The Sunshine Project Pt. 12

"What the..." I glance up at Jackson who stands just outside his stall munching on a mouthful of grass, and then I look up at Jess. "It's a lock. That must be what the key is for."

Jess drops her attitude and her body. She falls to her knees next to us as our hands reach under the stall door to remove the rest of the straw from this side. As she pushes the key into the lock, I stand and open the door, pushing it inward and out of the way. The lock clicks open, and Jess looks at Cora with wide eyes.

"Holy fuck, what is this?" She grabs the hook through which the padlock was threaded and lifts. The door creaks loudly, and she has to stand to open it all the way. I help her, folding it back until it rests against the door frame to the pasture. Jackson moves forward, drooling tiny drops of spittle into the black hole we've just opened up.

"What the fuck is this, Jess?" I touch her arm cautiously, and she shakes her head as she takes my hand. Good, we aren't totally on the rocks at least.

"GG never told me about this." She stares into the void of blackness as I reach into my pocket and pull out my cell. The flashlight will come in handy, so I turn it on and shine it into the hole. There is a set of metal steps leading downward.

"Holy fuck, Batman." Cora is as shocked as us. No one knew this was here, except Gus. And now we know, but what do we know? It's just a basement under a barn, right?

"We should go down there," Jess mumbles, but I squeeze her hand hard.

"No, it's too freaky." I have seen shit like this in movies. You never go down there.

"I'll go!" Cora calls and turns to lie on her belly in the straw. Her feet dangle over the edge toward the first step, and Jess bends and picks her up.

"No, we'll all go." Jess lays Cora over her shoulder like a rag doll in a comical move I am certain Cora will hate, but Cora just slides down Jess's back into the hood of her sweatshirt and grabs Jess's hair like it's the reins of a horse's bridle. When the fuck did they get this close? And am I jealous?

Chapter 37

Jess

I take the first hesitant step into the metal stairwell. Whatever this is, GG wanted me to know about it. I'm a little rattled like Allie, but not entirely terrified. With the freaky shit that's been happening to me lately, this seems pretty harmless. I glance up at Allie when I'm four steps down and sigh. I've been a little rude to her this morning, and I can tell she is trying. I hold out my hand.

"Come on... I need you," I tell her, and she takes my hand cautiously. With Cora riding on my back, we descend. Each step creaks, and the echo of metal in a large space reverberates as my boots hit the grates beneath my feet. It's so dark I can't see anything. Allie's phone light behind me is hardly powerful enough to illuminate anything, but the ground beneath us. But when she shines it on the wall I see smooth grey metal and a black switch.

"What is it?" she asks, but I don't hesitate. It has to be a light switch. It's the only thing that makes sense. My hand reaches for it, but she snaps, "Don't!" just as flip it.

The soft whir of an engine spooling to life meets my ears as light after light flickers on. It's blinding; there are so many of them. I blink my eyes to adjust to it as Allie steps down a few more stairs and stands beside me. She clings to me, shaking, and mumbling something to herself. I try to make sense of what I'm seeing. It's a living room.

"Woah..."

"What the fuck?"

Cora and Allie speak at the same time, both of them in my ear. They say what I'm thinking. This is insane. The entire place is so huge. I can see it stretch on for quite some distance down a hallway. And it's not old and dated like GG's house. It's a crazy open-concept home with modern appliances and furnishings. I step down to the floor and look at the new, light green, plush carpet. This place had to cost a fortune. No wonder GG called it a treasure.

"Holy shit, Jess..." Cora leans over my shoulder. "Gus gave you this?" Her voice is tinged with jealousy, understandably.

"I guess? I mean the barn, the property and everything in it are mine. And the note..." I let my voice trail off as I look at the silver and black tile backsplash in the kitchen. This is way more modern than the house I rent right now. That place looks like it came right out of the nineties. This place looks like he had it decorated last year--right down to the USB-port outlets under the bar that separates the living space from the cooking space.

"Jess, this is incredible," Allie says, racing over to the couch and plopping on it. "Oh God, so comfortable. We could fucking live down here."

I walk into the below-ground home and feel overwhelmed. I'm mesmerized by all of this. How did GG do it? How did he manage to have this built and furnished while I lived on his farm with him, and I never knew a thing? I can't believe what I'm seeing. I move toward a door to the right and open it. It's a closet just like any other closet. Then I walk across the open concept space into the hallway. There are four doors. I open each of them. Three bedrooms and a bathroom.

"Jess... put me down," Cora says, tapping my shoulder. I absently reach over my shoulder and grab her then set her on the ground.

Everything is so neat and clean. And the air smells clean too, not musty the way you'd think it would. GG really went to all the trouble to prepare this for me? Or maybe he was just one of those crazy doomsday preppers who think the world will be overcome by zombies. Either way, my heart feels elated and confused, but completely relieved at the same time. No one knows about this place. We can totally hide the guns here and they'll be safe. In fact, Allie's right. I can totally live here and never pay rent again.

"Look," I hear Allie say, and I turn to see her approaching, carrying a picture frame. When she turns it around I see me and GG. We're smiling and standing next to Jackson. I remember that day because it was the first day I rode Jackson bareback. GG was so proud of me he wanted to commemorate it with a picture which he forced Dean to take. I smile and take it from her, then I get overwhelmed and throw my arms around her.

"I'm sorry for being rude, Allie. Please forgive me." I can't stay mad at her, even if she did do something rotten to me and hide it from me. I'm in love with her. I just want to make sure our friendship is intact.

"Hey, it's okay." She rubs my back, and I bury my face in her neck. Best friends don't exactly act like this, but it's obvious we're a little more than that now. Besides, being in this place, so close to GG, I feel like I'm safe to just let it out for a second. I hold her and she holds me, and I almost tell her I love her, but I hold back.

I feel mostly to blame for this entire situation. I've been a little pushy with things, begging her to do "hair and nails" a little too often. I've practically pushed her away because she doesn't want things to change between us. And yes, I have to admit when I gave her that flower after we did our real nails together, I felt like it was a date. I was wrong. Allie is so good to me, and I am fucking it up. And that's why she froze me.

"I'm sorry," I say again, and I pull away. "I think we should have another girls' night." And this time I won't be so pushy. I'll let her lead. If she initiates hair and nails, I'll go along with it. Otherwise, I'll just be her friend now. It's going to hurt like hell, but I'll do it.

"I'm so glad you said that." She grins and squeezes my arms.

"You are?"

"Yes! I told Beck Sunday night." She squeals and turns away spinning in a circle. "Maybe we can do it here!"

My heart sinks. I didn't mean with Beck. I honestly thought Cora would come, but now this? She really is excited about Beck, and I really want to cry. "Okay," I mumble, forcing a smile. Don't get in the way of her happiness, Jess... I remind myself.

"Guys, you have to see this!" Cora shouts, and I don't even know where she is. I hear her little voice, but when I turn and look up the hallway again she's gone. Allie nudges me, and I turn and walk. She holds my hand as we move together in sync.

"Cora?" I look into each of the bedrooms as I pass them, but they're empty. The doors are standing open.

"Jess, hurry up!" I hear so I move faster. There are no doors left. No other place for her to go.

"Where the fuck is she?" I whip around and look at Allie, who shakes her head. We get to the end of the hallway, and the only thing there is a wall. No door, no way to go anywhere. I expect a secret handle or something, but all I can feel is a wall. "There's nothing. Where are you!"

"Do you think there's a secret door she found we can't see?" Allie bites her lip, then puts her manicured finger in her mouth and chews on it. I grab her wrist and yank it away from her teeth.

"Look, I paid for that manicure. Stop ruining it." It's almost time to get a new nail job done. Gels don't last forever, and it's been two and a half weeks now. This is crazy. Where is she?

"You dumb asses coming, or what?" I look back down the hallway and scowl. Cora stands in the doorway to the first bedroom with her hands on her hips. I checked in there. Where the fuck was she?

I roll my eyes and walk back toward her wondering where she went. She disappears into the bedroom again, and I, followed by Allie, step in after her. She walks to the closet, and I watch her vanish. I glance at Allie and sigh. "This is weird," she says, chewing her nail again.

I shrug. Nothing could be weirder than a secret apartment beneath a barn after finding out your grandpa was involved in government science shit that created a shrink ray. I walk into the closet, and see where Cora vanished to. There is a secret door in here after all. Light streams through the opening, and I step into it and onto a platform that overlooks what can only be described as a science lab.

"Holy fuck," I mumble. My feet stumble down another flight of stairs. The ceiling is high; ventilation fans twirl around moving air. Everything is metal down here, desks, chairs, the floor. There is some huge machine in the corner that looks a lot like a medical device with a gun attached, almost like a giant one of the ray guns in the tub upstairs.

I hear Allie's shoes on the stairs behind me as we descend, and I don't even see Cora anywhere. I'm too busy trying to understand what this is. A small desk in the center of the room has a lamp. The light shines down on blueprints and other documents. It draws me toward itself so I go, needing to see what's on those papers. GG had a secret lab beneath his barn this whole time?

"There's enough food here to feed an army for six months!" I hear Cora say. I glance in the direction of her voice, and see her standing in an open doorway. A light shines on shelves full of boxes of food and jugs of water.

"How did you get down here so fast?" Allie asks her, finger still in her mouth.

"Slid down the pole," Cora says, shrugging.

Ignoring them, I walk to the desk and sit down. GG's laptop is here, turned off and shut. I sift around through the papers and see one titled "Redacted: Sunshine Project." There are swaths of black boxes covering words on this page, but from what I gather it's directly connected to the thing Allie found when we were trying to figure out how to reverse her shrinking. I read on, hoping to find more, and Allie hovers over my shoulder.

"Gus was building the gay bomb?" Allie says, picking up another piece of paper. It draws my attention, and I peel my eyes away from what I'm reading.

"What the fuck is a gay bomb?" I hear Cora say, but I ignore her as Allie continues.

"My God, it seems like he was part of the team of scientists that were making that ridiculous thing." Her eyes zoom across the paper. "These are some of his notes, Jess. He was trying to stop the entire project. He took the technology and brought it here." She turns page after page, devouring it like it's a best-selling novel near the book's climax. "Do you think they built a gay-ray?" She snickers, and I roll my eyes.

"What else does it say?" I stand and lean over her shoulder, resting my chin there. This isn't news to me. We know about the guns obviously, but I'm fascinated.

"It says he went on to work on second generation weapons." She raises her chin and looks up at the massive, strange machine in the corner. "I think that's the original, Jess. I think that one is the one he based all these off of."

"Why would he have the guns in the house then? Why not the basement here?" It doesn't make sense to me.

"I don't know..." She squints her eyes and then returns to reading. For a second she's silent then she blurts out, "The Sunshine Project was meant to stop governments from creating biological weapons."

I feel my gut churn. Either GG was part of a group of scientists trying to rid the world of biological agents, or he was creating them, and neither of those things sound safe. I wonder what the fuck the other guns do.

"The guns!" I gasp, realizing we left them upstairs like twenty minutes ago. I run for the steps, darting up to the apartment, then across to the stairs and up them to the barn. It's quiet. Jackson is now grazing across the pasture happily. His tail flicks as he pulls tufts of grass and chews them. I feel a bit better with the tub of guns in my sight.

I pick them up and take them back down then decide this is a little too much for one day. "Allie, I want to go home." Allie appears in the hallway holding Cora in hand as I set the tub on the table. She has GG's laptop tucked under her other arm, charger in hand. "We should bring this to research more shit. Maybe it has something on it."

"Okay, but you have to bring the shrink ray. We can't leave Cora small forever. We at least have to have her make an appearance for Glenda and Dean. She has to sell the car and that." Allie walks toward me and Cora scowls, and when Allie seems to notice she scowls back. "Stop acting entitled, Cora. Do you want Jess to go down for kidnapping too?"

Cora folds her arms over Allies thumb and pouts, resting her chin on them. "No."

"Okay, good, then we take the shrink ray back with us. We have to put Cora and Shep back how they go, and then we can lock the shrink ray up here." Allie looks to me as if seeking confirmation.

"Fine," I tell her, reluctantly taking the gun with me. "But I like Shep little."

"And I like not being in prison." She leads the way, carrying Cora, and I follow, carrying the gun. Once in the barn, we lock up, and I hide the key in my pocket. Jackson comes for his food, and I'm reminded that we didn't do anything here yet. I'm tired already and it's only morning, but it has to be done.

Allie sets Cora on the bale of hay with the shrink ray, and we get to work mucking his stall. We'll need straw soon, so I need to go through GG's paperwork and see if he has a guy for that. We are barely done with the chores when Dean walks into the barn holding a piece of paper. I gasp, and my eyes flick to where Cora sits, but she's gone and I'm glad.

"Hey, Dean!" I say loudly, hoping wherever she is she hears me. It's bad enough one of the guns is there. If he sees her, we're fucked.

"Hello, Jessica. I have this order from the county recorder." He holds the paper out. "It appears this barn is on its last legs, and the county may have to demolish it." His beady little eyes lock onto the gun, and he scowls at me. "Kinda old to be playing with squirt guns, aren't you?"

Allie appears by my side as usual. "Why don't I shoot you with it and show you how fun it is?" Her snarky comment and the smirk on her face make me stomp on her foot.

"Allie..." I hiss and try to keep a straight face as I take the sheet of paper.

"You know, girls. I'll buy this property from you." He pulls his checkbook out of his breast pocket, as if he came here just for this purpose. Maybe he sits here on Saturdays now, waiting for us to come because he knows it's when we come out here to care for Jackson. "Name your price." His pen hovers over the check waiting to fill it in. Cora said something about a ten-million-dollar contract. I could ask for a million. Would he pay it?

"It's not for sale," Allie says firmly. "Get out."

"Shame really," he growls. "When the inspector comes and says this is condemned, it will be worthless. You are throwing that out? What do you want? Fifty thousand, a hundred? Five hundred?"

My jaw drops. A hundred grand for this old barn? But what about GG's apartment? He has memories down there. And it's rent free. I could save so much money. Not to mention his lab.

"Not. For. Sale." Allie accentuates each word and then points. "Get out."

I'm so glad she's here because I would have just taken a million bucks and walked. That would pay for the rest of Jackson's life at a stable somewhere. But she's right. This place is too special. It's worth more than any amount of money to me. It was a gift from Grandpa Gus, and I want it.

When Dean is gone, Cora comes out from behind a wheelbarrow where she was hiding. She's shaking like a leaf and pale as a ghost. It's time to go. We've had enough excitement for one day.