Our Crazy Little Thing Called Love

by Liz K. Lorde

  The gun finally clicked as it ran out of bullets.

  Fiona whipped around to see the chaos unfolding right as I backed over to Connifer. She held her gun up and pointed it at Meich just before Leo overpowered him, so that he was on top now.

  She must have quickly realized something, because she looked to me and then turned around, resuming her previous line of fire – the screams from outside growing louder and louder, and more frequent.

  I could see that Leonardo had the upper hand, and with the splotch of red on the side of Meich’s head, I knew that the next best thing would be to see to Connifer. Leaning down I checked out wound, the knife still plainly in his back and dripping down from the start of the black handle. Better to keep it inside, I surmised, so that the wound doesn’t open up any more than it already has. Plus I’d probably screw that up and hurt him even more.

  Bringing my eyes to Connifer’s, we looked at each other for a moment and he finally seemed to be able say something barely above a whisper. “Pf—you’ve, you have to run. Dead weight,” he said with considerable strain, a little bit of blood coming out from his lips, coloring them red.

  “Not a chance I’m leaving without you,” I told him and I meant it.

  Leo and Meich struck one another, trading blow for blow in the span of heartbeats. They were engaged in a wild and bloody fight for control.

  “Idiot,” Connifer said it with a smile, and I promptly tried to help him to his feet. All the while, Fiona dropped a magazine from her gun and began to reload it with a magazine that was strapped to the sash around her back.

  Leo brought his arm back into the air and brought a series of pummeling strikes down on Meich’s face. “You,” he said, hitting him along with each word, “fucking. Shit.” The man’s face became slick with blood and open cuts from Leo’s knuckles. I could almost make out every disgusting crunch and snap of the combat, if it wasn’t for the symphony of bullets. “I’m the only motherfucker allowed to stab my best friend,” he shot a hard fist against Meich’s jaw – so much so that Leo lost his position for half a second, taking a moment to recover and sweep his green hair back. Little bits of blood and the sheen of sweat could be made out as his hair followed his hand into a smooth style. “Do me a favor and remember that in hell.”

  Meich spat blood into Leo’s eyes, and I finally brought Connifer to his feet, starting to move towards the back of the living room, hoping to get him as far away from the combat as I could.

  Leo grunted and immediately put the length of his arm against his eyes, trying to wipe out the blood. Meich went for Leo’s sides and tried to fling him off of his person, but I knew that my… that he… was stubborn enough. Leonardo kept his ground and shook his head in frustration, wrestling with the bloodied man once more.

  “You two gotta—“ Leonardo started, but got interrupted by a hand pushing underneath his jaw. “You’ve gotta get out the back, don’t wait for us.”

  “I’m not leaving without the either of you,” I snapped while helping Connifer past the living room and down the hall, where a sliding glass door awaited. Just outside was Fee’s back yard and her wooden gate. If I could just get Connifer outside, I’m sure he could make it out of here. Either way, he’ll be safer. If only my heart would just stop hammering away for a second.

  Connifer said low in my ear, “You need to listen to him. F’You take me with you, I’m just going to slow you down.”

  I knew what he was saying was true, but even if that was what I was going to do – I could never forgive myself if I left him behind. Even if I didn’t know him well, that just didn’t matter. “No,” I told him, “you do what you can, but stay safe.”

  It was easy to tell that he wasn’t okay with this. His brows furrowed and he let out a short, pained sigh. “Help me to the gate,” he managed to speak, “I’ll flank them.” He grabbed his gun and held it up, but all I could do was bring my eyes down to his lethal appearing wound. He probably hadn’t wanted to use it earlier for the same reason that Fiona hadn’t.

  I brought my hand to his weapon and effortlessly grabbed it from him. His grip was weak, and his hands were shaky.

  “Fat chance, you’re either staying here or you’re crawling for help. You do something stupid like that, and you’re dead,” I told him, as if I’d any experience in this sort of situation. Still, I figured it better that I have a weapon than he try and get himself killed like that.

  Connifer’s face darkened, and a painful look of sadness overcame him. “Alright,” he conceded, “sorry, I’m supposed to be the ace in the hole here—“ he threw his head back and cried out softly in a spasm of pain.

  “You’re doing great,” I told him, assuring him of it more with my eyes than with my mouth. “Lesser men would have keeled over in the house.” I half carried him further through the backyard, my shoes pressing against the thick and long uncut grass. Gusts of wind cut against us as we moved, and as the sound of gunfire echoed throughout the street I worried that police would only make this whole matter somehow worse.

  Seven foot high wooden fencing surrounded Fee’s backyard. We finally reached the gate and I let go of Connifer, letting him lean somewhat against the fence so that I could undo the numerous latches from top to bottom. Pop, pop, pop. More gunfire and screams. I guess it makes sense as to how they found us so quick.

  Connifer turned his head and a look of worry walked along the lines of his face, “Did you hear that?”

  “No?” I responded not looking up at him, moving down the bottom black latch and undoing it as well, “I’m surprised you can hear anything.”

  Connifer retained a cautionary look, as though he were focusing all of his efforts to try and listen while his lifeblood left him.

  I opened the front gate and beneath the orange sky stood something that chilled me to my very core.

  His smile, and his eyes – the way he looked at me with frightening intent.

  Killaine.

  He was smoking a cigarette and laughing softly to himself, like he were amused. He had a gun in his hand, a pistol, and fear crept over my body like sickly black ink to water. My stomach clenched, and for that matter so did all of the other muscles in my body.

  Beside Killaine stood the third and last notorious Amigo. He was silent and dressed from head to toe in black armor. All Kevlar and mesh and pads, like he were some sort of mythical SWAT from the wrong side of the law. On his head was a gas mask, giving me no look of his eyes or anything for that matter.

  This was their modus operandi. Use heavy armor and military-esque tactics to completely nullify any threats, they were the heavy hitters. The real deals.

  Connifer shambled over to get a view of what I was seeing, and I could sense the palpable dread that even he felt when he noticed them. Gunshots went off behind us, I hoped beyond hope that Fee and Leo were okay.

  Please let them be alright.

  Killaine brought a hand up to his lips and pulled the cigarette from his mouth, his dead and cold eyes cutting through me. “Miss me?” He asked softly and with a dark, amused laugh at the end.

  Not even close. “I take it you don’t handle rejection well,” I said, “so let me make this perfectly clear,” I brought up my middle finger and waved it at him. Promptly after this, Connifer stepped between me and the two, making a physical barrier. Just what was he expecting to do? Stop trying to be a hero before you go and get yourself killed.

  The Third Amigo was motionless as Killaine cocked his head to the side, a slight look of displeasure on his face, “Bothersome that you’re still alive.” Killaine brought his gun up to Connifer’s chest, and then Connifer stepped forward so that the barrel of the gun pressed against his chest.

  “Do it,” he uttered, “you heartless coward.”

  I moved behind Connifer, put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “Stop this.”

  He did not move.

  In the seconds that passed, the two continued their standoff until Killaine pulled back the hammer on his gun, “You shou
ld have joined me when you had the chance.” There must have been some kind of history between them…

  Connifer wobbled on his feet and made a pained noise, “Never. Heart’s not for sale. Not ever to you.” My heart tapped furiously against the bone of my breast, and I knew what I had to do. I had to put an end to this madness, this had gone on for too long – too far. I shoved my way in front of them and Killaine backed up a few steps, lowering his gun slightly. “Call them off,” I pleaded. “Please,” I asked, my voice straining at all the terrible thoughts. “It’s me that you want, isn’t it?”

  Killaine’s eyes narrowed while his silent partner remained naught but a statute of destruction, his massive LMG cradled against his chest. “Connifer wants to die like a man,” he insisted, “isn’t that right old friend? I should give him what he wants.”

  I turned to face Connifer and I could already tell what he was going to do, so before he had the chance to spit, I moved back and physically restrained the wounded man. He looked like he was ready to explode even while combating death itself.

  “No?” Killaine taunted, waving his gun as he spoke, “having a woman speak for you now, is that it?” He laughed then, though to me it was more like a snicker. “You always were a lovesick idiot, you know. The poems you wrote kept me and the boys up at night between beers.”

  “That’s enough,” I snapped, continuing to hold back Connifer. “Call off your men and stop this senseless violence. If it’s just me you want, well, I’m right here.” I knew there had to be some way to bargain with him, some road to appeal to a snake like him. “It’s pragmatic to only do what you have to. Please,” I begged, hating myself for it, “please.”

  His cigarette rested carefully on his red lips and the smoke rose through the bloody morning air, seemingly considering my proposal.

  “Fine,” Killaine said and then snapped his fingers, pointing over to me, “I pay you for a reason don’t I? Escort the lady.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  PLAYING POSSUM

  LEONARDO

  Fuck they better be okay or I swear to god I’m taking your skull as my new cup. From my peripheral, I saw two swords on the wall – and I briefly considered plunging one down his throat.

  No, that’d be too good for this rat. I need to feel him slip away for what he did.

  I have to know why.

  When I wound my fist up again to let loose another bloody blow, I looked for them. For Connifer and for Tabitha, but they were already out of sight. “Go on,” I roared trying to push out the thought that just outside was what was considered in the criminal world to be marching oblivion. “Tell me why you did it,” I slugged Meichwaltz hard, so hard that I could feel it in my bones.

  Every part of me was screaming, each nerve dancing with pleasure at robbing this bastard of his life. “Tell me!”

  Meichwaltz’s head lolled around and he gurgled out a thin film of red, his lips curling into a smile that I want to burn right off of him. “Money.”

  “Money?!” Heat rose inside of me as though Hell had opened their black gates. He just did it for the money? He couldn’t have wanted for the rest of his life and it’s still not enough. “Fucking money?”

  He just weakly laughed as Grandma over there cursed.

  “They’re killing your men out there, stop asking questions and get on with it,” She barked, her head craning to look at something. I didn’t pay mind as to what that was, instead I channeled all of that bottled up hatred and anger and beat that traitors face. Blood and bone and bits of things came out of him, and in that moment I couldn’t have been more relieved that Tabitha hadn’t been there to see me do something like that.

  Every ounce of anger inside of me flared up for every punch that I gave. I was dead tired of being used. First I lose a father, and now I might – no, no I won’t lose them either.

  I can’t. I refuse to lose one more person in my life, not while I’m still breathing, I’ll do anything.

  Before I even knew it, in the confusion of the moment, Tabitha’s Aunt was heading outside. I caught a glimpse of something shining in the morning light, off of her person.

  That almost made me stop punching for a second. She’s heading outside? Is she mental? Hell, that’s coming from me.

  Taking in a series of hard, deep breaths, I waited on top of the dying Meichwaltz. Just waiting for his chest to cease its movement. When it finally did, I huffed and picked my aching body up, flicking off some of the blood on my hands. My mind was a desolate warzone, some dark and cold place in the desert, where crows picked at the bones of all my terrible thoughts. There was a jolt of doubt then, as I stood over a man that I once saw as a friend, something more than a friend even – he was part of my crew.

  This doubt stabbed at me in that moment. Nothing else mattered.

  Would Tabitha ever be able to love a man like me? I’d just damn killed a man… I killed a man.

  There wasn’t any time to dally, so I snapped myself back to reality and searched the traitor’s body, eventually flipping him over with a displeased grunt. Even in death he was causing me problems. Figures. Thankfully he had a G41 Glock tucked away in the back of his pants with his shirt covering it. Smart of him not to try and quick draw it earlier. When I grabbed the gun I realized just how sticky and wet my hands still were with the man’s blood – so I carefully but quickly put the gun down and used the back of his shirt like a rag.

  Hope you and my brother have a long tenure in the bottom most pits of hell.

  I scooped up the gun and spat on the animal that sold his loyalty, turning around to see that the front door of the place was wide open. With my heart thundering in my chest, the whole of my body felt heavy with adrenaline – my blood thick and pumping hard through me. I knew that I needed to calm down, to get a clear head, because without it there’d be no chance of me making it out of here alive.

  Making it back to Tabitha.

  The distant sound of sirens rolled through the morning streets, the longer I stayed here the more risk I brought on myself and what was left of the true Ligotti crime family. There wouldn’t be any way to make the police or the courts, let alone the general fucking public, see this is in a different light. Heading toward the front door in something close to a sprint, I leaned up against the wall and looked outside.

  It was then that I realized the horrible terror that nobody escaped. Despair licked at my mind and the loss of hope resonated through me; all I could do was try and fight that feeling – that desperate feeling to fall to my knees and sink away into nothing. They were all dead. All of them, my boys.

  Charlie, Romero, Thomas and Rykers were all motionless on the street. God dammit, god dammit this was all my fault.

  When my eyes raked over Ramona Gutierrez , I lost it.

  I just saw red.

  She was there looking at me, barely standing up by leaning against the hood of the SUV. The concrete around her was stained with crimson lifeblood, each pool and each drop and each line telling a story of how my brothers in arms perished.

  She looked right at me and I howled like a gutted wolf when I saw the light leave her eyes.

  Six souls lost because of me. Six…

  “Not one more,” I whisper growled to myself, the hurt catching itself in my throat, “not one fucking more.” I saw the last Amigo standing out there in the bloody streets as the rows of perfectly kept houses sat silent; there wasn’t a soul out there curious or stupid enough to come outside, someone must have made the call to the cops forever ago – could still hear them coming.

  Even as I did it I knew that it was stupid.

  But I was pissed. I was furious.

  “Hey!” I roared at the armored assassin dressed in many shades of black; I said it so loud that I could feel my own voice vibrate the bones in my body, could feel the strain on my voice box. The rage soared through me like a fire of which I had no control. “Did you fucking hear me?” I called out like a mad man popping off a series of rounds into the assassin’s torso. �
��Not one fucking more!”

  The bullets did nothing but attract his attention. He turned slowly to face me, the cocky bastard knew just how well ahead he was of me equipment wise. As he did as such, between the mix of fear and adrenaline, my mind turned and turned in those brief heartbeats on how best to kill this creature. That’s what they were. Creatures. Beasts. Things that couldn’t normally be stopped.

  I’m not going to do this for the glory of mounting this nameless assassin’s head on my wall.

  I’ll be doing it to throw darts for every motherfucker they took from me.

  The Amigo faced me and with one arm, raised up his Light Machinegun. Holy fuck.

  My sense of terrifying awe didn’t last long when a spray of bullets blazed towards me. The walls of Tabitha’s Aunt’s place exploded into bits of wood and drywall; an unholy mess of man-made construction being undone in seconds as the gun chewed away mercilessly at anything foolish enough to be in its path. Several of the bullets danced around me, tearing with incredible ease through my clothes – ripping painfully at my forearm and shoulders.

  Fuck!

  I turned and dove down to the ground, a barrage of bullets storming overhead. I know that I didn’t have too many bullets left, and that the ones that I did have wouldn’t be of much use against the bastard. Somewhere between crawling, running, and stumbling, I moved over to the kitchen for cover as the piercing cry of that demon in his hands wailed and wailed. Her Aunt must have had the right idea, bullets don’t do much even at the chinks in their protection; but a blade does good.

  Those cops are getting closer… the bullets came to a stop for a moment and I sucked in a hard breath as I moved against the white tiled kitchen floor, my shoes creaking as I went. There was a great black fridge, stove, and dragon embroidered counter tops. Classy place if it wasn’t for all the recent and no doubt unwanted handy work. My eyes crawled over to the drawers of the counters, and I listened for a heartbeat of time, trying to get a feel of where that last Amigo was.