DIRTY LAUNDRY

The light from the morning sunrise shown through Daniel’s bedroom window. Its bright aura forced him awake. He opened his eyes and rolled away from the light, bringing the covers up over his head. He didn’t want to get up. The night before left him feeling depressed and he just wanted to sleep until he forgot about how awkward his time with Lauren was. He had taken them to an expensive restaurant, and they barely spoke the entire time. She was lost in thought. Though she was across the table from him, she may as well have been in Timbuktu. Something was wrong with her and him asking “are you okay?” over and over again didn’t seem to help him find the root of the problem.

Sounds of voices echoed down the hallway. He sat up and rubbed his tired eyes before rolling out of bed to investigate the commotion. After putting on a pair of jeans, he slowly made his way down the hall to the kitchen. There he saw The Misfits, each holding weapons similar to the ones they had in the game. Ava sat at the table and tested her aim with a black recurve bow. She pulled back the bowstring, bending the limbs until they almost snapped before letting them rest in their natural state. Next to her sat Jett, twirling two silver six shooters in his hands. He stood up from his chair and flipped them into leather holsters on his waist. He smiled and chuckled to himself. “I reckon this world is startin’ to grow on me,” he said.

Scotty sat next to him and slipped spiked brass knuckles on his hands. He clenched his fists together to bring more attention to them, hoping it would help him look tough. Kitsie leaned against the wall behind him holding a 3-foot-tall wood splitting maul in her hands. Deandre stood beside her and twirled several throwing knives through his fingers. Rico stood at the front of the group loading a large machine gun. He had a bandolier full of ammo, slung sash style over his shoulder, and an ammunition belt around his waist with grenades hanging off of it. Daniel’s eyes finally landed on Lauren. She was leaning against the kitchen counter, staring off with her hand on her chest again. Sensing his eyes on her, she looked over at him and dropped her hand down. She tried her best to avoid his gaze.

"What the hell is going on?" asked Daniel, trying to process what he was seeing. “Where did you get all this stuff?”

"Your buddy Andrew stopped by last night while you and Lauren had your little date," said Rico as he lifted his gun. "He took us out and got us hooked up with some of the essentials."

"I thought I told you not to leave the house?"

"You did, partner," said Jett. He flipped his cowboy hat on his head. “We plumb ignored you and left anyway.”

"What exactly are you all preparing to do?" asked Daniel.

Deandre flipped a knife in his hand and caught it. "We’re going to do what we do best. Kill bad guys.”

"Excuse me?” asked Daniel, his eyes wide with confusion.

“Andrew told us about some assholes who’ve been causing problems around here,” said Rico. He grabbed a can of red spray paint on the table and tossed it to Daniel. “And I was thinking, we’d take them out. It’s about time we actually had some fun around here.”

Daniel caught the spray paint and immediately put it on the counter "I can't let you do this," he said while stepping toward the group.

“What do you mean ‘you can’t let us’?” Rico thrust out his chest and tightened his eyes. “I don’t remember asking for your permission.”

"I’m putting my foot down dammit," said Daniel. He ignored Rico’s tough demeanor. “I keep telling you that things are different here. There are no second chances. Once you’re dead, you’re dead. There’s no coming back.”

Rico quietly stared at Daniel for a moment and stepped back. "That's a chance I'm willing to take,” he said reaching behind him. He grabbed a charcoal grey 10 mm pistol and held it out for Daniel to take. “You gonna keep being a pussy, or are you gonna man up and come with us?”

"I’m not going anywhere," said Daniel. He pushed the gun away from him. “You want to get yourself killed, you’re on your own.”

"What about everyone else?" asked Rico turning around. "Are you guys going to pussy out on me too?"

"No way, partner," said Jett. The group nodded in agreement except for Lauren who was still leaning against the kitchen counter with her head down, silently listening to the conversation.

"Lauren? Are you in?" asked Rico.

Lauren looked up and over at Daniel. He looked back at her, his face full of worry. She averted her eyes and stared at the ground.

“Lauren?” Rico stepped closer to her “Are you with us or not?”

Lauren sighed. “I’m sorry, Rico,” she said shaking her head. “I’m with Daniel on this one. This doesn’t feel right.”

Rico cast a glance at Daniel, then focused on Lauren. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked perplexed by her answer. “You’ve been acting weird all morning.”

Lauren stepped away from the counter. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this world doesn’t exactly play by the same rules as back home,” she said gesturing to her surroundings. She eventually pointed a finger at Scotty but kept her attention on Rico. “You weren’t there the other night. You didn’t see what happened to Scotty.”

Rico turned to look at Scotty and furrowed his brow. “What do you mean? The kid is fine.”

“Thanks to Daniel. If he hadn’t been there, we don’t know what would’ve happened.” Lauren placed a soft look of regard in Daniel’s direction. “He knows more about this world than we do,” she said, stepping to his side. “If he says it’s dangerous, I think we should listen to him.”

Rico looked back and forth at the two of them with an expression of mild repulsion on his face. “So, you won’t go because of him?” he asked after a moment. “What are you two like a couple now?”

Lauren stepped away from Daniel. “That is not what this is,” she said with stern voice. “And even if it was, it would have no impact on my decision that this is a bad idea.”

Rico placed his gun on the table and stepped closer to her. “Then tell me why you’d turn your back on family,” he said, placing a critical finger on her chest. “Daniel isn’t your family, we are. Or have you forgotten that?”

Lauren looked away. She pursed her lips together in anger and remained silent. Rico grunted. He left the room and reappeared holding two Katana swords with leather wrapped hilts. He held them out for Lauren to take. “You choose him over us, you are no longer family. It’s your choice.”

Lauren stared down at the swords. She lifted her eyes to look at her comrades, whom she’d shared all her past memories with. She looked back at the swords and let out a regretful sigh. “You’re an asshole, Rico,” she said, taking the swords from his hands.

Daniel turned his attention to her, amazed by her decision, yet somewhat understanding as to why she made it. Lauren didn’t look at him. She turned her back to him and walked to join the rest of the group around the table. She continued to avoid his gaze and clenched her jaw, showing her displeasure by her choice to go with them. Rico smiled and picked up his gun. “Now that we have that settled, let’s hit the road,” he said. He turned to grab Daniel’s car keys on a hook by the door.

Daniel beat Rico to them. He held them in his hand and stood quietly with his eyes closed. "Let me put a shirt on," he said with regret in his voice. He opened his eyes and glanced at Lauren before turning around and walking out of the room.

He didn't say a word as they piled into his car and took off toward the city. Deandre had turned on the radio and put the volume on full blast. The Misfits bounced to the beat and Daniel did his best to ignore them. He looked in the rearview mirror at Lauren. She sat in Jett’s lap, her legs crammed tight to the middle of the small backseat, with her back to the window. She kept her head down and remained quiet. Daniel sighed and kept driving until they reached a small Polish American community near the outskirts of town. A place his friend Andrew called, Little Poland.

“This is it,” said Rico. He pointed to a 24-hour laundromat across the street. “That’s the place right there.”

Daniel parked the car and looked out the window at the laundromat. He furrowed his brow. “I know this place,” he said turning back to Rico. “This is where Andrew used to get his weed before they made it legal. They used to have a small pot farm in a back room.”

“Oh, they have more than that back there,” said Rico. “We staked this place out last night while you were gone and saw a white van unload a bunch of rough looking girls. They were forced into the building by that guy.”

Rico pointed to a tall-burly man in a red track suit walking into the laundromat. The man had gold chains around his neck and several gold rings on his fingers. A pair of big aviator sunglasses shrouded his eyes. They barely covered a large scar cutting diagonally across his face. Daniel’s eyes grew wide for he knew exactly who the man was. It was Borys Dabrowski, a.k.a The Slavic Serpent, a rumored hitman for the Polish Mafia. He had been acquitted of murder on a few occasions due to lack of evidence linking him to the crimes, though most people believed it was because his father, rumored mob boss Agustyn Dabrowski, had connections with the local justice system.

“You want to make a hit on the Polish Mob?!” asked Daniel in shock.

“Yeah, so?” asked Rico.

“So?!” Daniel nervously ran his fingers through his hair. “These aren’t your run of the mill gangsters. They’re organized crime. They have connections that go deeper than just guys with guns.”

Rico raised a knowing brow. “All the more reason they need to be taken out,” he nodded to his group. “Let’s go.”

The group filed out of the car and retrieved their weapons from the trunk before stepping onto the curb to make their way toward the laundromat entrance. Daniel stayed behind. He sat in his car, stiff as a board from fear. Lauren walked back to the car and knocked on the driver’s side window to get his attention. He slowly rolled the window down as she leaned down to his level.

“You coming?” she asked.

“I don’t know if I can,” he told her. He looked into her eyes. “You don’t have to do this either, you know? You can still back out.”

Lauren sighed and looked toward her comrades. “But they’ll still go through with it. I’m not going to stay behind knowing that I could’ve been there to protect them.” Daniel looked away from her and stared blankly ahead of him. Lauren sighed again. “You stay here. I need to make sure my family makes it back safe.”

Daniel watched her walk away and join the rest of group outside of the laundromat. Lauren looked back at him before following them inside. Daniel took a deep breath and thought about what she told him. “What if I could be there to protect them?” he asked himself. “What if I could be there to protect her?”

He opened his eyes and grabbed his gun. Ignoring the screaming voice inside telling him to stop, he made his way into the laundromat to join the others. The laundromat was a depressing place with yellow wood paneling on the walls, dirty linoleum floors, and ceiling tiles-stained brown by years of water damage. The dull hum of dryers drowned out the faint tune of electronica music playing from a small radio by the front counter. There, they saw several men wearing very expensive button up shirts and slacks guarding a door to a back-storage room. One of them, a balding middle-aged man with a beer gut, sat on a barstool and read an x rated publication which featured a half-naked woman on the front cover. He lifted his eyes to peer over the top of the magazine to see The Misfits standing in a row before him. He sucked in through his teeth out of annoyance and returned his attention to the magazine.

“ComicCon isn’t for another month,” he said nonchalant. He flipped the magazine sideways to view a foldout of a naked woman. “I’d watch taking those weapons in there. I think they have rules about that now.”

“We want you to let the girls go,” said Rico. He gestured to Jett and Scotty to begin spray painting the walls with “The Misfits” in red paint.

The man lifted his eyes from the magazine and focused on Rico. He then looked at the fresh red paint on his walls. He calmly put down his magazine and snapped his fingers. Two men guarding the storage room stepped away and pulled pistols from the hems of their pants. They aimed them at The Misfits. The balding man held a stern look. “Remove yourself from here or my men will do it for you.”

Daniel felt his hands grow clammy from panic. “Why the hell am I doing this?” he thought to himself. He looked down the line at Lauren, who stood firmly at attention, ready for a potential battle. Daniel swallowed hard and cleared his throat. He slowly reached for his gun yet had no intention of killing anyone. He just hoped he’d get out of there alive.

Rico readied his machine gun. “We aren’t leaving until we have the girls,” he said, his voice deep and threatening. “We know you’re holding them here. We saw you unload them last night.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, friend,” said the balding man. He turned to the other men beside him and muttered a command in Polish. They nodded in response and opened fire. Scotty, who was in the center of the group, quickly moved behind Ava for protection while Lauren removed her swords from their scabbards. She dashed in front of the group in the blink of an eye and swiftly moved the swords to block the bullets. Not a single one made it past her. The men stared at her dumbfounded, including Daniel, whose mouth hung open in surprise.

“Who the hell are you guys?” asked the balding man.

Rico smiled. “We’re your worst nightmare.” He quickly opened fire, his gun expelling bullets at a rapid pace towards the three men. The two guard’s shook uncontrollably as their bodies were peppered with bullets. The balding man ducked under the counter for safety as the guards fell with a ‘THUD’ on the floor.

The Misfits walked behind the counter to see the balding man cowering in fear. Rico lifted him up by the collar of his shirt. “Where are they?” he asked forcefully. “Where are the girls?”

“They’re—They’re back there.” The balding man pointed to the back-storage room.

Rico threw the man on the ground and turned to Kitsie who had her maul resting on her shoulder. “Kitsie? Take care of this guy will you?” he asked her.

“I’m on it,” said Kitsie. She stepped over to the man and heaved her weapon until it met his bald head with a forceful blow. Blood and brain matter splattered on the walls as his head popped like a grape. Kitsie lifted her weapon. A piece of his skin hung off the weapon’s sharp face. “That’s disgusting,” she said. She picked the skin off, tossed it aside, and shivered at the act of touching it.

“Damn, girl,” said Deandre. He walked up behind her and peered over her shoulder at what was left of the man’s beat in face. “You sure took care of him alright.”

Kitsie smiled as the group pressed forward to the storage room door. Once there, Rico signaled to Ava and Deandre. “I’m gonna bust this door down. You two go in first and take out whoever is on the other side,” he told them.

Deandre and Ava nodded as Rico kicked the door in with his foot. The door broke away from the frame and the two rushed in to see three men waiting for them with guns. Ava shot two arrows in succession while Deandre flitted a throwing knife, both hitting their targets in the head before they had a chance to fire. The men fell to the ground and the group made their way inside. They were greeted to a large room with shelves lining the walls. Each shelf had stacks of cocaine, bottles of crystal meth, and a mix of other illegal drugs. In the center of the room was a round table with samples of each drug laying out a metal tray. Across from the table on the other side of the room was another door. Rustling noises echoed on the other side of it.

“I bet that’s where they’re keeping the girls,” said Rico. He walked over to the door and kicked it down to reveal another room, illuminated by a red light. Several scrawny women, dressed in tattered rags, stood next to hot plates cooking new batches of crystal meth. More women stood in the back of the room, filtering out the cooked mixtures. Bottles of cough medicine and empty containers of flammable chemicals used to create the drug littered the space. The women stopped what they were doing and turned to face The Misfits. After a few seconds, they returned to their work like nothing had happened.

“Whatever you guys do,” said Daniel. “Do no touch anything in this room and watch your fire. This place could explode with one wrong move.”

“Once we make sure the girls are safe, we’ll get out of here,” said Rico.

“I’m surprised you care so much about these girls,” said Lauren.

Rico turned to face her. “I may be an asshole, but I’m not a bad guy. The Lauren from back home would know that.” He turned back to the women. He grabbed one of them by the arm and gestured for her to leave. “C’mon. You’re free now. Get out of here.”

The women ignored him and continued to work. Scotty scrunched his brow and tilted his head. “Why aren’t they paying attention to us?” he asked.

“Because they don’t want to leave,” said a voice in a dark corner of the room. A chubby man with a thick beard stepped out of the darkness. It was Agustyn Dabrowski, leader of the Polish Mob. He held a pistol in his hand as he walked toward them. Jett stepped forward and quickly drew his weapons. Agustyn put up his free hand in protest. “I wouldn’t do that. Like your friend said, one wrong move and this place goes boom.”

“Ava?” asked Rico, signaling for her to fire.

“Yep,” replied Ava. She stepped forward and fired an arrow. It hit Agustyn square between the eyes and he fell hard on the floor. His gun misfired in the process and sent a bullet flying through the room. Daniel and the group ducked for cover, expecting the room to blow from the ignited projectile. Instead, the bullet ricocheted off a metal frame and hit Rico in the ear, blowing off a piece of his earlobe. It didn’t even phase him. The group stood up and stared at him in disbelief, Daniel especially. Not only was he surprised at the fact that Rico barely flinched at having a piece of his ear blown off, but at the fact that he wasn’t bleeding. Why wasn’t he bleeding?

“What?’ asked Rico.

“You’re not bleeding,” muttered Daniel, pointing to Rico’s ear.

Rico lifted a finger to touch his earlobe and pulled it away. Not a single drop of blood stained his fingertip. “Huh,” he shrugged. “I guess not. How ‘bout that?”

The click of a gun hammer being pulled back diverted their attention. Everyone turned to see Borys standing in the doorway, holding a gun to Lauren’s head. Daniel felt his heart stop at the sight of it.

“Anyone even thinks of reaching for their weapons and I shoot her,” said Borys. He grabbed Lauren by her hair and pulled her out of the room. “Come on. Everybody out.”

Rico lifted his weapon to fire. “Let her go asshole.”

“What did I just say, huh?” Borys pressed the barrel of his gun hard against Lauren’s temple. “Let’s go. Out of the room.”

Daniel stepped up to Rico and forced him lower his gun. “Rico, do what he says,” he pleaded.

“Listen to the pretty boy,” said Borys. He pulled on Lauren’s hair again causing her to wince. Daniel felt his blood boil. He wanted to punch Borys’ lights out but didn’t want to risk him shooting Lauren. He and The Misfits slowly stepped out of the room and lined up next to each other against a wall. Borys pressed his gun hard against Lauren’s head again. “Put your weapons on the ground now!” he ordered. “Then put your hands in the air!”

The group reluctantly did as they were told and placed their weapons on the floor before putting their hands up. Borys removed Lauren’s swords from their scabbards and threw them on the ground. His eyes suddenly grew bloodshot as he turned his attention back to the group. A small tear fell down his cheek. “Now, which one of you did it?!” he asked. “Which one of you assholes killed him?!”

Deandre looked inside the meth lab at Augustyn’s dead body. “Look man, the dude really didn’t give us much of a choice,” he said.

Borys shook his head. “I’m not talking about him! I don’t give a shit about my father!” he screamed, his face growing red with anger. “Which one of you killed my brother?! Which one of you bashed his face in?!”

The group turned their heads to look at Kitsie. She shrugged her shoulders in response. Borys removed his gun from Lauren’s head and aimed it at Kitsie. “You fucking bitch!” he yelled. “I’m gonna kill you!”

With the gun no longer aimed at her, Lauren rammed her elbow into Borys’ ribcage before he had a chance to fire. He doubled over in pain. She turned around and kneed him in the face, knocking him into the round table. It broke into tiny bits under his weight. Lauren proceeded to pick up her swords while Borys laid motionless on the floor. Rico clapped his hands. “Now that’s the Lauren I know,” he said with a grin.

Lauren placed her swords back in their scabbards as Daniel walked up to her. “You okay?” he asked with concern in his voice.

“I really wish you would stop asking me that,” she told him. “I’m fine.”

The sound of Borys stirring behind her caught Daniel’s attention. Borys slowly stood up, lifted his gun, and fired a shot in Lauren’s direction. Without hesitation, Daniel rushed in front her to block the shot. The bullet entered his left shoulder and he fell backward into Lauren’s arms. He gripped his shoulder in pain as blood flowed through his fingers. Borys lifted his gun to fire again but was thwarted by Jett who quickly unloaded a chain of shots into his torso. Borys fell dead and had no sooner hit the floor before the sound of police sirens shrilling in the distance drew near.

“Rico, we have to get out of here!” yelled Lauren. She helped Daniel up and let him lean on her for support.

Rico turned back to enter the meth lab. The women were still working as if nothing had happened. “I’m not leaving without them,” he said.

“We don’t have time,” said Lauren with pleading eyes. “We need to get out of here now!”

Rico looked back at the girls and then at Daniel who was gritting his teeth in pain. Blood had now formed a red, wet spot on his shirt and dripped down his left arm onto the floor. Rico clenched his fist together. “Fuck!” he yelled as he ran out of the room.

The Misfits hurried out of the building and back to Daniel’s car. Lauren reached into Daniel’s pocket, grabbed his car keys, and tossed them to Rico.

“No, I don’t want him driving my car,” protested Daniel.

“You’re in no position to drive,” said Lauren helping him into the back seat.

“Don’t worry. I’ll have you back safe and sound,” said Rico. He got into the driver’s seat and fumbled with the ignition. After struggling with putting the car in drive, he turned around and noticed Daniel’s shirt covered in blood. “Well, almost safe and sound,” he shrugged. He pressed the gas and sped off down the road, just in time to miss the police cars entering the scene.

"Slow down!" yelled Daniel. "You drive like a maniac!"

"What's wrong with my driving?" asked Rico as he swerved to miss a car.

"There's so much blood,” said Scotty solemnly looking at Daniel. “Is he going to die?”

Lauren held her hand on Daniel’s wound. "No. He's going to be okay.”