FLOWERS

Crocus

The gun had been cocked and the trigger was tensed, ready to be pulled, but the target wasn't in position yet. The sweat on his upper lip dripped down to his chin and then down to his wrist, sending a small chill down his arm. He was ready and in position. This was going to be the best hit ever. Franklin, on the other hand, was used to this kind of thing in a more action packed situation, but simply sitting in a grass field with an accountant, aiming nerf guns at tin cans that were being lazily tossed into the air, somehow felt less meaningful. But Alonzo was enjoying it. "Throw it!" He commanded.

Franklin tossed up the next empty coke zero container and sighed with boredom. Alonzo pulled the trigger, missing the can terribly, in turn letting the can land smack dab in the middle of Franklin's face. "... ow..."

"Another one!" Alonzo giggled like a school girl as he loaded his Modulus Recon Battlescout, preparing it for the next target.

"You know, we could use real guns instead of these stupid children's toys." Franklin prodded.

"Um, I'm sorry Franklin, but... It's Nerf or nothing." He argued playfully.

"I'm going to shoot you in the face." Franklin shook her head.

"I know, but probably not right now." He positioned himself for the next can. "I'm ready!"

"Well, I'm done." Franklin sat up and sighed again. "We're supposed to be tracking victims and killing people again. Not playing cops and robbers in the backyard. Man... you used to be so... cool."

"Things change." Alonzo shrugged. "Sometimes the world... doesn't need you anymore." Alonzo's gaze faded for a moment, but before too many thoughts could come in he refocused on his new target and fired a Nerf dart at Franklin. The dart was dead on accurate, hitting Franklin in the cheek. Franklin hardly noticed, but Alonzo was very excited.

"But... You're Alonzo the Great. You eat people! You are the nightmare of the American way!" Franklin turned to look at him. "You turned the whole nation into your minions and used them to kill themselves. You're a terrorist to the heights of Osama Binladen. You're a real life Joker."

"I'M NOT THE JOKER!" Alonzo burst out.

"Fine, whatever, but... I mean, doesn't any of that mean anything to you?"

Alonzo tried to ignore the things tearing him up inside. Each mention of the man he used to be hurt him more than anything else, but he couldn't be that man anymore. Not if he wanted to live. "Yeah... but I'm not that man anymore. I'm Carlos Hernandez. I've always been Carlos Hernandez."

"That's bullshit, Alonzo. We both know that's bullshit. Don't you feel it anymore? The urge inside? The hunger? I feel it constantly. It never leaves me. It drives me and I want nothing more than to feed it." Franklin argued exasperated. "You can't tell me you don't feel that too."

"OF COURSE I FEEL IT!" Alonzo yelled back. "IT'S ALL I FEEL! I wake up with it, I fall asleep with it... IT EATS ME UP LIFE A BACTERIA! But what am I gonna do about it! He'll kill me! I can't go to war with the richest man in America. If I killed him, I'd be-"

"On national television as the greatest killer who ever lived." Franklin interrupted.

"No idiot! I'd be dead! I'm not dying before I'm ready. I'm going out on my own terms and that's final. No one get's that decision but me." Alonzo slumped back down, as he finally let the thoughts he had been holding back for so long fester throughout his head.

"You're afraid?" Franklin chuckled. "The cannibal magician is afraid of a man in a fitted suit with too much gel in his hair. That's the funniest shit I've ever heard."