"We all have inner demons to fight, we call these demons, fear and hatred and anger. If you do not conquer them, then a life of one hundred years is a tragedy. If you do, then a life of a single day can be a triumph." - Yip Man
Los Angeles, California. Also known as The City of Flowers and Sunshine, not to mention the home of the Hollywood entertainment industry and one of the most visited tourist attractions in the United States. A perfect place to enjoy the warm beaches, landmark museums and world-famous theme parks.
The city can be even more beautiful and lively at night. But it's also the time where people would just stay at home and for one good reason.
It was proven for years that this city has more gang members next to the city of Chicago, Illinois. Hence, it earned the nickname "gang capital of America".
Long story short, it's not safe to go out there. The only people who can, are gangsters, cops, businessmen who work overtime, and last, but not least, stringers; freelance reporters who film crime scenes and accidents and deliver their material to the news for money. However, none of them would go as far as playing their lives to get a good shot, no one but only one man.
His name is Tristan Relish, a young, yet professional stringer of Los Angeles, who became well-known for the controversial graphic footage he produces every night for the media, mostly about crime. He launched a successful career as an independent news reporter, and just in a few years, he became a public figure.
Well, at least for a while until that night.
In a slum area, Tristan parked his car around the corner in an empty, hollow street of Skid Row, holding his camcorder out the window and filming directly to an abandoned apartment building just across the street. The reason he couldn't get closer was because there was a couple of armed thugs guarding the entrance.
According to the phone calls he interfered with yesterday, a drug deal was supposed to take place inside that building. Last time he heard about that place, the apartment was abandoned for over a year and it's been rumored that a Hispanic-American gang group, who called themselves the Crazy Carnales, took over this place as their meeting spot for trading. After some research, he learned that this faction just founded a couple of years ago, but they've been getting stronger and gained full control over Skid Row. That's why the streets were empty at night, and only a fool would dare to go outside.
He didn't get info about the other gang group who were supposed to arrive, he's been sitting in the same spot for a couple of hours and at this point he was doubting if they will ever show up. But he could tell that something will make the deal go south and he could take the chance to take the perfect shot for the gang war headline for the morning news.
A few moments later, Tristan spotted a couple of vehicles approaching the building before stopping in front of the entrance and didn't provoke a hostile reaction from the guards. Zooming the camera closer to the cars, he saw about eight dangerous-looking men coming out of their vehicles as they headed their way into the building.
"Oh! That must be the buyers!" Tristan muttered excitedly as he brought the camera slowly up the building, where the drug deal should take place at the upper floor. He couldn't be sure what happens next, but he read stories that this kind of deal usually ends in a bloodbath, so he's expecting to hear gunshots while filming the action.
…
Fifteen minutes just passed and so far nothing happened, but Tristan was still hoping that the shootout would start any second now.
...
"Come on… What's taking so long?" Tristan was losing his patience after he's been filming that apartment for a half hour and still nothing happened. Though he was under the impression that the deal was just getting started and those gangsters are having some sort of disagreement.
He had to take a shot back at the entrance where the guards were still standing and watching over the vehicles, but he knew that wasn't good enough to please his favorite clients. One thing he was so afraid of in his career was disappointing the media that could probably mean the end of his career.
Checking his camcorder once more, he cursed when he noticed it's almost running out of battery. If he stays like this for another half hour, then everything he's been doing all night was for...
A stunning flash of light washed the darkness of the street in the blink of an eye, followed by a booming sound that shook the entire block and made the young stringer jump up on his seat and almost drop his camera.
"Whoa! Whoa! What the shit! Holy shit!" Tristan shouted with his heart pounding in his chest as he looked back at the apartment building without stopping filming. His eyes widened in shock as he saw there was an explosion in the upper floor and the flames were spitting out of the windows.
He couldn't just believe it, not only he was right all along, but the outcome turned out to be more unexpected than he could ever have imagined! What the hell happened inside? Did someone plant a bomb? Was this part of an ambush? All those questions ran through his mind, but one thing he was sure of is that the media will be mind-blown once they see this footage!
That didn't stop from there however, gunshots suddenly rang out inside the building as Tristan noticed the flashing lights in the lower floors. Just like he was suspecting, the deal went south and they're now shooting at each other. It was just a matter of time before someone would report the incident to the police, but luckily that will take about an hour while he can still document the shootout.
He watched the flashing lights trailing down the building, meaning those gunners were going downstairs on their way to the exit. When he took a shot at the guards, who were about to enter the building, the doors suddenly shot open and then took the guards by surprise before riddling their bodies with bullets.
Focusing back to the gunners, who at a closer look they looked like they survived the explosions judging by their faces covered in dirt and blood, they headed towards their vehicles, but as they came closer to escape, Tristan saw the members of the Crazy Carnales standing at the doorstep and shot them, killing at least two of them before the rest took cover behind the cars and returned fire.
"Who-ho-ho! This is insane! They're so gonna love this!" Tristan exclaimed like an authentic paparazzi as he didn't hesitate to take a shot on the gangsters getting killed one by one.
However, more Crazy Carnales men came out of the building and while they rained their bullets on the vehicles, some of them started flanking the rival gang. And before the survivors could have the chance to enter their vehicles, they were already gunned down with no mercy.
The battle was over, the Carnales just massacred the members of a rival gang, who apparently were supposed to die in the explosion, the only question was why? Nevertheless, Tristan got what he needed, everything he saw was on his camera and he couldn't wait to deliver the footage to the news and all of Los Angeles will talk about this piece of news. Sure, that means he would get in trouble with the police for withholding evidence, but as long as the media will back him up, he has nothing to worry about.
"Hey! Someone's in there!"
Tristan felt his heart stop beating for a moment, when one of the Carnales' thugs just noticed his car around the corner and everyone just saw him too. And at that moment, they aimed their weapons at him.
He was totally screwed.
"Shit!" Reacting quickly, Tristan threw the camera to the passenger's seat, gripped his hands on the wheel and then stepped on the gas pedal, making the tires screeching before driving off at high speed. Tristan leaned his back against the seat, using it as a shield as he heard the gunshots coming from behind. "Holy shit! Holy shit!"
Looking at the rear mirror, he saw some of the thugs still shooting at him, but since he was getting far away from them, none of their bullets could hit his car. Taking the advantage, he turned the wheel to the left and crossed a couple of blocks, before turning to the opposite direction. But as he realized he was now getting out of the slum area, he had to lower the speed so he wouldn't bump into a police car and get a speeding ticket.
"Oh my God… Oh my God… Oh God." He breathed in and out heavily as clutched his chest, feeling his heart pounding furiously in his chest. This was actually the first time in his career of getting shot by the gangsters and this had to be one of the most terrifying experiences he ever had. Sure, he always gets excited whenever he witnesses a shootout or an explosion like just moments ago, but to get caught and being shot at, it's another story.
He feared that right now the Carnales were using the vehicles from the rival gang and trying to catch up with him, but looking back at the crime scene, he remembered they riddled the vehicles with bullets that at this point they must be very damaged to drive. As he was getting out of the district, he looked in the rear mirror to see if he was being followed, but thankfully, there was no car in sight.
"Oh man… That was so close…" Tristan let out a long sigh of relief as he continued driving slow and smoothly.
Glancing at his camcorder sitting next to him, he smiled at the thought that he got everything he needed on tape. He thought he could just head to a local television news station and deliver the footage so they could report this information, but before he considered making that choice, he saw a few police cars passing by while heading in the opposite direction. That made him grow nervous by the second until the police didn't pay attention to him, it was obvious they were heading to the place where the explosion took place.
At that moment, he realized that there was a risk of getting involved with the police the moment the news would show this footage right before they'll open an investigation. Furthermore, the morning news should be good enough to report that incident, sure while people will try to enjoy their breakfast, it still will be a hot topic that could boost the rating.
Therefore, he decided to head back home and have some sleep.
Moments later, he arrived at an empty parking lot, in front of a two-story apartment building before getting out of the car with the camcorder with him. After that intense moment of escaping under the fire from the gangsters, it made him feel so tired. He headed upstairs to the second floor and walked down the walkway where his apartment was.
He took out the keys of his pocket to unlock the door. But then he stopped his tracks when he noticed something unsettling. "What the…"
The door was cracked open, not only that, he also noticed signs of forced entry judging by the latches bent out of place.
Someone just broke into his apartment. He had the worst fear that whoever was inside was looking for him, but it could also mean it's just a burglar, the best thing to do was go downstairs, get the payphone and call the cops. But there was one problem, he's not on good terms with the cops, and if he's going to call them, they would think he's somehow involved in the recent incident and they might confiscate his footage he filmed. And he didn't want that to happen.
The only option he had left was to go in there and confront the burglar. It's suicidal, but Tristan would rather choose that option than let the police ruin his career.
Gathering all his courage, Tristan opened the door slowly and entered the apartment. First thing he noticed was the living room seemed intact, which hardly seemed like this was some sort of robbery, but that doesn't help to make him feel relaxed.
Leaving his camcorder on the table, Tristan picked up a figurine as a weapon and sneaked across the living room to not make a sound. Suddenly, he heard some noises coming from the kitchen before looking to his left and noticed the lights coming out of the doorway.
With his back against the wall, the young man approached the entrance to the kitchen, and the more he was getting closer, he began to hear the voices clearly.
"Sir! Right now it's not the time for a midnight snack! The human is gonna come any second and you're making a mess in the kitchen!" A male voice was heard.
"Oh, calm your tits. We've been sitting here for hours and I'm starving!" Another voice from a man replied, followed by a sound of clinking glasses. "Seriously, what the hell is Diet Coke? You're supposed to drink that stuff?"
"Oh look! He has a bag of Pizza Rolls! I heard they're not so bad." A female voice with a southern accent said.
Tristan soon realized that these intruders were raiding his kitchen, but what just stunned him was that they revealed they've been waiting for him, the only question remained, why? His instinct was telling him to get out of his apartment right now, but at this moment all those questions in his head forced him to go further.
Once he reached the corner, while holding the figurine in his hand, he decided to peek out to see who's there and get ready to strike, but his fear suddenly changed into surprise when his eyes caught on a strange, bipedal creature with white pointy hair and curvy black and white striped horns. It also had a long red thin tail with a quadrilateral barb at the end and lanky digitigrade legs with cloven red hoods.
"Well… When you put it that way, I feel kinda hungry too. Is there some sort of leftovers in the fridge?" The short creature said, facing towards the opened fridge where a glimpse of more horns can be seen behind the door.
"Did that possum just talk?" Tristan muttered in shock, only to regret that he spoke out loud before covering his mouth with his hand. But to make it worse, he realized that he was now standing in front of the creature.
"Oh and there it is! Now listen! I don't know what gives you the impression that I look like a possum, but I take offense to that and I-" The creature's sentence just cut short the moment he turned around and faced the human, as they both stared into each other awkwardly with shock written on their faces.
Tristan got a clear look on the little one's red-skinned face and noticed his eyes were yellow with black slit pupils, and he was wearing a navy-black tailcoat suit with red buttons and a large red bow-tie.
"What's wrong, Moxxie? Did you just look into the mirror and notice you kinda look like one?" Another guy jested before the fridge was closed.
The young man looked up to see the rest of the intruders, who looked the same as the short one; red skin, yellow eyes and long tails. One of them was taller, with white blotches covering his left eye, his white and dark striped horns were large and curved, and wore a similar collared coat with red buttons, only torn at the ends. The large creature even had a peculiar heart-shaped skull symbol on his forehead. The last intruder was a female and stood the same height as the other midget, with messy bob-styled greyish-black hair and a birthmark on her left cheek. Unlike the rest of them, her horns were small and plain black with thin white stripes. She wore a black crop top and torn black pants, though she doesn't seem to wear some shoes, which exposed her hoof-like toes.
Tristan had met some strange people in his life, but these people had to be the weirdest ones he ever encountered.
"What the hell are you doing in my house!" The young journalist demanded as he decided to stand up to the weird-looking intruders.
"Uh, we're raiding your fridge, what do you think it looks like?" The largest one of the group retorted while holding some of the food he took out of the refrigerator and the pantry. "By the way, don't you have something you can eat?"
"Yeah, you humans really have some weird food. I mean, these gummy candies taste funny." The little female said as she was eating the Tide Pods.
"Um, I don't think they're gummy candy, Millie." The little guy named Moxxie responded with a look of concern as he noticed the Tide Pod bag she was holding.
Tristan only raised an eyebrow, finding himself hard to believe that these… weirdos broke into his house and now they're acting like guests. Nonetheless, they're committing a felony and he can't tolerate it.
"Alright, first of all, are you cosplayers? 'Cause those costumes you're wearing need work, I give you for your creativity, but the execution was poorly done." Tristan said with a wave of his hand, before shaking his head. "Look, the point is, this is my apartment, and you three are invading my property. Now I have to ask you to get the hell out of here this instant!"
"Well, I'm sorry, oh ruler of this shithole, but we're not going anywhere until we're sure you're Tristan Relish." The tall devil-looking guy responded before dropping all the food he was carrying so he could cross his arms.
Tristan's eyes widened as his body froze in shock. While he was under the impression they might have heard about him as a journalist, that doesn't change the fact that his privacy had been compromised. Furthermore, he never shared his personal info nor his name on social media, he didn't even meet people who praised his kind of work, which led him to believe that these intruders are not his stalker fans.
"Sir! You're not supposed to reveal that kind of info to our target!" Moxxie shouted, only to reveal more sensitive information that shocked the young man even more.
"Alright, that's it! I'm calling the cops!" Tristan snapped before he approached the phone on the wall. "I don't know who you are and how you know my name, but if you don't get the hell out of here, I'll let the cops do the police brutality on you!"
A gunshot was heard just when his hand reached for the phone, and then it was broken into pieces.
"Fuck!" Tristan shouted as whipped his hand back when the bullet almost shot his fingers off. He looked at the hole in the wall, before turning back to the intruders and to his shock, the big-horned guy was holding a sniper rifle at him.
"It was about time you showed up, for a moment we thought we were in the wrong building." He said as a smirk spread across his face, showing off his yellow razor sharp teeth, as he rested his weapon on his shoulder as he dug one of his hands into the pocket of his coat. "Now let's just get to the point, someone paid us to get rid of you, so it's nothing personal, alright? But first, the client asked us to-"
"Blitz, the human just left the moment you shot the phone." The female named Millie spoke, before Blitz looked up and saw the young man had just disappeared, but then he caught a glimpse of Tristan running by out the window.
"Dammit, boss! He's getting away!" The white-haired guy shouted before taking out a shotgun.
"Oh no, he won't, Moxxie." The leader replied with a grin before looking over to the next room. "Loonie! Go fetch that fucker!"
Suddenly, a shadow rose up from the couch and a pair of red eyes with white irises glowed and then bared its sharp teeth with a growl.
Tristan just went back to his car and with his trembling hands he took out his keys to unlock the door, only to let it slip out of his hands before picking back up and opening the door and got inside his vehicle.
"Shit! Shit! Come on! Come on!" He tried to control his breathing as he tried to turn on his car. He didn't know what he's doing right now, he even wasn't sure if he would go to a police station and tell them everything, but at this moment, the only thing he cared about was running for his life, away from these cosplayer-killer freaks.
After starting the car, Tristan shifted the gear stick and stepped on the pedal, driving his car backwards before turning the wheel hard to the side, until he was facing the exit where he could make an escape. He shifted the stick once more in acceleration mode. But while he was doing it, he failed to notice a silhouette on the second floor of the building jumping off the railings.
In the blink of an eye, the shadow then landed on the hood of his car with a shocking strength that crushed it in the process, making Tristan jump off his seat as he screamed out, before finding himself meeting the person who was crouched in front of the windshield. At first he thought it was one of those killers in costume, but what he didn't expect was to find a pale-skinned young woman.
She had a voluminous grey hair swept to the side with an undercut, her eyes were strangely red with white irises and wore a dark lipstick over her lips. Her look appeared to be gothic judging by the black choker with spikes around her neck, her grey crop top has strings shaped like an inverted pentagram, fingerless gloves, dark shorts with a crescent moon on the right side, and black stockings with sneakers.
"What in the…" Tristan mouthed in shock, but then the young goth woman rear her fist back and then punched through the windshield, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt before throwing him out of the car effortlessly.
He screamed while waving his arms in the air before his body hit the ground and rolled over. Groaning in pain, Tristan looked up to see the young grey-haired woman jumping off the vehicle and approached him menacingly.
"Who... Who the hell are you?!" Tristan demanded, trying to crawl away from her as her shadow loomed over him.
"Just feel lucky Blitz is letting you live for a while." That was her only answer before she raised her foot and kicked him in the face, knocking him out with a broken nose. After that, she pulled him up with one hand and dragged him back to the second floor and to his apartment.
Tristan groaned as he started regaining his consciousness, only to feel his head throbbing painfully, followed by the copper taste in his mouth. He tried to lift up his arms, but then he felt like they're clinging together. Cracking his eyes open, his blurry sight became clearer before realizing he was sitting in a chair, but also was tied up with duct tape.
"Oh good, you're awake."
The young stringer gasped before looking up and saw the same costume-wearing intruders, along with the young goth girl, standing in front of him. He also noticed he was just back to his apartment and was sitting in the living room. He tried to stand up, but the duct tape kept him in place, though that didn't stop him from struggling around in vain.
"You know it was kinda rude of you to leave before I could finish the talk." The big-horned guy, who surely was Blitz the young woman mentioned, said while waving his pointy finger at him. "It was a good thing my dear Loonie made sure you wouldn't try to do anything stupid like running and screaming like a madman, you would make a huge fuss around this neighborhood."
"Even if he did, I doubt everyone would even care about helping him." The gothic woman replied with a cold tone as her eyes were fixated on her cellphone. "And don't call me dear, Blitz." She finished with a growl.
"Anything for you, sweetie~" Blitz turned to her and pampered with his hands clasped and his eyes shining, earning another growl from her.
As much as Tristan was getting confused about what was going on, he remembered that they mentioned that someone paid him to kill him. Beginning to fear for his life, he tried to bribe his way out of it.
"Wait! Wait! I know what you're thinking! I know it sounds easy to kill me in this spot and get your payment! But what if I offer you something more?" He stated, earning some puzzle looks from the assassins. "I'm a stringer, I film stuff like crime scenes, accidents, things like that, and I sell the footage to a news station. They pay me a lot of good money for that stuff! I mean, you know how much I earn? $180,000 per year! But I've been working for five years and I have so much money in my pocket! So whoever paid you to kill me, I can give you more than he paid you, I can even pay you in advance! B-But that doesn't mean you have to kill your client. I mean, like, like, you could just tell him that you finished the job and I can give you something to convince him that I'm dead! Now if you think about it this way, it's a big win-win! No one has to die, you four can still earn more money than you have right now and-" He couldn't finish his proposal when Blitz shoved a bundle of dynamite into his mouth, his eyes widened in horror and looked at the big-horned guy.
"Are you done?" Blitz asked with a smug on his face, clearly joking. "Good. Now, I have to admit, you have some good negotiation skills and your double-crossing suggestion is so much temptive for me that I just got an erection."
"Oh come on, boss!" Moxxie, who was sitting on the couch with Millie, suddenly voiced his disgust.
"Shut it, prude!" Blitz gave the little guy a middle finger before turning back to Tristan, as he was starting to sweat in fear. "Anyway, I'm afraid I have to refuse that kind offer of yours. You see, I have a company to run and all that course of action is against our company's policy."
"When did you implement that kind of policy?" Moxxie questioned with an incredulous look.
"Shhh, not now, Mox! He's getting to the best part!" Millie whispered to him as she nudged him.
"So yeah, what I'm saying is that we still have to fulfill our client's request and that's what we're gonna do." Blitz continued as Tristan tried to speak, only to muffle helplessly with the dynamite in his mouth. "However, the only reason we're talking to you instead of just lighting up the fuse and letting you blow into bits, the client asked us specifically to give you his message before we do the job, now just sit tight, and let me." He then took out a piece of paper from his pocket, cleared his throat and read it. "Dear Tristan, I hope you had a good life being a hell of a stringer. I'm sure your whole career was just exciting after what you've done to me., but now it's time for you to get what you fucking deserve. You know what they say, Karma's a fucking bitch. I'll see you in the underworld, asshole."
Tristan was stunned after hearing the message, he was even more confused at this moment to fear for his life. Sure, he made a lot of trouble with the police and some other people, but honestly he doesn't remember what kind of things he has done to ruin someone's life and drive them to pay some hitmen to kill him.
"Well, that's about it." Blitz said before crumpling the paper and throwing it away. "Now moving on, Moxxie, the lighter please."
Moxxie then threw the lighter at Blitz as he caught it in his hand. The leader then pressed the sparkwheel a few times before the flame came out..
"Mmmmpphhh! Mmmmmmmmmmmppphhh! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmppph!" Tristan's screams muffled as he whipped his head around to not let Blitz light the fuse, much to his annoyance.
"Hey, I said sit tight, you bitch!" Blitz growled as he seized his jaw aggressively and carefully brought the fire closer to the fuse. "God, you're making this so much harder than it has to be."
Tristan closed his eyes shut in despair, whimpering under his breath as he resigned himself to face his gruesome end. The only thought that came to his mind was that his fear was coming true, and that was dying without someone on his side, but if it's true that Heaven exists, then he cannot wait to meet his mother again.
The silence suddenly broke out when some music started to sound outside, catching everyone's attention that Blitz stopped just when the lighter was a few inches away from the fuse. Everyone turned behind to the window as they just heard a sound of the tires screeching as the music grew louder that would wake everyone in the block.
Moxxie stood up and headed to look out of the window, and when he took a peek, his face grew nervous turning to the boss. "Um, sir… I think you should see this."
"Ugh, what is it this time?! Can't I just kill someone in peace?!" Blitz shouted in frustration before turning off the lighter and went towards the window, followed by Millie and the goth woman named "Loonie".
Tristan on the other hand just felt a little relieved, but he was more confused as those hitmen. If he wasn't tied up in a chair, he would want to take a look and see what's going on outside. What Blitz and the others watched was a couple of cars parking in front of the building before a bunch of men showed up, all of them armed with assault rifles.
"Hey, Mr. Journalist! We know you're in there and you know why we're here! So why don't you come out?" One of them shouted with an hispanic accent as he reloaded his AK-47.
The hitmen looked at each other, before looking back at Tristan as they gave him a suspicious look.
"Are those mexican guys friends of yours?" Blitz asked with a dry tone as he pointed his thumb at the window.
"Mmmpp mmm mmpph!" Tristan's answer only muffled as he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, implying that he actually didn't know about those guys outside. However, he just heard that voice and knew immediately that those guys were the same gangsters who just ran away from them. The only thing he was being honest, was that he couldn't understand how these guys knew where he was living.
A bullet suddenly shattered the window and whizzed above the white-haired devil-looking creature, as he yelped and hit on the ground and everyone stepped away from the window before more bullets shot inside the apartment and began to destroy the decors and riddle the furniture with holes.
"Well, I take that as a no!" Blitz snarled with his back against the wall as he took out his sniper rifle. "Moxxie, Millie, I know we just have one job, but those fuckers need to know who they're fucking with! So I say let's give them a good fucking on their asses!"
"You got it, Blitz!" Millie said as she took out her dual wield guns.
"Ugh, I really hate to say this, but I'm in!" Moxxie replied as he took out a tommy gun.
"And Loona!" Blitz turned to the goth woman, who was standing behind him with her arms crossed. "Would you do the honor of finishing the job for us?" He asked before throwing the lighter at her.
"You're the boss." Loona caught it in her hand, before turning to the young man with a malicious grin.
"That's my girl!" Blitz beamed as he cocked the sniper rifle. He stood in front of the door and kicked it open. "Hey, chilli-loving pricks! You're messing with the wrong guy!"
The horned guy then exited the apartment along Moxxie and Millie and the three began to exchange fire against the Crazy Carnales. Since they were on the second floor, they had the advantage to shoot two of the gangsters before the rest of them took cover.
Back in the apartment, Loona walked towards the gagged young man, who was still doing the futile attempt to break himself free. She stopped him by raising her foot and stepping on his crotch, making him flinch in discomfort as she turned on the lighter.
"Like Blitz said, it's nothing personal. It's just business." Loona said before she brought the flame closer to the wick and then lit it up. After that, the gothic girl removed her foot from his groin and turned around to leave the apartment, without giving him a proper farewell to the victim as she closed the door.
Tristan's eyes widened in horror as he watched the fuse sparking, meaning the time was running out and he might get one chance to survive. He wriggled around his body violently to at least break the chair or stand up, but like a madman in a straight jacket, he couldn't do anything to break the duct tape, and the more he tried, the fuse was halfway to being blown.
Duct tape… The thought in his mind snapped him out of his panic when he just remembered a single little detail about it. Everyone knows that duct tape is very strong against pulling motions, but it has a weakness. It's hard to pull it apart, but it's easy to tear it in half. Furthermore, he recalled watching a video about how to escape from being tied up in a chair with duct tape, all he had to do was doing the "throwing up in a plane" technique.
Leaning back against the chair, Tristan took a deep breath before jolting himself forward to tear the duct tape off him, but his first attempt didn't do anything. Cursing inwardly, he leaned back again and jerked forward once more, trying to put his head between his legs. Again, it didn't work, but this time he felt the duct tape was starting to lose its grip around him, it was working!
However, he noticed the fuse was just a few seconds away from blowing the dynamite. As he prepared himself for his last attempt, he gritted his teeth on the dynamite, before pushing all the weight of his body forward with his head hung down over his legs. A snapping sound reached his ears as he stumbled to the floor.
Tristan almost couldn't believe it, the trick actually worked! But it wasn't the right moment to celebrate as he noticed the dynamite was now three seconds away from blowing itself up. Reacting quickly, he took the dynamite out of his mouth with a gasp, before throwing it randomly at the kitchen.
As the world around him seemed to go slower, Tristan proceeded to get on his feet, turning around and ran as fast as he could to find some cover. But then, he was thrown by a blast before colliding against the wall and a thick cloud of smoke engulfed him.
Blitz and his crew were still dealing with the gangsters outside the building, as it turned out the Mexicans just called for reinforcements before more of them came and poured the bullets towards them. Right now, the assassins were taking cover behind the columns while standing at a safe distance from Tristan's apartment where they're waiting for the explosion. Loona, however, was just checking on her phone like she doesn't care.
"Sir! We can't hold much longer! How long is it gonna take before your dynamite explodes?!" Moxxie shouted before leaning out and shooting his Tommy Gun.
Before Blitz could respond, a wall just burst out with a blast and the shockwave threw everyone off their feet as they were being engulfed by a cloud of smoke and debris. The street gang members meanwhile were taken by surprise that they stopped shooting and took cover behind their vehicles.
The explosion not only shook the entire building, but also the entire block that would spread panic around the neighborhood.
As the cloud of smoke gradually faded, the hitmen coughed as they raised up to their knees, before looking towards Tristan's apartment and saw a big hole standing between them and the door.
"Did you put too much powder on that dynamite?!" Moxxie shouted angrily at the boss as he coughed.
"Oh, I wish I could if I actually meant getting us blown into fucking tiny little pieces!" Blitz berated, hoisting Moxxie up to his level while glaring at him
"Guys, that explosion got closer to us than we could've expected!" Millie cried out, trying to stop Blitz and Moxxie from fighting as she pointed at the hole so they could look at it and notice that behind the wall was the kitchen.
"Wait, that was supposed to blow the entire living room. It couldn't get anywhere else unless…" Moxxie cut off before his eyes widened, realizing that there could be only one explanation for that, and that's something that even the others didn't want to hear.
"Oh, goddammit! Don't tell me he's still alive!" Blitz yelled with his face filled with anger.
Loona couldn't agree more with Blitz, she was also pissed not only because they were almost caught in the explosion, but her clothes ended up dirty with debris and she just got them cleaned up today. Now she never wanted to kill that human more than she ever was now.
"I'll go back in there and get that fucker!" Loona shouted before she jumped into the hole.
"Um, should we go after her?" Moxxie asked, a little apprehensive at the thought of letting Loona go rampage.
"No, let my baby girl handle this! 'Cause right now I'm so fucking pissed that I wanna kill more shitheads!" Blitz argued before standing up, aiming his sniper rifle at one of the gangsters and then blew his head off. "You heard that? You fuck with us and our job, you're dead!" He shoots one more round, taking another gangster down.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about him." Moxxie sighed exasperatedly before turning to Millie. "Honey, I have a plan, I'll go flanking them and I'll make a distraction while you take Blitz and get out of here. Meet me across the street when you make it, got it?"
Millie nodded with her head with a serious look. "Got it, and please be careful!"
They both pecked on their lips before Moxxie ran off and Millie provided cover fire for Blitz.
Back in his apartment, Tristan got on his feet with his clothes covered in dust and his face bruised. His ears started ringing, his sight went blurry as he was trying to stay in balance, he even felt something warm running down the side of his face, before touching it and saw blood on his hand.
He looked around briefly, finding his apartment filled with smoke, dust and splinters, but he didn't have time to see how damaged his apartment was, he knew he had to get out of here before someone would find out that he's still alive. So as he fought through the pain aching all over his body, he hastily made his way to the back of the building, since he could still hear the gunshot, meaning it's suicidal to try to escape from the front.
Reaching at the end of the hallway, he slid the window open and stepped out to the balcony. He looked down to find some sort of landing spot where he could jump, until he spotted the trash container full of garbage bags. Without hesitating, he swung his legs over the rails and stood on the ledge, preparing himself to jump while silently praying to the angels for their guidance to a safe landing.
"You!" Suddenly, as his ears stopped ringing, he heard an audible and familiar voice behind him.
He looked over his shoulder and gasped when he saw Loona standing behind him before she stomped her way towards him. In panic, he stepped off the balcony and fell with a scream until his body hit the pile of trash, cushioning his fall before rolling down to the ground.
With a loud grunt, Tristan got up before running as fast as he could across the alleyway and away from his former apartment, with the adrenaline pumping through his veins and his lungs burning while he was breathing heavily. Crossing street after street, Tristan kept on dashing without looking back, though he began slowing himself down when he was running out of breath, until he was forced to stop as he coughed for air.
He paid attention to his surroundings and noticed he was in an alleyway, standing between two small buildings, it could mean that he's now a little far away from the apartment, since he could hear the distant gunfire echoing throughout the block, also meaning that those hitmen were still distracted dealing with the Carnales to be able to find him. Maybe he can consider the fact that he's now safe and can take a break before he would continue on.
"There you are..."
Tristan froze with his eyes open wide, feeling his breath caught on his throat before he turned around and saw the same goth woman, Loona, standing at the end of the alley with a feral-like look.
"Oh no… Not you! That's not fair! That's really not fair!" Tristan shouted both in dismay and anger, as he helplessly watched the gothic walking towards him at a slow, menacing pace. His mind was telling him to run away, but the overwhelming fear kept him where he was standing. "D-Don't come near me! I swore I would never hit a woman in my life, but I'll be forced to break my oath if you take one more step." Loona didn't listen to his hollow threat as she took one more step, making him more upset. "Hey! Seriously, just leave me alone!"
Tristan then clenched his fist and launched a punch at her, only to have Loona blocking the strike with one hand while gripping around his fist. Shockingly she had a strong grip that even with all his strength he couldn't pull his hand away from her.
A smirk spread across Loona's face, before she gripped around the collar of his shirt and then threw him towards the wall. Tristan cried out in pain as his back collided against the brick-wall surface and fell to the pavement as he groaned woefully. But at that moment, he started to feel more frustrated, angry, and vexed to feel any more of that pain. He struggled to get on his feet, casting a glare towards Loona before he lunged at her and tried to punch once again.
"Whoa! Getting feisty, aren't you?" Loona teased as she sidestepped and Tristan stumbled forward, only to launch another futile strike as she just dodged it.
"You destroyed my apartment! You took everything I have left! And you still want to kill me! What else do you want from me?!" Tristan roared on top of his lungs as kept trying to land a single strike at Loona in vain.
However, little did they know that they were making a lot of noise that not only would wake the entire neighborhood, but they were also one of the most dangerous places in L.A. with a high presence of street gangs.
"Okay, now this is just so annoying. Let's get this over with." Loona said in a deadpanned tone before she grabbed him by his neck and pinned him against the wall. "You know, I hate to admit, but I'm impressed that you managed to live far longer than the other people we've killed. I hope that client will pay us more than enough for all the trouble." She said with a mischievous smirk, taking out a cellphone from her pocket and began to text.
"Why… Why are you doing this?" Tristan gagged, with his face going blue as he tried clawing her arm, although he was also shocked when he noticed she was lifting him off the ground. Just how freaking strong was this woman?
"Like I said, we're just doing our business." Loona replied bluntly after she finished sending her text message to Blitz. But she failed to notice a silhouette sneaking up behind her. "Now, say goodbye to the living world, human." She rose up her left hand before her nails instantly grew into claws.
Tristan had no other choice but to close his eyes and wait for an embrace of Death.
*BONK*
"GAAAHHH!"
His eyes shot wide open and all of a sudden her hand around his neck was released and fell back to the ground. Tristan coughed and gasped, and to his surprise, he saw Loona on the ground while clutching her ribs in great pain, but he also noticed another pair of legs standing behind her. He looked up to meet the savior with a smile, only to fade when he was greeted by a dark smile from a tattooed-face man.
"Well, what do we have here?" The intimidating man said with a thick accent as he stood before his prey with a baseball bat resting on his shoulder. A smile spread across his face, showing off his gold grillz in the darkness. "What are the two little piggies doing in our hood, ese?" He talked to another tattooed man beside him.
"I don't know, but they're sure squealing a lot here, Pepe." The second thug chuckled while holding an Uzi.
"You motherfuckers! I'm gonna hang you with your intestines when I rip them out of you!" Loona roared as she tried to stand up, only to be hit by the baseball bat on her back, making her scream in pain and slumped down. Tristan could only look away with his eyes shut while taking some trembling breaths.
"So you must be one of those guys who are shooting our brothers over there." Pepe continued with a dry tone before kicking her in the ribs, but then he grew a wicked grin as his eyes roamed over her body, running his tongue across his lips. "I think I'm gonna have so much fun with you, muchachita..."
"You touch me and I'll break your fucking jaw…" Loona growled ferociously as she was struggling to get up, but at this moment she felt like some of her ribs were broken.
Noticing that the gangster seemed to be much focused on Loona, Tristan tried to crawl away, but by making a little noise was enough to earn the attention from the gang thug.
"And where do you think you're going, buddy?" Pepe said with a dark chuckle, earning a gasp from the young man. He then turned to his partner. "Lalo, get this pussy out of my way."
The second thug approached Tristan before dragging him away from Loona.
"No! No, wait! Just let me go! I have nothing to do with this!" Tristan begged as he tried to resist by kicking his legs up, but as he was being pulled up to his feet, the thug kneed him in the stomach, forcing his air out of his lungs before bending over in pain.
"Shut up. We're gonna deal with you later." Lalo sneered while holding the young journalist at gunpoint.
Meanwhile, Pepe took a moment to stare at the strange lady, who met his gaze with a dangerous soul-piercing glare as she was growling like a savage wolf that she bared fangs in her teeth. But then she stopped growling when she noticed the thug wasn't intimated, but rather aroused. That was something she wasn't expecting to see, and to think that this bastard was taking this too much personally with her, made her realize that she just lost control of the situation.
She now felt vulnerable.
"Is that fear I'm starting to smell?" Pepe laughed as he readied his baseball bat. "Tranquila mija, you'll feel a lot of pain, but after that I'm gonna take good care of you." And then he brought the wooden club on the woman, again, and again, and again, and again.
The gut-wrenching sounds of a woman screaming while being brutally beaten echoed throughout the alley, such a dreadful scene that was too much for Tristan, yet he couldn't stop watching in horror, as he flinched every time he heard those sounds. He thought being pursued by a cold-blooded goth was bad enough, but this was just a reminder that the street gangs were much worse. He found it hard to believe that he's starting to feel remorse for this woman after she tried to kill him just a minute ago, but in reality, he didn't ask to make her suffer in this way.
"Dude, stop! She had enough!" Tristan yelled and tried to lunge at the gangster, only to be pulled back before his face was slammed into the wall and was being thrown back to the ground.
"Just stay there and feel comfortable, the show's just getting started." Lalo said with a mocking tone before pulling the young man up by the collar of his jacket and forced him to look back.
With a groan, Tristan looked up to see the Carnales' member still bashing her with the bat, and then, to his shock, he began to notice the sadistic glee wearing on his tattooed face. The anger started building up within him, one thing that Tristan couldn't stand was watching someone getting the nauseating amount of joy of torturing a woman, no matter if this was an act of retaliation or just a hobby.
Pepe swung the baseball bat down on her one last time before he threw it over his shoulder, as it clanked loudly while bouncing on the ground. He breathed heavily as he looked over her body covered in bruises without any hint of remorse. "Aaahhh… Look at you now, I'm sure my other homies would love to meet you when I take you to them. But first…" With one step closer, he began to unbuckle his pants.
Loona noticed it with a distressed look as she still tried to stand up, only to whimper when the pain overwhelmed her body. Feeling now defenseless, the only thing she could do was snarling at the gangster, but behind her raging face, she was hiding a twinge of fear.
Tristan, on the other hand, was completely shocked when he knew what this monster was planning to do! And to have the audacity to do that in front of him, now this was going too far. While he knew this will be the stupid idea he will ever make, it was now the time to listen to his conscience in a long time.
Looking over the ground for something that could be used as a weapon, he spotted a brick a few inches away from him. He looked over his shoulder, back to the second thug who was still holding him at gunpoint, but at this moment he was distracted while encouraging his partner to make a move.
Without hesitating, he kicked up his legs and tried to crawl away one more time, but then the thug managed to catch him by his legs.
"Whoa! Where do you think you're going, little pig?" Lalo laughed before pulling Tristan back.
"No! Please! Don't do this! Just let me go, please!" Tristan cried out in despair, but as he was being pulled back, he grabbed the brick on his hand and hid it under before Lalo could notice.
"Lalo, do something to shut him up! He's killing the mood!" Pepe shouted as he just unzipped his pants while Loona kept growling at him.
Lalo crouched on top of him with his submachine gun aiming at him while the other was gripping on the young man's jacket, forcing him to face him while the civilian was still crying. "Come on, turn around! I will break your face if you don't stop being a fucking pussy!"
"Fuck you!" Tristan rolled over and then hit the gangster's face with the brick, knocking him out before he collapsed next to him. But Tristan didn't stop from there as he got on top of Lalo and continued bashing his face with the brick. "Fuck! You! You! Piece! Of! Shit!" He didn't even flinch as some of the blood plastered over his face.
He then looked up and saw the remaining Carnales member staring at him in shock, before reaching for something behind his pants. Reacting quickly, Tristan picked up the Uzi the other gang member dropped and aimed it at him.
"Stop! I sorta know how to use this!" He shouted as he stood up, as Pepe cursed in Spanish before he put his hands up over his head. "Now get away from her, you sick bastard! Go on!"
"You just don't know what you're doing, do you?" Pepe taunted as he walked slowly away from Loona. "You just picked a wrong time to fuck with me, ese."
"Shut up! Keep moving!" Tristan yelled as he took a few steps towards the tattooed-faced man, leaving the body behind.
"You don't have the cojones to shoot me." Pepe instead continued to antagonize him while wearing a confident, smug smirk. "Do you know you're standing in our turf? If you shoot me, my homies will come for you. They will make you suffer, and-" He stopped mid-sentence when he noticed someone approaching out of the corner of his eye, and before he realized, he felt something piercing in his insides and began to cough blood out of his mouth. "GGUULK!"
"JESUS!" Tristan recoiled before lowering the gun.
Pepe looked down and to his shock, he saw a hand literally punctured through his stomach, before he looked up and met a pair of red eyes filled with hatred and anger.
Those burning emotions were enough for Loona to be able to ignore the pain all over her body so she could get back on her feet and give that bastard some payback. However, this wasn't enough for her.
"Remember when I told you I'll break your fucking jaw?" Loona said with a low, menacing tone as Pepe turned to her with his eyes widened. "I was being honest."
Loona pulled her hand out of the stomach, making the gangster moan in agony as he fell on his knees. With a cold expression on her face, she pulled his head back before locking her hands into the upper and the lower jaw. And using a little bit of her strength, she ripped his head from his jaw with a sickening sound as the blood poured out.
"OOOOHHHH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OOOOHHHH!" Tristan screamed in horror as he watched the corpse slumping down with the mutilated face. He had seen some disturbing crime scenes in his career, but this was actually the first time to witness someone getting murdered in a gruesome way.
Loona breathed in and out slowly while staring at the corpse of the gangster with a hint of satisfaction. After wiping the blood off her face, she turned her sight on Tristan. "You…" She hissed with a terrifying, murderous look, before she stomped her way towards him.
Tristan whimpered fearfully before raising the weapon at her, but that didn't stop her from approaching. He wasn't even sure if he actually made the right decision to save that woman, after watching what she just had done to that man, he only had one conclusion in his mind.
This woman's not human.
Just as Loona was getting close to him, she grimaced before clutching her hand around her torso and stumbled down to the ground with her legs buckling from underneath, as Tristan stepped further away from her. The pain just returned after her rage diminished and left her unable to keep on her feet.
She looked up hatefully at the young man as his body trembled in fear. "Well, what are you waiting for? If you're not gonna shoot me, then I'll do the same thing like I did with that bitch over there!" She pointed to the dead gangster behind her. "Come on! Shoot me, motherfucker! Shoot me!"
Tristan remained silent while his hand was shaking, making the weapon he was holding unsteady to have a clear shot. His finger kept pressing on the trigger, that with only one squeeze will send a burst of bullets on her. However, when he and Loona stared into each other, he began to hesitate.
How was now debating himself if he should pull the trigger, but he couldn't understand how would he even think about letting her live after she made a promise he would suffer the same fate as that gangster whose jaw was literally ripped off? Not that he didn't deserve it though, but still. He knew that if he would spare her life, she won't stop tormenting him until she fulfills the contract, she won't stop pursuing him to the ends of the earth until she makes sure he's dead.
The only one way he could end this nightmare was pulling the trigger. But why he's feeling unsure about making that choice?
A screech of tires suddenly broke out of his thoughts before looking up and at the end of the valley he saw a vehicle approaching, he then spotted one guy leaning out of the window with a weapon.
Tristan realized they must have heard the goth woman's screaming, and he had both choices. He could just run away and leave that woman to her luck, or he could try to stand up and get himself killed. As he glanced back at Loona, who kept glaring at him resentfully, he made a choice.
Instead of turning around and getting out of the alley, he dashed forward and stood behind Loona. "Stay behind me!" He shouted to the shocked goth woman before starting to fire his Uzi to the incoming vehicle.
The passenger returned fire as Tristan shot burst after burst of his machine gun and Loona curled into the ground to avoid the flying bullets. After some exchange, Tristan managed to shoot the driver before the vehicle slowed down and crashed into the garbage container, making the passenger lose his balance and dropped the gun, allowing Tristan to finish him off by emptying the Uzi's magazine and the gunner slumped down lifelessly out the window.
Tristan tried to calm his breath under stress as he dropped the Uzi, approaching closely to the vehicle to see if he managed to get them all. But suddenly, he saw a door opening in the backseat and before he realized, the third passenger shot a handgun at him.
"GAH!" Tristan cried out in pain when a bullet hit his shoulder.
"FUCK!" Loona cursed before she crawled quickly and got behind the trash container for cover.
While the third passenger kept shooting, Tristan turned around and leaped towards the corpse of the other gangster who had a gun kept under his pants. He picked up the golden engraved M9 pistol before he returned fire, forcing the third gunner to take cover behind the door. And as he felt the adrenaline rushing through his body once more, he decided to move forward while shooting.
Both shooters kept exchanging fire without landing a bullet at one another, but soon it was going to turn the tables when the gangster was starting to get desperate before he was forced to move out of cover and shoot sloppily. Tristan kept pushing forward while aiming the M9 at the gangster, and with one eye closed, he shot the last bullet.
The gangster fell to the ground with a hole in his head. Dead.
The silence reigned again in the street as Tristan lowered his gun and dropped it. He then walked towards the wall before turning around and slid himself down to the ground while smudging the blood on his back. With his breath growing tired, he looked at Loona as she was struggling to get up while hanging herself onto the trash container.
"Hey… You're okay?" He asked.
Loona perked up before turning to him with a dumbfounded look, clearly she was in disbelief that her target just took the trouble to save her, or so it seemed. But she narrowed her eyes and scolded. "What do you care? Just wait until I recover so I can end you. Nngh, I just… Need a moment." She groaned as she leaned back against the wall.
"You don't need to bother." Tristan chuckled weakly, earning a glare from Loona. But to prove his point, he opened his jacket and showed another wound in his torso, as the blood began to spread all over his shirt. "It's just a matter of time before I have nothing left."
"And you think I should care about that? 'Cause it changes nothing." Loona retorted with her arms crossed.
"I know, but I just saved your life, woman. So I think you should at least grant me a last wish." Tristan replied with a frown.
Loona clicked her tongue. "Whatever, you're lucky I'm so sore to be able to walk. I might as well just watch you bleed to death while I wait for the others to come." She took out her phone and read the new message from Blitz, telling her that they're on their way as fast as they can. As she put her phone back into her pocket, she continued glaring at the young man as he laid back and waited for his imminent demise. However, Loona gained an incredulous look on her face when something couldn't stop bothering her mind, until she decided to speak."Why did you do it?"
"Do what?" Tristan turned to her, tilting his head in confusion.
"Are you fucking serious?!" Loona snapped in disbelief at the answer. "Why did you save me?! You know I was trying to kill you! I was just a few seconds away from ripping your heart out before those punk-ass bitches butt in! So what the hell made you do the stupidest thing of saving me before you die?"
Tristan was taken aback by her outburst, probably because he didn't expect she would care to know about what he did. But the truth was, he didn't have a good answer to explain his recent choices. Although, there was one part of the reason he thought he could answer to her.
"That guy you just killed, along with the others around us, they're from a street gang called the Crazy Carnales from Skid Row." He glanced at the mutilated corpse of Pepe before looking back at Loona, who was just confused. "You're not from around here, are you? Well, they're one of the most dangerous gang organizations in L.A. Like, the most vicious, dangerous gang you would ever find. I don't know them personally, but I heard a lot about them. The news says that they tend to kidnap women at night to do all kinds of horrible stuff to them. Not only they rape them and kill them, they… they do much worse that I don't wanna talk about it, that I don't even want to remember what I have seen what they've done to those poor women..." He bit his bottom lip before turning to Loona with a serious look. "I knew what those monsters were trying to do with you. So that's why I jumped in."
Loona's eyes widened as she tried to not look very shocked at his answer, she even began to realize what would have happened if Tristan didn't. The woman then clenched her teeth before shaking those thoughts of her head.
"Do you really think I would spare you after doing that "heroic" act of yours?" Loona retorted, trying to deny everything.
"I wasn't expecting any gratitude." Tristan replied with a groan. "And even though you would, I'm already far gone now that I've lost everything."
"Then why did you do it?" Loona asked the same question, but this time with a soft tone.
Tristan was almost surprised at the sudden change of her tongue, but then he grew unsure and apprehensive at that question. "I don't know…" He confessed as he looked down. "I guess I thought I could finally make the right choice for once in my life. Maybe it is because I deserved everything that happened to me."
"Hate to break it to you, but even if you admit it, there's still a chance you will go to Hell." Loona responded bluntly.
"If that's true, then I will jump into a pit of lava right before Satan would sentence me to a thousand million years of disembodied punishment." He answered with a laugh, only to groan in pain as he clutched on his wound.
Loona couldn't help but chuckle at his remark. "Seriously, are you not even afraid of dying?" She asked while wearing a look of disbelief.
"I am. I'm really scared when I think about it." Tristan paused, taking a deep breath as he felt himself getting tired the more he was losing much blood. "And I have only one regret. I never got the chance to meet my father, if he's still alive. My mother is in heaven, and I'm pretty sure she's very disappointed in me for all the things I have done. I wish I could see her again up there, so I could tell her how sorry I am."
Loona cast him a softened look before hanging her head low without saying a word. She tried to not care about every word he just said, she even thought about making a joke about it, but all of a sudden she didn't feel like she should do so. It was still much of a shock for her that this guy risked his life to save her when he got a chance to walk away, and for what? If he's not looking for some gratitude, what then?
"Hey…" Loona snapped out before looking back at Tristan. "Can I ask what's your name?"
The grey-haired woman raised an eyebrow with hesitation, she thought about answering him with the bird, but after considering he deserves his last wish, she decided to grant it. "Loona…" She muttered, albeit loud enough so Tristan could hear it.
"Loona... Wow, that means Moon in Latin. That's a beautiful name." Tristan responded with a weak, genuine smile on his face.
The young woman blinked as she looked at him dumbfoundedly, with her hand clutching on her chest after feeling her heart skip a beat. But before she would demand for more answers, they both heard some shouting followed by the sound of some vehicles approaching.
"Dammit, it's more of them! They must have heard the gunfire!" Tristan grunted while facing the exit before turning back to Loona. "You have to get out of here now! I'll hold them off!"
Loona's eyes widened in disbelief as she watched Tristan struggling to get up. "Are you insane?! You're literally bleeding yourself to death!" She shouted with an upset look, only to be confused by what she's saying because the life of the target wasn't supposed to be a concern for her. But for some reason, she felt… worried.
"There's no time to argue! If that's what it takes to make sure you're safe, then it's good enough for me! Now go! Go!" Tristan demanded with no hesitation in his voice as he managed to stand up. His eyesight was going blurry as he began to walk forward, but he couldn't stop moaning in agony with his blood dripping from his wound and leaving some bloody footprints on the ground. If he was honest, he had no idea what he's doing, but the only thing he cared about right now was buying some time until Loona made it out alive.
"Fuck this! You're coming with me!"
Before Tristan could react, Loona approached him and carried him by her shoulder before she made a run along with him. He was taken by surprise, and not because she had some great strength to carry him in one arm, but the fact that not only she just refused to leave him behind, she's also risking her life to save him.
He wanted to protest, but at that moment, he started to feel his consciousness slipping away by his blood loss. No matter how much he tried to keep his eyes open, he felt them getting heavier before closing them. Next thing he knew, he heard gunshots, screams, even something splattering on his face.
"Loona?! What the fuck are you doing?!" Tristan then heard a voice echoing in his ear.
"Now it's not the time, just get us the fuck out of here!" Then it was Loona's voice answering.
That was the last thing he could hear before his mind began to swirl, his breath growing shallow until he fainted like a puppet suddenly released from its strings.
Tristan suddenly shot his eyes wide open with a gasp before he sat up out of instinct, but then let out a groan when a huge pain shot through his body, making him clutch his arms around himself. Looking down over his body, he realized he wasn't wearing a shirt, rather he was covered in bandages over the torso and the left shoulder.
"What the hell?" The young man muttered in confusion, before he looked around to see he was in some sort of a reception room, though this place looked hardly like an office, judging by some peculiarly designed furniture and decor, like they're out of some gothic shop. "Where am I?"
Rubbing on his head, he pulled the sheet off him as he tried to remember what happened to him before falling unconscious. But as he was gathering his thoughts, he heard some inaudible voices coming from behind the door, sounding like a group of people having an argument. This gave Tristan the impression that they're the ones who brought him here and patched him up, but that doesn't help that he was getting nervous if they're the people he can trust.
As he looked around the room for more clues, he noticed a window just beside him and he caught a glimpse of some buildings. Feeling the need to know what part of downtown he's in, Tristan stood up from the couch and headed towards the window, though he had to walk slowly since his body was still aching in pain from whatever happened to him.
Just as he was getting close to the window, he began to have a really bad feeling that would force him to look away and not see what's outside, but this time he ignored that instinct as he was now standing by the window. The moment he took a look at the outside world, he felt his heart stop beating.
Instead of finding the sun shining in the blue sky or the moon lighting up in the dark of the night, he found the skies glimmered in blood red while it was covered with dark violet clouds. He tried to convince himself that it was just some strange weather like it happens, but that didn't last long when he looked down to see the streets filled with countless red-skinned, horned freaks, no human in sight.
Beads of sweat started forming all over his face when he just remembered everything. The night when he was pursued by devil-look alike people were waiting for him in his apartment, when he tried to escape from a crazy goth woman before they were attacked by gangsters, when he decided to save her from getting brutally beaten and raped, and the moment he took the bullets when he tried to protect Loona.
Everything that he had been through, does that mean that he just died?
Suddenly, a door behind him was slammed open and Blitz revealed himself. "Oh, look who finally wakes up from his little slumber." He said sarcastically when he just spotted Tristan looking out the window. "Alright, now you're probably wondering why you're here and have a lotta questions, but you're going to give us some answers before we decide what to do with you. Just because you're still breathing doesn't mean we're going to spare your life and - are you even listening to me?!" Blitz snapped when he noticed Tristan wasn't paying attention, he was still standing in front of the window like he's dozing off or something.
The truth was, Tristan was completely shocked that he couldn't hear someone talking to him. His mind couldn't process the fact that he's not in L.A. anymore, but instead in a world that people would call this place as the purgatory, the underworld, or most commonly, Hell.
And just like that, he felt like the world was crumbling before he collapsed and his bandaged body hit the floor.
"For fuck's sake…" Blitz slapped his hand on his face in frustration. He then turned his head over his shoulder and shouted. "Moxxie! Bring me a bucket of water before I'll piss on his face myself!"
To Be Continued...