The next morning, Max awoke feeling groggy and disoriented, the weight of his dream clinging stubbornly to his limbs. Despite the fog in his mind, duty called, so he pushed himself upright and swung his legs out of bed. The cold morning light was barely beginning to filter through the curtains, casting a pale glow across the room.
Later that evening Max prepared to execute the final stages of his plan; he had spent the last several hours after school making sure everything was in place. He was in an alley about 100 meters from the store. It was there that he found the duffel bag he''d stored the previous day, carefully strapped underneath a dumpster. In the duffel bag was everything Max needed to do his job, a black long sleeve shirt, gloves, and a black ski mask – and most importantly was his gun, a Glock 17 automatic pistol.
He quickly got changed, equipped his piece, and made his way straight to the store. Based on his previous observation, and from Ava''s reconnaissance there was no sign that the owner had a gun behind the counter, so Max figured the odds of him having to use his were low, but that being said Max would not hesitate to pull the trigger if he had to.
Just like every other day this month it was foggy outside, and Max intended to use that to his advantage. He quickly crossed the street, carefully peering into the store windows as he did, and as Max suspected there were no customers inside.
He barged in from the front, and pulled out his gun, pointing it at Luis who was busy restocking one of the aisles. After turning, and seeing Max the man was too shocked too move. He instinctively raised his hands above his head as if he was under arrest, but it was clear he still didn''t know what was happening.
"Get on the fucking ground, now!" Red yelled quickly approaching Luis – his voice muffled, and disguised behind the ski mask.
The man seemed to sputter, barely able to speak or react to Max''s words, and when the man bent down he seemed to fall, his hands slamming against the cold tiles. Without skipping a beat Max pulled his leg back, and then with all the force he could muster, aimed a kick straight for the mans skull. There was a loud crack as the front of his foot connected with his cheek, and the man fell over on his back, blood spewing out of his mouth, blending in with the red floor
"Pleashe, I-I have a f-family." Luis pleaded, his English broken, and nonsensical, his hands holding his head for protection, and to somehow ease the pain.
The bell signaling that the entrance was opening had sounded, and Luis made a desperate cry for help, but all Ava did was take the "open" sign on the door, and turn it around. Then she checked all the windows, and then made her way to the back to check the back entrance, all the while Luis begged, and pleaded for his life. Red kicked the man again, but this time in his stomach knocking the air out of his lungs, so instead of begging and pleading he was coughing, and choking, his head probably still ringing from the first kick.
Next it was Draco who made his entrance, "Woah Red, guess great minds think alike!" He said revealing his piece, and waving it around carelessly. Draco then began knocking over aisles, he grabbed glass bottles from the cold section, and started throwing them all over the store shattering glass, and sending shrapnel all over the room. Then, he revealed a pocketknife from under his ski mask, and ran through the store cutting open every bag of chips, candy bar, and bakery item available spilling them all over the floor.
Still conscious Luis desperately tried to scream, the air finally back in his lungs, but Red stomped on his jaw so the next thing to come out of the man''s mouth were not words, but his own teeth coupled with more of his blood. Now it was nothing but a low pitched, gurgled groan that escaped him.
Red turned and looked at Draco who was now standing on one of the shelves in an aisle he left alone. He had his back to Max, and was now relieving himself all over the floor, and into some of the food as if he was an animal marking his territory.
After he was done he made his way to Luis, and flipped him over as the man sobbed in silence.
"Just gonna go ahead, aaaaaand yep, there we go!" He said taking the man''s wallet from his back pocket.
"Why don''t you just take what''s in the register?" Red said clearly annoyed with Draco, his voice muffled, and gaunt.
"Yeah, yeah don''t worry I will I will." Draco replied without sparing as much as a glance in Max''s direction, instead he gleefully opened the man''s wallet, and while Max couldn''t see his face he was positive that Draco was smiling. "Trash, and trash, and even more trash." Draco said dumping the contents onto the ground, many of the items soaking in Luis''s blood.
"Oooh, finally something interesting! We got some family photos in here!" This seemed to generate a reaction out of the man as he started to squirm even more, like a mammal desperate for air. Luis somehow escaped his pain for a brief moment latching his hand onto Draco''s ankle. But the boy raised his other foot, and slammed it onto Luis''s arm as hard as he could forcing another bloodcurdling scream out of the man as he reeled his arm in to his chest for protection, holding it like a baby.
"This will be a lot easier if you just shut up." Red said, "and keep your hands to yourself."
"Hey, man take a look at this, I think you might find it a bit interesting!" Draco said, and once again although Max couldn''t see his face he knew that Draco was smiling about something sinister.
Red sighed, and moved to the other side of Luis''s body so he could take a look at the photo Draco was referring to. As soon as Max laid eyes on the picture his heart stopped, and everything in the room became jumbled, and dizzy, he almost fell over, catching his hand on one of the shelves, he swallowed hard, and felt his body start to shake. That family photo was a picture of Luis himself, along with his daughter Lily, and his wife who Max didn''t recognize, but worst of all, was their son Richard, the same Richard that Max practiced track with, the same Richard that helped him with Kacey, the same Richard that Max was growing to like, and care about. How the hell did he overlook this? How could this have happened?Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
Draco simply dropped the photo without a care in the world, it fluttered aimlessly to the ground, landing in Luis''s blood among the other content from his wallet.
Breaking him out of his stupor was a loud knocking noise coming from the back entrance. "Red, we have a problem." Ava said, her voice coming from the break room.
"Oh! Looks like we have company!" Draco said with a sly sneer.
"Watch him!" Max said to Draco as he quickly made his way to the break room.
Ava was standing over a computer monitor which was divided into four screens each one showing a different part of the store. The quality was low, and the videos themselves were black and white, but in the top right corner Max could see an overview of what looked like the back of the store, the camera must''ve been focused on the back entrance. And standing there was someone neither Max nor Ava could discern, but they kept knocking on the door, over and over again.
Max quickly made his way back to Luis. "Hey! Who is that at the door!" Max asked, but he received no answer, the man was too delirious from the previous attacks to say anything coherent. "Hey, hey!" Max said getting on his knees, and slapping the man over and over again to snap him out of his hysteria, the blood from Luis''s clothes seeping into Max''s black sweatpants.
"N-New h-h-ir"
"New hire?" Draco repeated. "That''s hilarious." He said starting to laugh. "Bet you didn''t anticipate that Red, see that''s why it''s better to go in guns blazing because even the best plans can''t account for everything!"
"No, but I- "He thought back to his conversation with Luis on Monday.
"Are you guys hiring by chance?" Max asked with a wide smile, he rubbed the back of his head in an attempt to feign nervousness.
"Oh, no kid sorry. I don''t need any more help."
The answer itself was inconclusive. It either meant that Luis worked alone, or it meant that he''d already had extra help, but Ava had watched the store the last few days and never saw anyone which either meant that the workers either did the morning shift or Luis was the one and only worker, Max never even thought of the possibility that he had a new hire.
"Dammit!" Max thought.
He shook his head for a minute, and took another deep breath. No, this is fine, he figured. They were still disguised, and still had time on their side. That being said, it was essential that they escaped out the back door, which meant they had two options. Either one, they could wait for the new hire to leave which was a major risk by itself, or...
"Draco, bring them in, and shut them up, put them right here next to Luis!"
"Sure, thing Red!" Draco said twirling his gun around his finger, and making his way to the back door. Once there, he threw it open, grabbed the suspect by their hair, and yanked them into the room.
Despite a few complications Max figured everything was going to plan. The fact that this was Richards dad was a huge oversight on his part, but nothing that he couldn''t recover from; also the fact that he was as close to Richard as he was meant that he''d be less of a suspect once the police began to question Luis after this whole ordeal was over.
"Merry Christmas Red!" Draco yelled, as he slammed the butt of his gun against Gabby''s head, then he reeled her back by her hair and slammed the gun into her right eye. She yelped, and screamed in total terror before falling over next to Luis. She wasn''t unconscious though, instead she held her bleeding eye with one hand, and after looking over at Luis, she let out a wail so ugly, and so guttural even Ava found herself watching from the break room. Draco went to punch her again, but Max grabbed his hand, and stopped him.
"Its'' time to go."
"Alright, alright Red, but let me at least return the man''s wallet, I mean manners amiright?"
Max felt his eyes start to blur, but he pushed that feeling away, and used his fingers to wipe the sweat from his eyes helping him to refocus himself. Max let go of Draco''s hand, and the boy quickly revealed the wallet.
"There''s just one more photo I wanted to talk about."
"We don''t have time." Max said angrily, his temper rising, but Draco ignored him, and revealed the picture.
"Now this brings back memories. It''s been so long since I''ve seen this face."
What the hell is he doing now?
Max looked down at Gabby who was sobbing uncontrollably, the tears melding with her blood drying her face with a vibrant horrible red, her eye black, and purple already bruised and contorted, and her shirt soaked in either tears or blood, who''s blood Max could not tell. He felt his body start to convulse, his insides working against him, he was nauseous now, again leaning against a shelf unsure of his next move.
Draco''s taunts started to agitate Luis again, his desperate cries echoed through the room. Max could barely make out anyone''s words anymore, Luis''s begging, Draco''s taunts, Gabby''s crying all seemed to meld together into an inescapable hell.
"She was my first victim Red, stuffed her right in my pack like a book, and she fit real good too, the young ones always do. Didn''t think I''d ever see her again, I''m getting all nostalgic lookin'' at this picture ya know?"
Draco sighed deeply, as if reminiscing about the past before taking one last look at the photo. "Oh well, hope this isn''t your last picture of her! Honestly, I''m kinda upset because I thought I was the last person to look at that cute little face! Sure, I guess I do deserve some credit for being the last person to see her alive, but this still hurts man. Anyway..." Draco tore the picture in half, and then into quarters, and then once again before sprinkling the pieces onto Luis''s body followed by his wallet.
"Hey Red, I think I''m about ready to go."
Max was unable to process what he was hearing. He was still staring at Gabby on the ground, her arms covered over Luis as if she had any chance at protecting him, his eyes then drifted to the photo of Luis, and his family that was face up, and soaking in Luis''s blood, and finally he looked up and all around the store, he was in complete disarray, looking at all the destruction like a lost puppy desperately searching for its owner.
"Hello earth to Red, you in there buddy?"
That''s right, he was on an assignment, Raguel had asked him to hurt Luis, and to tear up the man''s store. He was supposed to do that with two new recruits, Ava and Draco. He''d just met them a couple of days ago, and needed to prove himself as a leader. If he did that for a handful of assignments he''d be given the new Azrael title, a title that was mysterious, and suspicious in its own right, but it was still a step up for Max, and that''s why he agreed to it, but-
Before his train of thought continued the right side of his face suddenly felt hot, and alive as if it was on fire. He turned toward the perpetrator, and saw that it was Ava - she had slapped him straight across the face, her hand still in the air. Max brought two fingers to his cheek, and felt it as the pain slowly subsided.
"Are you done?" She asked irritate, her face tense, and cold. She was angry, but at himself or at Draco he could not tell.
Max shook his head one last time, and immediately dug into Luis''s pockets for a phone. Without asking he grabbed Draco''s pocket knife from him, and immediately stabbed the phone hard enough piercing it, and breaking it in one blow, and then he threw it across the room. As he hesitantly looked for Gabby''s, Ava was already a step ahead, and had her phone in hand, breaking it herself before throwing it across the store.
"Alright, let''s go." Max said, his composure returning to him.
And that''s what the three did, the trio hurried out the back door, and disappeared into the fog leaving Luis, and Gabby alone in their misery.