Delivery Girl
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Thieves, killers, liars and fiends; this city had them all. But worse than any of them was the debtor, a sort of thief but perhaps worse still. For they didn’t owe trinkets to a fellow slum dweller. No, they owed profit to the mob. Is there any crime worse than that?
Wind swept through the woman’s face, though the sunglasses kept the dust and the sand away from her determined yet somewhat unexcited eyes. It wasn’t a glamorous mission she was on, but there hadn’t been anyone else around to take it on during this uneventful morning. Why else would someone like her cross the barren outskirts of the city when chasing the aforementioned thieves on the sunlit rooftops could’ve easily provided a much more pleasurable stimulation.
But still, what had to be done would be done and that was the end of that. The only thing of note out here soon came into view; a small fence and scattered crates that surrounded the little weary bunker. Precisely where she needed to go.
She arrived at the entrance soon enough, much to the guards’ displeasure. Though the men surrounding the perimeter still let her park her ride dangerously close beside them; were they truly so deadened under the heat? Of course. How could they not be... She was, and it had only been but a few seconds since she arrived. The roar of the bike startled only one of them, the rest easily fit the profile of those who would’ve already had experience with such playthings.
Riders, raiders, bikers, and thugs. No one better to provide this small den with the little bit of security it desperately needed to keep the nosy people away. If they were any more competent or upstanding, they would’ve only gotten everyone suspicious.
“Ey, who do you think you are? Pizza man?” one of the thugs said with an interesting accent and an imposing glare. Then another man joined in with a chuckle as all five of them stepped closer around the woman and her ride inside the perimeter of the fence.
Wanting to be done with this as quickly as she could, the woman turned off the engine before stepping off. No longer surrounded by the small field of dust her bike’s powerful engine stirred up, the hired guns finally got a good look at her. And a very good look at that indeed.
“Ah, pizza woman then. Did you remember to pick off the anchovies? Derek here hates the little shits.” the first thug laughed again. He brandished a dingy looking rifle while his vest was covered in random straps, some ammo and even a grenade. Not the best militia by any means but they had to be somewhat imposing to someone out there at least.
“Yeah, yeah. Fishes are just little sea rats. Bet you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, gorgeous?” a third man smiled deviously. The men didn’t seem bothered by the heat anymore, or at least not the obvious kind. To their eyes, this woman was certainly no rat.
“Where’s the man called Reese? Heard he’s been hiding out in this dump. Did he spend all the money he owes on pizza and whores?” the woman asked.
“Oh. You supposed to be the whore then? Well worth the money, me thinks.” the first man laughed, joined in by his fellows.
“You’re the whores, me thinks. That’s why your gear is so cheap.” the woman smirked.
“Oh ho ho! Get a load of her, I like this girl! Hey, where Reese be at then? Anyone seen him?” the first thug asked with a holler.
“Where else, boss? Down in the basement. Want me to tell him they sent another one?” the second man who was apparently named Derek said. Derek, a somewhat unlucky name in this world. And the one that came before it.
The laughs quickly dimmed down as the thugs endured the mocking glare of the woman. Someone came by looking to collect? Nothing spells trouble better than that… The air grew a little tense, though even that couldn’t last forever. Something needed to be done, money is always a sensitive topic for some people after all.
“Hey...” the main thug mumbled. “She wants to see Reese and ask him for money...”
Another round of stares began to grow through the crowds’ twitchy fingers. Nobody was lacking for heat around these parts. But soon enough… the first man broke into a laugh yet again.
“Why don’t you call him up here then? Ask his lazy bum to pay off his debts already, yeah?”
The second man furrowed his brow.
“Huh? You sure? You really just wanna-” he tried to say before being cut off.
“Yeah, yeah. I like pizza lady and Reese be a no good lazy motherfucker anyway. Have him clean up his mess already so we can get out of this dump.”
The best guards no money can buy, it seems... Too bad for Reese.
With a confused and uneasy look, Derek promptly walked towards the front gate of the little bunker. Whatever it was hiding must’ve been deep underground, though the exact size or layout was nothing but a mystery. Still, that is not why she was here. The woman only cared about the money… and the thugs didn’t seem to care about anything at all. Except perhaps pizza and heat.
The man near the gate spoke into an intercom as the rest of the crew continued to enjoy the view. What else was there to look at around here anyway?
“So… you some sort of… bounty hunter or something? Judging by the weapons… Did you get demoted recently? Is that why you’re out here?” the first man laughed, the rest joined in.
“Just a slow day, you know how it is. How long have you been guarding this empty rock?” the woman asked, half mockery and half genuine curiosity.
“Ah, for a bit. A bit. Gonna give Reese the shakedown then? Ask him to pay up?” the man wondered.
“I’d let you shake me down, baby doll...” another man mumbled with a salacious tone. He even made a little kissing sound. They really were bored, weren’t they? Well, perhaps something interesting was about to happen. At the very least the guards would finally be able to leave this hellhole. One way or another as it was unlikely the man who hired them would’ve been too pleased with their… unprofessional behavior.
“What do you want, who the fuck is this?” Reese, the man himself, asked as he stepped through the doors of the bunker a few moments later. From the outside, the entrance looked as if it could’ve been magnetically sealed or that perhaps it would at least require a few seconds to slowly open up ominously. Instead it turns out the gate was nothing more impressive than the rest of this dump. Just a disguised simple door...
Where was the money going to then? Nothing good probably.
“This woman’s been asking about money, boss.” the guard next to Reese mumbled as the pair walked up to the rest of the group. By this point the woman was simply leaning back against her bike while nonchalantly waiting for her mark to arrive. She even gave out a little smile of her own as she saw him, the sooner she got what she came for the less likely she was to contract apoxy in this heat.
“Money? Who the fuck’s asking me for money?” Reese spoke, his tone a bit agitated and not very amused. He stopped beside the guards and in front of the woman before giving her a glare.
“The people you owe it to… of course.” she smirked.
Reese stared at the woman for a second, it seems trouble had come to knock on his door yet again. He had been afraid of this, though how long did he really expect to have out here in the wastes anyway? He had borrowed a lot of money; put it to good use perhaps but… time had run out now it seemed.
“What are you, a debt collector?” Reese mumbled, his eyes looking weary.
“Nah, man. She’s the pizza girl.” the main guard chuckled, eliciting a couple more smirks from his companions.
“Pizza girl, huh?” Reese asked. “Why the fuck is pizza girl asking me about money then? Thought I told you to keep an eye out.”
“Well...” the other guard, Derek, snickered. “It seems, Dyro here thinks pizza girl is a little pretty fishy. That’s why he told me to go get you, boss. He even told us what he really thinks about how you handle your problems...”
Little rat that Derek, huh? Erin smirked in amusement as Dyro’s eyes turned more than a little shaky; his breathing even froze for a bit. He had been a little incompetent, hadn’t he?
“I...” he mumbled.
“Well if Dyro here wants to get something to eat then he can go do it on his own fucking time! I thought I told all of you to keep everyone out of here!” Reese snapped. From nervous to angry and so suddenly, it seems he truly was frightened about being wrung out of his little hidey-hole. Perhaps a little too frightened, what could he have been hiding then?
“And you! You have about ten seconds to get out of here before I have these idiots pump your smug face full of lead!” Reese shouted at the woman.
Erin took off her sunglasses, finally revealing her face. A perfect match to the rest of her appeal, too bad these crooks wouldn’t be able to enjoy her pleasant company for much longer. Another time perhaps… if any of them managed to make it back to the city anyway.
But then again, why bother?
Dying here was probably better than being just another schmuck found face down in a puddle of their own cheap liquor and urine, those weary streets and brothels being what they were. This was a much more pleasant tale to tell to impress the fair maidens with as well…
Down in hell.