harsh slap, and moments later, Shushi's face has a massive imprint of Antonio's large hand. He yelps and begins to sniffle, tears escaping from him as he presses a drug soaked hand against the burning mark.
"Please just try some," Leon begins scooping up the liquid, dirtied by their feet, and sips some before offering the rest to Antonio, the fluid dripping through the cracks in his hands, his eyes wide, desperate, pleading with him to join them in their insanity.
But he doesn't give in, refuses to, and instead, he crosses his arms, raises his chin, and looks down on them, as though they're worth nothing to him, a mild annoyance in his path.
"You have one hour to get your shit and leave, if I catch you here for even a second longer, it's dead on site." He marches for the office, yelling in the process, "Now go! And somebody clean up that pathetic corpse!"
I follow him inside, and he sinks down to the floor the moment the door closes, chaos ensues, but we ignore it as I wrap my arms around him, holding him close and remaining silent as he clenches at his skull. Controlling his breathing. He doesn't shake, he doesn't weep, but we don't hold each other in this state for a good long while until the chaos finally decides to take themselves downstairs.
When we release, their time is almost up, and they haven't even started packing.