KZ's and Dragoln's Short Stories [2022 EDITION]

Partners in Crime

11.9.22

There was nothing left of the money except the worthless coins of many different currencies, counterfeit pennies, and even random metal disks that imitated coins but were insignificant to whatever it is their scheme was. They had replaced the mounds of cash all stocked up in the hidden safe. It was found, and what was worse was that the potentially indestructible thing was unmistakably broken.

Xara was eighteen, her partner, Romeo, exactly a year older than her. The girl scooped up all the rusted coins and held them up for a moment in the moonlight before letting them dull again. She lowered her penny-filled palms and let some of them drop.

"What do we do now?" She cried, letting the practically loose change perch on the edges of her hands. "All of it was here!"

"Xara, we gotta go!" Romeo urged scooting closer to his accomplice so their shoulders brushed against each other. He averted his gaze from the valueless contents to her face. It was laced with horror.

"But there's nothing left! How are we going to live exiled?"

"We'll find a way. They're coming for us! We gotta move!"

It had been two weeks but they had finally been caught. It was only a matter of seconds until they'd be cuffed and sent to prison for life.

Romeo clenched his chiseled jaw and gritted his teeth. They both committed the crime yet someone anonymous had taken what they had earned from them. A bead of sweat slipped free from his curly auburn hair and trickled down his already damp forehead. He stared hard at his shoes and thought about who could have cheated the two. Who had anything powerful enough to crack the safe open? 

He glanced back at Xara and she nodded determinedly before her hand was grabbed by her partner. And they dashed it.

They dashed together down the dimly lit streets. They flitted past the closed markets and made many narrow turns hoping they'd lose the flashing blue lights. The air shook with wailing sirens and the two who fled fled even faster.

Blood started draining from Xara's face and it made her look as if she had seen a ghost. She was heaving and panting, needing to sprint even faster to keep up with Romeo's brisk strides. The guy noticed this and slowed in his tracks to pace her. He helped behind and tucked her raven hair and the signature blue ribbon she was wearing into her hood so that nothing would delay them. 

At one point, a brawny officer had cut them off and he grunted. He was fumbling into his pocket for what looked like his taser and the two skidded to a stop. They panicked. 

The officer wasn't going to wait. The device was already pointed at the couple. Then a brief moment later, he pulled the trigger.

But it wasn't Xara or Romeo who fell. The man in the black uniform in front of them collapsed terrifyingly. No words were said but rather, whimpering noises were made by the officer and he lay on the concrete, limp and lifeless.

The two could see it despite their distance. A bullet wound was permanently glued to the middle of his head. His skull was exposed. Wine-colored blood ran down the wound and from his mouth also.

Romeo stifled a yelp and turned behind to comfort his comrade of the trauma, all too sudden and unpredicted. But when he did, he gasped again and his breaths sped up worse than when they were running.

The kill belonged to Xara, who struggled to stuff the silenced gun back into her belt bag.

"We steal to preserve life! Not take them!" The boy hissed, "won't this get us into even more trouble?"

"You're lucky I took that gun, I gave us a second chance!"

"He probably has a family!"

"Ro, let's get out of here," Xara huffed, tugging at the guy's shoulder, "I did this for us…please."

Romeo felt a nasty lump form in his throat, which made it impossible to swallow. Despite his empathy vigorously bubbling inside of him, for the sake of his partner, he continued with her and scrambled for her bag to catch up. His mind was still scrolling through all the suspects of the broken safe. Police maybe? Or another robber who was most likely in the same position as them.

"I know a place," Xara uttered through her pounding footsteps, "but we have to go underground. To the subway."

"I trust you," Romeo responded plainly.

They got to the steps. On the second flight, Xara felt icy hands grab at her shoulder. Another officer. This time, he was scrawnier than the last but more agile.

Romeo threw the punch having been alerted to Xara's screams and knocked the young recruit out flat. He too lost his balance and passed out onto the ground beneath him.

The girl rushed ahead of Romeo and they quickly lost sight of the chasers behind them. 

Both of them slipped down the southbound platform and Xara burst open the restricted gate at the very end. As they each hoisted themselves upright again, she rested her palm on the dusty blue tile and they tumbled through the jaws of the secret door that swallowed them entirely.

All of a sudden, the illumination was the most intense Romeo had ever seen, almost like a white room. This creeped him out. 

Xara lent onto the wall adjacent to the door that slid closed. 

And they both blew out their cheeks in relief.

"Not too bad am I right?" Xara started to laugh.

"Yeah," Romeo replied. He wasn't laughing. He was squinting at one of the shelves instead.

Xara had ushered herself towards the guy. She got so close that he felt her breath fanning his neck. 

She hugged him.

"Thank you."

But the answer she was expecting was not the one that she received.

"Blue ribbon tied around the blocks of cash. Blowtorch and chainsaw laying on your shelf," he murmured. It was like he was speaking gibberish.

"I'm sorry?" Xara quizzed, looking up at him.

Romeo dragged himself away from the traitor and knew that she could no longer be his partner in crime.

He drew out a loaded gun. Her gun.

Then he pointed it towards her and she froze.

"I know you took the money."

~