Manufactured for Sin

16. Bodies

I felt the strange sensation of Greg disconnecting his neural feed from me. Son of a bitch, he's actually doing this blonde chick. Now even I feel cheated on. What the hell? I now realized how weird it felt to be betrayed by a lover, specifically myself, and even under technicality. I just feel bad for Izleena now. Fate is such an ironically cold bitch. I returned my focus to Garth, who was nervously tapping his foot and dangerously holding his shaky gun. Normally I'd tell him to put the safety on, but I can take a bullet, and if he shot himself it would be funny as shit. We waited silently behind the dumpster as the door to the nearby nightclub creaked open.

"That's him. Let's go." I whispered to Garth.

"I can't do this." He whispered.

"What!?" I blurted with annoyance. "You already got your gun out."

"I can't do this." Greg said to the blonde, now perched over her in a push-up position."

"What!? She objected. You don't have a choice, you already got your weapon out." She barked.

"Grow some damn balls." I barked at Garth.

"He's got a body guard, I'm gonna get wrecked." He shivered.

"Of course he has a body guard, he's a Senator." I whispered angrily. That guard is unarmed. They don't allow weapons in that establishment. That's why I picked it. If you let him get to the car he'll be armed. You wanted this. DO IT!" I ordered. "And if you need some artificial courage, take these drugs."

"Okay fine. YOLO!" he barked. Garth popped up, firing several shots before the bodyguard drew and fired back. Obviously I knew he was armed, I was just hoping he'd get killed, would have been hilarious. I swiped my phone screen, selecting the app for the remote fireworks, and I set off the first series. The gunshots faded into the night as Garth and the guard exchanged fire.

"I thought he didn't have a gun!"

"Well shit happens, head for that concrete fence, I'll provide cover fire and divert him off you." I assured. He nodded and made a run for it, letting out a squeal as one of the rounds clipped him. With the guard distracted, I carefully took aim at the Senator, plugging him with a round to the chest.

The blonde clawed Greg's chest, as he too, began plugging his target. Lost in the storm of drugs and telepathic feedback, flickers of my own perspective got through like Vietnam flashbacks, as we both hammered away and Garth crawled to his cover. I had no intentions of following him. I silently triggered the next firework barrage as I pointed my sights at Garth. He looked bat at me with a gasp of betrayal as I painted the concrete with skull spaghetti. One less bug, I hate bugs. Picking up and counting my brass, I crept to the water's edge of the city bay, and waited silently as the bodyguard rushed to finish off Garth, not realizing he was already dead. As a final round of mortars lit the sky, I stepped from the shadows and stood in front of Senator Ralla, lining up myself between where the dumpster was and squatting down to the correct height level.

"You!?" he wheezed, as I watched the firework countdown and rested the barrel in front of his face.

"Hostile takeovers are a bitch, aint they?" I shrugged, pulling the trigger and solving a lot of problems with a mist of red. The cheering crowd all around the top tier rang out as the ball struck midnight. Greg Climaxed triumphantly as the celebration did the same, and the rush of a fresh kill welled up my own nostalgic high. Nobody saw me, nobody even knew I was there, Assuming Greg finished his finale too, everything was peachy.