The Way to a Man's Heart Isn't by Crushing His Ego Chapter 21: Gotta Watch that First Step, It's a Lil' Flimsy!
"Run, man, run!" the man with the red beard yelled as he and his friend ran through the sandy pathways. The sounds of gunshots got closer and closer.
"I'm runnin'!" the man with the black ponytail replied. His name was John, but he hated that name. In their gang almost everyone had a nickname. His was Dino. (Yes, I know it's dumb, but they aren't the most intelligent people.)
"Man, this chick is fast!" the red headed man shouted as he glanced back and saw Riza. She wasn't that far behind, but had to stop firing to reload her gun. His name was Ben, but he hated his name, too. He called himself The Big Red. "She's not watching us. Hurry, let's get in here!" he shouted as they ran through the mess of buildings and slipped a little on the sand. They ducked into the nearest building, just as Roy had done earlier.
I saw that. Riza's eyes flashed with flames when she saw the men trying to trick her. She followed them into the building, but they were no where to be found.
The building was pretty empty. Only hunks of rotting wood and broken glass sat on the floor. It was also dark in the room. Some of the windows had been covered by boards, blocking out the light. The wind blew, pushing on the old wooden building, causing it to make a cracking noise. Riza quickly pointed her gun at the moaning ceiling. This building isn't very stable. She thought when she saw lots of the wood on the ground used to be part of the ceiling. Better not go up there; you'll fall through the roof. Riza told herself as her amber eyes traced the ceiling for any hints of a weak point that could collapse on her. When she didn't find any around her she started walking in. She was careful not to step on any of the glass in fear the men would hear it and know where she was.
"Do you see her?" Big Red whispered.
"Yes, she's right below us," Dino replied. They had climbed up to the second floor and were watching Riza through the small cracks in the floor. Only one of Dino's milky blue eyes was seen through the crack.
"I see her now," Big Red said as he pushed Dino away a little so he could see. Now two eyes were seen in the crack. Red's eyes were brown. It looked a little strange, seeing two eyes of a different color peeking through a floor board.
"Hey, don't push!" Dino shouted.
Riza's gaze shot up to the ceiling where she heard Dino shout. They're on the second floor. Looks like I have no choice. She thought as she looked around. In the back of the building held the stairs. They were rotting and falling apart. Some of the stairs didn't even have a step. She'd have to jump over those.
"Oh crap!" they both shouted when they saw Riza heading for the stairs.
Riza looked up again when she heard the men's pounding feet on the floor. Not the best masters of disguise I take it. Then she started up the stairs again. Her footing was precise and graceful. She didn't make any noise or falter when she had to jump a step or two. You could tell she was very experienced when it came to sneaking up on people.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Dino shouted in a whisper as he tried to rush Big Red up the dangerous stairs. They were going up to the third floor. They got out of sight and picked a new spot to spy from just as Riza had made it to the second floor.
The second floor looked much like the first, only it was a little brighter. The farther up you got, the brighter in got. Not many people lived on the higher up levels so there was no need to reinforce the walls or cover the windows.
"I see her, I see her," Big Red whispered proudly. He had never done anything before Dino did.
"Hmmm…" a little voice was heard coming from the corner of the room. "I wonder what they are up too?" the voice belonged to a little girl. She was about five or six years old. She had long messy black hair. Her skin was a little tanned, but not too dark. Her eyes were brown, and she was missing a few teeth. She wore a cute little tan dress that didn't have sleeves and hung down to her knees, no shoes. She stayed out of sight from Dino and Big Red, but peeked through a crack to see what they were looking at.
Where did they go? Riza asked herself as she looked over the area. Her gun was raised and ready to fire. I'm not playing around here boys. I'm not in the best of moods today.
"Oooooohhhhhhoooo," the little girl's brown eyes widened when she saw Riza. She's so pretty.
"She's going that way!" Dino loudly whispered as he watched Riza. She was nearing the next flight of stairs.
Dino and Big Red lifted themselves off the floor and tried to move to the next crack behind them to keep Riza in their range of sight.
"Ow!" Big Red snapped.
Riza's head popped up again. They're on the third floor? How did I miss that? She wondered as she started up the stairs.
"What's wrong?" Dino asked as he looked over at Big Red, their attention was completely taken off Riza.
"I got a splinter in my finger," Big Red whined as he stuck his thumb in his mouth.
The little girl gave him an annoyed stare. Baby. She thought to herself. Huh? Her attention was diverted from the two men to the stairs at the other end of the room. She saw blond hair coming into view. "Oh boy," she whispered and hid, out of sight.
There they are. Riza smirked as she snuck up on the two men. Their backs were facing her, giving her a better chance to approach them without being noticed.
"Here, let me see it," Dino said reaching for Big Red's thumb.
"Nut-uhmmmm," Big Red whined, must like a little kid does when they get hurt and don't want their mother to touch the wound. He wasn't crying, but you could see tears in his eyes.
"Come on," Dino replied, "Just a little peek," he said as he grabbed Red's hand and pulled it out of Red's mouth.
"Nuuuuuuooooooooooo!" Big Red whined.
"Uh?" Riza lowered her gun and looked at the men questionably.
They're gonna get it. The little girl said as she watched from the shadows. There was a big smile on her face. She knew Dino and Big Red, so she knew something very amusing was about to happen.
"Don't touch it, don't touch it! DON'T TOUCH IT!" Big Red cried as he tried to pull his hand away. Dino held it firm, looking over the splinter. "It stings!" he whined, slamming his other fist down on the wooden floor.
Riza's body tensed with rage. This was truly annoying her over acting hormones. "If you slam your fist down like that you're going to get a splinter in that arm!" she snapped.
Both of their big, greasy, dirty heads shot up and stared at her. Riza stared back at them, her eyes flaming. They stayed staring like that for a minute or two. Then they heard the little girl in the corner yell out, "You're going to have to wait a second, lady! They have delayed reactions!"
"Uh?" Riza looked over to where the voice had come from.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" the two men screamed as their brains finally clicked on.
"Eh?" Riza's attention went back to them.
"AHHHHHH! AHHHHHH! AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" the men screamed as they scrambled to get away.
"Hm!" Riza grumbled a bit as she lifted her gun to shoot.
"AHHHHHHH!" they continued to scream. Riza had them dead in her sights. She was about to pull the trigger when a loud crack cut through the once still silence, and pile of dust appeared and the men disappeared.
"Huh?" Riza stared in confusion. Then she heard moaning from down below.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" she heard the little voice cracking up on the other side of the room. "I love it when they do that!" the little girl said as she walked out into the light.
"What?" Riza asked more confused then ever. She watched the small child walk over to where the men had disappeared.
"Dino, Red, are you ok?" she yelled down to the second floor.
Riza watched her. She then walked over beside the little girl. As she approached her she saw a huge hole in the floor. She looked down the hole and saw the two men lying on the ground, dirt and dust all over them, broken pieces of wood underneath them. "What the?"
"Don't worry, they do that a lot," the girl said as she looked up at Riza with a smile.
"I see," Riza replied in an unsure voice as she looked from the little girl and back down to the men.
They moaned and whined as they began rubbing their sore backs. Pieces of wood weren't the most comfortable thing to land on.
"Oooohhhhhhhooooo," Dino whined as he slowly opened his eyes and saw Riza and the girl staring down at him. His milky blue eyes widened when Riza face came into focus. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed a got up. He tripped on a board that lie underneath him and fell forward. His stomach was too much strain on the old floor and he fell through the wooden boards, down to the first floor. A loud thud was heard.
"Dino, are you ok?" Big Red asked as he got up and ran to look down the newly made hole in the floor. Which was only a foot or two away, but he ran none the less.
Riza and the girl heard Dino moaning from two floors below them, they couldn't see him from all the dust and dirt that had been kicked up from the fall.
"Don't worry, buddy, I'm coming!" Big Red shouted as he dashed over to the stairs.
"Watch it!" the little girl yelled, "…too late…"
Riza's face was dumbfounded. In his hasty attempt to get to the stairs, Big Red wasn't watching what he was doing and fell through one of the more obvious holes in the floor.
"I tried to warn you!" the little girl yelled.
Riza just looked at the little girl, then back down the holes. Who are these people? Or better yet, where's the Lieutenant Colonel?