The Hitman and His Consort

XXXII - People

First Person P.O.V: VALENTIN HACKSAW

They led me to another unfamiliar part of the city. This time it was crowded and loud, just boisterous and filled with different people doing God-knows-what and having their definition of 'fun'.

Bright lights came from s*x-shop-looking buildings on both sides of the street. The road felt narrow because even the sidewalk was filled with a bustling crowd that would not f*cking settle on one place; the traffic progressed slowly because it seems like the whole road turned into a pedestrian lane. It didn’t help that the car in front of me seems to be doing a literal window shopping session in his car.

Neon light of all hues was coming from every direction and the club music was leaking out from these shops as I drove by with the swarming voices, the air was cold but it felt stuffy there was not one meter of free space, and distance between everyone and everything, I’ve seen people dressed in the kinkiest attire possible, just two n****e-patches and a thong away from being naked.

‘Why bother is the question here?..’

I could smell alcohol mixed with a sweet fragrance that made my nose convulse with an irritation I only experience whenever Denis douses himself with strong perfume. This is the ‘Red-light’ district of the city. Who would know for sure, though? Right? I would.

‘Why the f*ck do these punks know this place?’

I clenched my teeth, trying to hold out and stick by despite having the burning itch to just get the hell out of here, I have zero intentions of staying in this area more than I already am, there were occasional taps on my windshield followed by a wave and jarring winks.

I felt my stomach curl.

I turned to the backseat to face the brats. We’re hardly moving in this traffic anyway, “Where exactly are we heading?” I asked, and they managed to snap out of their adolescent trance. If these *ssholes lured me out of here to get a free ride on this street, I’ll dump them in the lake by the dumpster site.

Marcello gathered his composure first and turned to me as he cleared his throat, “They have a shop here on the end of this side called ‘Gargoyle’ it’s less crowded than this portion but they always do business around those parts,” he replied and I nodded,

‘The end of this street? I have to endure all of this first?’

I thought as I gripped the steering wheel, this is going to take a while. I glance out occasionally. Maybe something actually interesting would happen. There were boisterous voices from different spots, so I can’t actually regard those are alarming, and as the traffic progressed and we neared the end of the street, the voices got louder.

‘They must be having reeaalll top-gun fun out there, huh?’

Then it got louder.

‘Sh*t, the hell are they doing out there?’

Then it got, even more, louder like it was coming closer to our direction, and that’s because it is coming towards our direction, I grabbed my gun by instinct as I see a whirlpool of a chaotic group of people rushing toward us, bumping along onto the car in front of ours, these were not entertained hollering.

These were frightened screams.

I couldn’t believe what I’m seeing at first glance. There was this guy wearing jeans and nothing else. He was fighting everyone and no one at once.

He even went as far as the climb the roof of the car in front of us as he swung at the people trying to sedate and stop him. He looked like a feral animal and acted like one; this man, in all his 55kg physique, smashed the roof of the car multiple times until he punched a hole through it; it felt like I was watching a horror movie of some sorts.

“Is this one of those super-strong zombies you’re talking about?!” I yelled so the brats from the backseat could hear,

“MISTER THAT THING WILL KILL US! THEY’RE INSANE!” Tyrone yelled back to confirm my guess, and I understand why they were this afraid. This is some intense sh*t.

'Also, Tyrone referring to the man as a 'thing' cracked me up, what the hell is up with this kid-'

I need to take a closer look because from this distance this feral man didn’t look anything that special; he doesn’t look like someone who could fight multiple other men and manage to wrangle out of their grapples; I need to find whatever this *sshole had and show it to August, she must have an idea about this, she’s a pharmacist, isn’t she.

“Woah-Woah-Woah—Mister, where are you going?!” Tyrone yelled, grabbing me by the shoulder,

“You’ll see, follow me both of you,” I replied and got off the car, by now the commotion grew in size and it’s probably impossible to get a closer look without having to confront that unstable junkie, but I don't want to take my chances against an irrational dr*ggie more so that I am injured right now, the brats were right behind me visibly shaken and frightened to even leave the car but they followed, I tried to squeeze in past the people.

“Where was the shop?!” I yelled to be heard amongst the sea of people.

“That way!” Marcello yelled as he pointed further ahead of the street, our group managed to squeeze past the commotion, and the people trying to stop the junkie also increased, still they were having no luck, we just trudged and pushed through the crowd as we got closer to our goal I felt a tug on my shirt, Tyrone grabbed the hem of my clothes as he pointed to another man wearing a baseball cap like I am.

“He’s one of the dealers!” he told me,

Great, so this guy probably has some with him. I nodded and gestured at them to follow closely as I grabbed the man by the back of his collar and slammed him to the ground. That’s enough to shake him up, it seems. I placed my foot on his neck, “I want what that guy’s having,” I said loud enough for him to hear and the man frowned in disbelief.

“Even after seeing that?!” He yelled,

“Especially after seeing that,” I affirmed,

“Like hell—eugh!” he was about to turn down, but I stepped on his neck harder, working my way to convince him.

I turned to the brats and pointed at the man, “Search him for it,” I instructed and they did. I made sure to pull out my gun to make sure our guy here won’t pull a fast one on us. They did as I told and started going through the man’s pockets and even in the inner pocket of his jackets.

‘These are some determined youths. Makes it look like they’ve done something like this before.’

It looks like they got what I needed as they showed me handfuls of yellow tablets cut separately while still in their plastic casings. I nodded at them, “Good, head back to the car,” I instructed, to which they did.

At that point, the man shoved my foot off his neck in a quick push and managed to sit up while grasping his throat.

‘He’s got to be faster than that if he wants to escape,’

I kicked him in the gut to bring him back lying on the floor with a groan, “Argh…son of a b***h,” he cussed and I almost agreed, but the kids probably managed to get back on the car by now, we need to bail. I gave the man one last kick to the face before running after the kids and to my mild f*cking amusement, the commotion with the feral junkie is still going.

There were five guys in total, two guys held onto each arm, another two held onto each leg and one guy was sitting on the torso keeping the junkie flat on the ground. They managed to restrain him now, but he’s still scuffling.

Either way, we need to go before people start chasing us.

I got in the car and the kids were already settled in the backseat. With all people around, I revved the engine and blared the horns to spread the crowd and part them enough for the car to push through, “Ah! We’re gonna run them over!” Tyrone yelled,

“Just say sorry,” I told him as I bumped a few cars and people as I squeezed through the street. They won’t die from this. Probably. We managed to exit the place, and I drove back to the dumpster site to drop them off and maybe get a few possible pursuers off our tail if there’s any. Once we got there, they immediately jumped off the car.

“Oh my God!” Tyrone gasped as he double-over, breathing heavily.

Marcello was also breathing heavily, but he did it in silence. I got off the car and opened my hand to them, “Give it here, not a single one left,” I instructed and they were more than willing to do so,

“Yeah, I don’t want to end up like that guy,” Tyrone said as he put two hands' worth of the yellow tablets on my hand, as did Marcello. The latter looked at me as he handed me his share.

“You’re not going to use these…right?” He asked,

“F*ck no, I know a person that can look into what’s in these,” I replied.

“..T-That’s good, will you get rid of them?” he followed,

Marcello didn’t look like the type to care about things like that, they were curious about this sh*t in the past, the only reason we know each other in the first place was because they were on drugs and messed with my stuff, I must’ve done something good when I decided to traumatize them that day.

Still, I don’t think it’s my job to get rid of s**t like this. I just shrugged, “We’ll see,” I replied, and he nodded as he went to Tyrone, who was still mumbling to amuse himself,

I got back in the car, “Go home,” I ordered. They better lie low after being seen in that area and helping me rob a f*cking drug dealer. I can't have them mess up and bring me down with them. With that I drove away, I felt like I needed to dispose of the car now that it's been in a place like that, so I made a stop at one of the gentrified areas of the city, went to the gasoline station, and doused the seats with gasoline.

I paid for it, of course, I’m an upstanding citizen of my country.

‘F*cking hilarious…’

After that I just went into a generally deserted alleyway, gather my stuff, shove the tablets in my pockets, get off, lit the car on fire, and walked away as I waited for a passing taxi to come around, it took a while and I walked some distance before I entered the slightly more populated areas of the town and a managed to flag down a taxi.

I got off, not at the clinic, but somewhere close, and I just walked the rest of the way. I was somewhat prepared for whatever sh*t they were about to throw at me for taking so long, let alone going out like it was a big deal but the intensity of which exactly just that happened was not something I anticipated.

The moment I went through the door, they all looked at me, initially not with any violent reactions, and it only lasted a second. Denis was the only one who maintained eye contact. “Got your cigs, you prick?” he asked.

“Yeah, and dr*gs too,” I replied as I fished out the plentiful amount of tablets from the pockets of my slacks and handed them to August, who accepted them with both hands, confusion all over her face. Madeline's eyes also widened at the sight.

“Uh…w-what are these, Valya?” she asked with furrowed brows.

“Dr*gs, apparently the effects are like super-strength at the expense of rationality,” I explained, and the room froze as Inka approached us and Madeline picked one up and surveyed it close,

“How did you get these?” Inka asked, picking one up and looking at it as August dropped them off on the counter and also surveyed them.

“What the hell did you do, Valya?” Denis chided in standing up from the couch,

“Yeah, and where’s Art,” Madeline followed,

I frowned at him, “How am I supposed to know that?” I replied, and the room froze again, as they looked at me with deep frowns.

“Art followed after you, you i***t,” Denis explained, crossing his arms.

‘What? Why would they just let her follow after me? Like I told her where I’d be,’

“I didn’t meet her,” I replied, and their expressions got darker. Madeline was first to sigh and rub his temples. Inka stepped away a bit and pulled out her phone, doing the next logical thing of calling Arthur, commendable. While that was happening, August gasped as she held a crushed tablet in her palm.

“What’s up?” Madeline asked with a worried tone as he leaned closer and that made August reflexively shove him off with her other hand,

“Don’t lean so close! This is a bootleg version of my project, this is ‘Ambrozia’, still connected to the Apex-men project… where did you find this?” she explained before asking me with a panicked and frightened tone,

“It was around those red-light areas,” I replied,

Denis cringed, “Why were you—”

“She’s not answering!” Inka yelled, cutting Denis off as she started pacing, trying to dial Arthur’s number again.

By now, I’m also starting to get nervous. No one thought that her following after me was a bad f*cking idea? There are five other brains here excluding me and Arthur, and no one thought that she shouldn’t have run after me?

“Still nothing,” Inka whispered, her brows already knitted and her eyes on alert.

‘F*cking damn it. Where the hell did Arthur go?’