Seaside Shootout

“Oh no!” Oto cried out as he cowered from the explosion.

Looking down at the keys he held, his racing heart thudded against his chest. Then, with a glance back to the flaming wreckage of his third favourite car, dismay began to set in.

“No! No! No!” He removed his thumb from the button he had clicked. “I pressed the auto-start, not the auto-destruct. Hayami! Hayami, I swear I pressed the auto-start. Did I accidentally hit this red button? Is that the auto-destruct?! Why do cars even have those?”

With a knot forming in his stomach as he watched the flames engulf the vehicle, he grumbled softly to himself.

“I don’t know if Giles will be able to buff that one out. The golf-cart collision, maybe, but this is—it’s a bit more of a Bent-badly now.”

Oto looked to Hayami, who stared at the vehicle in comparable disbelief. The hand she had taken his with gripped firmly as it began to tremble. He glanced between it and her face, watching as a scowl began to form and the ferocity he loved now burning in her eyes. As the coastal breeze tossed her hair, his heart skipped a beat. 

Enamoured by her natural beauty, Oto slipped his hand into his pocket to remove the phone he had brought. He wanted a picture to remember this moment and to show off her splendour to the world.

But as he lifted the device to eye level, attempting to snap the picture, a distant gunshot rang out. The phone flew from his hand, past Hayami’s head as shrapnel struck at the side of her beautiful face, scratching her flawless cheek.

“Get down!” She screamed, snapping from her trance and pushing Oto’s head down behind the cover of a parked car.

Having not yet registered that they were being assaulted, the confused boy struggled against her protective press.

“Why is everything I touch exploding, Hayami?” He whined as he looked at his hands. “Has being with you made me a menace to society?”

But Hayami was not listening. Instead, she looked through the passenger windows of the parked car she used for cover. Watching her intense stare, Oto felt the urge to withdraw his backup phone to snap another picture. Though this time, he thought better of it. Instead, he reached for the glass, attempting to see what she saw.

At that moment, the glass exploded as a series of gunshots rang out.

“Everything I touch is exploding!” He cried, looking to Hayami as she took cover.

Her face looked his way, still somehow beautiful even with the faint trickle of blood from her scratched cheek. She inspected him closely before reaching for the tie that hung from his neck.

“No! Hayami, don’t touch me. I don’t want you to explode.”

“Shut up, idiot.” She yelled at him. “We need to move.”

“I don’t like when you call me thaaaaat—”

Hayami pulled Oto forcefully along as she moved quickly in a crouch to the next car down the street. While they shifted between the vehicles, the world erupted with gunfire as bullets pinged around them, striking the cars and storefronts. Screams of passersby filled the air, and once beautiful window displays became riddled with bullet holes.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Oto screamed as Hayami threw his back against the passenger door of the next car. “I don’t understand what’s happening. Hayami, make it stop.”

“Listen, you’re not doing this,” She explained, reaching up and snapping the sideview mirror free of the vehicle. “We’re being shot at.”

“Shot at?! Why? And by whom? Are they more vagrants? Paparazzi?”

Hayami ignored him for the time being as she positioned herself against the front wheel of the vehicle. Lifting the mirror, she twisted it, scanning the other side of the street in the reflection.

That was when she noticed them. Three men with plain clothes, wielding semi-automatic rifles, and one more who was currently rushing across the street towards the back of their cover.

“Hayami! Are they vagraaaants—”

Pulling Oto to the ground by his tie with one hand, she threw the mirror at the spot where the goon was set to emerge. He stepped out just as the object reached eye level, connecting with his head and snapping it back. But Hayami was not done. She bolted towards the man, tackling him to the ground and somersaulting to the next parked car.

She reached back for his weapon, recoiling her hands in an instant as a trio of bullets impacted where she had been. They struck the goon, spraying his blood with each connection and causing the body to fall limp.

“Hayami?” Oto began to sit up, looking around in a daze.

“Oto stay there—”

Then she realized something. He was closer to the gun than she was. If he could get it to her, she could deal with the problem across the street.

“Wait,” Her tone suddenly shifted. “Oto, get the gun.”

“The what?!”

Hayami sighed as she gripped her face angrily. She pointed firmly at the firearm near the man’s waist.

“Oto. Oto, here, boy. Fetch. Fetch the gun. Fetch it. Be a good boy—fetch the gun.”

“I am not a dog, Hayami!”

“Just throw me the goddamn gun!”

A panicked Oto crawled over to the body, reaching out to take hold of the firearm. Blood erupted from the man’s body as another spray of bullets impacted the corpse.

With a shriek, Oto withdrew his hand and looked between the body and Hayami.

“I swear that everything I’m touching is exploding!”

“The gun, Oto!”

“But—Hayami, behind—!”

Hayami turned quickly, flinging the bottom of her dress up as she twisted her upper body. A bullet tore through the thin fabric, piercing the air where her torso had been a moment before. Lunging towards her next target, she rolled forward through the high-quality screen she had created. With a swift punch to the groin, the man bowed forward, loosening his hold on the rifle, which Hayami ripped from his grip.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Two shots to the chest and one to the head sent the goon flying back.

Oto watched as Hayami quickly dispatched the thug, only to turn back his way and level the rifle with him. Quickly raising his hands, he winced as she fired a trio of shots his direction. But the rounds never hit him. Instead, he listened as someone collapsed behind him with metal clattering to the ground.

“Oto,” Hayami ordered, her voice stern but not aggressive. “Oto, look at me.”

He shifted his gaze up to her. Hayami’s finely dressed body was pressed against the car with the rifle firmly in her grip. Concerned eyes locked on him as she thoroughly inspected him from afar.

“Hey. You okay?”

“I-I am absolutely n-not okay.” He stammered, looking back at the body resting behind him. “Hayami, why are these poorly dressed paparazzi trying to kill us?”

“Later.” She insisted, “Where is G-I Giles?”

“At the bank…don’t you remember?”

“Where, Oto? Where’s the bank?”

“Five blocks that way.” He yelled out, pointing to the shops beside them both. “It’s just beyond the polo field.”

Poking her head up, Hayami looked in the direction of the final gunman before quickly ducking back down. Bullets pinged over the hood of her car in the moment before she bridged the gap between her and Oto.

With a huff, she threw her back against the cover while glancing past the boy. He felt his heart racing as she reached in front of him. Fighting the urge to lean over and kiss her, he instead admired the sweat glistening atop her shoulders as she patted down the man who had been behind him.

“Gah!” She hissed.

“What?! What?!” Oto panicked. “Are you hurt? Oh my God, are you dying?”

“What? No.” She turned back to him, holding three magazines of bullets. “This dress doesn’t have pockets. Dresses need pockets to hold more ammunition, Oto!”

“Well, I didn’t know you’d be shooting up the seaside today!” He replied, looking her up and down. “I’ll be sure to make a note for future designs, okay?”

He paused a moment, looking at the weapon and then the objects in her grip. With a sigh, he motioned for her to hand them over.

“Give them here, I’ll carry them for you. If I’m gentleman enough to carry a girl’s purse for her, I can carry her bullet-thingies.”

“They’re called magazines, Oto.”

“They most definitely are not! Even I know magazines have pictures, Hayami. How dumb do you think I am? Now, give me your bullet-thingies.”

With a deep sigh, Hayami handed over the magazines to Oto and watched as he stuffed them into the pockets of his navy jacket and pants. Looking away from him, she continued her search for the gunman. As she did, she discovered a secondary pistol that she stuffed into the back of Oto’s pants.

“Ah, cold!”

“Quiet, baby.” She growled, slipping his coat back into place over the firearm before continuing. “Now, follow me—down!”

As Oto tumbled to the ground, he watched as Hayami levelled her rifle above him. With each pop of the weapon, a spent shell flew overhead until the entire magazine dropped from the gun. Hayami reached down to Oto, her hand motioning for him to give her something.

“Mag—ugh, bullet-thingy!” She demanded.

Understanding, the boy reached into his coat pocket. He quickly withdrew the spare and handed it to her. She slipped it into the rifle with ease before continuing to fire at the goons that slowly approached.

Oto was amazed by her. She wore her rugged beauty and the violent sexiness like a model deep in the moment. Unable to help himself, he withdrew his spare phone and began snapping combat photos while she was preoccupied. He needed to capture the moment. For her. For him. For—

These will definitely trend!