Quandary 17

This is the 17th in a series of posts that starts here.

We pulled alongside the parked car and Driver powered the vehicle down. Dumpy put his fat head in the driver’s side window and asked, “Did we get it?” Oh yeah, he was going to get it, all right. Driver pointed at me in the general direction of the brief case which seemed to please Goggles because he grinned. If I were a gambling man, I would wager that Goggles did not own a tooth brush.

It was time for action. I needed to make a statement so I pulled up the revolver and pointed it at Dumpy’s head. I had already pulled the hammer back and it took surprisingly little effort to pull the trigger the rest of the way back. The gun kicked in my hand as the bullet exploded out of the barrel and through the skull and brain. I was temporarily blinded by the muzzle flash which I hoped also blinded and burned Driver. I knew I had to act quickly if I was going to get Goggles before he ran away. The report from the bullet also took my hearing away. I probably could have prepared a little better than I had.

My senses reeled, I grasped at the door handle and got out hastily. As my vision came back, I could see that Goggles was just standing there, staring down at his friend. Dumpy had fallen down right where he had stood. There was a lot more blood than I ever thought there would be because his heart didn’t stop when the bullet tousled his brain. It looked as if he were still breathing but I knew it was just spasms, his body didn’t quite know he was dead yet.

Goggles looked up at me and said, “You fucking killed him!” Good observation, bud. You get a gold star.

I decided not to waste any time so I raised the heavy gun at him and fired again. This time my aim wasn’t as good and the bullet tore through his cheek. There was a violent head movement, followed by a quick trip to the ground. I glanced over at driver but he was just sitting there, watching it all happen. I looked all around but all I saw was darkness aside from the beams that cast light over the gravel road ahead of the car. I walked over to Goggles and saw that he, too, was dead. Two bullets, two kills.

I thought that I would feel something by now. Some pain, sadness, or at least guilt. But there was nothing. I hadn’t had any real feelings for years other than anger and frustration. I had wasted all of my years as an adult committing a plethora of crimes and feasting upon every chemical I could get in my hands. I wanted it all to be over, and I knew there was only one way for me to be done with it all forever. Looking back, I think that’s why I was so reckless that night; I wanted to get caught.

I locked eyes with Driver and pointed the gun at his face. I maintained eye contact with him as I walked back around to the passenger side and got in. As I sat I could feel the nerves in the seat next to me. I could smell them, too. Like all good murders, this one summoned a good amount of fear from the next victim in line. He had seen his friends die, and he knew he was next, and he shit his pants. I just had a few words for him before I sealed his fate.

“You guys threatened my family, my friends, and you put me in a trunk. Twice. You just can’t do that to people without consequence.” I grabbed the handle of the briefcase and pulled it up to my lap and opened it up to show him the void inside. He looked over at the empty case and shook his head. I continued, “King was never going to be at the bus station, I have no clue what he’s up to. Now, are you ready?” He started to cry and shook his head. I raised the barrel up to his temple and squeezed the trigger.