Suicidal (Suicidal Book 1)

Chapter Fifteen: Revenge

Kion settled down in the small patch of well-cared for green bushes at the top of the hill overlooking the stage. Down below, it seemed the entire city of Pride Rock had gathered to celebrate Rani and the other students victorious triumph. Kion growled softly under his breath, then sighed. He looked down at the long bag he had in his hand and slowly set on the bumpy ground. Damn, it hurts down here, he thought. So many sticks and rocks and bugs. Disgusting. But, it needs to be done. He sighs again and opens the bag with a zip. He reaches inside and pulls out the brownish tan object, glittering from the sunlight hitting it just right. 

The AXMC 338 LM Rifle. Produced by Accuracy International. One of the best - and most accurately firing - sniper rifles on the market. With its tan, brown, and black colors, it was perfect for hiding in the underbrush for a good shot. There was no way he could, or would, miss it. His lips curled in a toothy predatory grin. He loved this gun. He hated to know how much it cost Nuka to buy this, as he was the only one who could pass as older than he actually was from their group, mostly because of his scruffy black goatee. Then again, his mother and father, Kion's Uncle Scar and Aunt Zira, used to run a criminal empire that rivaled the Mafia in Pride Rock before Scar was murdered by his own henchmen a few years before Kion was born to Simba and Nala. 

Kion pulled the high-powered sniper rifle and laid it on a small tarp he had set down earlier so as not to get the gun dirty and harder to fire. Plus, he respected weapons and wanted this one to stay nice and clean. He set up the bipod and rested the barrel of the gun along the bipod, placing the butt of the rifle against his shoulder and looking through the sights, which were aided by the specially-made cross haired scope that had been custom ordered by Nuka. 

The current mayor of the town, Meya Gozi, climbed up onstage to thunderous applause, with the  chief of police and serval cops standing around and on the stage. Also in the crowd were a few men in sunglasses and dark suits. The mayor's hired protection detail. Hired after an assassination attempt on the former mayor, Mayor Scar, the men were ordered to protect the mayor at all costs. And Kion had witnessed them in action at protests and riots that had gotten out of hand in multiple parts of the cities, most of them to protest the mayor's more liberal anti-gun policy and gun control laws.

Kion smirked. Unfortunately, his orders were not to terminate - such a more formal word than murder - the mayor, but the couple who would come after this: Rani's parents. Kion's lips curled down and bared his teeth at them, the people who bore that bitch into the world, oh, how he wished he could see the terror on their faces as they died. Guns were fun and great and all, but they could also be impersonal. You couldn't savor the moment, according to Nuka, if you had a gun or a bomb to kill someone instead of a knife or sword. But, again very unfortunate, the execution of this plan required using a high-powered sniper rifle like the one Kion currently had, and bombs, which Nuka, Vitani, and Kovu were currently ready to detonate as soon as Kovu gave them the orders to do so. 

Kion zoned back in and refocused his sights and readjusted his body a bit to the left as the mayor left the stage, and Rani's parents stepped up to even louder and more thunderous applause than the mayor Meya Gozi had gotten. 

He stopped. He couldn't do it. Yes, their daughter was a bitch to him and everyone else and all, but these two were innocent lions, perfectly normal people. He shouldn't kill them. But he had had to. It was all part of the plan. And besides, he was just following orders. It wasn't really his fault. It was Kovu's and Nuka's and Vitani's for dragging him into this. Now that's not fair, he chided himself. Kovu's your boyfriend, and the other two are great friends. They gave you the least violent and harmful job, because they knew you might get doubts.

Hello, Kion, whispered a voice deep in the back of his head. The voice. Kion's schizophrenic demon. Let's make a deal. 

"What type of deal?" Kion asked. If somebody were to find him, he'd be in deep shit. A rebellious anarchist lion with a sniper rifle trained on the parents of his ex-girlfriend and talking to people who aren't there...Kion couldn't tell if he'd been thrown in an insane asylum or in a maximum security prison. Maybe both, he acknowledged. 

You let me kill those two down there, and I will never ever bother you again, purred the voice in such a soothing crooning tone. Kion gulped, then thought about it. 

"So if I let you kill those two down there, you'll go away?" He asked, barely daring to hope it was true. 

Yes, murmured the voice softly. I will leave you. It sounded almost sad when it said that. But that was crazy. Kion's schizophrenia couldn't make disembodied voices have emotions. Could he? 

He shook his head and nodded. "Deal," he said, sealing his fate for better or worse. Excellent, whispered the voice. Suddenly, Kion's body started moving of his own accord. It was as if he had been put on autopilot and he seemed to zone out. Those weren't his hands, moving to the trigger of the rifle.  His eye, lining up with the sights. His finger pushing down on the trigger and squeezing softly, the bullet escaping the chamber with a soft pop. The bullet too quick for Kion to see it, right before it passed through Rani's father and into Rani's mother, killing them both. 

Screams of horror, panic, and fear sounded from below as the crowd attempted to escape what they thought was an active shooter, instead of just Kion completing his mission. 

As the police quickly fanned out and started their search for the sniper and the mayor's hired goons bundled him away into his limousine, Kion dusted off the gun for prints - just in case - and set in carefully back in its case, and set off, slinking through the undergrowth. He reached the clearing where he was to stand and wait for the others as three bombs went off all at once. He watched the explosions on either side of the crowd huddle them inwards, just to make the cops think it was a terrorist and gang attack. He smiled and laughed as the third explosion blew up under the stage and watched happily as Rani screamed as a piece of shrapnel from the metal poles on the stage cut her leg. Then he turned his back on the destruction and waited for the others. 

After about five minutes, Kion got worried. They were supposed to be here by now. He turned back around and gasped softly. Kovu, Nuka, and Vitani were all being lead out of the forest with the hands in the air, surrounded by cops and brave reporters. He growled, and started to unsling the rifle from his shoulder, ready to help them escape when Kovu's eyes flicker over to where he was hiding and calmly shook his head slightly. Kion nodded, and replaced the strap and turned back around, disappearing into the night.