Merry Mare leaned against a stone wall, a massive floor-to-ceiling window beside her. Somewhere above the window a spotlight shone down to the grassy ground below. It had to be at least a ten-foot drop.

Merry shook her head and looked away from the window. A few feet away from her Setter was pacing back and forth. Beyond him stretched a long hallway with a few paths branching off here and there.

Setter was muttering to himself as he paced. He had been doing that for the past few minutes now, rubbing his bruised arm all the while.

“Little blonde bitch….”

Merry clenched and unclenched her jaw before finally speaking.

“Setter?”

Setter stopped and turned to her. “Yes?” he said, properly.

“Uh, everything alright?”

Setter smirked and waved her off. “Sorry, just can’t get over the number that Twisted bitch did on us. Fuck, my fucking eyes still fucking hurt and so does my fucking arm.” he inhaled sharply and shook his head. “Sorry. It’s my own fu- ah, fault anyway. We shouldn’t have gone messing around with the Boss’s guests. It was a stupid idea.” He sighed and pointedly pulled his hand away from his arm. “I’m more worried about Jack.”

“Is this really going to be a problem?” Merry rubbed the back of her neck. “Jack he, uh, he doesn’t know what we did, right? We ditched the robes and the masks, so he can’t know. And even if he did, it’s not like we-”

“I’m not worried about that,” Setter said, cutting her off.

Merry bit back a remark about the interruption. “…So what are you worried about then?”

Setter sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Jack wants to talk to the Boss. Which means he’s going to interrupt her while she’s…” he gestured vaguely “you know. He wouldn’t do that unless something important came up. And I’m talking really fucking important.”

Merry nodded and fished her phone out of her pocket as covertly as she could. She turned it on and checked the screen. No new messages.

Setter went back to pacing. “Cops, maybe? Why they would come all the way out here…. No, no, it’s gotta be something else.” He suddenly turned to Merry again. “What do you think?”

Merry jumped and shoved her phone back in her pocket. “S-sorry, what?”

Setter chuckled and shrugged, either not noticing or not caring about her obvious nervousness. “You have any ideas about why Jack suddenly wants to talk to the Boss?”

Merry shrugged. “What if he wants to talk to Val because he ran into one of, um, the guests?”

Setter raised an eyebrow. “Huh, that might be it. He could’ve killed one of them, want to apologize to the Boss for spattering dessert’s brains all over the carpet.”

“You think he’d do that?”

Setter smirked again. “Jack’s always looking for an excuse to get his gun off. And if he thought someone had broken in, he’d be extra jumpy. Yeah, that’s probably what happened.”

Setter seemed to relax a little, moving close to the wall opposite hers and leaning against it. They stayed there like that for a moment or two before a sudden and loud bang sounded, making them both jump.

Merry turned towards the source of the noise, seeing the Diamond Dog from the start of the night striding towards them, a scowl on his face. Trailing a step and a half behind him was…

“Cheerilee?” Merry croaked, her throat suddenly going dry.

“Setter, what the fuck are you doing out here?” the Diamond Dog, Jack, growled as he approached. His gaze shifted to her and his right hand went inside his jacket. “And why is she with you?”

Merry watched Setter smile too widely as he pushed away from the wall, shrugging and laughing.

“What can I say, Jack? I, uh, forgot my condoms in my room and the little lady was just keeping me company while I went and got ‘em.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed and his hand came out of his jacket, a big revolver in it. Setter’s smile became painfully strained once the gun was in view.

“H-hey now, Jack. Uh, what’s the gun for?” Setter looked passed Jack. “And who’s your new friend?’

“Her name’s Cheerilee,” Jack said, jerking his head to indicate the magenta mare, his eyes never leaving Merry. “She’s a teacher.”

Merry swallowed thickly, her gaze shifting from Setter to Jack to Cheerilee and back again. Cheerilee seemed just as nervous as Setter did, albeit without the wide grin. Jack seemed angry, his fingers clenching and unclenching around the gun held down by his side.

Setter kept up his joking tone. “Oh, that’s, uh, nice I guess. Uh, what’s she doing here again?”

Jack briefly looked from Merry to Setter, smiling humorlessly. “Exactly.”

Merry felt around her back pocket. The taser Setter had given her was still there. She wrapped her fingers around it.

Jack’s gaze shifted back to Merry. “Why would a high school teacher be here, Setter?”

Setter shrugged. “Poorly timed fieldtrip,” he laughed, but quickly stopped as Jack’s expression remained the same.

“This lying bitch,” Jack growled, his eyes boring into Merry. “She tricked Cheerilee into bringing her class here, Setter.”

Setter laughed nervously. “You, ah, sure about that, Jack? You know, because there’s a chance that-”

Setter’s words seemed to catch in his throat when Jack suddenly aimed his gun directly at Merry’s head. Her heart jumped into her throat, choking her. Her blood ran cold in her veins. This was it.

“I should kill you right here,” Jack growled, slowly walking towards her. “But, I’m sure Val would rather hear about all of this straight from the horse’s mouth.” He quickly closed the distance between them, pressing the barrel of his gun to her head. “She might turn you over to Gavrii after that. And believe me, you’ll wish you died here.”

He turned to look at Setter. “We need to get back to the camera room and find Val. She’s already gotten two of them, but it’s still early. We can-”

Merry pulled the taser out and jabbed the Diamond Dog in the groin. Merry ducked her head as his whole body went ridged. She shoved the brute back, knocking the gun from his hand and sending him stumbling.

He recovered quickly. Strong hands wrapped around her throat, lifting her off her feet and slamming her into the wall. Merry let out a chocked gasp, her hands fruitless pushing against his arms and face, blood roaring in her ears. Her gaze was locked on his face, his expression a twisted and angry snarl.

And then, an almost thoughtful look crossed his features. Merry slipped from his hands, falling to the floor in a coughing heap. Merry stared up at Jack through watering eyes as the Diamond Dog regarded her with a dead-eyed stare.

“Hey, Jack,” a faraway sounding voice called out.

Merry saw Jack’s head turn just before the cracking boom of a gunshot echoed through the hallway. The impact sent him stumbling back into the wall opposite Merry. He quickly pushed off the wall, staggering drunkenly into the center of the hallway.

Blinking the tears away, Merry turned her head towards the origin of the shout and the shot. Setter stood there, Jack’s fallen gun in hand, looking almost surprised. He blinked and quickly brought the gun up again, firing another shot.

Merry clasped her hands over her ears as Jack jerked backwards. He stumbled back a step, but refused to go down. Setter fired again and again, forcing Jack back further. The fifth shot pushed him into the window, the glass creaking. And the sixth shot sent him through it. Merry could swear she heard the dull thud of Jack’s body hitting the ground.

Slowly, her hands dropped away from her ears, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Setter drunkenly lurched over to her, crouching down.

“You okay?” he asked, sounding out of breath.

Shakily, Merry nodded. Her eyes unfocused for a moment, shifting to something behind Setter. Cheerilee was standing there, momentarily forgotten in the excitement. She looked from Merry and Setter to the broken window and back again. Setter noticed Merry wasn’t looking at him and looked over his shoulder.

Cheerilee hesitated for a heartbeat before turning to run. Setter moved faster than Merry thought him capable, springing to his feet and swinging wildly with the gun. He hit Cheerilee more with his arm than the gun, but still knocked her to the floor.

Merry managed to get her legs beneath her and get to her feet. Setter reached back to hit Cheerilee again but seemed to think better of it. He lazily pointed the gun at Cheerilee.

“Stay down, bitch,” he said, letting out a breathy titter.

Setter glanced back at Merry before giving her a nonchalant shrug. He moved past her to the broken window, idly scratching his head with the gun’s barrel. Merry spared the groaning Cheerilee a second-long glance before moving to Setter’s side.

A cold breeze accompanied by a sprinkling of rain washed over her as she looked out the broken window. Below, Jack lay sprawled on the grass, unmoving. Merry heard the clicking of a cylinder rotating as Setter pulled the revolver’s hammer back and almost casually aimed the gun down at Jack.

Setter pulled the trigger, the gun clicking empty.

“Huh,” Setter grunted, bringing the gun close and fiddling with it.

Merry shook her head and turned away, looking back to where Cheerilee lay. Only the schoolteacher wasn’t there.

“Fuck, where did she go?” Merry said, moving away from the broken window.

“What’s that?” Setter asked, turning towards Merry.

Merry peered down the hallway, seeing nothing that would indicate where Cheerilee might have gone. She shook her head nervously, moving back to Setter.

“She's gone, Setter. Where the fuck did she go?”

Setter shrugged. “It’s not important. You don’t happen to have your car keys on you?”

Merry raised an eyebrow. “Yes, but why?”

“‘Cause we got to get the fuck out of here,” Setter said, taking Merry by the hand and leading her down the hallway.

“What? Why?”

Setter chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I just killed the Boss’s boy toy. She might be a little upset about that.” He laughed again. “Believe me, I’d love to stay and snatch up every last bit of valuable junk in this place, but…”

Merry stopped and pulled her hand out of Setter’s. He paused and turned, shooting her a questioning look.

Merry fished her phone out of her pocket while she spoke. “What if I told you there was a way to do that?”

Author's Note

Fucking finally! Well, that brings the total body count to... what two? Only took twenty thousand words since the last death. And that's how long it's gonna be until the next one. I hope you have staying power, 'casue it's gonna be a long night.