Shock Value

Rickety Hands

After breakfast, Lola headed out with Gerard and Frank -- today, Gerard was going to take Frank to their makeshift shooting range (partially because of the incident yesterday).  "I see why they call you Poison...you should be banned from the kitchen, Gerard." she said, shuddering at the memory of their breakfast.  

This remark caused Frank to double over with laughter, and Gerard to shoot a disapproving look towards the two of them.  Lola smiled apologetically at Gerard before hopping into the backseat of the spider.  Gerard and Frank got in the car, then they sped off to a remote location about ten minutes away.

The place Gerard had chosen was now decorated with wooden replicas of Draculoids; Lola assumed these were targets.  Lola counted a total of 2 burned spots on one Draculoid; both horrible shots.  She was pretty sure she could do better, and she had never touched a gun in her life.  

Frank got out of the car, not nearly as cheerful as he'd been 10 minutes ago.  "Do we have to do this today?" he whined, looking at Gerard with pleading eyes.  

Gerard ignored this remark and motioned for Lola to step back.  She did, and leaned against the dusty car.

 "Gerard, I don't wanna." Frank complained.  Gerard just shook his head and watched as Frank pulled his gun from his belt with trembling hands.   "Shoot." Gerard instructed, pointing at a target right in front of Frank.  

Frank ended up hitting a target -- yards away from the one he was supposed to hit.  Gerard snickered and went to stand behind Frank, pressing up against him.  He grabbed Frank's hand and steadied it, then pointed it towards the intended target.

"Squeeze the trigger," Gerard instructed.  "Don't pull it."  Frank followed his instructions and this time, hit the target square in the face.  Gerard chuckled and Frank scowled at him.  "Get your rickety bone off of me." he muttered, pulling away from Gerard.  Lola grinned and shook her head, not wanting to know what that meant.

Frank glared at Lola.  " Not like you could do any better," he mumbled shoving his gun back in his belt.  Lola smirked and stuck her tongue out at him, then walked over to Gerard.   "Can I try?" she asked, ignoring Frankie's glare.  

Gerard appeared to be deep in thought.  He put on his 'deep thinking' face, and after about 30 seconds of deep thinking, he pulled out his gun and  passed it over to Lola.  "Be careful," he warned, before taking a step back.  

 "Always am," Lola replied (which wasn't actually true, but he didn't know that), then looked away from him and aimed at the nearest target, a few yards away.  She pulled -- no, squeezed the trigger, firing at the target, then lowered the gun to see how she'd done.

"No fuckin' fair." Frank mumbled, so Lola knew she'd done well before she even looked.  She'd hit the target in the forehead; Lola smiled because she was pretty sure that was a kill shot.

"Not like I could do any better, right?" Lola smirked at Frank as she passed the gun back to Gerard. Frank didn't respond; he just turned to Gerard.  "Can we go now?" he asked, obviously annoyed.

Gerard nodded and grinned.  "You've had enough embarrassment for one day." he said,  walking towards the car.  "We'll come back tomorrow."  Frank just shook his head and hopped in the car along with Lola and Gerard.

 Lola sort of leaned out of the passenger side window as the spider sped along the unused highway.   She smiled a little as the wind blew hair out of her face; she loved being in a fast-moving car.  Her joy didn't last long though; she quickly pulled her head in when something whizzed past her head.  "What?" she muttered, turning around to look out of the rear window.

Gerard and Lola saw the car trailing them at the same time. "Oh shit," they said in unison.  Gerard pulled his gun from his belt, then leaned out of the window and started shooting, with his knees holding the steering wheel carefully in place.  Lola stared at him with wide eyes, thinking he was completely out of it.  "A little help, please." he yelled into the car.  Lola stared at him for a little longer, not understanding, then reached into the backseat and removed the gun from a sleeping Frank's holster.  

Lola glanced at Gerard once more before mimicking his earlier movements and leaning out of the window so she could see the car behind them.  She could clearly see the driver and passengers; all identical-looking Asian women, with faces devoid of emotion.  The driver had her eyes locked on the road while the three passengers were leaning outside of the car, firing away at Gerard and Lola.

Lola watched as Gerard repeatedly shot at the driver and the other shooters.  He was obviously doing something wrong because they kept coming.  Lola chewed on her lower lip and decided that the best way to go was for the tires.  She aimed Frank's gun at the front right tire, counted one, two, three seconds, then squeezed the trigger.  

She missed -- she wasn't that skilled in hitting moving targets, but she tried again.  And missed, again.  Lola frowned, wrinkled her nose, and stared at the tire.  She ignored the sounds of the engines, the screeching tires, the gunshots, Gerard's yelling, and aimed for the tire again.  

This time it was a direct hit; the tire blew out and the car swerved to the left.  This slowed them down and allowed Gerard and Lola to take out two of the three passengers.  The loss threw the other two off and allowed Gerard to escape without being followed.

Frank didn't wake up until the car pulled into the garage.  "You're a heavy sleeper, Frankie." Gerard said as he got out of the car.  "Yeah," Lola said, nodding in agreement.  Frank just looked at the both of them, having no idea what they were talking about.

Gerard didn't waste any time; as soon as the three of them were inside, he re-stated what had happened earlier.  "She fuckin' shot at the tire! It was so cool, you guys should've seen it.  They didn't know what the fuck hit them."  The praise from Gerard had earned Lola a few slaps on the back.  "She's better than you are, Frank." Cherri said to him.  "She's only been her two days, and she's a chick! What the hell, man.  Frank just grunted in response and sat on the couch; he obviously didn't like being upstaged by a newbie.

A few hours later, when everyone else was asleep, Lola was sure she was the only one awake.  She was still buzzing with excitement from the incident that had happened earlier, surprised that she could handle a gun without blowing her brains out.  She crawled out of the makeshift bed she'd been  sleeping in and left the room; maybe a long walk would tire her out.

Lola walked down the empty hallway, her footsteps silenced by the thick carpet.  She thought she heard noises coming from the front room, but she couldn't be sure.  She stepped into the living room and realized that the noises were voices, coming from a laptop on the coffee table.  Lola could see Gerard's face due to the light from the laptop that tinted his skin a bluish color.  

"What's this, Daddy?"  This voice belonged to a small child on the screen, who was sitting on the floor and holding a large-ish box in her arms, wrapped in festive paper.  She held the box up to her ear and shook it a little.

"You'll have to open it and find out!"  This was Gerard's voice; Lola could tell, even though he was off-screen.  So, Gerard had a daughter?  Where was she now?  Lola took a step forward to get a closer look.

The camera was focused on the girl as she ripped the paper off of the box to reveal a plastic doll, about the size of the little girl herself.  The girl's eyes widened as she stared up at the camera.  

"Daddy, it's boo-tiful!!" the girl squealed, bouncing up and down a little.  

Lola giggled a little, instantly giving herself away.  Gerard closed the laptop and turned around to face Lola.  "You still awake?"  His voice was quiet and a little raw, like he'd maybe been crying a little.  Lola nodded and slowly made her way over to the couch where he was sitting and sat next to him.

Lola turned to face Gerard. "Is that your daughter?" she asked, nodding at the laptop.  Gerard nodded.  "Yeah, " he said, also looking at the laptop.  They sat there in silence for a few seconds, then Lola asked, "Where is she?"  Gerard shook his head, and it was silent again for a few seconds before he replied. "I don't know," he whispered, shaking his head.  "I don't know."  

Gerard looked away from Lola, and Lola was pretty sure that he was crying now.  She reached out for his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.  "I know how you feel.." she whispered, looking down at the floor but keeping a hold on his hand.  After Gerard had calmed down a little, he looked over at Lola.  "Today would be her tenth birthday." Lola just nodded and sat there with him for a while longer before finally going on her walk.

A/N: Who caught the song reference?  Even if you didn't, it wouldn't hurt to leave me a comment.  Tell me what you think! :)