by Steve Kuhn
There were bonfires on either side of the checkpoint, and the stop was manned by nearly forty men and women. The fires were stacked nearly eight feet high with corpses, and the smoke billowed in huge, thick clouds high into the sky above. It wasn’t hard to imagine that the bernies were keeping them busy. Food, namely us, must have been so hard to come by out there that the dead traveled in enormous herds. But the checkpoint was well armed, and the people hustling around looked capable enough.
We stopped as instructed and watched as Seth had words with one of the men running the show. He was also greeted warmly by a few others, with fistbumps from the men and smiling hugs from the women. Looked like Seth and Nick carried some weight around there. Good thing we hooked up with them.
We caught some sideways glances on the way through, but it was painless. They didn’t even speak to us, much less search through our stuff or anything. Within twenty minutes of the checkpoint, we finally saw it.
Vegas lay in front of us, surrounded by enormous walls constructed of any materials that were available—anything from metal plates, wood, and vehicles, all the way to piles of dirt and stone. All were topped with rows of razor wire or sharpened pikes made from old fencing. Atop many of the pikes were severed heads, seemingly to act as a warning to the unauthorized. Trouble was that there’s no way to tell if those heads belonged to the dead or the recently living. Regardless, it didn’t feel very welcoming.
The enormous gate to the strip was fashioned with riveted steel, and instead of opening outward, it slid up using a system of chains and pulleys. As it rose, the infamous Las Vegas Strip revealed itself to us for the first time. It was… anticlimactic.
Trash littered the streets, and all manner of scavenger animals roamed freely, nosing through the garbage. Rats, feral dogs and cats, etc… mingled among the many denizens that were scattered around this bustling shithole. A few side streets remained unblocked, but most were impassable due to all sorts of debris.
Nick popped out of the Caddy and hollered up to Cutty to park it and stay put until he and Seth returned. He told us we’d be safe and, “If anyone fucks with you, tell them you’re with Gino’s boys. If a few of you wanna have a look around, that’s fine, but don’t go past the old Venetian joint. Everything up there belongs to the New Gotti Crew. They fuckin’ hate us, and newcomers aren’t really welcome. We’ll get into that later. Just stay here on the south side and make sure someone stays with the truck.”
They pulled away and headed further up the strip. I watched them stop about a quarter mile up the road, and it looked like they disappeared into an old hotel and casino. One thing struck me instantly as I glanced into the distance up ahead. While many of the lights and signs were busted out, there was power here—and a fuckin’ lot of it. As the sun began to fall on the horizon, the neon and bright whites began to flicker to life, and it actually resembled the old Las Vegas we once knew.
I told the others I wanted to have a look around then asked who was coming along. No one really jumped at the idea, save for Lilly. She told me, “I wanna come with you. I don’t wanna be in the truck anymore.”
Don raised a hand and said, “I’ll go.”
I nodded and looked around at the others for any last-minute mind-changers. That was it, though, just me, Don, and Lilly. We started down the street in silence.
Don spoke first, saying, “I wanted to thank you, Dext, for keeping Kylee safe and helping her find me. I haven’t really had the opportunity to say that yet.”
I shrugged him off. Shit, first of all… Kylee kept me safe more than the other way around. Second, it was already pretty damn awkward with Don as it was. I wanted to be with Kylee. It wasn’t even about the sex anymore. I mean, sure, I’d been attracted to her for ages, but I really loved her. And after that moment in the truck, I was pretty sure she felt the same way. I didn’t even know what to say to the dude. I told him it was all right and not to worry about it. That’s just how our group worked. We watched out for each other as much as possible. We did our best to keep each other alive, and that was it.
He wasn’t satisfied, though. He sighed heavily and told me, “Look… I’m not stupid. You two have been through a whole lot together, and… the baby… Jesus, Dext. I don’t even know how to process that, bro. You’ve been there for her through all of that shit, and there’s no way you two didn’t build something special there. I saw you in the truck, Dext. I saw her kiss you. Don’t think for a second I’m dumb enough to not realize there was something there.”
I could feel myself blushing. What the fuck could I say to the guy? ‘Oh, hey, Don… Glad you’re alive and all, but I want you to stop being married to your wife for me.’ I was pretty sure that would fail. I opened my mouth to speak, and nothing came out.
He continued, “If anything happens to me, I want you to still be there for her—be with her if that’s what both of you want. I’m all right with that, but… for now… just respect the fact that she is my wife. I’m asking you to not act on anything you might be feeling. I’m asking you man to man to respect it.”
I nodded my assent to the request and asked him, “What if she doesn’t feel the same way with regards to you? What if she moves on me first?”
His mouth twisted in such a way that I could tell the thought had already crossed his mind. As he began to answer me, Lilly shrieked.
The both of us swung around and were met with the face of a grimy, middle-aged man scowling at us angrily. He had snatched Lilly from behind and held a long knife to her throat. Lilly’s eyes were wide with fear, and she whimpered as he held his hand over her mouth to stifle any further shouts. “Gimme yer fuckin’ chips and anything else you got.”
Don and I held our hands up to show the man we weren’t a threat, and I told him, “We don’t have anything, man. We just got into town. Just chill out. We’re with Gino’s boys.”
The man sneered through a mouth full of rotting teeth and shot back, “Fuck Gino and Tony, that fat fuck! I want yer fuckin’ chips or I’ll slice this little bitch’s throat right now.”
He pressed the blade into her neck even harder, and a small flow of blood began to trickle from the blade. Don tried to reason with him as he turned his pockets out, saying, “Look! We don’t have anything. We don’t even know how to get chips yet! Please, this is just a misunderstanding. She’s a kid for Christ’s sake. Let her go.”
As always, it happened in the blink of an eye. The man said flatly, “Think I’m fuckin’ around?” and he tore the blade into Lilly’s face just below her left ear. She screamed through his hand as he slit her neck to underneath her chin. Don moved with trained precision and delivered a solid, open-handed chop across the man’s neck, stunning him immediately as Lilly fell to the ground, clutching her throat. I dropped to her side, pressing my hand to the wound in an effort to slow the bleeding. My hand was almost instantly warm and sticky with her blood.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!
The street erupted in screams from a few bystanders as the shots rang out. I looked up to see Boyd approaching quickly with his pistol smoking. The assailant had fallen next to Lilly with no less than seven holes in his torso packed in a tight group.
I screamed at the top of my lungs, “Somebody fuckin’ help out!”
Boyd made his way to my side and helped apply first aid as Lilly began to slip in and out of consciousness from the loss of blood. He stammered, “F-fuck. Hurry up! She’s d-dying!”
Don dashed a little further up the road, calling for Seth and Nick as a crowd gathered around us. In seconds, Lilly had slipped into unconsciousness and Seth and Nick came running back with Don. Seth snapped, “Oh fuck, it’s the kid! Get her into the club. I already sent for the medic. What happened?”
I told him we were mugged, and I laid into him as a small group of guys picked Lilly up and ran her into a nearby building with Boyd and Don by her side. “We told him we were with you guys, and he still fuckin’ cut her! You said we’d be safe, man. What the hell?�
�
Seth looked at the dead man on the ground and scowled miserably. “Shit. That’s Clansen. They call him Dirtball. He’s a Goddamn Gotti. What the fuck is he doing all the way down here?”
Nick took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. “Those motherfuckers. If they want war, they can have war. You’re coming with us.”
I tried to fight it. I told them I wasn’t doing a damn thing until we sorted Lilly out. Seth wasn’t having any of that, though. He stepped up to me calmly and said, “Our medic is the best there is. We have everything we need here to fix her up. If she’s not dead already, she will be fine. Trust m—”
Boom!
The crowd gasped again as Nick put one more round through Dirtball’s head to make sure he didn’t get up again.
Nick holstered his piece and said, “Go with Seth. It’s not negotiable. I’ll go get your big guy. What’s his name? Cutty? We’ll be up in a few, and I’ll bring news about the little girl, but you gotta go see Gino right now. He’s gonna need to hear what happened from your mouth, not ours. Looks like I’ma need to postpone that hot date after all.”
Seth told Nick, “Not like you had a shot anyway. I got ten to one says you wouldn’t even make it to first base.”
Nick flipped Seth the finger before Seth told me, “Let’s go. Now.”
I followed him back to the casino they initially went into, and he got us past the door guard after a few kind words and a filthy joke—something about dead women and how they just lay there or some gross shit.
The entire place stank of mildewed carpet and piss. It looked like any other casino would, except only the table games were active. All the slot machines, although powered, were devoid of any gamblers, and there were only one or two staff on the floor. It was a trashy mess.
Seth told me firmly, “Stay here. I’ll be back in about ten minutes to get you.” He passed me a handful of black-and-white casino chips and added, “Feel free to play a game or two in the meantime, and don’t worry about the kid. I’m sure she’ll be all right.”
I don’t feel like playing anything. I don’t feel like waiting. My stomach feels gross, and I’m worried sick about Lilly—the others, too. And Seth’s grasp of time continues to fail miserably, as it’s already been nearly thirty minutes and he still hasn’t returned. I’m beginning to hate this place already.
Entry 138
Gino.
Gino’s hard to explain. He was a slick kind of dude—the kind of guy who still wore a gold pinkie ring in this day and age, the kind of guy that wore sunglasses indoors, the kind of guy that wore dark, pinstriped suits with pink shirts and butterfly collars. He looked like a fuckin’ scumbag porno actor from the late eighties, Ron Jeremy style. But he was clever. He was smart. He was a survivor and a hustler. And I liked him.
Fat Tony, on the other hand, was just that—a slovenly, obese man in his mid-forties. He smelled like B.O. and sour-ass crack. He had a short fuse and a hot temper. Seth told me Fat Tony once killed a man with an open-hand slap, and I had no reason to doubt its validity. Seth was crazy and couldn’t tell time for shit, but he wasn’t a liar. He had no reason to lie about something like that.
The meeting room was in the back of the old casino in an office behind the “bank,” as Gino called it. The ‘bank’ was really just the counter where people would trade money for chips and vice versa. Regardless, it was locked up tighter than a nuclear submarine.
Gino offered me a seat when I entered the room with Seth, but I declined only somewhat politely. Fat Tony didn’t like my answer and told me, “Gino says to have a seat. Siddown.”
A quick look around the room was all it took for me to reconsider. I didn’t gamble, but I knew the odds were stacked against me should I decide to be an asshole. I sat in the torn, plush chair I was offered across from the giant desk Gino was occupying as Seth and Fat Tony flanked him on either side.
Seth sat on the edge of the desk, and Gino snapped at him in his Italian-American accent, “Ay! How many times I gotta tell yous guys? Off the desk!”
Seth popped up and crossed his arms, blushing slightly.
Gino addressed me directly, saying, “Seth and Nicky-Boy tell me yous ran into some problems on tha strip. They also tell me you and your people ain’t exactly from around here. So… what’s your story, kid?”
I left out some crucial details. Granted, probably not the best idea, but I also didn’t think it was a great idea to go spouting off about Don and Kylee. If these guys weren’t genuine that’s just the kind of leverage that would put us deeper in the shit. I simply told him that a few of us were ex-military, that we were trying to make our way to Fort Bragg over on the coast, and that I wasn’t in the mood to talk about much more until I heard word of Lilly’s condition.
Gino clasped his hands under his chin. He never took his eyes off mine as he told Seth, “Go get Nicky-Boy and find out how the little girl’s doin’. And move your ass this time. Just go get Nicky and nothin’ else. Are we clear?” Then he told me, “Last time I sent him out on an errand, it took him all day. He came back drunk, smellin’ like a French whore, missin’ a shoe. It’s hard to find good help these days, eh?” He chuckled heartily and added, “I’m hopin’ that’s about to change.”
Seth winked at me and dashed off to the outside. Gino told Fat Tony, “Give us a minute,” and gestured for him to leave with Seth. Tony didn’t budge and eyed me suspiciously, but Gino said encouragingly, “I wanna have a word wit’ the kid, just me and him. You ain’t gonna cause no trouble, right, kid?”
It musta been a rhetorical question because Tony slowly moved out of the room before I could answer, taking his stink with him.
Gino stood up and walked over to a small wet bar in the corner, where he poured two glasses of Scotch from a bottle. He moved to the front of the desk with both glasses in tow and leaned against it, offering me one, which I accepted. He raised his glass casually and said, “Salud,” before tossing the entire thing back in one gulp.
I attempted the same, but choked slightly. I fuckin’ hated Scotch. Gino chuckled and joked, “Good shit, eh?”
I offered an awkward nod of agreement.
Gino asked me, “You don’t play poker, do ya, kid?”
I shook my head.
He smiled genuinely, setting his glass on the desk, and told me, “Yeah, well, I would hope not. You’re a shitty liar.”
I felt myself swallow hard. Shit…
He was cool, though. He told me straight up, “Look. I don’t give a fat rat’s ass what brought you here, though I suspect Seth had somethin’ to do wit’ it. Everybody’s got secrets these days. We all got demons, kid. But, you’re here now, and it seems our… fates… are somehow intermingled. That’s a fancy way of sayin’ you and I got business to tend to.”
I asked him, “What sort of ‘business’?”
He didn’t get a chance to answer, though, because the door swung open behind me. Nick and Seth rushed in with Cutty behind them, and Gino lost his shit. “How many times I gotta tell yous pricks to knock. You fuckin’ knock! Jesus, Mary, and Joseph… when are you two gonna learn?”
Nick said, “Sorry, Gino. Seth said you wanted us to hurry up.”
I stood up and raised my hands to shut everybody up and asked Nick directly, “How is she?”
Nick smiled proudly and said, “Ask her yourself…”
Lilly emerged from the outside looking somewhat pale and with a ghastly line of black stitches across her jaw, down to her neck. I carefully knelt down and hugged her and asked her how she was feeling.
Nick answered for her, saying, “The medic says she’s fine. She wasn’t cut that deeply, and he seems to think she fainted instead of falling out from losing blood. She didn’t need a transfusion or anything, just a shit-ton of stitches. We’ll need to keep an eye on it for infection, obviously.”
Cutty interjected, “We ain’t gon’ do shit. Y’all niggas gon’ leave Lilly to us—period.” He passed me my pistol and told me, “Kylee wants you to know
she gon’ bus’ yo’ ass next time she see you. And don’t think I ain’t got some shit ta say about this, neitha. Walkin’ around unarmed was fuckin’ stupid, nigga… and you oughtta know betta.”
What was I gonna say? He was right, and I fucked up. Not only did I fuck up, I almost cost Lilly her life. This wasn’t just anybody. It was Lilly. I just sat there, feeling stupid.
Cutty added, “Don is back at the truck with the others. Boyd saved y’all asses. I think you gon’ need to have words with him when you get a chance.”
I nodded and made a mental note of that.
Seth stepped up and told us all, “Look… I wanna apologize. The NGC has never moved on our territory before. We had no reason to expect an attack already.”
Gino took a minute to explain, “The New Gotti Crew usually stays up north, but recently we been beefin’ wit’ ’em. The only thing I can figure is that they’re runnin’ outta food and gettin’ desperate. It didn’t help that Romeo over there,” he said, gesturing to Nick, “has been bangin’ the daughter of one of their capos. Givin’ her the ol’ brajole like every night, this guy. The other day, they sent this guy named Clansen this way for a sit-down—”
I asked if that was the same Clansen they called Dirtball… the one that cut Lilly up.
He shook his head and said, “Nope. I’m gettin’ to that. See, the guy comes over for a sit-down, and he ain’t stupid. He sees how we’re livin’ down here. Look around. Think. Dogs and cats in the streets means we’re eatin’ good. These hotel kitchens were packed to the gills with stuff that don’t go bad. Up on the north side, though, dogs and cats are on the fuckin’ menu. So, this Clansen asshole gets a little too big for his britches and starts spoutin’ off, makin’ threats, and such about us holdin’ out on him.”
Cutty asked, “What’s that got to do with us?”
Gino told him, “I thought you’d never ask… Seth and Nicky-Boy here are good at takin’ out the trash, so to speak. They drove Clansen out to the desert and handled business.”