Sweet Dreams

Death Follows

(Part of the Sniperverse)

       
Mateo stood at the entrance of the alleyway, peering at the rooftops and the empty street. Rain crashed onto his raincoat and trickled down his body. Puddles on the street acted as a mirror and reflected the lights of Vlopolis.
       
It was an unusually quiet night in the largest and most modern city in the world. But it was never silent. There was always something going on in Vlopolis. That's why it was called the City that Never Sleeps.
       
And that's why he was watching his surroundings. The city indeed never slept or stilled. That included the heroes. Ugh. Heroes. They were always watching Vlopolis and keeping gangs under control, never giving them a chance to do anything.
       
Some people join gangs because that is their only option. Maybe they have to support their families or get enough money to help someone or something or have a family they've never had. But the Vlopolis Special Forces and the VPD take all of that away from them, leaving the families to starve and go naked, the sick mom to die, and friends to be killed in the hands of the "heroes."
       
"Yo, Mateo! Let's go!" Jamal yelled over to him, startling Mateo. He was so deep into his thoughts that he forgot his gang was loading up the truck.
       
"Anyone out there?" Jamal asked when he met the group at the truck.
       
"No one. We're all clear."
       
"Did you check the rooftops?"
       
"Yeah." Mateo looked over his shoulder just in case he missed something. Nothing was there.
       
"I still feel like she is somewhere out there. I don't know, maybe it's just me," Jamal shrugged.
       
"Yeah..."
       
"Everyone knows the plan and their positions, right?" Davion checked. He stood next to a pile of white rubber masks on the hood of the truck.
       
All of them nodded or said, "Yes." Davion gestured toward the masks with his robotic arm, allowing them to pick one from the pile and strap it to their face.
      
A year ago, he was shot in the right arm by a large bullet after he was running away from a robbery. Mateo remembered Davion returning to their meeting place after being in the hospital with a bandaged nub instead of an arm.
       
Mateo gave one last look out at the street before jumping in the wet truck bed with two other people and covering themselves with a blanket of tarp.
       
He racked the slide to his pistol and tucked it into his pocket. The truck backed up into the street and drove toward their objective. The three of them in the truck bed bounced with every imperfection in the road.
       
After a few minutes, the truck finally came to a halt in front of a bank in a silent and sleepy neighborhood.
       
Someone inside the truck smacked the roof: their signal to get off.
       
Mateo threw the tarp blanket off of them and jumped out. Lennox picked open the glass door and destroyed all the security cameras with a bow and arrow. Davion, José, and Via went toward the vault and started the process of getting it open. Mateo and Jamal stayed in the middle of the bank while the two others guarded the door. A getaway driver waited outside in the truck.
       
In less than three minutes, Mateo heard cheers as the heavy door swung open. Davion, José, and Via entered the vault with duffel bags and stuffed handfuls of cash in them.
       
They stopped when they heard a crash and a blood-curdling scream echo through the bank.
       
Mateo turned around to see Kaiden, one of the people guarding the door, kneeling on the ground and holding a hand over his right eye. Blood dripped down his arm and onto the white tile floor.
       
Davion cursed and hastily stuffed the handful of money in his hand into the bag. "We have to go NOW."
       
José and Via agreed by zipping the duffel bags and throwing them over their shoulders.
       
Then, they spotted a shadowy figure in the rain trudging toward the bank. As the figure got closer, Mateo could tell it was a woman. The city lights illuminated her black and purple suit. A hood covered her head, and two long, wet, brown braids draped over her chest. Water dripped down the tip of her black mask. The Purple Death was here to stop yet another gang.
       
Mateo heard Davion's shaking breaths as he watched her come closer.
       
The Purple Death raised an object in her right arm at the driver in the truck. Mateo jumped as a deafening pop sounded through the sleeping neighborhood.
       
"Go. GO!" Davion told all of them.
       
Everyone sprinted out of a back door and left the bleeding Kaiden.
       
"Please! Don't leave me here!" he heard Kaiden beg before there was another gunshot, then silence except for the pouring rain.
       
Davion, José, and Via kept lifting their duffel bags as they ran for their life.
BANG!
       
Another person was down.
       
Mateo didn't know where the gunshot came from, but he kept running.
       
The group ended up at a dead end with nowhere to run. Davion let out a string of curses and drew his pistol: a Smith & Wesson CSX.
       
Another bullet whizzed past Mateo and hit Lennox beside him. Her body dropped to the slippery ground, her blood spreading through the water.
       
"Come on out, Muerte! Enough hiding!"José called, his voice barely getting through the rain.
       
The Purple Death appeared behind a corner, stun batons in both hands. The purple electricity made the dark alleyway glow. "Well, here I am," she said, lifting her arms.
       
Davion pulled the trigger, sending a bullet soaring down the alleyway.
       
A purple shield emerged on her right hand, and she held it to her face. The bullet crashed into it and turned into dust. "Gotta do better than that," she taunted.
       
With everyone firing their weapons, the little alleyway became a shooting range.
       
The Purple Death jumped on the wall, the bottom of her boots glowing purple, and kicked Via across the face. She tucked her two stun batons under her chin and threw her aside.
       
Mateo saw José's frightened expression as the Purple Death locked eyes on him. She flung one baton like a boomerang, smacking him in the face. She used her empty hand to pull out a knife from her utility belt and threw it point-first through his head. Jamal was next to feel her wraith.
       
The Purple Death tossed her other stun baton to the side and pulled out her sniper rifle from over her shoulder.
       
Without looking through the scope, she sent a large bullet through Jamal's head. His head exploded into pieces of brain matter and blood before Mateo's eyes.
       
"Jamal!" he screamed.
       
She cocked her head at the headless body on the ground. "Oh, that was your friend? I'm sorry. I'll make sure you both die together."
       
She began stomping in his direction before Davion stepped between them with a flying fist.
       
The Purple Death ducked and pushed the barrel of her sniper rifle against his abdomen. She registered the robot arm on his right instead of flesh. "I remember you. This time, I'll finish the job."
       
She pulled the trigger, Davion's body going limp.
Heroes. They come for your family and friends. The people you love and care about. Now Mateo knew what they truly were. Murderers.
       
While lost in his thoughts again, The Purple Death slammed him to the ground with a boot pinning his chest to the concrete, almost crushing his rib cage in.
       
"What are you under there, Muerte? Have the people you've killed affected you at all?" Mateo groaned.
       
The mask on her face transformed into a pair of black glasses. Her gorgeous green eyes made Mateo forget for a second how she had just murdered his only family. A pitying smile crossed her face. "When you do this for a while, you get used to it."
       
Like all of her victims, darkness consumed him like the flick of a switch after witnessing the beautifully deadly face of the Purple Death.

The End