SNAKESKIN (Tangerine) ✓

二十五

The Cobra

I pushed myself from the ground, not failing to miss the blood trickling into my left eye. I reached up, wiping the back of my hand across my forehead. When I lowered it again, it was covered in a smear of blood. Shit.

I looked up at the destruction around me. The train had come to a messy stop at the bottom of the hill. Turns out, Lemon and Ladybug had failed to stop the train and it crashed through the barricade at the end of the line. Now it was a smoking pile of rubble in the middle of this small town.

I used the few intact seats as support, as I made my way to the gangway door. The car had completely detached from the next one and the door was gone. I clambered down to the ground, searching for any sign of my companions.

"Tang?" I called out, scanning the crash site, desperately searching for any sign of movement. "Lemon?"

There was no response. I stumbled towards the front of the train, preparing to shout again, when something caught in my peripheral vision. I whipped around to see a person climbing down from the wreckage.

"Ladybug!"

The blonde man turned around, his face softening when he saw me. "Hello." I limped towards him as he sat on the floor, beside a severely burnt Momomon head. "Did anyone else make it out?"

"I don't know." I was still scanning the ruins. Lemon and Tangerine couldn't be dead. The latter had been with me moments before the train had gone off the rails. He had to be okay, surely. "I fuckin' hope so."

I reached into the pocket of my shredded jacket, digging around for my knife. It was there, thank goodness. Should I have lost it, I would have been devastated. It was the one thing I couldn't bear to lose.

I sat down beside Ladybug, turning to him. He looked tired, like he was barely awake. I didn't blame him. The sun was starting to peek its yellow glow over the horizon and I hadn't slept in over thirty-six hours. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, but my reverie was broken by the infamous click of a gun.

I jumped up, my eyes widening in surprise as I whipped my head around, searching for the source of the sound. Ladybug was still on the ground, a loud sigh escaping his lips as his eyes landed on the same point as me.

"What the fuck do you want?" I groaned, as the White Death stumbled from the wreckage, Shigeru's sword still impaled in his chest. "Why won't you just fucking die?"

The mafia boss approached us, an unattractive stream of blood dripping from his mouth. He seemed in much worse shape than Ladybug and I. His eyes were hollow and he didn't look completely aware of his surroundings. It was almost like he was delirious.

The White Death raised his gun, pointing it threateningly in Ladybug's direction. "Oh, fuck," Ladybug groaned, raising his hands in surrender. "About your wife, I had nothing to do with that." I reached into my jacket and grabbed the knife, holding it tightly in case I needed to use it. "It's a mistake," Ladybug continued as the White Death got closer with every step. "I'm not Carver. I only do snatch and grab jobs"

"The Carver!" The White Death exclaimed incredulously, waving the gun around. "I want the Carver. I hired the Carver."

"No." Ladybug just shrugged. "He had a stomach thing, man. I'm just filling in"

I watched in tense silence as the White Death stared at Ladybug with a blank expression on his battered face. I was surprised he hadn't noticed me yet; I was stand less than a metre away, but he was so focused on Ladybug that he hadn't even spared me a glance.

He lifted the gun to his temple, tapping the butt to his forehead as if he was trying to calm himself down. "You're filling in," he clarified disbelievingly. He lowered the gun to his shoulder, closing his eyes. Only when he opened them did they drift over to me.

"For what it's worth," Ladybug continued, oblivious to the recognition smearing across the crime lord's face. "Carver is a dick. The most cunning... assassin? Maybe the laziest."

The White Death raised his gun, aiming it at Ladybug's face while his eyes remained on me. He pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. He pulled it again, and again, but still nothing happened. With a huff of frustration he tossed the weapon away, retrieving another from the back of his belt.

"Come on," Ladybug whined, his arms raised above his head as the White Death cocked the new gun. "Just let it go, bro!"

"Do not call me bro!"

Ladybug looked up, just as the White Death pressed his finger to the trigger. But before he could fire the shot I was on top of him. I knocked him to the ground, my knee pressed firmly into the cavity of his chest. He looked up at me in shock as I held my two-pronged poisoned blade just above his throat.

"Ahh," he chuckled humourlessly, his eyes boring into mine as if he didn't notice the knife at his neck or the imminent possibility of death that accompanied it. "The Cobra." I glared in anger as his head fell back onto the dirty ground. "I said I would kill you if I ever saw you again."

"Yeah," I whispered, pricking the sensitive skin with the tip of the blade. "You did, didn't you?" I leaned closer, a sadistic grin spreading across my bloodstained face. "But, look at you now. Pathetic."

The man beneath me snarled in disgust as I spat on his face. "You little bitch!"

I just chuckled patronisingly, tracing the protrusion of his throat with the tip of the blade. "I'm no bitch," I whispered, my tone deadly quiet. I raised the knife above my had, relishing in the shock that appeared in the White Death's eyes. I let it hover for a few moments, drinking in the sight of the helpless man before me.

He was feared across the world by contractors and assassins alike. He was no joke. But right here, covered in blood and trapped beneath the weight of my body on the dirty gravel road, he looked like nothing more than a regular old man. He was pitiful.

"Well, go on then," he urged, his lips spreading over his yellow teeth in a sneer. "Do it."

I smiled, sighing with mock relief. "Well, that's all you needed to say." Without a moment's hesitation I brought the knife down, letting it sink satisfyingly into the man's throat. It cut deep, and I twisted it harshly, before pulling it out. Blood spurted from his neck like a sprinkler, splashing up onto my face.

I scrunched my nose up in disgust as the White Death took one last gurgling breath, his eyes transfixed on mine as the last drop of life left his battered body and he went still. He was finally dead.

A/N: Well, that was interesting, to say the least. I had planned out all of the chapters, but I ended up writing way more than I anticipated and have to split them into seperate chapters. So, what I'm trying to say is I don't know how many chapters are left; maybe three, maybe five. It just depends how much I write.

We just reached 10k reads, which is amazing! Today, I want to know: do you think it was a good choice to change the villain in the book for the film? In the book the villain is Minegishi. In the movie Tangerine tells the story of how the White Death overthrew Minegishi and stole his empire. Which do you think would have made a better villain? I can't decide.

Anyways, don't forget to vote and comment!