Moonrise I Richard Gecko

A Criminals Tale

He would never admit it, not even to himself, but Richie was entirely unsure of the situation. The girls in front of him overlapped with a different image. Monsters with horns, tails, and tentacles. It would be easy to kill them. He should do that. They deserve it for trying to fuck with him. How dare they mess with his mind!

Before he could put that plan into action, he was stopped by Alexa. Turning towards her didn't help much. Might just kill her as well for spoiling his plans. All he'd have to do is pull the trigger. From one moment to the next Alexa was covered in blood. Her blond her streaked in red, half her face painted in fresh blood. The sleeve on her left arm was ripped to shreds and the skin beneath it torn apart. Richie blinked and the only red remaining on her was smeared lipstick.

Seth appeared behind her and raised his own gun. With one sharp movement, he hit his revolver against the back of her skull. Her grey eyes flattered, before closing shut. She fell forward against Richie. It wasn't really a conscious choice to catch her body. He debated dropping her thou.

"Congratulations brother, you just knocked out your biggest ally in here," Richie grinned.

"The hell are you talking about?" Seth fired back, turning his head a little to the side.

"She talked as much about everyone getting out as you do."

Seth shook his head: "That's why you want to kill her? We don't need another fucking corpse! That's not going to help us."

"I didn't," Richie interrupted him. Or at least he hadn't fully decided to kill her.

"Whatever," Seth mumbled; stress and annoyance visible on his face.

Outside, Freddie peaked his head over the improvised barrier and clearly tried to get a clear shot at the brothers. Richie turned the unconscious body in his arms around, so her back was against him. He pushed his gun under her chin, tilting her head up in the process. A very convenient meatshield.

"Careful there, ranger," Richie warned, "One wrong move and you'll have to dig another grave."

"Maybe I'll be yours," Freddie answered. Seth fired a shot at him, forcing him to crouch back behind the safety of the wall. Slowly, Richie laid Alexa down on the ground. He looked down at her for a few moments. It was surprisingly peaceful. Somehow she didn't seem to belong here. As if this wasn't the place she was supposed to die in.

"Okay, look," Seth disturbed his thoughts. He was clearly still trying to latch onto some semblance of control. "Richie, just keep your eyes on Lone Ranger out there. As long as he can't get to his car, he can't call for help. If he could have done it, he would have already. We can still get out of this thing. I'm gonna call Carlos, all right?" He placed a hand on Richie's shoulder.

Richie nodded: "All right." Not like Seth would accept any other answer right now. And he was right. The other hostages were too scared to mess with him again, the two men in the shop were slowly dying. The only real threat was outside.

"That's what I like to hear!" Seth genuinely smiled at him, squeezed his shoulder, and moved to the bathroom. This left Richie with very little to do. Before he could get too bored, he walked over the the ranger bleeding out on the floor. He was almost proud of his aim, for it made it a very slow and probably painful process.

"What does it feel like?" Richie asked. He just had to know.

"What does what feel like?" the ranger answered slowly and with a ton of effort.

"Dying."

„Your scrawny ass is gonna find out before the day's up," the Ranger promised with a weak smile. How disappointing. He hoped it was painful. Richie leaned back and looked over to the bathroom. What took Seth so long? If Carlos didn't want to help them, he should hang up and they would help themselves. Who cared if Carlos got them the job in the first place? They got out of worse situations before. The rangers started to talk about some booze, which was an absolute bore, so Richie didn't really pay attention.