Disclaimer: I don't own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
~ irreversible ~
A/N: WARNING – this is a really, really dark and violent chapter, not so much because it's graphic but because it's emotionally intense. Skip it if that kind of thing tends to haunt you. You'll understand the rest of the story without it.
"Now, come on Ash, don't be such a baby! We've done it a million times before! Old Dan's gone to town, he's gonna hit the bars and won't be home before tomorrow morning!"
Alec and Taz were already on the other side of the chain-link fence, Tobs and Rudy in the process of climbing it.
"Seriously, what a chickenshit are you?" Alec just couldn't stop taunting him. "Afraid someone will tell your mama?"
Ash bit his lip and spit at the ground. "Just givin' Tobs and Rudy a headstart, is all." Smooth like a mountain lion he cleared the fence in no time, landing on the wrecking yard's premises while his friends were still struggling with the barbed wire on top.
Alec tucked his father's gun behind his belt and applauded mockingly. "Show off you are."
"What about the dog?" Ash had seen the warning signs outside the fence.
"Gus is old, we'll lock him in his kennel, no problem at all." Taz waved and Ash followed him down a long aisle between huge piles of cars in all stages of damage. In the shadow next to the manager's hut they found the dog, sound asleep, already lying in his kennel. It was a Rottweiler like Carmine, huge, but apparently not very watchful. All they needed to do was close the door.
The kennel, just like the manager's hut, was in a sorry state – rust everywhere and loose metal parts, too. Ash couldn't believe Old Dan was actually living here. He wondered how it felt waking up in that rinky-dink shack every morning, looking at nothing but waste.
Well, the hut's windows were blind with dirt anyway, they probably hadn't been cleaned for years, impossible to see anything through them. Maybe exactly what Old Dan wanted.
"This place here is perfect", Tobs yelled from a clear spot a few dozen yards to the right.
"This close to the hut?" Frowning, Ash watched as his friends started to arrange bottles in a row.
"Tried and tested, man. As I said, we've been here before. From here we've got full view of the gate, but nobody can see us." Alec loaded the gun.
It was a Colt M1911 pistol, a single-action, semi-automatic, magazine-fed, and, as Ash had found out the hard way, recoil-operated handgun. This time he'd make sure not to get hurt again. He was not keen on another night in handcuffs.
"Second thoughts?" Alec asked, holding the gun out to him. The grin on his face was a challenge.
"Wouldn't know why. It's just bottles", Ash replied, surely not backing down. Especially not with Rudy around who'd yap about everything happening here to everyone willing to listen. The Tiffany episode had, despite his double success with Kelly and Sally, damaged his reputation enough already – missing out on a date with the hottest girl in school, tsk, tsk.
None of the boys was a really good shot and it took them quite a while to finish off the bottles. Even Ash missed a lot more than he actually hit. There had to be some sort of trick to aiming correctly, but he hadn't figured it out yet. Or maybe he was concentrating too much on not getting injured by the recoil again.
Luckily Alec had brought tons of ammunition. When the bottles were all gone they changed to metal cans. Old Dan apparently didn't think much of garbage disposal. Behind the back window of his hut a huge pile of all sorts of cans, along with takeout cartons and plastic wrappings, slowly rotted away. Beans seemed to be his favorite meal.
Gus, of course, woke up from the shoot-out so close to his kennel. He started barking madly and jumping against his kennel's door. "He'll soon get tired", Alec told Ash. "He always raises hell for the first five minutes or so, then he calms down again. He's old and lazy."
Ash thought of Carmine's usual demeanor and figured Alec was right. Barking dogs didn't bite.
What none of the boys knew, however, was that two days earlier Old Dan had had a problem with the scrap press. A piece of loose metal had found its way into the machinery and caused a malfunction that had first resulted in a horrible screeching sound lasting several minutes and then in a rather shocking explosion of the engine.
Old Dan hadn't gone to town to hit the bars. He was seeing an ear specialist. The screeching had somehow damaged his hearing, ever since the incident there was this strange, constant humming sound in his head he just couldn't get rid of. It was torture. All loud sounds drove him crazy. Not an ideal condition when running a wrecking yard.
What Old Dan hadn't thought of, however, was that his dog had suffered the same trauma. His hearing had been damaged as well and loud sounds were torture to him just as much as they were to Old Dan. Thus he was not simply barking in his kennel pro forma, as he usually did, he was barking and throwing himself against the steel bars because he was losing his mind with shock and terror. The boy's gunshots were driving him literally crazy.
"He sounds really angry", Ash remarked while Tobs was having a go at their newest row of cans.
"Always the worrier Ash, aren't you?", Alec laughed. "Good shot, Tobs!"
At this very moment the rusty hinges of Gus' kennel door finally gave way. The dog, who had just thrown himself against the bars with all his weight, lost balance, tumbled outside and fell right into a jagged remnant of what had once been a Cadillac fender. The sudden, unexpected pain was the final straw that sent him over the edge. Fangs bared and frothing at the mouth he dashed towards the source of his anguish – the boys.
Ash was the first to see him. He knew immediately that this dog was not out to play. "Run! Run!", he yelled. His tone of voice was so intense, so absolutely no-nonsense, they all fled at once.
Except Rudy, who had just received the gun from Tobs.
Totally wrapped up in concentration he simply didn't hear Ash's warning, didn't notice the others running off till Ash grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him along. "We've got to get to the fence!"
Rottweilers aren't made to run long distances. Especially not old Rottweilers. But old Gus was so fired up, so totally out of his usually good-natured mind, he didn't pay any heed to the signals his body was sending. All he wanted was the pain in his head to stop and the only way he knew was to attack what he perceived as the source of the pain.
Alec, Taz and Tobs were already halfway up the fence, but Rudy, in panic, exhausted from the run and in general a little clumsy slipped and crashed to the ground again, right in front of the approaching dog.
Ash, who had tried to assist Rudy with getting up the mesh wire, lunged forward, grabbed the gun and fired at the animal.
He hadn't aimed at him. Not at all. He had just wanted to scare him, to somehow put a halt to the attack.
But he hit him.
The dog's blood-curdling howl cut through the air like a knife. Wailing in a horrible, high pitched tone, Gus crashed to the ground like a ton of bricks.
At first nobody moved. The only sound was the animal's wailing. "Come on Ash, we need to go!" Alec finally called.
Rudy awoke from his frozen state of shock and climbed the fence, but Ash stood rooted to the spot. He couldn't take his eyes off the fallen animal.
Gus was panting heavily. He was curving his front legs in an unnatural angle while his hind legs lay oddly still. With horror Ash realized that his shot must have paralyzed him.
A huge puddle of blood was forming around Gus' midsection and bloody foam was coming out of his nostrils. Suddenly he started shrieking, as if he was much younger, much smaller – like a scared, young puppy.
Ash felt like someone was pulling at a noose around his neck. His whole chest seemed to suffer from some kind of cramp and his heart was beating as if he had run ten miles. The gun in his shaking hand felt too heavy to hold on to, he wanted nothing more than to let it drop to the ground and follow the others over the fence – but the dog…
The animal's whole body was shaking, he was gasping for air, fighting desperately as he was slowly drowning from the blood that was filling his lungs…
He had caused this. His shot was making him suffer so terribly…
With every last bit of courage he had, Ash forced himself to take a step closer. Then another one.
Gus turned his head and looked at him.
Ash raised his hand and pulled the trigger.
The dog's constant wailing stopped. Immediately. As if someone had suddenly turned off a malfunctioning record.
The silence was more ear-piercing than anything Ash had ever experienced.
He dropped to his knees and threw up.