Tick.
I could smell fear. I froze up as I stared down the barrel of the shotgun. I could smell the gunpowder coming off of the gun, having just been shot at my partner. I could smell the alcohol off of the man holding the weapon. He was breathing heavily, and the alcohol smell was partnered with his dinner. I could smell my own cologne, but now I realized that cologne was a stupid gesture, as I don’t think I’m going to make it to the party. Hopefully, Julia will wait for me if I survive. I could smell sweat off of the other man, the one holding the camera. It was a deep and sour smell, a sweat smell only achieved by truly exhausting one’s body. I could smell death, a fresh smell, coming from my partner lying on his back next to me. The smell of death included the blood coming from what was his face, and the fleshy remains that resided instead. I could smell smells that didn’t belong to a certain one thing. I could smell that we were in a parking garage, a mixture of cars and people of the past coming and going, but never staying. Most potently, I could smell fear. You always hear about how predators can smell fear, and it’s always passed off as a myth of the wild, but I smelled fear, and there was no doubt in my mind who it was coming off of.
Tick.
“Clearly your buddy didn’t understand the question, so I’ll ask you instead,” Said the man with the shotgun. “Where is the list?” He pushed the gun into the side of my head, pressing down hard on my skin.
“Hit him with the gun!” Shouted the man with the camera, a look of sick excitement on his face. He held the camera straight and sturdy, making sure to keep me in the shot.
“Will you shut up?” Snapped the man with the shotgun. “Let me do my shit, and you can do your shit!” He said as he hit me in the head with the gun.
My head throbbed in pain. He then slammed the gun into my left ear, and a loud ringing started to play. I fell to one knee.
“Do I need to blast your face off too? You can survive this Wilson, just tell me where the list is!”
Tick.
I gasped for a breath, distracting myself from the pain. “I can’t. You know I can’t. They deserve to know, they NEED to know!”
“So? This isn’t your place Wilson, it never was! This world worked for hundreds of years before you, and it will work for another hundred more. We know you have the list. Tell us where it is, and this can end.”
I sighed, knowing that time was running out. Maybe Julia will forgive me enough to let me take her out another night. “Indica is doing evil, evil things, Barry! We all know it! When people know the truth, thousands of bad people will be put away. You’d be safe! This will end for everybody! If it’s about the money, I can give you whatever they’re paying you to do this!”
Tick.
“We don’t want your dirty money!” Shouted the man with the camera.
Barry spun around in anger. He held the shotgun up to the man with the camera., his hand fingering the trigger. “What is your job? Is it your job to tell ME what to do? Is it your job to yap your fucking mouth off? No! Your job is to hold a camera, press record, and let me do my own goddamn job!”
Boom.
I shoved Barry, hard. He screamed as the man who held the camera’s face splattered onto his body. I pulled my gun out of my sock, the exact spot Julia told me to hide it, and held it to the back of Barry’s head.
“Your wife is waiting at the party.”
“What? Julia? Wilson, no, please! They made me do this, you KNOW this!”
I pulled the trigger and the man who smelled like fear fell on his face.
The world smelled better already.