Page 30 of Degradation
‘Holy shit! Where’d he come from?’
Finally!
I pick myself off the wall and saunter toward the table like I don’t have a care in the world.
‘He sent you?’ the leader asks.
I nod once. I don’t speak. I never speak. No one knows who I am. The rumors are just that, rumors.
The guys at the table don’t move.
‘You don’t have to do this,’ the leader snarls. ‘I have… a have a girl. Take her. She’s yours.’
I let out a theatrical sigh and make a gesture to ask where she is, mostly because I want to know how many girls they have here. It was one of the questions I’ve been told to find answers to.
‘Okay,’ the leader grunts. ‘Okay.’ He gets up slowly and goes through another door, coming back a few seconds later with a thin woman in tow. He has her by her dark hair, but she’s not complaining.
He pushes her forward and she comes over to me slowly. It’s like she’s willing, but I already know what these guys are into and she’s not. She’s just aware of what’ll happen if she doesn’t do what she’s told. I look up at her face and my eyes widen behind my ski mask. She looks a little like Daisy. The thought has me jerking back as she touches me.
‘You don’t like her?’ he asks, chuckling. ‘Well, she’s the only one we got as of this morning. On your knees, bitch.’
She drops to the floor in front of me, unzipping my pants deftly.
All eyes are watching what’s she’s doing, and though I’m meant to be delivering a final warning, not killing anyone yet, I’ve found what I need, and I won’t get in trouble for ridding the world of these bottom feeders.
I pull out my gun and shoot the two guys at the table first. Both headshots though one is a little wide and the dude thuds to the floor, floundering like a fish. The leader has his hands up, the girl is flat on the floor in front of me with her eyes closed. It’s clearly not her first time.
‘You ain’t supposed to kill us! You were just here for the money!’ he screams, eyeing his friends, and then the guns on the bar. He lunges for one and I grab him, hitting him a few times just because I can before I shoot him in the forehead without a speck of regret.
The girl on the ground stays where she is.
The survivor is also on the floor, writhing around. I kill him with a second bullet to the chest.
I go into the back where the girl was brought from. I find some more guns and ammo. I also find a bag of money, the cash they’ve been holding back. I tut to myself as I grab it. I wipe my gun and leave it next to one of the guys I killed. I can easily get another one that doesn’t tie me to a crime.
The girl is still on the floor.
‘You from Richmond?’ I ask.
She shakes her head.
I grab a few of the bills from the bag and let them flutter to the floor next to her.
‘I’ll tell my boss there were no girls here. Go back to where you came from and don’t make trouble.’
With a vigorous nod, she grabs the cash and gets to her feet. She runs into the back room, probably to grab the drugs I saw back there, but what do I care? That’s not what I’m here for.
I break some bottles of liquor and light a match, setting the bar ablaze. On the way out, I see the bathroom door is open and the girl is standing next to a naked blonde who’s propped up against the wall. Her eyes are open and unseeing.
I move past quickly, wanting to be out of here before anyone notices the fire.
I get in the car and leave slowly, getting back on the road and pulling off my ski mask. I get a cigarette out of my jacket and light up, noticing belatedly that there’s blood on me.
Afterward, I drive around for a while before I drop off the cash at a warehouse by the river. As usual, I’m filled with what ifs, anger toward my father, and disgust at the person I am. But I feel no remorse for what I did. Maybe that’s what scares me the most. I kill and feel nothing.
Who am I?
Who am I going to taint with my black soul next?
