~ Last Exit ~
Last Exit is set like the film Sin City accept not fully black & white, simply subdued color…
I’m getting a brides corsage, made from roses & dead rats, for a wedding I’m in… for someone who’s marrying the guy that sold V and I out to the authorities & sent them on a full on man hunt for our hides…
Ironically, the floral shop workers are the same group of folks that work with Js company… this ‘front’ floral company that the public sees… for the killer for hire, if you can’t get something done through the cops… you go to him…
The plan was simple. the plan was quick, the plan was for love… love of the game, love for the future & the love of a lifetime…
We needed a way out & we needed it fast… V had saved up all the money we gained… we needed to pull off our escape from a world that no longer held any viable reason to stay…because we had no other option…
She hired Js company to make our getaway seamless and swift…. the same day I arrived at a place to have the corsage made from dead rats that V recommended, is when everything sets in motion….
As I walk up the busted cement front steps with a worn black iron railing running up the left side… the door is wide open with a Great Dane chained just inside it, his fur made him look like a giant doberman, presumably not allowing anyone to pass without calling for its owner inside…. so I knock… then I loudly say “hello” without triggering the pup…
She comes to the door and greats me with a stern German accent… beautiful ,middle aged woman, who appears to have been expecting me… she lets me in & tells the pup to behave… as i’m entering the foyer, into the back room, there is a majestically large table with a full dining arrangement for about 6 people… fully spread out to fit them all comfortably, she asks me to take a seat while eyeing me up, as if to be sizing me up on how many guys she is going to need for her next job….
We both know who we really are & what this really is, it’s not something we need to bring up, so we play along… that she owns a corsage company and I need one made with flowers and dead rats…to make a statement….
We discuss the floral arrangement, her costs and when I can pick it up knowing damn well I’ll be dead long before then….
Heading home to finish working on my truck, an older, white, lowered pick-up with engine troubles, was the last thing on my mind but I needed to bide my time, waiting for V to finish tidying things up…
As I’m just about finished, I noticed Js kids were playing in the street nearby… and there was a black sedan parked at the end of the street, watching my every move…
Throwing my oil rag on the engine, I decide to check out this cat and walk down the hill towards the sedan… catching wind of my approach, they start up their engine and pull away… normally, so it doesn’t cause any turned heads from the passers by…. so I return back to my truck…
J’s now standing by the truck and as I get closer, he asks me to come check out a building he is rebuilding… which turns out to be a ploy so that his guys can size me up for the gig V hired them for earlier that day… it’s another unspoken thing between myself and J, I know the score and so does he, and being such close friends as we are, we simply play it out… no need making it harder on either of us…
We walk through the building, it’s still in the demo phases so there’s all sorts of open brick walls, opened floors, the back end is fully exposed… with no back wall to the yard and a big canvas tarp rattling in the breeze…
As we both pretend like we don’t know what’s really happening… discussing the renovations, the conversation breaks and I simply say goodbye and I head back down to the first floor, J remains standing at the edge, overlooking the city on the top floor….
As I’m about to leave, I see three thugs eyeing my up and chattering amongst themselves, under their breathes… I think, ‘was that the guy in the sedan, nah these guys don’t look like suites?’…
Which I quickly dismiss because my phone vibrates with a text notification from V… the plan was all set, she needed me to come pick her up….
As I arrived to her office, I can hear her in the back room talking one last time with her counsel woman, who is calmly going over the plan after we are gone… how her niece will never want for anything again and be free from the harsh legacy that has the authorities hot on our trails… she gives V reassurance that this is still the only way to clear her family and free ourselves from a life in prison & ultimately being murdered while behind bars…
I walk into the back office kiss Vs forehead and tell her I’m gonna hit the head & meet her in the parking lot… saying hello to her counselor, who ironically enough, has the same German accent as the woman making my corsage….
As I’m walking to the last stall to take what I’m wondering ‘will this be my last piss’ I hear someone approaching & the recoil of a hand gun…
I slam open the stall door, nailing the guy directly in the face… he takes a few steps back, attempting to regain his balance which gave me enough time to get passed him….
Running down the long hallway, thinking if I can just get to the parking lot then this will all be over real soon….
Getting outside, just as I get to the end of the 3 cement steps, that same black sedan comes racing into the lot, tires screeching as it brakes into a turn… with the back window down and a thompson submachine gun spraying bullets in my direction… shattering the beautiful white rose gardens, displayed just outside the building…
I drop to the ground just as the bullets wizz above me…. hitting the guy chasing me so swiftly, it knocks him off his feet…
With blood splattered all over the white rose peddles, that have been floating through the air from the assault of bullets coming out of the black sedan… the car stops, the bullets stop, not a single sound, aside from dock nearby can be heard and as I see the white rose peddles splattered in blood floating swiftly to the ground, I hear the car door close….
Turning around, as he begins to walk-in my direction… I begin to coil back, legs shaking, heart pounding, never felt so alive and frozen dead on my feet at the same time…
He looks passed me, down the hallway, lowers the gun, fixes his jacket and turns back towards the car…. gets in his sedan & drives away…
As my head begins to clear… I hear V’s heels hitting the tiled floor down the hallway in the building behind me… as her counselor walks her towards me, both of us dead locked in one last look into each other’s eyes… she greats me with a warm embrace that only she can give… as I hold her close, the last thing I saw was her counselors arm begin to raise upwards as she pulls a small handgun out of her purse…
Two pops… the first, makes V’s body jolt in my arms… the second, turns my lights out… her niece will never see tomorrow…
The plan was always to go out together… and we all knew the score…
(Dream 7.13.2021)
