CHAPTER 4: A Sick Mindset Or Lost?

At the corner of such a criminal town, there was a measly abandoned shop soaked with graffiti. But next to the building was a suspicious vehicle parked with their lights turned off. Inside the vehicle, Jack and Randolph were waiting for Eric’s cue on a mission. They were on patrol, scouting a supposed snitch who was inside their operations. The snitch ratted out their boys locations where deals were supposed to be done. It was ruining business and it gave them a bad rep in the streets.

Jack pulled out a cigarette and handed one to Randolph. He took one but to then look at Jack who’s already inhaling the cancer stick. “Should you even be smoking this shit at that age my guy? Like damn you smoke a lot for a damn teen…”

Jack joked around and said, “You only live once in this life.”

Randolph rolled his eyes and said no more. They smoked quietly, observing the area around them as they waited. Luckily Randolph spotted the guy they were looking for. He pointed at the supposed snitch walking out of a nearby bar. “I think that’s our guy. Just follow his ass, but don’t make it obvious.”

Jack inhaled another draw from his cigarette and blew out a huge cloud of cancer. “You don’t have to tell me twice.” He turned the vehicle on but not the lights. “Let’s get ths over with and teach this punk not to fuck with us.”

The snitch kept walking while Jack drove slowly along the side of the street, suppressing their presence. As the snitch walked, he stopped and looked around. Beside him was a poorly run motel building. He walked into the vicinity of the motel and up to the registration building. From Randolph and Jack’s viewpoint, the snitch appeared to be talking to the clerk who didn’t even take a glimpse at the guy. The snitch looked annoyed, slamming a hand on the desk, finally making the clerk glance. The clerk behind the bullet proof glass pointed to something to shoo him away.

Jack and Randolph parked close by, making themselves unnoticed. The snitch walked off from the front desk and walked along the sidewalk of some nearby rooms. Jack made sure to observe his every move, where he walked to and where he looked. His observations were dead set. He wanted this man dead.

Randolph made sure too. “Man, what’s this guy up to? The fuck is he doing around this area? What is he trying to get? Some pussy? Ha! Probably knows his ass is gonna get clapped!”

Jack took another drag of his cigarette. “I could care less about what he’s doing. I just want this guy dead.”

Randolph raised the corner of his lip and stuck a hand out to Jack. “Chill, we gotta capture him then we can kill his ass. Fuck man, every word that comes out of your mouth always gives me chills… Shit.” The two went back to spying, but the snitch had disappeared.

“Where the fuck did he go?” Jack asked, growing impatient. He got out of the car and walked to the back of it.

Randolph hopped out too. “Yo, what the fuck do you think you’re doing, you scary looking muthafucker?”

Jack opened the trunk. There, lying on the bed, was the exact same shotgun he’d used to kill the gun dealer with. “I’ll be back, but wait for me. I’ll call you if anything goes wrong.”

“My guy… you can’t be… You know what, you do you. My ass is staying in the car, you fucking psycho.” Randolph made his way back into the car and slammed the door shut, while Jack reloaded the shotgun and closed the trunk.

Jack turned round and wandered off into the shadow of the motel’s vicinity. When approaching the area, he saw a couple of men. Five were walking out from around the corner of a couple of rooms down, looking rather suspicious. The men already were a threat because of the color of their clothes which were yellow and black and how they were glancing around. Jack, who still hid in the shadows, waited patiently.

The men talked for a bit while Jack hid against a wall, peeking around from the corner with the shotgun in his hands. After finishing their conversation, the men all walked together until they stopped in front of the same room.

From Jack’s observation they all seemed to be walking into the same room. And once they disappeared from his line of sight, Jack felt calmer. He carried the shotgun with one hand, letting it dangle as he walked to the room they supposedly disappeared into.

Jack stopped because an idea came to his mind. He walked out of the main path and walked up to the clerk’s desk. “One room please.”

The clerk guy had a cigarette in his mouth, reading a magazine, leaning back in his chair, the man didn’t seem to give the utmost care of what’s happening around him. He didn’t bother looking at Jack. “Yeah, yeah. Here you go.” He grabbed some keys nearby and tossed them to Jack.

Jack caught them, tossed money at the man’s face, and walked off. As he made his way back into the main path of the rooms, Jack glanced at the key’s room number. He felt blessed because the key led to a room presumably close to the one he saw the men walk into.

As he got closer, Jack wanted to be sure he got them all by surprise. When he went into his room, he inserted the key, turned it, and opened the door. He walked into darkness, not bothering himself to turn the lights on, and sat on the bed, leaving the door completely wide open.

Muffled voices sounded close by, but by the sounds of it, it came directly from the walls before Jack. Staring at the walls in total darkness, he heard a door open. A man’s shadow walked past the wide open door. Noticing that the door was open, he took a step back and looked inside, spotting nothing.

“Shit. Why is this door open? It’s fucking spooky man.” He shivered, but the moment he felt the need to walk away, an arm came out from the corner of darkness by the open door.

It dragged him into the room. Jack covered the man’s mouth as he placed him into a chokehold. “You with them… and the guy with the durag, is he associated with you?”

As the man struggled to break free from Jack’s grasp, he nodded, indicating Jack to let him talk. But Jack had other plans in mind. He dragged the man’s arm so he could grip the guy’s windpipe with his other hand. The man nodded harder, so Jack let him talk.

“Okay… yes, I’m somewhat associated with them. Please man, don’t kill me bro. I’m just a seller… I hardly know those guys.”

Jack paused and didn’t say a single word.

“Le-Let me… fuck. You’re gripping too ha-hard man. I didn’t see a guy with a durag. Please… I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

Jack blinked. “That won’t be an issue, because I know you won’t tell anyone.”

“Re-Really? So can you—”

“Because you’re about to do a good job keeping the promise, friend.”

“Huh?!”

Jack gripped his windpipe tighter and eventually snapped it, killing the man.

“Good job on keeping our promise,” Jack said as he laid the man down on the floor away from the open door.

Jack grabbed the shotgun, set it on the floor beside the man, then walked out of the room. He walked next door, stood in front of it and waited. Inside he heard laughter, voices, and enjoyment. Jack raised a hand and knocked, bringing all that joyful noise inside to a complete stop. Jack then hid against the wall as the men’s suspicion grew, questioning on who would knock at their door at this time, other than any other accomplice of their knowing.

Footsteps sounded from inside the room. Instead of opening the door, a voice called out, “Who is it? Bell, is that you kid?”

No answer.

The door slightly opened and a head popped out. He glanced to the right, but when turning to the left, the butt of a gun knocked him out cold. Jack then kicked the door open and the first person in his line of sight got a shotgun blast to their chest. He fell back onto the bed and died before he could pull out his own gun. Another man tried stabbing Jack from the side, but Jack quickly turned and shot him dead. Jack’s eyes were dead serious as he looked around the room and as he did, someone sneezed closeby.

Before taking another step, Jack looked down at the guy he’d knocked out cold. “This outta ease your pain.” He aimed down at the man’s head and blew it to smithereens.

As Jack walked towards the sound of the sneeze, from the corner of the bed was another man who seemed completely drunk, sitting still.

“All this damn noise… huh? Watcha looking at… you bitch!” He was about to pull out his weapon until Jack shot his arm, breaking it as he screamed in agony. Then he got blasted in the face, which made chunks of his skull fly all over.

With the gun aimed and his finger trigger happy, Jack made sure his body count was correct. In his mind he counted four, which meant there was one left. Aiming the gun in every direction, the bathroom was the last location to look. Steady, Jack walked towards it in a casual, calm manner. He opened the door very slowly and turned on the lights. Nobody was inside upon first glance, but when he looked at the mirror directly in front of him, Jack saw someone cowering in the bathtub. He walked in and lowered the gun, glaring at the last man standing.

The man trembled so much. He still had his pants down and was clutching his head. “P-Please… don’t… kill me.”

Jack tilted his head in a creepy manner. “Where’s the guy with the durag?”

“I-I don’t know… I don’t know who you’re talking about… Don’t fucking kill me, man.” The man began whimpering while Jack stood there, staring at the withering heap with dead fish eyes.

Jack turned to the bodies behind him and looked back at the man. “Get out of there. Come on.”

“Oh… okay,” he said, getting out of the tub without pulling up his pants.

Jack let him walk past with his hands up. “Now… walk,” Jack said calmly with the gun still in his hands.

The man obliged and walked carefully. “N-Now what?” he asked, scared.

“You’re free, go… or else I’ll change my mind.” Oblivious to what Jack was doing behind him, he didn’t know Jack had already made up his mind. The shotgun was aimed straight at his leg.

“You… really mean it?”

Without saying another word, Jack pulled the trigger and shot at one of the man’s legs. He screamed. It bent in an awkward manner as he collapsed to the floor. Jack finished the job by shooting his back once.

The room had become a bloody massacre created by none other than Jack, who’d decided to take a seat on the bed and look around the room. He lowered his gun onto his knees and slowly started reloading the weapon in the ambience of silence.

Without an expression on his face, Jack quietly said in a ruthless and unregretful tone, “Oops… wrong room.”

A minute later, after Randolph had heard all those loud bangs, which freaked him out. Looking over at his sides, he saw Jack walking back to the car with the shotgun. “Hey yo! Was that you making all that noise?”

Jack put his gun back into the trunk and hopped into the driver’s seat. “Yeah, but I mistakenly killed the wrong people.”

Randolph’s eyes grew big, and he freaked out by pointing at Jack. “You what?! Uhh, ahhh, so you telling me you killed innocent folks, you damn freak?!”

“No. They were rivals, though they were there at the wrong place at the wrong time.” Jack pulled out another cigarette and started smoking.

Randolph groaned, but luckily the snitch reappeared all frightened, running out of the motel’s area with his pants down. Randolph smiled and bumped an elbow to Jack. “I told you so!”

Jack patted himself on the shoulder for making all the ruckus to make him appear. “Perhaps killing those men didn’t go to waste.” The snitch ran a couple of feet until a white sedan pulled in front of him from around the corner. Jack turned the car on while Randolph pulled out some binoculars.

“Huh… didn’t know those would come in handy to be honest. We can still—”

“Shut the fuck up and let me do me, man. Shit.”

“Whatever. Anything more inconspicuous?”

“Looks like homie’s freaking out to whoever he’s talking to. They’re not doing anything at the moment… Hold up!”

Randolph saw the man rip the traditional bandana off his wrist and hop into the white sedan. The car sped off to where Eric was currently located.

“Ahh hell no! Put this bitch into drive! They’re going to the boss’s location!”

Jack tossed his cigarette out and put the car into drive. “Hang on,” he said, flooring it. They sped off and chased after the sedan.

As they were chasing the vehicle, Randolph looked at his side mirror and noticed a car on their tail. “Hey! Hey! Hey! I think there’s more of them!” He stuck his head out the passenger side and spotted more vehicles. “Oh shit! We need to get our boys. Now!”

Randolph pulled out his phone within his pants pocket and called one of the lieutenants. He warned them that there were multiple vehicles approaching the area. They understand the situation. The lieutenant called for backup, but before he hung up on Randolph he asked, “Wait. Before I go Randolph, how close are you guys to the location?”

Randolph grinned. “We’re five minutes away so we’re not too far. You all better be prepared for this shit show!” The lieutenant hung up.

Randolph was sweating a bit, but he felt excited. “Oh God damn! Shit’s about to go down!” Randolph said as he accelerated. Even though something in him felt worried, exhilaration overtook him.

Jack was already looking forward to the upcoming mess. He was still grinning with confidence. “Things are going to get worse when everyone arrives, especially when I get my hands on a rat who couldn’t keep his nose out of anything.”

At a rotted big home located in one of the worst areas of their area, Eric was currently negotiating with the turf leader’s boss. Eric’s lieutenant walked in the room and disrupted the meeting. Everyone else glared at the lieutenant, but he wasn’t scared.

He stood next to Eric with a phone in his hand. “You have an urgent call, sir.”

Eric sighed and took the phone. “Excuse me, gentleman.”

Although everyone was already growing impatient, they allowed him to answer his phone call and agreed to wait, which gave him only a minute.

“My apologies,” Eric said, closing the door behind him. He hovered the phone over his ear. “Who’s calling me when I’m in the middle of a meeting?”

“Ey yo, Eric, it’s me Randolph. Listen, I got you some juicy details about the snitch.”

“Yeah what about him, don’t tell me I was right all along?”

Randolph blows out air, picking his ear. “I’m afraid so man, he definitely is up to no good and who knows for how long.”

Eric dragged his big hand across his face. “Son of a bitch, I knew it… Alright, if that’s the case then hurry ya assess up to us. Best we have everyone gathered for this.”

Randolph sighed. “Don’t have to tell us twice we’re already on the way haha! And some final details: the bum’s in a white sedan and get this, the bastard ripped off our traditional bandana.”

Eric clenched a fist. “Shit, I guess the deal is over with. Make sure you leave that snitch alive. Imma make sure this punk bitch gets taught a lesson.” He hung up and looked at his lieutenant. “Get ready. Things are about to get ugly.”

He nodded and rushed outside the house to regroup with the other five guards. Eric casually walked back into the meeting, where the men were behaving oddly suspicious. The turf leaders’ guards had their arms crossed too close to their holstered weapons. When Eric walked back in, two walked next to the door. Eric grinned and sarcastically chuckled. He took out a cigarette and lit it.

Eric raised a palm, cutting them short. “Chill. Let me finish my damn smoke, fools. Relax, will ya?”

The turf leader slammed his fists on the table. “Fuck yo smoke! We got business to take care of, so sit yo big tall ass down.” He started getting even more impatient. His hand drove into his jacket, almost as if he was grabbing something.

Eric nodded. “You right! My bad homie! Let’s get one thing straight though!” Eric lowered his hand.

The turf leader’s upper lip raised and his left eye twitched in annoyance. “What is it you steroid looking motherfucker?!”

He puffed on his cigarette one last time and tossed it at the leader’s face. “I ain't no bitch!”

The leader got angry and prepared himself to pull out whatever he’d reached for. A vein popped out of his forehead as he shouted, “You fucked up now, homie!”

“No homie, you fucked up.” Eric instantly pulled his gun out, shooting the leader right between the eyes. The man fell back on his chair dead. The other guards behind him were quickly shot down too.

The other two behind Eric were left stunned by how fast Eric had killed all three of the men, but they didn’t know how to react. They were scared of being killed too.

“By the way, my muscles are natural, bitch!” Eric turned round and eyed the two.

The last two guards standing there were too afraid. They stayed silent and still. Even a slight gust of wind could scare the shit out of them. Eric glared at the two as their bodies trembled and both gasped when he puffed his chest out and showed them who’s the dominant one.

Eric gestured for them to come at him, but they turned their tails and ran away. Suddenly, Eric’s men, all six of them barged into the room with their guns drawn. For a brief second they thought their leader was shot, but they spot their boss was casually lighting another cigarette. They smiled, then heard multiple tires screeching in the front of the house.

Without Eric mentioning what to do next, everyone started barricading inside the house grabbing whatever piece of wood or furniture they could use to cover the windows, doors, and even the slightest creeks.

Once everything was covered and there was no way to enter inside, everything became quiet. One of Eric’s men decided to peek through a small gap in the window, but as soon as he gently pulled a piece of the blind down, he instantly got struck by a bullet and fell dead on the ground.

“Oh fuck man!” one of Eric’s men yelled.

“Damn, holy shit! He’s dead!” another one shouted then started freaking out, cowering behind a couch close by.

Eric raised his voice at all of his men. “Calm down! Are ya done being lil bitches, or are y’all some stone cold killaz?!” He raised his gun and cocked it. “Man the fuck up! Now let’s...”

All of a sudden a barrage of gunfire ruptured into the living room, cutting Eric off and forcing everyone to take cover or plunge to the ground.

Within a matter of seconds, everyone outside continued shooting, engulfing the entire home in a hail of bullets. Eric’s men retaliated, shouting back and firing blindly at the ambushers. Another one of Eric’s men went down, being shot multiple times when he was taking cover next to one of the boarded windows to the front of the living room. Another got shot in the leg that was on the ground, a bullet had ricochet and happened to strike him. Two more went down when they tried running across the living room to get to the other side when they shot blindly and aimed their guns sideways.

There were only two left standing. Eric began to sweat. The situation wasn’t going according to his plan. Not only that, but he’d already lost four men. Picking up another gun, Eric rushed towards a window and broke it apart, then shot out in rage.

Randolph and Jack were just arriving earlier than expected behind the ambushers. They didn’t notice their car coming or parking from how distracted they were at lighting the house up in a barrage of bullets. The two quickly got out, took cover behind their car and waited. Both men were on standby and for some time, roughly five minutes of endless firing. As the rivals continuously reloaded, kept laying down hellfire to the house, Randolph’s patience had grown slim. He didn’t know what Jack was waiting for.

“Jack! We need to hurry up and shoot them back. We’re literally behind them, you goof!” Randolph shouted angrily.

Jack ignored Randolph and continued observing the situation. “Wait… patience, my friend.” He checked his phone and waited a little longer.

Agitation and anger showed on Randolph’s face. He grabbed Jack’s shoulders and shook him. “What the hell are you waiting for? What? You waiting for a goddamn pizza, you schmuck?!”

Jack didn’t look at his face. His sights were glued to his phone. Just when Randolph’s patience shattered and he was preparing himself to fire at the ambusher’s back, Jack grabbed his arm.

“What now?” Randolph snapped.

Jack showed him a text he’d gotten on his phone. When Randolph read the display, he smiled. “Randolph, it’s showtime.”

“Well, it’s about damn time, right?!” Randolph brushed off Jack’s hand and got out of the car.

Jack went to the back of the car, opened the trunk, and pulled out another weapon. This time it was a semi-automatic rifle. “Yo Randolph!”

“Yeah, what?” As Randolph got close to Jack, a shotgun was tossed to him. He caught it.

Randolph glanced at the gun he caught, then tilted his head in confusion as he stared back at Jack. Jack rolled his eyes and pointed behind him. Randolph turned around. His jaw dropped when he spotted the vehicles in the distance coming towards them.

“Ohh! That’s what you were waiting for? You should have said something earlier, you fool!”

“What do you mean? I showed you the text, remember?”

Randolph couldn’t help but laugh. “Man, I could barely see cause you still own a flip phone, you dinosaur! Get with the times. You’re fucking sixteen! Not a damn granny, man!”

Jack shrugged and he went back into cover briefly beside Randolph.

They loaded their guns and rushed behind one of the rival vehicles. Looking at each other, they nodded then popped out from behind the car and aimed their guns at the enemies. “Yo dumbasses!”

Some of the rivals heard that and turned round to meet a wave of gunfire.

Rival gangs’ bodies dropped one by one, making everyone take notice of the situation. They turned around too, then fired back at Randolph and Jack. The two instantly took cover and started reloading.

Meanwhile, where Jack’s gang was, Eric noticed the gunfire stopped coming towards them and was firing at something else. From what he saw through the exposed window, it came from behind the rivals.

Eric used the opportunity to grab an injured member and carried him on his shoulders. “Come on, follow me, this is our chance to get the fuck outta here!”

The last member standing gulped while the gun in his hand trembled. “I-I don’t know boss. Wh-What if…?”

Eric reloaded his handgun. “This is no time to bitch out. You’re surviving brotha!”

He was a little scared but after hearing some encouragement from his boss, he manned up and followed close behind. They cautiously walked out the front door, while the rival gang were distracted, and ran behind a rusted out vehicle that sat on the front lawn. Eric leaned the injured member against the vehicle and checked his ammo supply, noticing he only had a mag left besides the one he’d just put in.

Jack and Randolph, on the other hand, were too busy being bombarded by the constant retaliation of gunfire. Randolph wasn’t even able to fire back let alone be given a chance.

“Jesus Christ, Jack!” he yelled, turning to Jack. “We gonna die, you sorry excuse for a teenager!”

Jack got back into cover and reloaded his rifle again. “Hey, that's not nice. Just keep firing. They’re almost here.”

“Fuck man! After this Imma need a drink!” Randolph raised the gun above his head and fired blindly, then peeked over the hood and instantly lowered himself. A bullet ricocheted next to him. “All these fucking guns and bums with their ugly asses, and a fucking crazy ass hooligan to my right… Goddammit! Shit!” Randolph fired his shotgun blindly again, hoping to hit one of them at least since they were close in range for him to do so.

Meanwhile, finally getting outside of the bullet-drenched home, taking cover behind that rusted out car was Eric, the last member standing and the injured. Eric’s looking around, trying to figure out who did the distracting and had given them a chance of escaping. Upon further observation, he saw the blindfire and vehicle the distractors drove in. He smiled, after realizing who was behind the distraction, then rose and used this chance to kill some of the men who were oblivious about their group. He aimed and shot a couple of them, striking three in a row. One fell to the right, hitting his head on the back of the bumper of a parked car, another to the left lying to his side, the last crumpling like a ragdoll and all three bled from their heads. Some of the others took notice, then fired at Eric, which forced him to take cover again.

Eric emptied his mag and inserted his last one. “Just hold out for two minutes!” he shouted at the two remaining men.

They nodded. Pulling out their pistols, they slightly rose from their cover and returned fire. Doing that sandwiched the rivals, though the numbers were still stacked against Eric and everyone else.

With his patience thinning, Jack pulled out his phone again and glanced at the screen. He sighs with relief. “Randolph?!”

Randolph was still flinching as bullets continued to ricochet off the vehicle. “What man! Can’t you see they still shooting us?!” He fired another round, managing to strike a guy and making him scream in pain. “Yeah bitch, woo!”

Jack raised his brows, nodding to Randolph. “Congrats, you finally struck a man.”

“Man fuck you, I’m a G boy, see I’ma…” Randolph tried firing again but realized that was his last round. “Awww yeah, now I’m out of bullets!” He tossed the gun on the ground. “That’s great. Just great!”

“Relax, will you,” Jack said.

Randolph raised his eyebrows in annoyance and shook his fist. “Fuck all ya’ll momma’s, you pussy fools!” Jack placed a hand on Randolph’s shoulder, which made him frown. “What, you goofball?!”

Jack grinned. “It’s party time!” Strangely, Jack reached inside his jacket and pulled out a flare gun, slowly aiming it to the sky.

Randolph tilted his head as his eyes popped out. He gave Jack a funny look. “Wha-Wha… but! Yo… where the fuck did you get? You know what, Imma just shut the fuck up now! How bout that?!”

Jack laughed as he pressed the trigger and the flare shot up, brightening the sky, which made everyone look upwards.

Eric quietly chuckled out of amusement. The enemy were distracted. Eric used the flare as an advantage to signal the last guy, who had his legs working, to run away with the injured one. He didn’t hesitate and ran off to his vehicle while carrying the injured.

The rival gang didn’t notice. Instead, they started approaching the vehicle Jack and Randolph were hiding behind, saying “Time to die fuckers!” The men reloaded their weapons and continued their approach, starting to make whistle noises as if the two were dogs. One guy made his way towards the right side of the vehicle and another at the left. Both laughed and said, “Bitch ass fools!”

The moment they were about to aim their guns at the two, the one on their right got struck by a bullet and fell dead, shocking everyone else left standing. Out of nowhere, gunfire erupted from a group of vehicles and now the rival gang were the ones being killed off. Men after men were dropping like flies so quickly that the others didn’t know how to react.

After a full minute of non-stop gunfire, it all came to a complete stop. There were only three guys left standing from that gang. They looked around and saw all their boys were dead. Blood had spewed out from their corpses and out into the stained cold streets. Bullet casings littered all over too, with bodies from both sides lying lifeless on the ground.

Jack stood up without an expression on his face and luckily for them, one of the last three standing was the snitch. “Hey, how are we doing? How’s life been treating you? Just curious, you know,” Jack casually said while flailing his gun around in a creepy manner, which made everyone uncomfortable.

The snitch’s knees quaked. His eyes expanded. “I-I…”

Jack stood before the snitch and towered over him. “You thought we wouldn’t notice, right?”

The snitch shook with horror and tried attacking Jack out of instinct by throwing a punch directly at Jack’s face. The boy casually caught his arm and looked into the man’s eyes. Everyone waited for Jack to do something. They knew of Jack’s horrific happenings and doings he’d done within the last year or two.

The snitch trembled. Everyone had looks of confusion. Some glanced at each other, scratched their heads, shrugged, others yawned, waiting to see what Jack would do next. The man grit his teeth, and tried pulling his arm off the boy’s grip, but then, Jack suddenly collapsed the man’s arm onto his knee, snapping it in half.

The snitch screamed as his arm broke like a twig. Everyone cringed and looked away. Some people even made dramatic noises from how horrific the sound of his bone sounded when it snapped.

Jack let go and pushed him away. The snitch continued screaming and grabbed his dangling broken arm as he dropped to his knees. Stepping closer to him, Jack towered over the snitch. “You think you could just get away with betraying us like that? Huh!”

The snitch gazed up. Jack kicked the guy’s face, making him fall back. He started to cry.

Randolph walked up to Jack and calmly pushed him away. “Yo, yo, yo, yo! Chill man, we gotta take him alive, remember?” he exclaimed, patting Jack’s back to calm him down.

Jack’s breathing got heavier. His fists clenched tighter, not to mention the way he narrowed his eyes, glaring at the crying snitch. As Randolph continued patting his back, trying to ease Jack the best he could, Jack took deep breaths to relax himself, but only momentarily.

“Hmmm… It’s not easy to just calm down Randolph. To me there’s no worse thing than some degrading low life person such as him. To me, betrayal is the ultimate form of pain.”

Jack turned around and slowly walked away. Randolph sighed. “Relax bro. I know you have trust issues with a lot of folks. Shit, you recently got your revenge, didn’t you? Chill now. Just chill, my guy.”

Jack stopped and looked over his shoulder to the crying fool who sat up. Jack’s eyes widened and he pointed his gun and shot at the man’s knee caps.

Everyone gasped and started shouting at Jack.

“Yo, what the fuck!”

“Bro! He’s crazy!”

“That’s just taking it too far man. Calm down!”

Randolph grinded his teeth, clenched his fists, he was the one who was more annoyed by his actions. He pushed Jack away and shouted, “Chill the fuck out man!”

The man screamed. “Mo-Mommy! I want my mommy!”

The backup crew looked at Jack out of disgust and they all felt uneasy being around him. Some cringed, others looked at one another with raised eyebrows and showing the edge of their teeth. They slowly backed away, still cringing or starting to squint.

Jack couldn’t care less though. For his eyes expressed no remorse or regret. He finally put his gun away and walked away.

Eric arrived on the scene and accidentally stepped on the crying snitch’s broken arm, as he noticed the bleeding from his knees, along with a bruised face. He placed his hands on his hips and shook his head. He already knew who was responsible for such torment.

Eric looked at all his men, swiping the air. “Alright, everyone let's get going and take the three hostages before any police arrive on the scene. Understood?” His gang replied with nods and thumbs up, starting to disperse.

While the gang did as their boss commanded, going back into their vehicles, getting the hostages, Jack was already starting to leave before anyone else did. He hopped into the car and drove away to head home.

He pulled his phone out and called Angela. “Sis… Hello?”

Angela, who was sitting on her bed criss-crossed, while drawing and watching her favorite show, answered her phone. “Yeah? What is it bro? I’m kinda busy here. My show’s on!”

“I’m just letting you know I’ll be home in a bit. Do you want anything?”

“Um… some tea and a bag of chips would be nice.” She smiled but quickly pouted, blowing steam out her nose while watching her show. “No! What a dummy! Darn you for being so annoying!”

“Sounds like it’s getting good, so I’ll hang up. See ya soon.”

“Byee! Noooo not that! You moron!” Angela slammed her pencil down in frustration and crossed her arms. “That’s stupid. How can a goddess be so useless?”

Jack hung up and changed course to the nearest gas station. After half an hour had gone by, he arrived at a local gas station. It was getting pretty late so Jack wanted to do this quickly. He parked the car nearby and walked into the store, then picked up the items Angela had requested and paid for them. As he walked out of the store, he noticed a drunk man sitting on top of the car.

Getting closer to the car, Jack noticed he was homeless from how raggy, cut, dirty his clothes and face was. “Hey dumbass. Mind getting off the car? It’s not polite.”

The man slowly got off and walked up to Jack. Through his stumbling, it was clear he was drunk. And when Jack walked up to him, he reeked of alcohol. The stench was overwhelming.

He tried intimidating Jack by puffing out his chest and stepping right up to Jack’s face. “Or wh-what? B-Bitch!”

Jack stood there silently with a bag of Angela’s stuff in one hand.

The drunk man flailed his arms around. “You ain’t gonna do sheet! Hahaha! See, you just standing there like a pu-pussy!” The guy randomly burped and spat on Jack’s shoes. “Fucking fool!” He pushed Jack and laughed, but Jack didn’t budge.

Jack tucked a hand into a pocket and sighed. “Someone outta teach you a lesson… but let me ask you this friend.”

“What… you bitch.”

Jack got into the guy’s face. “How did one such as yourself get into this position in life? Why do you choose to be this hopeless, but more importantly, pathetic individual who currently wants to stay as the person they are today?”

The drunk man gasped. “Huh? Wh-what are — Oh hell no! I’ll-I’ll make you regret saying that shit to me!”

“But what for? There shouldn’t be any type of reaction to my statements if they weren’t true, right? Let me ask you about this friend.”

The drunk man backed away from Jack, feeling uneasy with how Jack’s voice kept changing volume. “Wh-What?”

Jack took a deep breath. “If you had to choose a way to risk your life for something, especially where it could reward you, what would that be? How would one such as yourself react to a game… possibly one like I mentioned before betting on your life? How about it… Does that not sound like a bargain? But you may question why your life and the meaning behind it? There’s many possibilities to that answer like wealth, knowledge, perception, or maybe something more extreme, like death?”

The man gulped. His drunkenness was still in effect and on the verge of passing out, he stood his ground to see what Jack wanted to try with this so-called game he’d spoken of. Though his legs were shaking so much that they went unnoticed, his teeth were chattering too. It was apparent that he was shocked beyond words.

Getting impatient, Jack placed the bag full of Angela’s stuff down and abruptly pulled his hand out. That scared the man, which made him fall on his tailbone. Jack placed his hand forward and made a fist. “How about a game of rock, paper, scissors to end this conversation?”

On his butt, the drunk man’s breathing grew frantic. “Wh-Why…? Lo-Look, my bad for talking shit and sitting on yo—”

“Get up and let’s go.”

“Yo look, I’m—”

“Call it. Let’s go. I don’t have all night. Pull first.”

“Bro please… please, I’ll just—”

“Pull one, two, three. Rock, paper, scissors… Call it friend.”

The man watched Jack take a quick breath and got worried that he might kill him since his patience was growing thin. He got up and stood still with his fist out, but he was nowhere near enough for Jack. The two stood there, waiting on who would call it. The man was so afraid.

Jack drew in another breath. “Alright, go for it. Do it.”

With his fist shaking and arm quivering, the man’s face was covered in cold sweat. He almost raised his fist, but he wanted to ask one more thing before something went terribly wrong.

“Wh-What happens… if-if… I-I lose?”

Jack didn’t answer. He only raised his fist.

The man finally gave himself the courage to raise his own. “Rock, paper, scissors.”

Both raised their fists. The man closed his eyes. Jack’s sights were dead set on him.

“Shoot!”

Jack quickly pulled out his gun and aimed right between the man’s eyes. He pulled the trigger. Hearing the click, the man opened his eyes and saw the inside of the gun’s barrel. He freaked out, threw his hands forward, and backed away, gasping loudly as he clutched at his chest.

Jack blinked. “Congratulations. You win.”

The man couldn’t believe it. He was so stressed and scared that he thought he was dead. But as he gazed at his own fist he saw he drew paper and glancing at Jack’s fist, he drew rock. Relieved with winning, he stood there with his jaw dropped while sweat continued to drip off his chin. Jack lowered the gun, reached into his pocket and before pulling whatever he was reaching for, he snapped his fingers to bring the poor man back into reality.

Finally snapping out of relief, the man said nervously, “Y-You were really going to… going to…”

Jack pulled out his hand and tossed the man a stack of cash. He caught it and upon glancing at it, he realized they were all hundreds. He counted rapidly. It was more than enough to buy himself an apartment, a car, and enough to change his life. The poor man couldn’t believe it. Tears of joy and sadness came out of his bloodshot eyes. He slammed his forearm over his eyes and cried. “Thank you… Thank you!”

Jack nodded, then picked up the bag, and walked away. He got back into the car and drove off, leaving the man to bask in his victory. It was a victory he’d thought his horrid life would never see again, and today marked the day he’d never forget the scary guy he’d almost ticked off enough to potentially kill him over something petty.

He dropped to his knees and cried more, hugging himself. “Tha-Thank you… Thank you so much! Thank you thank you thank you!”

He said to himself, “My dear sick daughter… Daddies got enough to pay for your surgery.” He got up and spotted a beer bottle. Balling his hands into fists, he went over to grab it, then slammed it on the ground.

“I’ll never drink again. Thank you, stranger. Thank you for scaring this old fool enough and blessing him with the thing he needed to save his dying daughter’s life. I’ll never forget you.” He tucked the money into his pocket and walked off into the cold streets of Flint, Michigan.

***

Eric and Randolph arrived home and suspected Jack to be home before them, but he wasn’t. Eric didn’t care though so he walked upstairs. He heard screaming from Angela’s room and immediately kicked her door open.

Barging in, Eric yelled, “I’ll kill y—” He looked around. Angela looked over her shoulder in a slow manner and raised her arms.

With her mouth making an oval shape she waved one hand to Eric. “Uhh… Everything okay, Uncle Eric?”

Eric couldn’t help but facepalm himself for overreacting. He rushed to Angela and attacked her with tickles. “Don’t scare me like that, you silly girl!”

Angela laughed and rolled around. “I’m sorry! I was just shouting at the TV.” She pointed. “See? Like damn, this show’s so funny but it pisses me off sometimes!”

Eric laughed too. “Language, Momma. It seems those damn cartoons are no good to you. The more you watch them, the more you’ll be lame princess. Trust me, that shit’s lame!”

She giggled and playfully pushed him. “I’m already lame anyways. Besides, I’m glad to be the person that I am.” She expressed a gentle smile that warmed Eric’s stone cold heart.

“Aww, well ain’t you the cutest princess ever!”

“Nah. I’m just happy for who I am and that I have you guys as guardians.”

Eric smiled back and patted her head. “You’re right, princess. You’re better off this way than you are with your brother. Thank you, baby girl.”

Angela crossed her arms. “Hey…! He wasn’t always like this, you know? Well, he’s still the same when he’s around me… kinda.” She started questioning Jack’s current personality by placing a finger on her chin and thought real hard about it, but her face expressed worry.

Eric rubbed her head, brushing off the worry. “Don’t be too upset over that fool because who would want to hurt someone as sweet as you?”

Hearing him say that made her feel better, but her mind suddenly flashed awful memories of her past. She stared at nothing as her sparkling eyes grew dim. Eric noticed that and grew worried. He snapped his fingers.

Angela sighed. “Time really flies, doesn’t it, Uncle Eric?” She got up and walked to her collection of precious figurines. She grabbed one and noticed it was getting dusty.

Eric also got up and walked over to where Angela was. “What’s currently on your mind?”

She lifted the figurine she was about to clean and twirled it round. “Nothing. I’m just glad, you know? Glad that I’m alive, happy to have you guys, but…” She smiled again and looked up, making sure Eric wouldn’t notice she’d shed a single tear, “…relieved that my brother is still by my side.”

Eric walked behind her and wiped away the tear she thought went unnoticed. “It’s okay, baby girl. I’m glad we met someone like you too.” He hugged her from behind and examined the figurines.

“So-Sorry… I’m just emotional… You know?”

“Don’t be. It’s okay to be the way you are. But Imma be real with you, princess. Honestly, the only reason why Randolph and I continued doing illegal stuff back then, well at first we were bored and not to mention we was a couple of bums back then too. But before you came along, in the pinnacle of our crime spree; ever since we met you, we promised ourselves that we would save up enough money to finally leave this gang shit, and once we do…”

He turned Angela around and smiled. Angela smiled too.

Eric patted her head. “We’ll get you out of this mess for sure, and make you go to actual school to get you out of this damn lifestyle.”

Angela hugged Eric. “Thank you. I hope one day that dream will come true too, uncle.”

They both laughed and Eric looked to that shelf where she had that collection of figurines drying Jack’s wallet. “So, about those dolls, whatever, you seem to have quite the collection now huh?”

She got enthusiastic and right away, rushed to the shelf and grabbed one with blue hair, a blue outfit, and long blue boots. “Yes! I’m slowly trying to build it to the ultimate fantasy of collecting all the figurines of my favorite characters in my shows!”

Eric crossed his arms, grabbing his jaw. “Okay, uh, from what I can count…” He eyed each one, counting in his head. “You have about forty, so how much were they exactly?”

Angela’s smile twitched and slowly placed the figurine back in its place. “Oh, like… maybe, roughly, about two hundred to four hundred each, ehehe…”

Eric nods, but then his eyes explode and his jaw drops. “What?! Oh my God! No wonder Jack’s been broke for the past few months, holy crap princess…”

Angela fiddled her fingers and grabbed another, this time one with horns and wore a maid outfit. “But they’re cool right? And pretty, right?!”

Eric deeply sighed and brought out a mild chuckle. “I-I guess, haha.” His eye twitched and Angela went back to grabbing individual figures and explaining to her uncle what show they were from and why some were questionable in their appearances and body proportions.

Jack was almost home, but while driving he decided to stop for a second and park in the middle of a random supermarket parking lot.

He sat in silence, reflecting on the situation with the homeless man. “Maybe I shouldn’t have scared him. Even if he were to pull something else for me to win, I wouldn’t have killed him either way.”

He lay back on his seat, sighing, and stared at the black sky. What has become of me…?

As Jack pulled out a cigarette from his jacket pocket and smoked it, he noticed the flickering parking lot lights, cracked roads, and vegetation growing from within the cracks in the concrete as he scanned the parking lot. He lowered the driver’s side window and looked out to stare at the full bright moon. He frowned and continued smoking.

Sure is a nice night for once. Heh, there’s not even sounds of gunfire. Hmm, strange.

Closing his eyes for a moment to bathe in the light, basking in the peaceful silence for once, it felt strange. However, when he opened them again, to look to his right, the girl in the white dress was seated beside him. She giggled and poked his chest to grab his attention.

He didn’t react, he only stared at her. She leaned in closer, whispering softly into his ear, “Hello? Anyone home?”

Jack blew out air. “Huh… Well, nevermind then.”

She tilted her head. “What is it?”

He grinned sadistically. “If you didn’t just whisper now, you would’ve had a bullet in your head.”

“My my, still violent I see,” she said, continuing to poke his chest. “You’ve gotten so strong through the years, and your heart is as tough as nails. I like it, but it kinda worries me.”

Jack leaned in closer to her. “Well, I don’t know about that. Hey, if I shoot you, would the bullet go through you, or would you actually die?”

She hovered a hand over her supposed face and gasped. “That isn’t a nice thing to say, you know.” She crossed her arms and looked away. “You meanie…”

“Yeah, yeah.” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “Why haven’t you helped me as of late? There were lots of times when I needed your help, but instead, you left me to deal with problems out of my norm. That kinda pisses me off.”

She looked back at him. “Well, the truth is…” She slowly put her hands beneath her carpet of hair, “…it’s because I’m still embarrassed about this!” She exposed her facelessness and Jack’s car became purged in darkness.

Jack jumped out of sleep unknowingly. He sighed and scratched his head. “Oops… looks like I fell asleep, but for how long?” He checked the time and noticed an hour had passed.

He turned the car on, shook his head, and drove away, flooring the car so he would arrive faster. His eyes were half way shut as he drove recklessly throughout the streets and neighborhoods, and to make matters worse, he was still keen on sleeping. Driving fast, amaturasly drifting around corners, he’s on the verge of sleeping behind the wheel. He shut his eyes for a moment, the car started swerving on the lanes of the streets, his head fell and bounced on the steering wheel and honked, making him jump back to the view of the street.

“Fuck, hang in there Jack.” He almost lost control of the car but managed to not. He let out an aggroavated moan, moved his shoulders, now he’s very eager to get back home on how he almost just crashed.

When Jack finally arrived home and turned the car off, he got out and noticed Eric was standing on the front porch, smoking a cigarette. His eyes baggy, he grabbed the bag of Angela’s snacks and walked up the brick steps. He tried ignoring Eric to walk inside, but he stopped Jack by putting his arm out in front of him.

“Hey, that isn’t very nice,” Jack said sarcastically.

Eric furrowed his brows and had a frown. “We need to talk, fool.”

Jack sighed and listened to Eric. He sat down on the front porch chair and so did Eric. “What’s in the bag?” Eric asked.

“Just goodies I bought for Angela, that’s all.”

Jack set the bag aside, took out a smoke and lit it. “So, boss.”

Eric took out his own pack of cigarettes from one of the pockets in his jeans. He opened it, pulled a cigarette out and smoked too. “Give me a moment to calm my nerves. Being around you is like cancer.”

“Just like these sticks we’re addicted to.” Jack calmly smoked his cigarette. “What do you need to talk about, though? Wait, is it because you’re gonna apologize for,” he pointed at the black eye he had, “this? If so, then that’s very nice of you.”

All of a sudden, Eric got agitated and grabbed Jack’s shirt. “No, you fucking smartass!” Eric let go and cleared his throat. “It’s about Angela.”

Jack brushed himself, adjusted his jacket, and rolled his eyes. “What about her?”

“Don’t you think it’s time to take her to school? You know, like actual school? Ya feel me?”

Jack rolled his eyes again. “It’s complicated.” He tossed the cigarette bud and gazed up at the night sky. “I wish it were that simple.”

“Then why don’t you enroll her, you fool! It ain’t that hard, my guy.”

Jack stood up. “Like I said, I wish it was that easy.” As Jack was about to walk inside, he hesitated, his head twitched, one of his hands slowly easing in on the door knob, he sighed.

Eric mildly raised a brow. “Whatcha standing there all weird for, fool?”

Jack looked back at Eric. “Hey Eric, I don’t know what changed me, but… my bad for making you guys feel uneasy at times.” Jack then walked back inside, closing the door behind him. Eric pulled out another cigarette to further smoke his nerves.

He gazed up at the night sky and cracked his neck. “They’ve been living here for five years. Yet…” he stood up and took out a photo of Angela and Jack when they were younger, “I barely know the two of you. Ya some strange kids, man. But you’re my responsibility now.”