Max's POV:
I couldn't help but gaze at Carlos, his eyes froze on mine across the rain, lit with a concentrated hate that stuck me to the floor. That feeling, it found echo in me. With all the gut impulses of violence my finger pressed harder on the trigger.
But at that point, sticking its head out like a piece of driftwood, one though pulled me back to the surface from the bottomless pit of insanity and jealousy Sunshine smartly threw us in: She loved him.
If I didn't love her too, maybe I would've wished for him to die right there and let the way open for me. I confess that for a mad second I felt the temptation, but then I realized I could never do it, and me, who once suffered so much with the loss of loved ones could never be the one to inflict such pain in someone I cared so deeply for. It also seemed to me that even if I shot him, it would be useless, that the feeling I saw in her eyes while trying to revive him was so intense, it couldn't leave an open door for an old love to return and reclaim his place.
Carlos' POV:
I closed my eyes and stood still, waiting for death to come to me from end of Payne's gun.
Right then I didn't doubt he would pull the trigger at all, and to be honest, at his place I guess would've done the same.
Out of a proud effort, I kept my face as still as possible. I didn't want to give the guy any satisfaction by showing just how leaving life at the point where everything was perfect would be painful, and how much he was going to take from me.
But Max turned, spinning on his heels and discharged his clip on a confused Sunshine.
I was still unable to believe that he wasn't going to pop my brains out, while I watched the priest's body pumping up and down on the ground under the bullets, like a rag doll from hell.
But I wasn't convinced...
If Payne had a clue what kind of enemy he was facing. I remembered our encounter at that fucking boat, and if he wasn't dead after the explosion, I was pretty sure a few rounds of ammo would never be enough for him.
Turns out I was right. His immortal hand grabbed the front of the gun, blocking it. With a kick, his arm snapped forward, slamming the weapon on Max's nose. For the first time ever, I didn't feel satisfaction for seeing him get fucked up. The guy's surprise was such, he did nothing to counter. A hand covering his bleeding nose, the cop fell on his sides over the muddy grounds.
In the meantime, Sunshine recovered his rod from the ground and his two hands raised above his head, ready to finish the cop. I didn't even think about what I did next: I sprinted towards them and gathered speed, sliding on the earth as I pushed Max out of the way and knocked down The Samedi with a low kick. The tip of his blade still pierced my shoulder, but since it was no big deal I still could kick his face freely, helped by my unlikely ally.
I felt Max's hands pulling on my arm and I promptly understood what he meant: This was a lost fight, we had to get out of there. We got up stumbling around like two drunks, our feet sinking in the mud. In a brief second we stood face to face, all the hostile feelings still present. It was mutual, we hated each other! But now weirdly, there was something else and dissonant, mixed to it. Forgiveness? Obligation? I'll never know.
We didn't have much time to acknowledge it: Through the sound of rain, we heard someone honk and two lights came in our direction crossing the circle.
'Guys! Get out of the way!' The Boss poked her head at the window.
We gladly and immediately withdrew to the sides and she put the Limo on reverse.
The car stopped as she burned tires to get more impact, it was having a hard time to do so since the wheels spun into nothing over the wet track.
Finally, it went off full throttle and hit Sunshine, sending him unpleasantly flying a few meters from where we were.
Without waiting, The Boss turned the gear and hit reverse again, charging over his limp body. Sunshine dragged himself on the floor, trying to get away from it, but The Limo rolled over him with all its weight while we stood there stupefied by the bizarre scene, hearing the sound of his bones breaking.
The engine roared one more time, mercilessly repeating the maneuver to the point no living being could survive its consequences anymore.
Finally, Sunshine was nothing but a deformed mass of flesh, abandoned and still over the puddles.
'What the fuck…' I sighed with relief, resting my hands on my knees.
'Get in!' She rolled to our spot and opened the door for us.
Exhausted, I was delighted at the idea to go inside and out of that bad trip of insanity, hallucinations and shitty weather.
But we should've known better… Before I had the time to do so, Sunshine was up again. He looked like a zombie version of himself. There was a hole in his neck, a blood trail lining down from it until his shoulder like a dark shawl.
I dodged his blow just in time, the skull rod shattered the glass and made a hole on the glass of the window. I grabbed his hand to prevent a second strike, surprised at the inhuman strength of his muscles against mine.
'You're kidding me?! How many times do we have to fucking kill you?' Our driver complained, angry.
I was face to face with the Devil, not knowing how long I would be able to hold it when I turned my head and heard The Boss scream to Max:
'Here! Cut his head off!' She picked up a machete displayed as a piece of decoration on the walls of the Limo and tossed it to Max.
In the same motion he grabbed the weapon in the air and swung it down. Sunshine's head detached with a hot squish and fell defeated between my feet.
Fucking gross.
Gat realized that they were almost unable to see two meters ahead.
His throat closed, he inhaled but nothing happened and still needed air.
Without thinking, the three Saints hanged on each other for guidance and rushed out the place, helping the crew to evacuate as well.
In the middle of a long line of people eager to come out for air, preceded by Shaundi and followed by Gat as the last one, the gang called out for one another. The number of members increased on their way out while pressing on each other.
On the upper part, however, part of the old ceiling collapsed. It almost blocked the entire passage to the outside but luckily it left enough space for one to squeeze through.
Shaundi rolled out first, opening the double doors of the church and a delicious breath of fresh air hit them. One by one, everyone started to crawl under the space on the structure. Gat let them pass, lifting the wood to help.
Slowly, but without any major problem, most of the gang made it safely outside, until Johnny realized that this tall dude stopped in front of them. Gat stretched his neck to see what was going on and saw the man checking worried on one of his feet, that was bare:
'My pumps! I lost one! They are the exact same model that Kanye West…!'
In all his states, this guy started to explain something about Ebay while trying to look for it and holding up the line.
'Pierce.'
With a hard frown Gat recognized the Lieutenant, wanting to punch his face for thinking of his godamn kicks at a time like that. He and the whole crew behind complained:
'Fuck your shoes Pierce, just go!' Johnny decided himself grabbing him by the shirt and almost shoved his friend through the opening, pissed.
Max's POV:
'You alright?' I asked Valentina as we both jumped on the back seat.
'Just fine, you?' She asked, turning her profile to me as the car tore off the site. I nodded as in one leap, we bypassed the consuming circle. And boy, was I glad to leave it behind.
Honestly, what was that? I never left a place so creeped out before. I swear, that name. I didn't dare to repeat it, not even in my head, by fear of bringing back that panic I felt when Sunshine implied that I used to… Never mind. I was probably getting soft with age to start buying paranormal crap like that, yet strangely it all made sense. It was like somewhere in my mind I knew she and I couldn't be together, and that it happened before that the three of us met and I had to sacrifice our relationship.
I would have a strange dream that night about that subject, but that's another story*… For the time being it's enough to say that, discouraged, I let myself go numbly along with the ride.
My depressed musing was interrupted by a ringtone, I heard she picking up but, uninterested, I was focused on watching the rain outside:
''Sup Gat?'
Her pal's voice was not only breathless, but also panicked:
'The whole place is on fire Boss! We evacuated everyone…!'
'On my way, Gat.' She answered, all resolution.
It was terrible news, but I couldn't give more of a fuck. I was heartbroken.
'It hurts so damn much.' I thought as we speeded up towards the Hideout.
Carlos' POV:
After crossing town in a very bumpy ride, we parked with a slide at the entrance of the Hideout. I never saw so many bodies together in my whole life. It was pretty safe to assume that we killed most of the gang and that only by a miracle the Samedi could recover after that.
The floor was literally covered in green. Some gangbangers were hanging dead from the inside of their many vehicles and even missing body parts, explosion marks on the brick walls of the buildings behind. Some cars were on fire and I would know later, by Gat, that Tobias came as a reinforcement spitting lead from above in his chopper.
The Heli, by the way, was right in front of us and knocked out. Its black carcass turned to the side also darkened by flames.
The calm after the storm, I was assigned to loot the dead bodies with Tobias. We were carrying our valuables and ammo back home when he was surprised to see me suddenly stop on my tracks as we reached the corner of the Mission House.
In front of us, there was a man and a woman sitting more apart from the others, on the sidewalk.
His arm was passed around her shoulders and she had her hands over his face, caressing his beard with a tender gesture.
Max.
My girlfriend.
I was suffocated with rage and hurt. There he was, always in our path, again responsible for another scene that had the power to bring the worst in me.
Just like my double from the hallucination, I was once more feeling that hollowness on my stomach, that burning anger associated with the loss of the one I loved more than myself. I panted, letting out air as if trying to spit that thing out of me. I couldn't bear it inside any longer.
The cop ex boyfriend or priest from another life... Would this impossible hypothesis that he really existed explain the instinctive dislike I've always had for that man?
I watched, irrationally hurting, how their silhouettes bound together in a tender embrace. I walked towards them in large and angry steps, ready to drag her away from him but halted as I listened to their dialogue and understood what all of this was really about:
'You really love him, don't you?' Max was asking her bluntly.
'I do.' The Boss replied humbly, unable to hide her feelings.
From my place, I was now petrified, stuck to the floor by a perfect, unmixed happiness that made all that what I've been through so far worth it.
I addressed to God my immense gratitude for Him granting me what I wanted the most in my life.
I suspected it, of course, but not even in my wildest dreams I thought that I could be deserving of being loved like that by that woman.
'So, us…?' Max looked in her eyes with expectation, as if he needed to hear it from her mouth in order to move on.
The Boss understood it and gave him a sad smile, I guessed she didn't want to say anything and hurt his feelings further. He got it and I saw the cop's head sunk to his chest for a while, after nodding slowly a few times.
Half casually, half moved, Payne passed his fingers on my girlfriend's cheek and I couldn't help to wince and look away in order not to see this gesture of affection:
'Know that even if things didn't turned out the way I expected, I will always think of you very dearly. Don't matter what people say, you've brought light and only good things into my life.'
'You know I love you, right? It changed, but... I will always love you Max. I'ld go to the end of the world for you.' She guaranteed, a tear trailing down her face.
'I know.' He replied with a bittersweet smirk.
She hugged him and he reciprocated for a short moment, then kindly pushed himself out of it and walked away. The Boss watched him leaving for a while, then turned on her heels without noticing me and went to rejoin the crew that was gathering in front of the Hideout.
From my side I understood that even if she would always care for him, since I showed up in the picture that guy was just friend she loved very much. And that, nor Max, nor anyone in the world would ever be a threat to what we had.
He kept coming my way and when he saw me standing at the corner, didn't stop. Just kept passing without looking at me.
I can't lie, there were still the worst possible feelings, of course. I couldn't choose how I felt, right? But I could choose to change how things were. Seal a pact of peace and do my best for us to get along.
So I halted the man by the shoulder, offering, just like back in the party, my hand for a handshake. And despite everything that happened he accepted it without hesitation. It put me a bit at shame of myself as I would never be a person like that.
'I wanted to say… Thanks, sincerely. I owe you a lot and…' I laughed, awkwardly, trying to find a way to say it. 'Won't bulshit you, it ain't easy for me to admit but I know The Boss cares a lot about you, and I, well, I respect you Max.'
Max stared back silently at me as he lit a cigarette.
I felt almost sympathy for him when he tapped on my shoulder with these friendly blue eyes and said before going away:
'Likewise. You two watch out after each other.'
He went his way and I turned, free of a weight and walked to the crowd. The Boss smiled widely when she saw me stepping into it.
She walked in my direction, slowly, and in a very sweet gesture leant her head on my chest in front of the entire crew.
Behind us, people reacted and made surprised noises.
In response I leant closer and gave her a long and deep kiss on the lips, confirming what everyone guessed.
With a blast the gang broke into applause and whistles, an over excited sea of screaming voices. It continued like that for more than three minutes as we both stared at them and at each other, grinning.
Shaundi, Pierce, Gat, my friend Bruno and Tobias. It meant a lot to me that all of them were very supportive of the news.
'What now, Boss?' Gat asked the question everyone had in their minds after the noise faded, contemplating the smoking remains of the Mission House.
She shrugged in her blasè way, turning her head sideways and half closing her eyes pensively. I had the impression that she was already coming up with a plan:
'We'll need a new place for a while.'
*Max will share his dream with us and explain the mystery linking him to Carlos and The Boss in a separated fic I plan to upload someday.
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