It's a sunny afternoon on some street in some city in the middle of the summer. Two figures can be seen walking out of the back alleys. Despite being a city with a high criminality rate, the two of them seem quite tranquil. At least, on the outside. Because right now, the girl has just witnessed a murder and her pockets are full of money that some minutes ago wasn't there. And the older man, whose only peculiarity seems to be the bandages that cover up his face, has a shirt full of blood that belongs to the now-dead man lying in a dumpster behind them.
Actually, Zack wanted to leave the man the way he ended it (you see, he loves killing, but the corpses he would rather not touch them. Bad memories for him), but Rachel insisted that hiding the corpse would grant them some precious hours before anyone notices it.
He cleans his knife in his clothes and saves it. Zipping his hoodie and therefore hiding the bloody shirt, Zack smiles.
"Fucking finally, we got some rich dude! I mean, don't get me wrong, I love slicing up all kind of people, but that fuckin' guy? Hell, I would love if they all had their purse as full as that one. How much we got?"
"More than enough for a meal." Rachel keeps counting all the green little papers, careful not to mess up the numbers in her head. "Seems like this man was about to do some serious transaction. I mean, I doubt that anyone carries five thousand dollars in their pockets just for the sake of it."
"Who cares, that's enough for a burger, right?"
"Yeah" Zack mutters happily a 'Fuck yeah' under his breath. "But I doubt that we will be able to buy one with a five hundred bill."
"Well, fuck" Zacks seems to think about something. "Want me to kill and try luck with someone else?" the smile reappears on his face. Some people would see it as creepy, but Rachel would say that it's quite cute in his own way.
Rachel thinks about it, but something that was bothering her leads her to gaze behind the alley they just came out from.
"Zack, that body made me think…" Slowly, she looks back at him. "When are you going to fulfill your promise?"
Suddenly Zack's smile is gone and there is no longer any cheerfulness in his eyes. Rachel repeats herself.
"When are you going to kill me?"
"For fuck's sake, I heard you the first time! What are you, a broken music machine?" Ray's expression doesn't change, and Zack sights. He breaks eye contact and, turning his back on her, starts walking forward. "Ain't gonna kill ya' until I got a fucking decent burger."
Rachel watches him walk. She makes what could be considered a pout, but shakes her head. 'I have to make myself useful to Zack' thinks to herself while saving the money in her pocket.
She catches up to him.
Later that day, the sun has been obscured by clouds and the sky is covered with a soft drizzling rain. They're both sitting under a bridge with their still hot hamburgers in hand.
The river makes a nice background sound while Rachel is lost in thought. She glances at her meal, still warm but untouched, and then to Zack, who is about to finish his in two bites.
When he's done he takes another one from a bag sitting in his side and starts eating. The woman they run on to had just thirty dollars, but that's enough for quite some hamburgers. Rachel smiles softly remembering Zack's expression when picking as many hamburgers off the menu as he could.
She glances at the river again. There is always a dull sensation in the back of her mind and now is no exception. It's the same feeling that makes her eyes so dead, the one that makes her ask for death.
"It's gonna get cold"
Rachel snaps out of her mind and looks at Zack, unsure of what he just said.
"Your burger. It's gonna get cold" Repeats in a strange tone that is something between harsh and soft.
"Oh," She answers simply. "you're right."
Despite saying that, she doesn't move.
"Do you think…" she asks instead. "That if I eat this hamburger it will spread out when you kill me? Maybe it's best if I don't eat it."
"First, gross. Second, who fucking cares! Just eat it already dammit" Zack angrily shouts and keeps eating in big bites while not looking at her. Rachel sights.
"Do you no longer want to kill me?"
This makes Zack freeze. Suddenly the background noise of the river feels stronger, as it's the only sound between them. Slowly, he puts the almost finished burger back in the bag and takes some seconds to answer. When he does, his voice feels strangely soft.
"Just imagining that I'm slicing you makes me grin" With these words, a smile appears on his face. "I can see all the blood covering your body, and my hands start to itch." He then glances at her with a wide smile and eyes lost in thought. He brings a hand to her stomach. "I could stab you with my knife" he presses a finger against her, and she can feel her heart pounding. "Or maybe slice you with a pretty new scythe." He moves his hand higher to her neck and touches it softly with the point of his fingers. "Maybe a quick blow here would just do it right now."
His eyes find hers, and his smile slowly dies. He takes away his hands and Rachel slowly exhales the air she didn't know had been holding. Zack looks away and has to breathe slowly for some seconds.
"But you know I'm dumb as shit, so I would be stuck in here. Police have been a real pain in the ass now that they know how I look like, so it would be hard as hell to go anywhere by myself. That's why it's useful to keep you around for now"
Rachel nods, understanding. Then she takes a bit of her now cold hamburger. But her expression is still troubled and Zack catches that.
"You know what would be even more useful? So useful that I wouldn't even need you around?" This caught Rachel's attention. Zack smiles like a kid asking for a new toy. "A car."
Rachel swallows her food and starts thinking about it.
"That… would take time. We now have enough money for something like that, but we would still need documentation for it. The real thing would be really complicated, so maybe we'll have to find someone willing to make us a false one. Maybe if we stole one…? No, we risk bringing too much attention. Also, the plates…"
Zack can see the gears inside her head working, so he just chuckles and messes with her hair.
"You do your thing."
The quiet roads outside a lost city are in complete silence, this one broken only by the sounds the night owls make. The street lights light up softly the dark path. There is no blue moon in the sky and the trees next to the road block any light trying to get into the woods. It's a nice spring night, the wind moving gently the leaves, whispering an old lullaby to the animals in there.
This tranquility is abruptly broken when a black van drives through with a speed too far over the limit and two police cars behind them with their hooters in full volume. Despite the van going at its full velocity, the cars behind it seem to be slowly getting closer. The black van is about to reach a bifurcation and inside the vehicle raises chaos.
"Quick! Which way it is!" Rachel screams without actually raising her voice. Something that, in Zack's words, can only be done by her.
"I can't see shit, I don't know!" Zack actually screams.
"You have the map, tell me!" She turns slightly right and dodges a hole in the road, making them collision slightly to their left.
"UGH, THE MAP IS USELESS!" He roars and throws the map through the window. It gets caught on one of the cop's windshield, making the driver lost sight and fall into the hole in the road. It crashes and it tries to take control back, but the car collisions violently against one tree, catching fire instantly. Zack starts laughing frenetically. "Holy fucking shit did you see that?!"
"Zack!" She urges.
"I don't know! Right!" At the last instant, Rachel turns right, slightly touching the street signal with the back of the van. "Okay, now what."
"I don't know, you threw the map away" Rachel resigns herself.
"We don't need it anyway." Zack pulls out his head to watch the car behind them. "The cops are gettin' closer" a gunshot makes him pull his head back in reflex.
"I can't go any faster."
"Well, shit." Curses Zack.
"Don't you have any bullets left?"
"Used all of them in the other three cars"
"Well, shit" Rachel echoes his words. "What do we do?"
"You askin' me?" They share a fast glance. They're out of options, and if they just keep going they're gonna get caught. Zack gets that. "Okay then, there!."
Zack points to a barely visible path that goes inside the woods, and Rachel immediately follows. They almost miss the branch but the girl's quick reflexes save them. The van creaks in protest and they both get pulled to the right when they turn aggressively to the left. When the wheels touch the dirty and poorly maintained path the vehicle jumps but keeps going. They get some various seconds of an advantage thanks to the police car missing out on the branch.
There are many turns and the road makes it difficult, but Ray manages to go through with it. Then, suddenly, she lowers the speed and gets out of the road, turning off the lights.
"What the-"
"Shhh" She puts a hand over his mouth, silencing him. "Quiet".
They hear the police car approaching and they unconsciously hold their breath while pressing themselves against each other.
Thanks to the lack of light and the trees around them, the cops pass right through in a hurry. They watch as the car disappears and they just let out their breath when they can no longer hear anything.
Zack starts to laugh.
"Tits on fuckin' Christ, Ray, you're certainly something" He starts messing with her hair, and Rachel lets herself smile. "Who would've guessed you could drive that way!" She finally chuckles under his words.
After some minutes celebrating and picking gently on each other, they fall in silence. Rachel talks.
"Still, we have to keep going. They could still come back" She turns on the engine and puts the van back on track. She drives through the way they came in and appear in the road they were first into.
While they drive through the dark road a comfortable silence settles between them, which Zack beaks after some minutes.
"Who would've thought that a little-stolen van could cause so much noise".
"Well, considering that this van was from that mafia-guy, I would say that five police cars were better than any mafia trucks. I mean, the police will try to get us alive if possible.
"I know, I know" He rolls his eyes. "I know how the shitty mafia works. They're all assholes I hate to deal with."
"Maybe if you hadn't killed their boss they wouldn't have called the cops on us.
"Should've given us the documentation right away instead of fuckin' around," Zack remembers how the old shit kept asking more money. Then, he said that he would give him the papers if he let him some hours alone with Ray. He had the balls to show him the already finished papers when asking that shit. He punched him so hard he broke his neck. Pity. "Anyways, I'm sure nobody's gonna miss him. Surely someone took his place already. I made them a favor."
After killing him, he took the papers and a bunch of keys from the old shits desk and they got on the run slicing and shooting anyone that got in their way. They could dodge most of them thanks to the keys, blocking and opening any doors they needed. After jumping off a window of the building, the van was the first thing they saw so they broke the back window and got inside. Only after they got in they realized they had the van's key within the other keys.
"But we won and that's what matters." Zack smiles. "Those fuckers would've never seen it coming. We got the papers, we got the car and we're rocking it". Zack raises a closed fist to Ray. "We did it".
She looks at him, at his hand, and bumps her own fist against his with a little smile.
"Yeah, we did it."
Silence fills the van again, and Rachel keeps her eyes on the road. A thought is in the back of her head, constantly pressing, and after what seems like a small eternity, she speaks.
"Does this mean you're finally going to kill me?"
She doesn't really see it but can sense Zack's body tense. He has his head pressed against the window so she can't see his expression.
Rachel hadn't really brought up their promise since their. conversation under the bridge, but now seems like the right time.
She doesn't think of herself as someone deserving of life, and her intrusive thoughts are always coming up with new ways to die and telling her that it's the correct thing to do. She imagines Zack's smile over her while life gently leaves her, and that makes her shiver.
So maybe now is the right time?
"...the guns have not bullets. And killin' ya with my knife doesn't seem right." He talks like he's deciding what he wants for dinner. "Maybe we could get another scythe since my old one got destroyed in the building. Man, I miss it."
Rachel doesn't say anything and keeps driving. Before she can open her mouth, Zack keeps talking.
"Also, I need to learn how this shit works. If I don't know how to drive, I would be as well as death, right?"
"I guess…?"
"Yeah, so, that's that. You teach me how to drive, then I'll kill you"
Rachel doesn't know how to feel exactly, but when she sees Zack's childish smile, she smiles as well. She can't help it but mirror his happy mood, and she decides that being some more time alive won't hurt her.
After all, she wants to be as useful as possible to him.
Rain falls strongly, making a metallic sound when it collides with the black van. Winter is near, and the chill air makes Rachel shiver. She's sitting inside the back of the van covered in sheets. The back doors are open and she can see the views of the mountain they're on. She watches silently the lights of a near city, and the slightly different colors of the sky despite being covered in clouds. She guesses the sun will soon rise.
She hears a groan behind her and turns to see Zack waking up. He's sleeping in the mattress they have in the back of the vehicle, all the sheets scattered around. He slowly opens his eyes. Rachel follows every little movement with a strange warm feeling.
"Morning" He says.
"Morning" She answers.
He sits up and comes near her while stretching. He glares outside at the rain.
"What a shitty day."
"I like it. It's calming."
"Meh" He doesn't refute her.
They sit like that, watching quietly as the rain falls. Zack had been driving all the previous day, and they have actually been evading the police successfully for quite a while now. A sharp scythe is lying near her, their most recent treasure obtained from another psycho killer roaming in the city below.
Now in the tranquility of the sunrise Rachel ask again.
"Are you going to kill me now, Zack?"
"Nah" he doesn't even hesitate. "A rainy day won't do it. We need a sky full of stars or somethin', or I won't enjoy it as much"
"And when will that be?"
"I don't know, I'm not a fucking seer. We'll have to wait and see."
Rachel isn't stupid, and she knows that Zack's just making up excuses. He doesn't say he won't kill her (because he's not a liar) but he doesn't either tell her when will it happen.
But Rachel knows Zack. They've been together for quite a time now and she knows how to read him. She knows he wants to kill her. She sees how he glances at her neck, at his scythe and at her again. How his eyes get lost while he grins with that grin when they're alone. For instance, he had had a lot of opportunities but didn't take any of them.
And Rachel is quite clever and she can easily connect the dots. She understands that Zack wants to kill her, but he also wants her to stay with him. Because she's the first and only person he can trust. The only one he can talk with and stay with while feeling comfortable. And if she dies, he would enjoy it, but then he would have nothing.
Zack desires her in life and in death, and that's all for Rachel.
That's why she doesn't tell him anything. Because Zack is all she cares for, and she wants to be useful to him. She will do anything.
He's all for her and she's all for him.
"Okay," she finally replies. "When the sky is full of stars, then."
They don't say anything more, and they just enjoy the sound of the rain in silence, the shadow of a silent promise between them.