A gun between us
I stared into the barrel, and it stared back.
The bitch with a gun held it right to my face, and the fifteen feet between us made no difference. The weight of her weapon made everything slow, close and surreal. I barely registered the rain pelting my body.
I felt her tan eyes on me. "Nice n' easy. We don't want anyone gettin' hurt." She said, her tone drowned out by the storm.
With a cautious hand, I held out a soaked black duffel bag and started closing the distance. I stopped when she Ah-ah'd me. I dropped it with a thud, then took several steps back.
I narrowed my eyes on her, glancing back down to the barrel frequently as she gently walked forward, bent over, and grabbed the bag. She looked over her shoulder at the car. I did too.
Jay was in the back seat, rope around her mouth, chains all over her chest and legs. One of her precious green eyes were closed shut, black and blue from her cheek to her forehead.
Looking back at the bitch, I saw she had a few marks on her face, too. Jay must have given her a hard time. You fucking go, girl!
"Well...You kept your end, I'll keep mine!" The one with a gun yelled over the storm. I felt her desert ovals burrow into me. "But before I do...what's your deal?"
I cast a confused look, which occasionally flickered at Jay's hopeful eyes.
"Y'know," Her hand gyrated as she searched for the right words. "Motive? Goal? Wants, needs, that sorta shit? Cuz right now...? Looks pretty fuckin' inconsistent."
"I want out of this mess. I've wanted out! I want away from you." I spat.
She nodded. "Yep, that sounds about right. Heard that a couple times. Then you come back, then leave to start a new life. Shit, you stole from them!" She laughed in a horrible, maniacal cackle. She was actually enjoying this. "We could've been great. The bird, and the...whatever ya are. Exotic transport," She snapped her fingers into a gun. "But...Fuck, Rainbow, ya can't keep crossing paths, without eventually burning the bridge."
I wiped my face to better see the sociopathic bitch. "I chose! I kept trying! There's...God dammit," I wiped away moisture that was definitely rain. "Just let us go!"
She sighed. A smirk snuck on her malevolent lips. "How's the kid, by the way? Scoo-"
"Don't you ever say her name! Don't you ever fucking say it again!" I snapped, pointing my finger at the woman with a gun.
She laughed. "That's cute, real cute. Still in the hospital?" When I replied with a lake-freezing stare, she continued, "Uh huh. Right, well, I think it's time for us to say our goodbyes."
"Goodbye." She raised the gun.
I froze. I watched Jay scream and thrash in the backseat.
Bang
My eyes drifted up. Or maybe I was falling down. When I clutched my stomach, there was a distinct moisture - and throb of pain. My heartbeat thumped wildly in my chest, and I desperately sprawled to my feet.
Or just my knees. I watched the car drive out and on the road. I tried to balance my legs, but my hands were shaking like a tree in a storm. Accepting my lack of motor control, I crawled. The pain in my gut from bullet and guilt was mountainous.
I didn't dare look back at the trail of blood on the ground. It might send me into shock. Just thinking about it made me queasy. When I finally reached my bike, I grabbed the seat and pulled myself up. My hands made quick work of the emergency kit.
I opened my jacket and tore open my shirt, avoiding looking at the wound. Opening a tiny white pouch, I sprinkled the powder on the tiny hole, then grabbed the gauze. I toughed the pain and pushed on it, wrapping the elastic cloth around my stomach. Satisfied with the vice grip, I tied it at my waist and stabbed a pin through. It would have to do.
A definitely-legal-shot lay in the box, and I grabbed it. There was a moment of hesitation as I pressed my back on the wet motor. "Fuck...fuck, fuck!"
I jammed that fucker into my thigh. My body jerked and stiffened. The effects were always immediate, but you never get used to the surge. I was on my feet faster than the rain fell. I hopped on the bike and kicked it to life.
My body was acting a hundred times faster than my mind. I didn't know which direction the car went; all my body understood was go. And go it went, squeezing the gas and thundering down the wet road. My eyes squinted against the beating rain.
I forgot my helmet. Fuck.
My hand gripped the throttle in a desperate attempt to somehow find a higher gear. I found none. Far, far down the long road, I saw a brown car barreling through empty traffic. It skidded and turned down another road, leaving just open fields between me and it.
Shortcut.
I ramped over a muddy ditch and bolted through a hay farm. I couldn't see the stacks of hay until they were ten feet from my face. That and muddy soil is a dangerous combination. I managed a few last-second bob and weaves around them, then straightened up to ride parallel to the road.
I found the brown car just on the other side of the ditch, with the bitch driving. Looking ahead, the farm country was going to end, and forest began. I had no time to think - not that my body would let me do such a stupid thing anyways.
I cut hard and went straight for the ditch, squeezing that throttle like a homegrown country ass. When I felt the familiar weightlessness, I let off and braced myself.
The front tire slammed into the passenger window, shattering it to pieces. I lurched over the handlebars and slid on the soaked roof. My hands grabbed for something to hold, which they just couldn't find. I slid forward on my stomach and down the windshield, managing to turn myself around.
I stared at the bitch, and she gawked back.
My hands found the curve of the hood and kept me from flying off as she jerked the car back and forth. I saw the bike unhinge from the window and tumble on the road for an incredibly long time. We must have been going fast as shit.
Bang Bang
I instinctively flinched and ducked. Then, I planted my foot on the hood, and lunged my other knee at the window.
My favorite bone pumped righteousness right into the bitch's jaw. The car lurched on the side of the road, and I grabbed the wheel to keep us from crashing. I looked at the dashboard. 130.
I grabbed for the gun with my other hand, keeping the barrel from me. The bitch screeched and let both hands off the wheel to better force it in my face. Since I fell into the passenger seat, I let go of the wheel and punched her right in the vagina.
She wheezed. I leaned back and kicked her hand as hard as I could. I heard the gun clank on the ground somewhere. Better than in her hand. Eyes darting to the backseat, I saw Jay's unconscious body limp on the floor. Definitely not dead, just unconscious is all.
The bitch's fist clocked me in the mouth, sending my vision a blur. My upper body on the passenger side floor and lower body on the seat, I tried kicking her in the everything. Her hands were swift, blocking and even grabbing my leg. She locked it in her forearm, and I fervently thrashed against her.
Snnnap, Crrraaack
"Ffffuuuuck! Fuck!" I cried out. There was no warning, no buildup, no pressure. One moment, leg, then the next, wishbone.
She twisted my wishbone and planted her boot on my mouth, stretching my limb. The shot was numbing most of the pain, and even then, I think dying in a fire would be favorable. I kicked at her head with my other leg, but found her shoulder. She shoved my foot aside, and locked it on the steering wheel.
I managed to turn my head to say, "Eat shit and die." And yanked my foot.
Sccrrreeeechh
The weight of the world suddenly felt so distant as my body clung to the floor for an ungodly amount of time. Metal flew this way and that, glass erupting before my eyes, my bones suddenly jello.
I saw the bitch hanging onto the seat for dear life, then whipped out the window like some toy. My head crashed into something, and then it was dark.
The car shook from the shock-wave of thunder and lightning. Slowly I found myself; 3'4 of me, at least. I didn't dare look down, and crawled with my arms for the back seat where an unconscious Jay lied. The upside down state of the car made it much easier to crawl.
I grabbed her shoulders and shook. "Babe! Babe, wake up!" I felt the life in her stir, but refuse to wake. I quickly started to untie her arms, until I heard something bitchy.
"Hot damn, Rainbow! You are fucking crazy!" A distant voice yelled.
Jay's arms were free. She'd get the rest; I hurriedly searched for the gun. Any gun. Any weapon. There were broken chunks of metal from the stereo sticking out, and tons of trash littering the interior. Of all things to get thrown from the car...
My eyes caught a small black pistol in the grass, a couple feet away. I could see her feet heading towards it.
I crawled out the window and-
Crunch
"Ghh- fuck! Oh, god...!" I screamed in agonizing pain. Looking at my forearm, I saw tiny shards sticking out, dripping with blood. I winced as I tried to avoid the most glassy area on my way to the gun.
She non-nonchalantly bent over and picked it up. I felt tears stream down my face as I watched. Maybe it was blood. "Y'know..." she took a deep inhale of a cigarette, eyes wandering past me. Her face had a new deep gash from her temple to her cheek. "This could have gone better. 'Sippin' martinis on the beach', kinda better." She crouched down, staring at me with those lucid tan eyes.
"But ya don't know how to be a good girl, do ya?"
Nope.
I put a chunk of broken glass right in her chest. I aimed for the heart, and got shoulder. She reeled back with just enough momentum that I grabbed her leg, and sent her falling to the ground.
I made my advance quick, natural adrenaline pumping through my veins. I pulled her by the leg and mounted her, throwing fist after fist into her jaw, neck and forehead. The bitch with a gun lifted with her lower body, and I was sent on my back.
I was pinned on the ground and threw up my arms to protect my head. She punched me in the gut, and then I stared in the barrel.
I grabbed it by the barrel and pushed up.
Bang, Bang
I roared with the thunder as my hand burned and seethed. My other went right between our arms and found her nose. Her eyes found the stars.
I rolled her over and slammed the hand with a gun into the ground, reeled back my sort-of-good-leg, and drove it into her ribs. I did it again, and again, and again. I didn't find her wheezing of pain acceptable, and grabbed her throat. She choked and writhed beneath me.
Her legs kicked desperately. She grabbed my wrist. She stared into my eyes, crying.
I spat in them.
Whack
My body didn't feel like doing a damned thing after getting mollywhopped by a fucking rock. I dropped to my side, clutching my head. I found solace in her crying pain, until I realized it was mine.
I felt metal press against my temple. The chamber clicked to my brain, and I sucked in my last breath.
No gunshot. No monologue.
I opened my eyes to see something fucking wonderful. The bitch with a gun on her stomach getting punched in the back of the head. Jay had her knee pressed into the bitch's spine, and kept putting her fist in her brain.
I fucking love that woman.
I turned onto my back and immediately regretted it. I doubted I could stand. But my woman needed me, and god dammit she deserved better.
At my body's accord, of course. Take your time, arms. Not like I need you to get up or anything.
I saw the beautiful country girl suddenly lifted up and thrown. The bitch stood up and they squared off. I desperately needed to get up, right now.
I whimpered and whined, forcing my hands to withstand the pressure. My elbows felt like they might snap. My left leg was more fucked than a Tuesday, and I'm pretty sure my head was bleeding. I got to a knee, though. Progress.
The bitch got Jay in a headlock, and when the blonde almost got out, she was lifted up over the bitch's head, and slammed her on her stomach. Jay rolled onto her back and kicked at the attacker's hands as they tried to grab her.
I spat copious amounts of blood, then put the weight of the world on my halfway-decent-leg. That wasn't so hard. Looking at my woman on the ground, fighting for her life...it wasn't something I ever wanted to see again.
I limp-ran to the bitch and leapt. She turned just in time to catch my favorite bone right in the nose. Again.
She stumbled back and wiped off the blood. I stopped my advance, and waited for my partner to stand. She got to my side and put an arm over my shoulder.
God, I thought I was never going to get that again.
"'You okay, 'Bow?" She cooed against my ear. Both our eyes were missile-locked on the white-haired cunt.
I broke eye-contact and slammed my lips into hers. It was bloody, sweaty, soaked, chapped, muddy and sloppy. Best fucking kiss I ever had.
When it ended, I nodded. "I fucking love you." I smiled at the taller girl. Jesus, her poor face had so many marks. The black eye was fresh.
I felt her hand rake through my hair. Oh how it sent shivers up and down my spine. I always wondered how Rarity's cat felt when I pet her. Now I'm jealous.
"You sure are somethin'." The bitch interrupted. We glared at her. "Some country bumpkin, Rainbow? Really?" She chuckled and pulled out another cigarette, lighting it and taking a puff.
"I'll take her over trailer-trash any day," I spat.
Her eyes narrowed and pointed at me, cigarette laced between her fingers. "Listen here you lil' bitch! I fuckin' saved you! Some fuckin' runt, good for nothin'! You were useless!" She hungrily sucked down the deadly smoke.
"Yer a bad influence, Gilda. Been a plague ever since ya came inta' her life. Got her addicted, had her do dirty work for ya...made her do things against her will. It's over. She don't need ya anymore." Jay said in a cold, authoritative voice. I fucking love when she takes command.
Gilda took a puff in silence, then another. Her flaxen eyes darted between us. "...Yeah, I guess she doesn't." She dropped the cigarette and squished it beneath her boot. "But she never learned...always keep a weapon on ya," she smirked wickedly and pulled a switchblade from her back pocket. It was the biggest damn knife I'd ever seen.
"Oh yeah...! This is the same knife I used on Scootaloo! Ha," she wiped her lip. "Crazy how things work out."
Jay and I tensed.
She and I squared up with the woman with a knife. She was the first to strike, thrusting at my face with the shiny steel. I weaved back, and Jay went to knock the bitch's arm away.
The bitch dropped the knife and caught it with her other hand and aimed it right for Jay's ribs. I lurched forward and kicked the bitch right in the gut, sending her a foot back.
Jay followed up with a kick slicing through falling rain aimed for her big stupid head.
She ducked and spun, catching Jay's leg and sending her on her ass. I quickly stepped over her and went to sock Gilda in the mouth. While I forgot my handicapped leg, she did not and kicked my knee
"Fuckfuck!" I went to grab my exploded knee and hold my body up, but I found a fist in my face before I could. Jay deflected the stab that would have pierced my heart, and I put all my weight onto my other fucked up leg.
Gilda spat blood at Jay's face, then sliced at her chest.
Rrriiiipp
I did not hesitate to lunge forward, full force, and slam my knee into the bitch's stomach. Twice. Her groans of pain were music to my ears. The knife clattered on the pavement.
Gilda managed to plant her boot on my stomach and pushed me away, which I put all my attention into finding balance. I did not want to fall back down. I just might die.
Jay was right back in it, using her long, herculean arms to her advantage. Gilda couldn't compete with such range and power, and Jay got in one hell of a hook. The blood erupting from the bitch's mouth...
Art.
I caught my balance too late. Gilda caught one of Jay's kicks and lifted the bigger country girl over her head, then just dropped her. Right on her head.
"No!" I cried and desperately started after her. Gilda was busy stomping on the barely-conscious girl's head when I tackled her, lifted her up, and put all the momentum into slamming her stupid ass on the ground.
Snap
"Ghhaahh! Fu-bhfflll!" No crying, bitch. Eat my fist.
Two blows to my wishbone halted my flurry of attacks. Before I could cry in my native language, her fist closed my jaw. I was lucky to still have my tongue.
I reeled back, but kept her pinned. She either needed to be knocked out, or be dead. I haven't seen her do either, and this woman took fucking elephant tranquilizers.
She spat blood in my face and threw me off, right back on the ground. I writhed on my back in a desperate attempt to move away from her, and as I did, I felt something cold under my back.
Gilda crawled on her arms and grabbed my legs, pulling herself up to my stomach and started slamming fists into my gut. Blood and vomit erupted from my mouth as I took blow after blow.
I managed to fish out the gun and pressed it to her side.
Bang Bang
Gilda rolled over and squirmed on the pavement. She cried profusely as blood trickled down her stomach, her arm, face, and everywhere else. She took a lot more damage than I, or she realized.
I scooted away, gun pointed at her. "Jay...? Babe, you okay?" I nudged the blonde's shoulder, and when I didn't get a response, I looked back at her.
Jay's forehead had a bad gash. Blood coated her teeth. Acting fast, I flipped her over on her stomach and opened her mouth, letting the blood pool on the hard pavement. I could feel her breathing.
"Rrrhhhaa!" I heard behind me, but couldn't react fast enough. Gilda's knuckles slammed into my cheek, rolling me off Jay and losing the gun.
I saw her hastily trying to grab it, her eyes wild. I lifted my foot and slammed it on her hand. I felt the bones snap under my heel, then I maneuvered the gun beneath my foot to my hand.
She laid there, panting next to my girlfriend, staring down the barrel of her own gun.
"You gonna shoot me...?" She coughed blood, bloodshot eyes locked on me.
"I was thinking about it."
She showed a bloody, busted-toothed smile. "Go on...do it, kill me." Her eyes left the barrel and found my ruby pools instead. "Kill me, you bitch!"
My chest heaved. My hand shook. I didn't stare back in her eyes.
"Look into my fuckin' eyes when you fuckin' kill me, you rat bitch!"
I clenched my eyes shut.
Her laugh was like an old woman's wheezing fit. "Heh...you fuckin' pussy. You never could finish, could you?"
I opened my eyes and stared right into her desert eyes. Her face leveled, lips quivered and took in a deep breath. I saw the exact moment she regretted ever opening her mouth to taunt. Inviting me for dinner, so many years ago. My finger squeezed, the trigger fell back, and the chamber shook. I never saw the bullet; her head jerked back, blood and brain chunks shooting out behind. Her head landed on her scarred cheek, blood dripping down her bright eyes and mouth.
I dropped the gun and let my head fall back. Staring up at the raging sky as thunder boomed over me and lightning flashed, it wasn't so bad. I might've just laid there until someone found me, but then I remembered us.
I struggled to sit up and crawl over to Jay's unconscious body. I held a finger under her nose, and when I felt her breathing, I exhaled the air I didn't know I had been holding in.
I turned her over and started shaking her shoulders. "Jay. Jay, come on...wake up." I pleaded pathetically. No response. "Jay, babe! Get the fuck up!" I reached around her neck and held her head up, shaking her.
She coughed. Blood splattered on my face, and I was happy to wipe it off.
"You're alright, babe. You're alright. Come on, that's it," I coaxed her to sit up, wincing every time I put weight on anything. Eventually, one of her eyes opened and found me.
Jay looked at the woman with a hole in her head and turned away, bile spilling from her mouth. I gave her gentle back rubs from the shoulder all the way to her waist.
I looked down at the woman, too. Five years of my life of running back and forth. Five years of abusing the people that loved me. Two years of lying. All of it solved, with one decision, in one night.
It took an angelic voice for me to come out of the comatose. "Hun...? Oh, 'Bow," I felt those strong arms wrap around me. The weightless feeling of being lifted was something magical. I put my face into the nook of her neck and cried. I cried deeper than when I robbed my friends. I cried deeper than when we broke up. I cried deeper than when we got back together.
She brushed my drenched hair, nuzzling my cheek. "I'm so sorry. I'm...so, so sorry." She cooed into my ear, and I just held her tighter.
The woman with no life had finally been taken out of my life. I was free. I was...normal. She was free.
I kissed Jay's neck. "Fuck, babe. Fuck! I-I'm...sorry you were dragged into this. I never wanted it to be, like...like-"
Her loving back-strokes calmed me right down. "I know, darlin'. Are you alright?" She looked down at me with her precious emerald eyes, and I nodded.
"Y-yeah...Just, you know." I glanced down at my leg. I could see my red pants were not bending the way they should be. They used to be blue.
Jay sucked in a deep breath and scooped my in her arms, then got to her feet. I melted against her chest. "H-hey, 'Bow,"
"Hmm...?" I barely got out. It was just so damn comfortable being wrapped up in her. Her chest was so warm. I was so damn cold. I earned a nap.
"Ya remember fishin'? Out by the lake?" She asked as she carried me down the street.
A pleasant smile found its way across my lips. "...yeah. You caught a big ass tuna."
"Catfish," she corrected, and I felt her chin nuzzle into my hair. "And you got that cute little nibbler."
I opened my eyes and glared up at her. "Hey! You said it was a really hard fish to catch!"
She laughed at me, those precious watery eyes reminding me of what I almost lost. Almost gave up. "Yeah, Ah did. Told you the truth despite how much it would inflate your ego," her lips pressed against my head. "Can ya do that for me?"
I chuckled. "...catch another fish? Well, I am off-duty, but..."
"Honest, 'Bow. Can ya be honest with me?"
My smile quickly left, and I nodded. I wiped away the not-tears and said, "Yeah, babe. From now on, I swear...fuck," I shook my head. I cried enough already. "I-...I should have just come to you guys from the beginning." I could feel my voice leaving me every other word, it getting more and more scratchy and distant.
Jay pressed my head into the nook of her neck. "Good. I love ya, Rainbow Dash. I love ya so damn much."
My heart thumped in my chest trying desperately to find its counterpart. "I love you more."
"...Hey, Jay?"
"Yeah?" She asked, her eyes pointed forward. The woman looked so fucking majestic. Such a beautifully sculpted cheekbone, lovely wet blonde hair, and even though she only had one working at the time, her emerald eye was sparkling.
"I was thinking about marrying you."
She laughed playfully at my joke and kissed my forehead. "Now yer just bein' mean."
But when her gaze met my completely-serious, even a little hurt expression, she stiffened up. "Yh-...yer serious...?"
I nodded, eyes dreadfully pathetic. I might've been crying.
I couldn't see the exact moment when the weight of the world settled in. Maybe because it was a long process of staring ahead, then back down at me, opening her mouth to speak only to look away again. The suspense was fucking killing me.
"Now's really not the time to be thinkin' about this, hun." She blinked down at me, a gorgeous little smile on her.
I shook my head. "N-no, I want to know now. In case I die, s-so I can go to heaven knowing I accomplished everything I wanted."
Her lips quivered. She gulped. "Yes, Rainbow. Of course Ah'll marry ya..." She pressed her nose against mine and wiggled.
I snuck in a kiss. That was the best kiss ever. "Sweet...now I can die happy." I spat blood on the pavement and let my head fall against her shoulder.
Her mouth was inches from my ear as she whispered, "Don't you want kids?"
My eyes shot open. "...Dying is for bitches."
I stared into her pretty purple eyes, and they stared back.
"Gross," the tan girl with purple-dyed hair stuck out her tongue and sat up from the bed. "Could have left out the end. Everything was awesome until you got the dumb mushy parts."
"Hey, you should always appreciate a good romance when it is presented, even if it is cheesy. I learned that from Rarity." I countered back, tapping my leg as I sat back in my sweet-ass chair. It had custom back-rub controls, and it was on full-blast, twenty-four-seven.
She tapped a finger against her cheek. "So..." she scanned my eyes with her big, pretty squinted pools. "On a scale of one to jumping a shark with a jet ski; how much of that was made up?"
"Wel-"
"And the jet ski's on fire. And the shark has fuckin' laser beams."
I stifled a laugh and reached to mess up her hair, which she expertly dodged. She was getting good at that. "Well, kiddo...I think that's gonna remain a mystery. Ya happy I finally told you?"
She shrugged and rolled out of bed. "Eh, not like I was losing sleep over it. Besides...I really doubt you did all that, anyways." She came to my side and gave me a kiss. "Love ya. See ya downstairs, slowpoke!" She darted out through the room and out the door.
Such a quick one, that girl. Always rushing to meet her next task. Something simple as breakfast, but she would move mountains if they were between her and freshly baked waffles. She was old enough to hear the story she'd been begging for for months. I held off on it because, really, I mostly told extremely hyperbole versions of stories. Defending my friends from a wolf turned into fighting off hordes of them with only my fists, a branch, toothpick and a shoe lace.
I couldn't bring myself to tell her what happened to her parents. She was still too young to be having nightmares.
I reluctantly sat up from the sweet-ass chair and grabbed my plastic leg. Rubbing a hand over my fleshy stub right after my knee, I pulled the gelatin cover over the stub until it was flush against my skin, then slid it into the leg's slot. I pulled the rubber flaps until they concealed my thigh, keeping the contraption and me upright.
I stood up and walked to the door. I stopped at the top of the stairs.
Crash
"Fuck!"
"Hey, watch yer mouth young lady."
"Sorry, mom..."
"...Nah, nah, don't touch it. Ah'll get it. Might cut yerself, knowing you."
"...Hey, mom? Was the story about you two true? The one where mommy chased down Gilda?"
"...Uhh, I'm not the story teller, hun."
"Ugh! But moooooommmm!"
Trying to wring the answers from the weak-willed, huh? I taught her well.
I started down the steps. "If you think that one is hard to believe, wait until you hear the time I jumped two sharks."
The End
Author's Note
I can't stress enough how much you mean to me, my man. You'll always be my favorite addict.
Don't worry, I'll call my homeboys and we'll break that hurricane's kneecaps. Give 'em the Soprano treatment, know what I'm saying?
Love you. <3
