No Matter What

002. BULLETS

THE woman in the pharmacy had a beautiful smile as she handed Mackenzie the paper bag with his Mum's medication inside them. However, he was too busy staring at the clock on the wall. Six minutes had passed and he was no further forward to his destination. In fact, he was running later.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Time-keeping was never his strongest. And he harshly grabbed the prescription and walk-ran out of the pharmacy. His phone buzzed.

Unknown caller: He's getting pissed off. Where the hell are you, man?

Mackenzie : I'll be there, alright.

Unknown caller: You better be. Do you wanna be six-foot under?

Mackenzie ignored the caller. Instead, he raced back to his car, and jammed on the gas once the car rumbled to life under him.

His phone lit up on his way to Unknown caller's place.

Mum: You needn't rush, Mackenzie . Go out with your friends for a bit. LOve Mum.

His brow creased and he jammed his hands on the steering wheel, spinning the car around into the back streets of some tall buildings, and down an ally way, located with various shops, takeouts, and abandoned buildings. There was fog in the air, a cloud of it, as the rain started again to drip onto his windshield. He heard his brother's voice, don't forget to turn the window-wipes on, and he did, having anxiety rattled his body. He knee bounced up and down as he watched the smoke clear and out came three figures from the mist, in sharp suits and ties. Buiness men?.

A tall, broadening man tapped on his window. Mackenzie pulled down the window and handed him the duffle bag.

"Is everything inside?" the man asked in a husky voice. Mackenzie straighted, and nodded. "Everything there, mate."

Another man stepped forward, shorted, tanned and a scar down the side of his neck. Mackenzie wondered how he'd been attacked to have a scar that deep, imbedded into his skin?

"I'll be the judge of that. Get out the car and count it."

"But I have places to be."

"Out of the car," the scared man said.

Mackenzie sighed, unbuckling his seatbelt, and hurled himself out of the car, banging the door shut to make a statement. The third man behind the two beefy men stepped forward, unconserded of the young man's antics. His face was still in the shadows so Mackenzie couldn't make him his face cleary.

"It's all there, boss."

Mackenzie 's gaze was like a knife. "Like I said. All there. So we're done now?"

One of the men in front laughed. It banged off the side of the buildings and the scared man joined in too before he placed a hand on Mackenzie 's shoulder. His palm dug into his skin like a burn.

Mackenzie stepped back but then realised he had nowhere to go.

"I asked, are we done here?"

There was no fear in his voice and the men paused. One of them flicked his jacket open to reveal a silver gun barreling down into his suit.

A warning.

Don't run.

Mackenzie wondered how many bullets the man had left?

Two, three, five?

He was pushed back against the car with force and his neck held down by the man with the scar. His beady eyes were dark, like death itself.