“Make one more fucking move, and I will light you on fire,” she threatened, keeping the lighter over the trail of turpentine he’d left on the floor as he’d moved around. She was impressed with how tough she sounded.
Malcolm did as he was told. He squinted down at her through one good eye – his right eye wouldn’t open all the way, and was already looking bruised and swollen. His gun was on the floor, he must have dropped it during his freak out.
“Wow. You know, Archer always said what a sweet girl you are, but considering the circumstances, I have to beg the differ,” Mal chuckled, then he ran his hand over his face, still trying to wipe the solvent off his face.
“Archer is a big fat liar, remember?” she breathed, slowly standing upright. She kept the lighter open and burning, however.
“So what now? I don’t like the idea of becoming the human flame,” he sighed, watching her while she side stepped her way across the room to a door.
“I don’t like the idea of getting shot,” she replied, nodding at the gun he still had in one of his holsters.
“Mexican Standoff?”
She glanced at the storage room. There was a popping noise, quickly followed by a small explosion. Both of them ducked. The fire had reached the shelves and the cans were going to start going off like popcorn. Extremely dangerous, volatile popcorn.
“This whole place is going to go up like a tinder box,” she warned him. “Let’s just go our separate ways? You can go to Mexico or Europe or wherever, and Archer and I will go to New York or Siberia or wherever, and we’ll never speak of this again.”
“Sorry, sugar. That’s not how this movie ends. Archer owes me for ruining my life, and I’m gonna take your life as payment,” he told her, taking a menacing step forward.
There was another explosion from the storage room, enough to make Malcolm drop into a crouch. Flames flew into the work room and he hissed, crab walking backwards to get away.
Now, Jojo. GO!
She turned and sprinted out the door. She was in the same hallway she’d been in before and she kept going down it. Eventually it opened into another large space, but this one had a set of iron stairs against one wall. She quickly ran up them to a metal walkway that ran along the side of the building, just under the roof.
“Jodi!”
She screamed as a bullet pinged off the railing in front of her, but she didn’t stop moving. She could hear Malcolm pounding up the stairs behind her, knew she didn’t have much time.
Time for what – where are you going!? Great fucking plan!
The walkway went all the way back to the front of the building, and soon enough she was running over the exact same beam she’d been tied to, just moments ago. Malcolm was also on the walkway, back at the other end of the building, but she could hear his footsteps, knew he was racing towards her. She had to think of something, and she had to think of it fast.
She realized she was heading straight for the hole in the roof. If she could make it, she thought maybe could hoist herself onto a beam, then maybe run across the roof. Find a fire escape or something, maybe get away!
“STOP!”
The next bullet was much closer to her. Enough so that she listened to him and came to a stop. She fumbled with her lighter, struggling to open it, but then she was tackled from behind. She shrieked as they both fell down, then she cried out as she watched her lighter go flying through the air. She didn’t get to see where it landed because Malcolm forcefully rolled her onto her back.
“Stupid bitch,” he was growling, trying to shove his gun into her face. She screamed and grabbed his wrist, forcing it away from her as he fired off a round.
“No!” she was screaming, over and over again. “Please! No! Stop! STOP IT!”
She was literally fighting for her life. It sounded like the back half of the building was turning into a fireball, Malcolm continued pulling his trigger, and a loud rumbling noise was coming from outside, but she didn’t pay attention to any of it. She focused every ounce of her energy and strength on keeping his gun away from her head.
Though that rumbling noise is getting louder and louder …
There was a loud crash beneath them and at first, she thought it was the storage room finally blowing up. Both her and Malcolm shouted in surprise, then they both started screaming as the walkway fell away from underneath them.
She clawed at the metal, finally grabbed hold of a railing, then she held on for dear life. She coiled her arms around the thin metal beam and her legs around the one underneath her. Across from her, Malcolm was clinging to the edge of the walkway.
They were dangling away from the wall at an awkward angle. Something had knocked out a few supports beams, which had caused the walkway to collapse and rip away from the wall. It was slanting towards the ground, groaning and creaking as the back end clung to one last beam.
What the hell happened?
She glanced down at the ground and was shocked to see her car. Her ugly ass car, sitting in the middle of the warehouse. Someone had driven it straight through a wall and the vehicle must have spun out of control, leaving black tire marks on the ground as the back end had taken out the support beams.
The front end looked vaguely like an accordion, and the back panel was dented so badly, it was pressing against the back tire. Various liquids were spilling out from underneath the car, from both ends. The impact had also knocked open the trunk, and laying maybe thirty feet away from the car was a large body-shaped bundle of tarp.
Bernard Krakow, the man I just can’t seem to shake.
“What do you think you’re – OH FUCK!” Malcolm cut himself off as the walkway groaned and shuddered. Jo cried out as they dropped again. The loose end of the walkway hit the ground, sending a wave of vibrations up the railings and causing her to lose her grip.
She fell, screaming the whole way down, which turned out to only be about eight feet. She landed in a pile of garbage and leaves, twisting her ankle along the way. She tumbled onto her front, sprawled out just a couple feet away from the trunk of her car.
“Jo!”
She looked up just in time to see Archer leap out of her car.
“Look out,” she yelled. “Malcolm is somewhere arou-”
A bullet ripped through Archer’s arm and he hit the ground. She screamed again and went to crawl towards him, but two bullets made pockmarks on the ground in front of her and she quickly went the other way. She wound up on the other side of her car and she pressed her back against it.
“Are you okay!?” she shouted, breathing heavy.
“Peachy fucking keen!” Archer shouted back. “You?”
“I’m still pissed that you lied to me and hid a body in my trunk!”
“Seriously!?”
“Yes! But I’m even more happy that you came to save me!”
“When we get out of here,” he yelled, sounding out of breath. There was a ripping noise followed by a string of curse words. “We are going to have a long talk about you not giving me such a hard time anymore.”
“Jesus fucking christ, would you two like to get married before I kill you both!?” Malcolm shouted.
“Well, now that you mention it,” Archer chuckled.
“He’s covered in turpentine!” she yelled, turning around and standing on her knees. “My lighter is down here somewhere.”
“Uh, I don’t think we’ll need it.”
She immediately saw what Archer was talking about – the entire back wall was covered in flames. Her little storage room fire had grown quite a bit. Then she looked back to where she’d fallen and she was surprised to see Malcolm on his feet. He’d taken off his holster and his shirt, probably hoping to lessen his chance of turning into a fireball. He held his gun in his right hand and he was inching towards Archer, who was hiding behind a beam on the other side of the car.
“What’s the plan, Archer!?” she yelled, then ducked when Malcolm turned and fired a couple shots at her.
“This was pretty much it! Back
up is on the way,” he shouted back.
“Typical Archer,” Malcolm growled. “Half asses everything and just expects to get away with it. Not this time!”
More gun shots and she listened as bullets pinged off Archer’s beam. Since Mal’s attention was focused elsewhere, she took a chance and peeked back over the car. Archer’s brother was stalking across the room slowly, holding his gun in both hands out in front of himself. With his arms up and away from his body, she could see his entire side, and she was a little shocked at what she saw.
A huge tattoo of a tree, identical to the one on Archer’s side. They had matching tattoos. It actually made her sad. At one point, these brothers had loved each other. They must have, to have permanently marked their bodies.
How awful. A father gains a son, a boy gains a brother, and another boy completely loses his mind.
She was so lost in thought, she hadn’t noticed what was going on. Malcolm was at the beam, his back pressed against it. His legs were apart, his weight on his right foot, and in a second, he would be pivoting in a circle, his gun leading the way.
“Archer!” Jo screamed, and she didn’t even think about, she jumped to her feet.
Both men whipped their heads around to look at her, and Malcolm swung his gun around. She flinched and as Archer got to his feet, Malcolm pulled the trigger.
I’m dead. I’m dead, I’m dead, I died.
She hadn’t realized she’d closed her eyes, but when she caught onto the fact that she wasn’t actually dead, she opened them back up. Blinked down at herself, then at Mal. He was clenching his teeth together and stepping towards her, pulling the trigger over and over again. There was nothing, just a rapid fire clicking noise.
“You’re out of bullets,” she gasped. He groaned.
“Oh shi-”
Archer rammed into him from behind and they both slammed into the ground. Mal’s gun went flying and then the two men were rolling around, throwing punches and kicking their legs.
Archer was the bigger of the two and quickly gained the upper hand. A solid right hook stunned Malcolm, and then Archer straddled him. He grabbed his older brother by the hair and slammed his head into the concrete, over and over again.
“Stupid … mother … fucker!” he growled, punctuating each word with a slam. “Fucking … touched her … mother … fucking …”
“Archer,” Jo panted as she hobbled around the car.
“I … always … wanted a … brother …”
“Archer.”
“And you … fucking … ruined it!”
“ARCHER!” Jo screeched, and at the same time, a large portion of the back wall collapsed. She fell to the ground, grimacing as she banged her ankle on the way down.
“What!?” he snapped, finally looking up.
“I think he gets it,” she breathed, gesturing to Malcolm. She wouldn’t be surprised to find out he was in a coma. Or a vegetable. Or dead.
“Holy shit,” Archer gasped, looking back down at his brother. “Shit. Yeah, I think he … fuck. What a fucked up weekend.”
“This whole place is coming down,” Jo said, gripping onto the bumper of her car and using it to climb back to her feet. “We need to get out of here. The car is leaking gas, I can smell it everywhere.”
“You’re right. C’mon, we gotta pull him out,” Archer said, standing up as well.
While Jo grabbed her backpack out of the backseat of the car, Archer grabbed his brother by the wrists and started dragging him out the exit. She started limping her way after them when there was another explosion. Much bigger than the others. She wondered what had been stored in the different rooms. She was knocked clean off her feet and she flew threw the doorway. Luckily the backpack broke her fall.
“Fuck, I am so over this goddamn weekend,” she groaned, rolling around like a turtle on its back.
“Fuck! Oh, fuck, run, Jo! Run!”
She’d barely gotten back on her feet when Archer started yelling. She looked over at him and hissed through her teeth. Burning pieces of rubble were all around them, and some must have landed on Malcolm. One leg of his turpentine soaked pants had lit up in an instant, like a Roman candle. Archer was trying to drag him and beat out the flames, but wasn’t having much success.
Worse than that, though, was the trail of flames racing their way back into the warehouse. They’d left a lovely path of turpentine along the ground, and it was all leading back to her car. Her car, which now had a large pool of gasoline under it.
“Oh, fuck.”
Before she could utter another swear, she was picked up from behind. Archer threw her over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes and he just started running. She wrapped her arms around her head and since she didn’t know what else to do, she screamed.
They’d barely made it a couple feet when the gas tank must have caught on fire. The car exploded and the entire building rocked. Archer fell to his knees and Jo was thrown away from him. She landed in a patch of grass and she went to sit up, but then curled into the fetal position, trying to cover her most vital body parts as pieces of the building rained down on her.
I’m done. Just land the engine block on me, and let’s call it a day.
“You’re on fire,” Archer’s voice was near her. She pulled her arms away from her head, but he was already slapping and beating at her foot. By the time she sat up, the danger was gone. There was a black scorch mark on her right shoe, but he’d gotten to it before it could burn through to her skin.
She looked up to find his intense hazel eyes staring at her, and they sat that way for a minute. Just staring at each other. Then she opened her mouth.
“Well,” she was gasping for air. “I guess that all went better than I thought it would.”
Then she promptly burst out crying.
3:04 p.m.
Day Two
Archer had picked her up and carried her to a ditch that ran alongside the warehouse. Such a romantic. He sat her down and told her to stay there, out of the way. Then he’d gone back and found Malcolm. The other guy was still unconscious, but he wasn’t on fire anymore, and he was breathing. Archer shoved him into the ditch, then he sat down next to her.
“Just give me a minute,” he moaned, rubbing at his arm. He’d torn off the bottom part of his t-shirt and had wrapped it around the bullet wound in his bicep.
“What … the fuck …” Jo breathed, staring up at the sky. It was a clear day in California, only marred by the ugly black smoke that was curling into the air.
“We only have a couple minutes,” Archer said, and when she glanced at him she saw that he was staring up, as well. “The fire department will be coming. The police. It’s better if we’re not here.”
“They’ll find my car,” she said.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“And Krakow’s body. And my car. In a burning warehouse. My car. All this running around, and for nothing. I’m going to get arrested anyway,” she laughed.
“No, you’re not. Don’t worry about it.”
She looked over at him again.
“Care to explain?” she asked. He put his hands behind his head and kept staring up.
“Remember how I said there are crooked cops?” he asked. She processed that for a moment, then laughed again.
“Your dad owns the cops,” she filled in.
“Well, not all of them, but enough of them,” he assured her.
They were silent for a long time. At some point, a few cars pulled into the lot behind them. Archer peeked over the edge of the ditch, then laid back down.
“My dad,” he said. “Some of his men. They’ll find us in a second.”
“You lied to me for almost the whole time we’ve known each other,” she blurted out in response. He sighed.
“Not the whole time.”
“Okay. You lied to me the whole time we were actually friends,” she corrected herself.
“I did. And I regret it more than anything I’ve ever done,” he told her. She raised
her eyebrows.
“More than selling coke?”
“Yup.”
“More than killing Krakow?”
“Totally.”
“That’s good,” she said, pushing herself up into a sitting position. “But not good enough.”
“For what?”
“For me to forgive you.”
“Are you serious? Jojo, I don’t know if you were paying attention back there, but I just saved your life.”
“Um, I’m the one who got loose and started a fire,” she pointed out.
“I drove a car through a building! I got shot, for fuck’s sake!” he argued, sitting up as well.
“All of which wouldn’t have happened, if you’d just been honest from the beginning,” she snapped.
“Oh, for the love of … alright, fine! Fine. Then what will it take for you to forgive me!?” he demanded, glaring down at her.
Jo thought for a second, then she snapped her hand out and whacked him in the throat. He let out a surprised yelp, then pressed a hand to the wound, coughing and gagging.
“Are you shitting me!?” he hacked out.
“There, now I forgive you.”
Before he could bitch some more, she leaned in fast and kissed him. They toppled over, Jo landing on top of him. He only hesitated a moment before kissing her back, forgetting all about his injured throat.
“When I thought he was going to shoot you,” she breathed between kisses. “I couldn’t … I can’t imagine my life without you, Archer.”
“When he took you, I thought I was going to explode. Die. I just wanted to die,” he whispered, his lips wandering along her jawline.
“I was so scared. I can’t … I don’t know if I can handle this life,” she warned him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
“You don’t have to. Tell me what you want, and I’ll do it for you,” he said, hugging her close.
“Anything?”
“Name it. Want me to walk away from it all? I will. Want me to move to a new town and change my name? I will. Anything for you,” he sighed into her neck.
She thought for a long time. Then she gently pushed him away and she sat up.
“I want you to answer a question,” she finally replied.
Just a Little Junk Page 20