Chapter Ten: Killdozer Slaughterhouse
"We're all gonna die!" shrieked the boy called Mikey. He ran across the open floor of the warehouse headed towards the barricaded entrance. None of the children sprawled on the floor of the building moved or said anything, watching in tense expectation. Only Rock's voice was raised in lone protest. Mikey turned and twisted through the stacked barrels and disappeared.
The gunfire outside stopped. Rock rose cautiously to his feet and looked around. No one dared to move, the only sound was their collective breathing. Gaavrila looked up at him, the face pale and fearful. She had flung herself out of the wheelchair at the first shot.
"What do we do now?" – She asked in a voice high and cracked.
Rock winced at the plea and didn't reply. He helped the crippled girl back into the chair as he thought swiftly. Taking the children out of the city was one thing, making them run the gauntlet of a firefight was another matter entirely. What had seemed like a simple endeavor a couple of hours ago had snowballed into the usual yabai.
The storage barrels blocking the front entrance fell with a clatter. Mikey stumbled back in, clutching his throat. Swaying for far too long before the horrified watchers, he let his hands drop and rolled his head back. Blood sprayed and he toppled limply onto the overturned barrels, the boy's face impacting the concrete with an audible thud.
Gunny Tom made a theatrical entrance, cleaning the large knife on the side of his shirt with wide swipes. He skipped over the twitching body.
"Okay, you little shitters," he crowed, a wild gleam in his solitary eye. "Where's the goddamn money?"
--
Chaos: the children broke in a stampeding, screaming frenzy away from the febrile figure capering at the front. Rock caught only small fragmented glimpses as he flung himself in front of the helpless Gaavrila.
A girl, probably only eight years old stepped aside calmly from the mob, and dropped out of view by the wall, swallowed up by the ground. A mixed group of boys and girls tripping and clawing at each other a few feet away as others scrambled over them in a brutal wave of arms and legs. Parang, his face set, stepping forward against the tide, the machete raised.
"Hahahaha," shrieked Gunny Tom, his voice rising above the noise echoing in the building. "That's right! Run you little, oh shi...."
Suddenly he turned and bolted for the entrance, arms and legs pumping in an odd scuttling manner..
Out of the corner of his eyes, Rock saw the twins step around the rusted barrels that enclosed Gaavrila's personal space on the floor of the warehouse. The small boys raised AK-47s, almost as big as themselves and opened fire with a thunderous roar at the fleeing figure.
They emptied their clips at the man who dove out of sight. The twins couldn't control the guns and most of the shots went high, ripping through the walls and ceiling. Gaavrila screamed at them to stop, the tendons in her thin neck straining.
In the silence that followed, Rock motioned urgently for the twins to lower the smoking gun-barrels and quickly made his way towards the body. But once he lifted up Mikey's head, and saw the bloody froth on the lips, he knew the boy was gone.
Rock turned. A large crowd had gathered around Gaavrila as Parang dashed about trying to restore order. The twins were reloading, slapping in new clips with practiced motions.
"We're Children of God," piped the one on the right with a fierce grin, brandishing his weapon. "Johnny and Luther Htoo taught us take no shit from anybody when it comes down!"
Horrified, Rock saw even Gaavrila had pulled a large revolver from the sidebag of her wheelchair and was loading bullets, albeit with a shaking hand.
"This is wrong," he exclaimed. "You can't fight these people Ms. Kazakhova, you have no idea of how depraved, how sick they are. You saw what that man did to that poor boy. It's only a taste of what's going to happen."
"Mr. Okajima," snapped the girl, intent on pushing the bullets into their chambers. "What would you have us do? Wait for the police? They either will not come or do the same once they round us up. We will not not turn the other cheek.. Like the ancient bogatyr of my father's tales I will fight a holy war against these monsters. Either help us or get out of the way!"
"You sound like Ms. Balalaika," said Rock. Gaavrila shook her head.
How would Revy think? Charge the front and kill anything that moved, that wouldn't work at all! Rock spoke.
"I saw a girl, a little girl go that way," he gestured to the right wall, at a spot between the storage racks. "She dropped down a hole and probably went out underneath into the next lot. If the twins and Parang cover, we can all get out. What's over there?"
"A side road and then the Hell Garden," said Gaavrila looking up. Rock looked confused. In all his time in Roanapur, he had never bothered walking further down the port road from the Black Lagoon quarters. A nondescript lineup of metal and wood buildings.
"This used to be a Buddhist temple," explained Gaavrila. "We can slip through the Garden and scatter. We'll go for the sewers... why are you smiling?"
"Sorry," said Rock. "See that one eyed son of a bitch turn and run, it was sort of a relief. Since I've been in Roanapur, I've seen far too many people who just get mad when you shoot at them. But no, you hired us to do a job. We're going for the boat."
Rock took a deep breath and looked at the gathered children. "Everybody! Line up. I'll go first, when I whistle - I want you to pour through that hole and move quickly into this garden. Go to the middle, sit down and don't make a noise till we're all out. Parang, help Gaavrila. You two with the guns, bring up the rear. That man tries to come back in the building before we're out – kill him."
"Yes sir!" shouted the twins.
--
Rock pulled himself out of the muddy crawl-way and crouched by the side of the warehouse. There was enough ambient light from the city lights bouncing down off the clouds for his eyes to quickly adjust. A quick look in either direction and he knelt down and whistled. In a moment the the first group of children came scrabbling through. When there were ten, he motioned for them to go. They quickly slipped across the back road and ducked out of sight through a rip in the fence into darkened grotesqueries of the Garden.
"We're sending Gaavrila through," Parang's voice came from the other side. The mute girl slid through, pulling the Russian through the passage. Rock reached down and helped them out. They sat panting against the wall.
"This is going to work," said Rock cheerfully. The two frightened girls stared back, the whites of their eyes showing through mud encrusted faces. "Everyone's going to get out."
A burst of shots cracked in the air. The moon burst through the clouds. From the Hell Garden arose an unearthly din; the mechanical howl of a chainsaw and the cries of human agony blending together. Rock sprang to his feet in horror.
"Oh God, oh God," choked Gaavrila, her brave front collapsing. "Oh my God, the Ghost Woman is out there. She's killing us... We've sent them to their deaths."
"Back, back in the building," shouted Rock despairingly. He reached out to Gaavrila, but as he did so, something struck him from behind and he toppled over into the hole.
--
"I can't decide if I should snuff ya, or applaud ya," sneered Revy, painting Sawyer's forehead with the red laser sight from the Glock 23 picked up from the severed hand of a Red Pole corpse. She was wearing Zugen's discarded night vision goggles. "Sawyer the Cleaner? Fuckin' a! Sawyer the Butcher is more like it. Honestly, that was a hell of a performance for a scrawny little runt. Glad I ran my ass ragged to see the show. But I'd have to put the gun down to clap, so... where's Rock?."
The chainsaw suddenly expired with a cough and a blast of exhaust. Sawyer frantically pulled on the ripcord to no effect. As if withdrawing the approval of Phya Yom, the clouds rolled back over the moon at that moment.
Sawyer whipped the blade up into a defensive position, realized it wouldn't be enough. She had dropped her guard and was utterly exposed without cover. Revy had vanished into the statuary around the decaying figure of the death king.
"Oh, fucking priceless," said Revy sarcastically. Sawyer spun frantically about. She was being circled like a hunted animal. What she had done to the Red Pole Squad was now being done to her. Perspiration dripped from her brow. Only now did she realize how tired she was. She blinked as the laser light flashed across her eyes again followed by Revy's snicker. "You're all outta gas, Saw Girl. Way to be prepared. Tell me where Rock is, or I'm going to be shoving more than a bottle of green chilis up your ass this time."
Sawyer hissed, the sound like a snake, and lowered the chainsaw in despair, the black wave of melancholy welling up inside. It was over. The same useless bitch who had killed her father was now going to kill her.
"I'm the beaner now... aren't I? That is why... you're not using your own gun?" Sawyer said hollowly. Just like the wounded FARC, she was going to be executed.
"Yeah, I guess you are." said Revy conversationally from a different location, closer now. "I didn't like your sick little gift in my go-bag, and you chopped up that croaker real good. If you were found riddled with nine millimeter, I might have to explain. I don't see why I should get Shenhua pissed off because of ya."
The shot cracked and Sawyer jumped with a cry of pain as the .40 caliber round tore a gash in the side of her boot.
"Fuck," cursed Revy. "What a piece of crap, sights are off. That was supposed to be your ankle. Well, c'mon then – start talking, it's time to dance the twist. Where the fuck is Rock? I'm not gonna ask ya... no, no no! Don't you fuckin'..."
The chainsaw slipped loose from Sawyer's grasp and fell with a metallic clang. She followed, letting her legs collapse, slumping forward slowly to the ground in a fetal position, wrapping her arms around her knees.
"Fucking loser," mumbled Revy.
Sawyer's head was tucked tight against her knees. But her eyes were wide open and intense as the right hand slid to inner left thigh. Let the gun-girl think she was crippled by her phobias! Hidden underneath the short plaid dress above the stockings was a thigh garter with a holstered single shot, 45-70 caliber derringer. She had stolen it from her Uncle Charlie when she fled the farm long ago, but it had been Rotton who insisted she wear the derringer as a backup. Her fingers fumbled for the small grip.
"Don't matter to me if you play possum," Revy had moved right behind her in the darkness. Sawyer blinked, she would never be able to turn in time. The small gun wouldn't come loose from the holster.
Gunfire crackled from the nearby warehouse. The distant sound of sirens, police sirens began to wail in the distance.
"I think I found my man." Revy said. "Too bad, but ya started somethin' with me and I always end it. Goodbye Sawyer."
"He's here... for you," blurted out Sawyer.
Revy paused. "What?"
"He said he was... going to gut your man...and take his eyes.. like with your girl friend" Sawyer ad-libbed glibly. "He wants... revenge for when you ran... him through with the pitchfork... back in Texas."
Sawyer turned her head slowly, trying to get a glimpse of the shadowy figure standing over her. The derringer was finally free. But she had to be sure, there was only one shot.
"I didn't kill the doctor... He ..."
"Oi, don't care," said Revy coldly, speaking almost in her ear. "What's your first name, you gory little bitch?"
"Frederica... Frederica Sawyer... you mean... you never put two... and two together? Are you that... stupid? URCK!"
Sawyer's small mouth twisted into a grimace of pain as Revy grabbed a handful of thick hair, jerking the smaller woman up with a heave. Revy had the palm of her other hand in the small of Sawyer's back and drove the Cleaner forward like a rag doll. Sawyer stumbled off balance, as Revy propelled her face-first into one of the horrid figures with a crash. The derringer flew out of her hand.
The dark visage of the demonic statue appeared to laugh as the stunned Sawyer slid to the ground, legs splayed awkwardly in either direction. She felt blood gush from her nose and pour across her open lips. Oddly enough, Sawyer wasn't interested anymore. Best to let the blackness within eat her whole before the pain became too much, like before when her throat was cut... As the Thai would say, mai pen rai. Never mind
"Now it's personal," said Revy, with a tone that hinted at sadism from a great distance away.
--
Whatever was on top of Rock struck and clawed viciously. He was eating mud and couldn't breathe. Rock twisted and clubbed viciously. He felt the attacker squeal and try to pull away. He swung again and heard a dull thud. The assailant went limp and he pushed the body to one side.
"What's going on?" shouted someone right by his head, Rock winced. A flashlight flickered on in the depths of the tunnel, Parang had crawled halfway through and could go no further with Rock and the attacker blocking the way. Looking up he could see the heads of Gaavrila and Rohingya outlined against the dim glow of the night sky.
"Go back," sputtered Rock. The light flashed over. For a moment Rock was afraid he had knocked Revy out, but the slack face was too young. "Drag this one over me, I have to get the girls back in. We can't go this way."
"Niken," grumbled Parang.
--
"Fred-Fred, I'm going to brain you with your own chainsaw," panted Revy. "I wouldn't even waste a bullet on your useless hide. Don't move. I'll be right back."
"What... about... your man?" gurgled Sawyer. She spit up blood. Revy kicked her again.
"Good point, let's make this quick." Revy trotted back for the chainsaw. "Hey! Hey! Brats! Fuckin' brats! What the hell?"
A chorus of yells broke out. Sawyer lifted herself up on rubbery arms. The gun-girl was spinning about and flailing at a crowd of small shadows. For a moment Sawyer believed the statues had come to life and were attacking Two Hands. But instead a group of children were trying desperately to get out of the way. They had avoided being detected while Sawyer had sliced up the last of the Red Poles, but their attempt to sneak by Revy while she concentrated on beating Sawyer had failed.
With an effort, Sawyer began crawling.
"Get away from me! Let go of that chainsaw, punk!" Revy was shouting angrily. Sawyer grabbed the base of a statue and pulled herself up. The frozen thoughts in her head began to move. Sawyer couldn't outrun or outfight the Lagoon gunslinger. If she made for the road, she'd be pulled down like a wounded deer. The sirens weren't getting any closer ; Chief Watsup and the costumed clown posse were moving in with the speed of a snail.
Suddenly, Sawyer knew exactly what to do. Her cousin was the key. Let the two kill each other and she'd be rid of them both. Doubled up, she stumbled towards the warehouse. All she had to do was make the warehouse.
"Come... here, back! You!" Revy shouted incoherently and pursued, chainsaw in hand.
--
"I'm out," said Chaiyo and discarded the assault rifle with a clatter. Rock removed his hands from over his ears.
"I tol' you not to use full auto," raged Alak. "I'm down to a half clip."
"Be quiet!" shouted Parang. "Stop telling the whole world!"
There were less than twenty now. Huddled together under the fading light of the last lantern. A pile of trash had caught on fire near a stack of crates, smoke was starting to curl around the eaves of the ceiling.
"Gimme the damn money and no one else gets hurt!" the voice echoed through the warehouse. "If you're waiting for the cops, then ya can wait in pieces! They ain't rushin'. Gives me time to play with this one."
Screams ripped the air and were cut off. "Damn, she was no fun at all. Aww, poor thing."
"Oh God, oh God. Who'd he kill?" whimpered Gaavrila. All self control had vanished and she stared pitifully at Rock. "Please, you've got to save us."
"We can't sit here," Rock snapped, looking away. "This building's going to go up in flames. I bet most of these waste containers are flammable. There's a back entrance. We all go now and run like hell. Scatter. Don't wait for anyone. Most of you should make it."
"What kind of a plan is that?" yelled Parang. "For all we know Kwan's men are waiting. We'll be cut down"
"It's all I got," Rock lost his temper. "I don't know who's out there – the front's covered, the Ghost Woman's obviously on the side. Stay here, we burn."
"It's too late, too late! It's her, it's the Ghost Woman! Behind us!" Niken squealed who had just sat up, rubbing her jaw.
Rock spun about. A bloodsoaked and battered figure no larger than the assembled children came sprinting from the back of the building. Before Rock could react to her swift approach, the Cleaner threw herself in a long arcing leap towards him.
"Shoot her, shoot her," someone yelled.
Rock staggered back and almost went down. The Cleaner grabbed Rock, snaking her arms around his neck, and swinging around to his back like a monkey, legs entwining his waist.
"No, no, don't shoot!" he yelled, spinning about and trying to reach back and pull off the little woman.. Alak fired anyway and the bullet snapped by their heads. "Stop that!'
"What the hell's going on in there?" shouted Gunny Tom. "Fred, is that you?"
A small blade flashed in Sawyer's hand and was thrust up against Rock's throat.
"Shenhua's gift... Stop ... stop her now..." Sawyer spoke in his ear. "If I die... you all die. Benjamin... Dutch... THAT one... It's an absolute."
Revy followed; stepping into the dim light, breathing heavily from the pursuit, foam and spit flecked her lips. She dropped the chainsaw with a clatter and shook her head at the huddled gathering.
"Rock, Rock, Rock," the gun barrel came up. "I ask a favor, next thing I know we're way beyond Thunderdome and there's nothin but brats here, there and everywhere. I asked ya to help two girls, just two, not every single stray in Roanapur. Do me a favor and turn to your side? Fred-Fred needs some 9 .mm."
"Don't move," Sawyer dug her head into Rock's back.
"Do I have to kill more of ya? I got a big surprise coming!" bawled Gunny Tom. He began to bang on the metal walls outside the warehouse.
Revy pivoted. She dropped the Glock and in one blindingly swift motion drew both Berettas from the shoulder holsters. The guns crashed as she shot through the thin sheet metal of the wall. There was an animal howl and the banging stopped. Nothing more could be heard.
"Got him," said Revy. She spit. "Hey, did I paint your fence red, Tommy Sawyer? Shit, that was easy. One guy had you all cornered? Fuckin' lame."
"Should I tell her about the time you were in my bed? You do remember... the business with the Aisin Gioro?" whispered Sawyer rapidly in Rock's ear. Rock was surprised, Sawyer had turned off the ultravoice. "Stop her. Do something! I want your word the piece of meat won't kill me. I don't trust that one. Otherwise you die."
"Your turn," Revy pushed aside a cowering child and turned back towards Rock and Sawyer..
"Back up against that pillar," Sawyer snuffled. Rock had no choice.
"We have to get these children to the boat," Rock blurted out as Revy bore down. "Dr. Chiet and I agreed on 50 thousand. Sawyer's not part of the deal. You can't kill her. It's a bad idea"
"But I really, really want to," pouted Revy. "I just killed her brother and I want to kill her. It's an old story."
"Cousin..." Sawyer said, hurriedly toggling on the ultravoice.
"For God's sake, I agree," shouted Gaavrila hysterically. "Shoot the monster. She killed my friends."
"I killed no children," Sawyer protested. "I'm on your side... I did kill the Red Pole Squad... but... this bitch-hog... she's the one who had the chainsaw... "
The children scrambled away from Revy in sudden alarm. The stack of crates finally caught on fire. That and Sawyer's words were the breaking point for some. Five boys seized the chance to break and run towards the back. The last remnants of the group clustered around Gaavrila and Parang in a tight knot watching the confrontation with a paralyzed fascination.
"Bitch-hog?!" Revy screeched. "What a freakin liar! Fuck it Rock, you're gonna have to take one for the team." She pointed the guns at the two of them.
"Shit," gasped Rock. Sawyer jerked in response and the blade pressed against Rock's neck.
"You don't have... time..." grated Sawyer. "She'll kill you all... She's a weasel... in the chickens..."
A low throbbing began to pulse throughout the building. The noise grew louder. Revy paused, the gun-barrels wavered as she looked uncertainly about. "What the hell?"
"The man... comes around," announced Sawyer. The toneless voice sounded gleeful.
--
The front of the warehouse tore apart with an ear splitting crash as the Komatsu bulldozer plowed through the sheet metal siding. Gunny Tom bounced in the cab cage with an earsplitting grin, manipulating the gears and levers. Stymied by the unexpected resistance he had run over to the equipment lot and hot-wired the beast.
"Make it 60 thou!" Revy shouted. "GO! Rock get them out the back now! That's an order! I'll take care of the Sawyers."
Sawyer released her death grip on Rock and slid off, stepping behind the pillar. Rock grabbed two of the small girls who stood frozen in fear and ran.
The boy Alak attacked at the bulldozer, legs pumping, head down. He fired the AK-47 from his his hip in a sustained barrage. The bullets bounced off the bulldozer's blade and ricochetted back into the fleeing group.
The mute girl, Rohingya slumped over with a gasp and toppled Gaavrila out of the wheelchair. Blood spread across her back.
Parang heaved Niken off the ground. Somehow in the confusion she had found the duffel bag with Lee Kwan's stolen money. They fled with the rest as the bulldozer ground towards them.
Alak tripped, the blade of the bulldozer came crashing down on the boy before he could move.
Revy charged the advancing bulldozer, the Cutlasses blazing. She targeted the cab cage, and shattered the glass enclosure. Gunny Tom's ducked behind the concealment of the steering mechanism, his hand's danced upon the levers. The blade began to rise. The dozer started to skew to the side into the support pillars of the building.
Revy bounded up and forward, stretching for the rising blade, the guns canted in her hands as she kept shooting. The sole of her boot, wet and slippery, slid on the edge and she spun head over heels out of control to the side of the bulldozer, bouncing off the metal tread. Her scream lost among the tumult of the storage barrels cascading out of their racks. The roof came down.
"Oh... " Sawyer said and threw herself to the floor.
--
Gunny Tom put the gears in neutral. Shaking glass fragments from his hair, he jumped down from the cab and walked into the demolition and dust. The front of the warehouse was totally destroyed. The back was still intact, but not for long. The fire was beginning to spread, smoke and flames billowing into the night sky.
"Well, well," Gunny Tom chuckled as Gaavrila pulled herself out from underneath Rohingya's body.
"Looks like someone already tried to kill ya. Where's your legs? I don't have much time. I'll let you live if you gimme the China man's money."
"Go to hell," rasped Gaavrila and thumbed back the hammer on the revolver she still clutched. Before he could react, she pulled the trigger.
There was a click. Gaavrila pulled the trigger again with the same result.
Two Hands stepped back, releasing the cylinder of the revolver and slapping the palm of her hand against the ejector rod. The ammo splashed into a puddle of sewage followed by the now unloaded gun.
"N-No," said Gaavrila. She kept pulling the trigger. Why... why was the Heavenly Father leaving her at the mercy of this demon? After all she had been through in this wretched city, was her loyalty still doubted? Why, why?!
"Stupid bitch-hog," snarled Gunny Tom, his seamed face white with rage and fright. He surged forward, the bowie knife poised. He grabbed Gaavrila by the neck and lifted her up with little effort and shook the girl violently. The revolver with it's useless ammunition dropped to the floor.
--
Fuck, Revy thought. Her body and the back of her head were pressed firmly against the ground, a loud ringing in her ears. She was pinned between the bulldozer, underneath the debris, a flurry of blurs swimming about. Squinting for clarity, she stretched her free hand outwards towards her guns.
Damn it, they were out of reach. She tried to move, but discovered the rubble she was pinned under was heavier than expected. She couldn't move anything from the neck down, and one of her arms was pinned. Revy knew no one could see her. The debris surrounded her, hiding her form, but a small gap allowed her to see what was going on in her line of vision. Tilting her head further back, in the not-so-far distance, she saw the inbred hick stooping over... Jasmine? No, no, it was that Russian cripple. The ringing in her ears began to subside and Revy heard wailing.
"Please! I-I–!!"
"The fuck are you tryin' to tell me, girl?" Gunny Tom tightened his grip, taking his time to relish the young girl's begging before flicking the knife across the girl's face. He cut Gaavrila's cheek to the bone.
Revy groaned and froze in place as the scene before her began to warp, the fuzzy lines around the image poking and prodding the two persons. Revy cursed silently at the symptom of withdrawal. Shit, not another trip. Of all the times to happen...
Gaavrila's crying faded into the background, but never disappeared completely as the remains of the warehouse morphed into... a bowling alley? What the hell?
...she ran and did a back-flip through the air, crossing her arms and shooting a row of two-bit gangsters while Jumbo sliced and diced his way through the low-rate gunmen. Everything sped up, the babbling of that sack of shit that had the Yakuza princess walking away and his remaining posse dropping like flies with every pull of her trigger, all of it had passed in a cyclone of color.
Time slowed down. She backed against a wall, quickly reloading before twirling around and aiming the Cutlasses at a relatively young, feeble gangster that immediately dropped his gun and pumped his hands in the air. She smiled gleefully at the pathetic expression on his face as he begged.
"Give! Give! GIVE GIVE GIVE!!"
"...I give... Give!" The scene had melted back to the warehouse, Gaavrila squirming with cuts adorning her face as Gunny Tom twirled the knife.
"Huh? What's that? You give? Are ya gonna give me the money?" he said with a mocking, light-hearted smile.
Revy's eyes widened and there was a sharp exhale through her clenched teeth, the scene shifting once more. No, no, no, not this...
The Berettas still raised, she pushed herself off the edge of the wall and swaggered towards the begging gangster, a feral smile plastered on her features.
"Give? Give me what?"
The sniveling male began to wave his arms around above him, struggling to speak English clearly through his garbled Japanese.
"I- I cannot speak -! Ah!"
"I-I can't... can't speak... Hurts!" Gaavrila choked out, her cries mixing English and Russian. Her face displayed a myriad of gashes, most of her flesh barely visible beneath the veil of dripping blood.
"What about that thing you were sayin'? About the giving?" Gunny Tom chuckled. Revy hissed as the scene kept switching back and forth.
"You're gonna give me somethin', right? Well, c'mon! What the fuck..."
"...are you tryin' to say?"
"Give!" yelled Gaavrila.
"Give! Give! Give!" the gangster shouted.
Revy tossed her head. It didn't matter if she shut her eyes or not. The images just kept coming. She snapped her eyes open and saw Gaavrila and the one-eyed bastard, the flashback at the bowling alley still mixing and blurring alongside the events in the torn warehouse. What was this? Why of all things was she having this memory now? Did she think that... No, damn it, no! She wasn't anything like that one-eyed bastard.
She held the Beretta to his forehead.
"Quit yappin', you goofball."
Gunny Tom put the point of the knife at the hollow of Gaavrila's neck.
"Shut your trap."
Revy heaved against the debris holding her down, and stretched out the free hand to within an inch of the nearest to no avail.
"You gonna give it to me or not? C'mon!"
No, it couldn't end like this... Not again..
There was a loud bang followed by a hollow thud.
The final scream was cut short, followed by an agonized rattle as Gunny Tom thrust the blade into Gaavrila's throat and twisted. He tossed the girl aside with a casual motion..
"Hey, Jumbo, the game's up." Turning away from the corpse of the gangster she had shot, she looked to the sword-wielding man with a smirk. "Boy, we made a mess!"
"Heh, what a mess," huffed Gunny Tom, looking around with veiled, still hungry look. Nothing left to kill and the approaching sirens getting louder. He turned on his heel and trotted out of sight past the bulldozer..
Still breathing, Gaavrila's clouded eyes were staring straight ahead, blood pouring from her neck and face. Revy's breath caught in her throat, the young Russian looking as though she was staring straight through the wreckage and could see her.
"You... You demon bitch..." Gaavrila muttered weakly, her voice barely audible over the crackling fire "It's all your fault." Her eyes glazed over.
Revy thrashed her head and free arm, trying to wrench free from the wreckage, but the attempt was futile. Her eyes bulged and she unclenched her teeth, foam coming from the corners of her mouth as she tried to scream. A pathetic whine came out instead.
--
There was a rusty groan as Sawyer pushed the sheet metal off of her body. She sat back, reclining on one hand while she rubbed her head with the other. Dust and dirt came free from her hair as she shook her head. She looked around at the wreckage. The entire front of the warehouse had collapsed, the night sky was visible, no one else was in sight.
Shakily getting to her feet, she scrambled over the debris, remembering where that stupid gun-girl had carelessly dropped her chainsaw. She dug through the rubble and soon saw the guide bar. Moving the scraps away, she grabbed hold of the chainsaw and pulled it towards her, holding the engine block to her chest as a dull shine reflected off of the bar from the flames, as though greeting its owner. She had her chainsaw back.
Her head perked up as a gagging, coughing sound registered. The noise was coming from behind the bulldozer. Slowly getting up, she cautiously walked over, stepping over the corpse of that young Russian girl, knowing full well her cousin's work.
Creeping over to a pile of debris behind the bulldozer, the gagging was getting louder. Sawyer saw two stainless steel Berettas scattered apart and a couple of twitching fingers beneath a heavy wooden beam near a tent-like pile of rubble. Sawyer slightly cocked her head to the side and roughly nudged the beam with her boot. The rubble slid aside, revealing underneath the snarling face of the Lagoon girl.
--
The red veins around the golden-brown eyes pulsed as Revy saw the ghost woman with her chainsaw in hand, clinical, dispassionate blue eyes staring down at her. The pent up scream that had been building within spewed out in an ear-piercing screech. It was the Cleaner, the spooky chick, the ghost woman. That one-eyed son of a bitch had killed Jasmine and now Fred-Fred was going to drag her down to the meat locker.
--
Sawyer gripped the ripcord of her chainsaw and pulled, the engine sputtering once more. Refusing to give up, Sawyer hit the chainsaw against the nearby tread of the bulldozer. She pulled the ripcord again.
There was a strained growl for a couple of seconds before it settled to a soft purr. The chainsaw was working. Sawyer smiled wryly. It wasn't out of gas; just an engine malfunction. She'd have to get that looked into...
Turning towards Revy once again, Sawyer took in the plight of the pinned... meat. Foam and bile dripped from the screaming mouth, the brown eyes wide and unfocused, it thrashed its head wildly as the debris restrained it from the neck down. It looked just like a trapped, rabid rat. The corner of Sawyer's mouth twitched before the blood red lips settled down to an indifferent line, stepping on top of the free hand to pin it down.
Sawyer moved the tip of the chainsaw, the still blades inches away from Revy's face. As the gun-girl screamed lines of obscenities and incoherent sentences, disturbed thoughts swirled in Sawyer's head. This rat, this bitch-hog was at her mercy. She could dismember it... no her. First, the hands, Two Hand's pride would go, then her forearms and her feet, then her calves, and Sawyer could watch as she stumbled around on the bleeding stumps and...
The carbide teeth began to spin, the roars drowning out her incessant screaming, but not biting into the too soft flesh yet. Sawyer inhaled slowly. This disgusting woman... The one who killed her father, the one responsible for the disaster that caused her to leave to ranch, the one who triggered the events that made her become the Cleaner...
Dark sapphire eyes narrowed.
Chips of debris began to fly as Revy screamed. This was the end. That damned ghost woman was going to chop her up and skip along with her dismembered body all the way to Hell. Right when she thought the metallic teeth were going to bite into her skin, Sawyer pulled the chainsaw away.
The Cleaner exhaled, eyelids trembling. Gunny Tom was still out there. No, the useless creature didn't deserve to die here. Not yet. Sawyer lifted her foot off the pinned hand.
She deserved a fate that would be much worse.
Not knowing what had just happened, Revy wiggled her shoulders. Most of the debris that was on the upper half of her body was free. Everything from the stomach down was still pinned, but she began to twist in an attempt to break loose, turning over so her chest was slightly facing the floor. Revy froze as there was a malevolent purr, the still teeth of the chainsaw coming to a rest by her neck.
"Stay still... and look at me." With a snarl, the gunslinger placed the bottom of her forearms on the ground and looked up, golden-brown eyes meeting dark blue.
"I'll let you go free... if you agree to a deal, first."
"Wh-what the hell do you want, spooky?" Revy said through clenched teeth.
"You have a boat... yes?" Sawyer asked rhetorically. Revy hissed with a nod.
"Listen..." said Sawyer. "The police are coming... let me... get onto the boat... I... we need to leave... the city, for now. Agree to do that... and I will cut the rest of the debris... and don't even think... about turning your guns on me... once you're free." As a warning, the carbide teeth spun by the side of Revy's face. With a curse, she jerked her head away, avoiding the blades before they slowed to a stop, the chainsaw purring again.
"Deal," Revy growled. She crossed her fingers. Goddamned goth girl, she'd discover her mistake soon enough.
Sawyer cut Revy free from the rest of the warehouse scraps, making sure she kept the chainsaw close enough to the gunslinger to let her know what was going to happen if she made a motion to use the guns on her.
--
Revy stumbled past the small, twisted corpse, head averted. She refused to look or stop. Together they fled from the burning building keeping to the shadows as the first of the emergency vehicles came down the port road, lights flashing.
Sawyer sighed painfully, inwardly scolding herself for getting caught up in the theatrics when she had reached her breaking point back at the Hell Garden. The last thing she needed was for Watsup and Roanapur's finest to come after her because of the dead Red Poles. Flee the city, contact Shenhua and let Mr. Chang smooth things over. Those were her immediate priorities.
"Why the hell did you free me back there?" the gunslinger blurted out, breaking their uneasy silence.
Sawyer's eyes narrowed a centimeter. Before she could speak, Revy continued.
"Don't give me the boat bullshit either," she said, "You don't need the Black Lagoon. Plenty of ways to disappear around here when the heat's on. Why the fuck did you really cut me loose back there?"
Revy's muscles tensed as Sawyer took a long pause, intensifying her glare towards the gothic woman.
Licking the dried blood on her lip, a small wound compared to the damage the bitch-hog had inflicted on her back in the Garden, Sawyer silently thought back to all the times she had come across bullet ridden bodies in Roanapur, corpses and people who were barely alive in the alleyways and the Yellow Flag, the recognizable works of Two-Hands.
Thinking way back to when she was just a little girl at the ranch, she remembered Gunny Tom's flailing form as he was pinned to the wall with a pitchfork. Two Hands work, the work of the punk that had drowned her father.
Seething, Sawyer answered the question.
"I've... cleaned up enough... of your messes..." A fiery rush went up Sawyer's spine and the air suddenly became stagnant. She refused to tell the wretched gunslinger, but Sawyer knew her cousin was lurking somewhere nearby in the dark.
"This time... clean up your own mess."
Revy surged ahead with a curse. Sawyer smirked, and with an unnoticed gesture acknowledged the watching eye of Gunny Tom. She invited her cousin to follow with the small curl of a welcoming finger. Let him confront the bitch-hog, let the two demons fight. The ghost woman would be perfectly content watching them drag each other to Hell.