I crawl out of my hiding place. It’s been at least five minutes and I’ve only heard a couple of gunshots in the distance.
How many are there left after those two burned ones?
I look away from the two corpses and scan the grounds. I freeze.
Is this the sound of an approaching engine?
I turn and see a Seat Leon skidding from a curb and practically spinning out. Its driver manages to keep the trajectory and is coming towards me. There’s one of the refugees on the roof, and the bum, who’s now driving, is trying to shoot him through the car roof. He steers to unbalance him, and I take this chance to fire a single shot, just as the car darts past me.
The refugee falls a few meters away, the Leon turns 360 degrees and gets back on its trajectory. The refugee on the ground has an injured shoulder.
No, I have not missed, I really wanted this, but apparently the bum is not of my same opinion because he’s now going back at full speed. The refugee moves over to the side and saves him.
The passenger door almost slams on my face and a voice from inside screams – FUCK! GET IN –
I jump in while the car has already restarted.
I struggle on the seat trying to get the rest of my body inside. I manage to do it right before the door slams onto a wall and back almost crashing me.
He lashes out at me like a rabid dog.- Hey! Piece of shit! This is my car! Respect it or I will kick your ass!! –
– Who the hell are you, and where the fuck do you come from?? –
– It’d be lovely to have a nice conversation but I am a bit busy to discuss my whole biography! Now go in the back and pass me some tools! –
– Who do you think I am, your PA!?!? –
He grabs me by my collar and literally throws me in the back. Yes, he is able to do it. In such a cramped space and with only the use of his right hand, he literally throws me in the back seat, where I crumple over the screaming of my vertebrae.
– We’ll leave introductions to later, secretary, now hand me the M32! –
I look around and I see nothing … And where the fuck is it?? – I’m becoming hysterical, I know it.
– Damn it, when are you going to grow up?? It’s here! –
He puts a hand behind and moves a panel, that’s when I realize it’s fake. Behind the front seats a panel comes off and below it there is the Confederacy’s complete catalog.
-Damn it… – I spot the grenade launcher that he asked me for, I check, it’s loaded and I pass it to him -So, who the hell are those three guys!?!? –
He grabs the grenade launcher, moves back the driver’s seat, keeps his right foot on the accelerator and puts the left one on the steering wheel.
I pray.
He aims while sitting halfway through the window – I’ll repeat it for those in the peanut gallery, ok? I DON’T KNOW!! –
He shoots and devastates my eardrums.
Three shots. Two hit home, the third one hits the old weaving factory silos and allows escape for the third guy. – You missed! –
The silos crumbles onto the guy who dies on the spot.
-I got him alright.- he says, while grinning with a cigarette in his mouth.
The Leon proceeds towards the wall of an abandoned factory, I cry out and I crouch into impact position.
He succeeds in deflecting the trajectory with a flick of his foot, and returns into the cockpit while the Leon is losing control, we overturn once and then twice. The windows break and I’m still screaming while I’m bouncing in the back.
Then the Leon comes to a halt. On its upright position.
It sways and creaks. The engine turns off and he gets out of the car by kicking the door open. I hear a curse but it’s so convoluted that I can not catalog it. Especially because I am still trying to understand if I’m still part of this world.
The rear door, which is behind me because while rolling I clashed my head on it, opens.
-So… Are you hurt Princess? –
He lights a cigarette
-Only… My bones and organs…- I mumble.
I look around while he checks the car. He holds the cigarette between his teeth and curses while ascertaining damages. I limp out of the vehicle and look around, happy to still be able to do so.
I reach him.
He gets a Beretta 92FS from the back of his pant waistband, pulls out the magazine, checks how many shots he has left and recharges.-Great, let’s see how many booboos I caused.- He goes to the factory.
– What do you mean?? – I follow him while I check my Glock ammo too. I look at him, I look at the gun and I hobble. I must have hit my right knee, but it’s not broken. I follow him – How do you think they are? You’ve killed the three of them! –
-Better be sure of it, right? –
-But they are corpses! – I’ve reached him
– And what do you have against corpses? Sooner or later we will all be one. Me… You …-
His tranquility is disarming
****
He’s there, bent over the third corpse.
He already checked the other two and he’s now reserving the same treatment for this last one. I stand on the sidelines and try to look elsewhere.
Is it my imagination or we can already smell their stench? How long does it take for the worms to come out? When can we leave? What the hell is he looking for?
-I knew it…- I hear him mumble.
I turn towards him, and I try to look at him and not only at that faceless corpse. -W… what? – I ask.
He picks up a note, he got it out from the guy’s inside jacket pocket. He gets up and goes back to the stairs leading to the factory roof.
He did not answer me.
I follow him. -Hey! –
-Call the Confederation-
I am a bit puzzled, but I follow him. Meanwhile I twist the clock and call the cleanup crew. I catch up with him. -What did you find? –
-A note-
Thank you.
– And all along I thought it was a musical score – I say exasperated
-It’s the proof that they were not simple refugees but were working for that dickhead-
And how the fuck…- What’s written on it?? How have you guessed it ??? –
He stops and turns around.- Let’s clear things up here: What’s written in these notes is my damned business, and as long as I find notes like this on refugees, they’re from him. And that’s that.- He starts walking again and goes to his car
– Shouldn’t we wait for the squad?!? – In the meantime I get in the car. I don’t want to risk him leaving me here, I can’t walk fifteen kilometers just to get home.
He starts the Leon, which despite the previous hits starts with a nice smooth rumble. From the sound of it I think it’s souped up. – Why? So you can curlicue? What the fuck… If you are assigned to me you do not need to-
– Yeah, but they find us through the GPS in our watches, if we move_-
He starts off like a shot. And I buckle up.
-When you launch the signal, the GPS has already done its job, you don’t need to wait. I’m hungry-
After having tossed three bloody compound corpses which now lack a face and a couple of limbs each?
-Up for some Kebab? –
I repress the sudden nausea. – No thanks…-
He pulls out a cigarette from the pack with his teeth – Then I’ll eat two –
I sigh .-Hey? Is there an extra cigarette in your package? –
He opens up the package, then he closes it and puts it away
No, It’s just a regular package-
He lights up while it’s starting to dawn.
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