Running From 9 Bucks

My cousin Bryan and I, along with a friend of his, (let's just call him Toby) had the craving for junk food at around 3 AM. Bryan and Toby were visiting me. We all live in the Bronx, but I live more in the ghetto area. I wanted a Pepsi and lots of sweets, as I always do. Bryan wanted a Coke and some gummy worms. Toby wanted to get some sour straws, we were gonna make him share. So, we paused whatever we were watching on Netflix and headed outside. Most of the bodegas (delis) near one corner of my block were closed, but we saw one by the train station that was open and headed down there.

At this hour, the streets are so empty and quiet, you'd hardly believe anyone lived around here. In the day, you would hear cars, buses, Spanish, and ghetto lingo all around around you. I preferred the calming quietness of this alternate version of my Bronx. As we head down to the bodega, we saw very few people outside. Once we were across the street from the bodega, a man who could probably be in his mid 20's-early 30's came up to us.

"Ya shouldn't be out here this late. I haven't seen ya around here, and 9 Bucks likes to go straight for the people he hadn't seen before." He warned us.

"9 Bucks?  Is that supposed to be someone's name?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's this messed up dude that lives around here. He likes to follow people home, and once ya get to ya crib, he tries to shoot you down. But he ain't like the stalker type. He talks to you, walks alongside you, like as if it was nothing and like he's known you his whole life." The man explains.

"What the fuck? Nah, that's weird. Ant, let's go back to the house. We could get that shit tomorrow." Bryan suggests.

The man seemed to have lived in the same direction and walked with us back up the hill. I couldn't remember much of our conversation except for one detail.

"I got shot in the mouth once, like off the side of my cheek. Let me tell you, I'd never wish that on anyone, that's why I'm warning ya. He came after me once, but I'm lucky I didn't die right there." I wish I would have asked him why he would still come out at this time if he's afraid of this 9 Bucks guy.

We had reached my block and were going to turn.

"Ya take care! Get home safely! Be on the lookout for him!" The man kept walking up the hill.

"I guess he wasn't 9 Bucks. If this guy is real, what does he even look like?" I asked the guys.

Toby looked like he was about to say something but an odd voice came from behind us.

"Like the guy at the barber shop!" We turned around, frightened. A dark-skinned man in a black hoodie with his hood up and hunched over was directly behind us. We hadn't understood what he meant.

"What? Does he work at one of the barber shops?" Toby asks.

"Great, that helps. That makes him one of many Dominicans." I mutter.

A light-skinned man in a grey hoodie with his hood up came up behind the hunchback, eating a bag of Skittles and an Arizona. He was smiling as he was chewing.

"I haven't seen you guys around before! My friends call me 9 Bucks." He stops when he reaches up and continues to smile at us. I was frozen for a quick second and immediately, my mind went to all the possible situations that I could think of.

This could just be a prank. The infamous 9 Bucks shows up with his lackey not long after a man tells us about him. But what if this is for real? What if he's actually going to kill us. Best not to act up right now and be a smartass. Damn, now I want some Skittles. I thought.

Neither Bryan, nor Toby, nor I said anything more. We just continued staring at this smiling man eating the Skittles.

"So I'm assuming you boys are heading home? Let's go!" 9 Bucks said cheerily.

We were unsure of what to do other than just to walk up my block. The entire way, 9 Bucks is talking to us in a happy tone, trying to make us feel comfortable, but it's only freaking us out more. Not too far into the block, we saw a cop car double parked. Without thinking, I called out to the officer inside.

"Officer! Help us! This guy is going to kill us!" I yelled.

The officer came out of his car.

"What's that?" He asked.

"This man, he plans to kill us. I'm pretty sure he has a gun on him." I had no idea if he really did. If this guy had any innocence in his body, I just threw him under the bus.

"Well, so do I. It'll be okay!" The cop says to me.

9 Bucks and his hunched friend started to laugh.

"Guys, I don't think he means that to reassure us that we're safe." I whispered.

"Now go on home. Nice to see you, 9." The officer waved at Mr. Skittles and his hunched friend.

We knew we were screwed and continue to walk towards my building until I noticed that Bryan wasn't behind me and was now behind us trying to talk to the officer. I hoped that he knew that the officer wasn't going to help us. With what he said next, I knew that he knew that very well.

"You guys run for it! I'm gonna distract them! Just go!" Bryan yelled at us. Everyone was looking at him. My cousin had pretty much sacrificed himself. I had no time to think anything but that thought.

"Run!!" He yelled again and freed me of my thoughts.

I started to run. As soon as I was halfway down the block, I turned my head to see if Toby was behind me. I heard two gun shots. One further down the block, and one not that far from Toby. The moment I saw Toby, in one quick second, he was fine and then he was bleeding through his abdomen.

My survival instincts had kicked in and I had no time to mourn. I carried on running. I saw my building and wasn't far from it. I pulled out my keys as I was running and found the correct key for the gate and the two doors right after. I ran up the steps and felt a sharp pain on the left side of my collarbone come from behind me.

"Ah, fuck!"" I screamed in pain. I reached for the spot I felt the pain, and felt blood gushing out and onto my fingers. I tried to unlock the door but my hands were shaking now. I dropped my keys and felt the same pain but this time in the space between my ring and pinky fingers on my left hand. Each sharp pain was followed by the sound of a gunshot. I collapsed. My head  was on the last step. I realized  my head was in the direction of 9 Bucks and was a clear target for a headshot. I didn't want to die. Definitely not like this.

I got up as fast as I could and turned around and saw another man in a black hoodie holding a gun at me on the ramp.

"Haha! He's gonna walk right into it!" I heard 9 Bucks behind me.

I took a few steps towards the man. I knew that bullets travel a lot faster than when you hear them and ducked immediately and spun towards the railing and jumped down and headed towards the opposite side of the street. I kept spinning and ducking as I got in between cars.

I figured that if I could get behind the cars on the other side, I'd have more cover. I could feel the bullets passing by me as I tried my best to dodge them. Right until I felt one enter me from my right side.

I collapsed right in the middle of the street. I could see my blood rushing out of my hand and could feel the dampness of my blood-soaked shirt. I wanted to keep running, but I knew this was it. Everything slowly started to go white. I just lied there as the white light started to shroud my vision until that was all I could see.