A Lesson in Killing (part Two)

Blitz, Millie and I were the only ones that moved. And it was a good thing too, because that blonde bitch made an even bigger hole. Ruger and sniper rifle in each hand, I scurried towards the small wall dividing the garage and the front door. Thinking thin, I hid against the door and carefully peeked to see what was happening.

It seemed that the parents were taking off after Millie and Blitz with Blitzo being chased into the woods by the our target, aka the blonde bitch, and Millie was being chased down to docks by her burly bastard of a husband. And Moxxie? I peeked around a little more to see him poking his head out of the brush looking around, possibly for where any of us were. He was about to jump out when a pair of small hands grabbed him by the tail and dragged him inside.

I retreated into my impromptu hiding place, quickly trying to figure out what to do next. Rationally and logically, I figured Moxxie was the closest to save. I figured Millie and Blitzo were capable enough to fend for themselves. My heart and adrenaline were racing. My nerves were trying to tell me to run. Damn my conscience!

Slowly but steadily, I edged my way towards the huge hole. Carefully taking out my phone, I switched to the camera feature and adjusted it to face me screen first. Hey, I'm brave but I'm careful. Easing it towards the hole, I got a look of the kitchen inside. All looked clear.

Raising my handgun in one hand and carrying the sniper rifle in the other, I quickly turned into the room ready to shoot. I made absolutely sure I didn't miss under the table or the ceiling. Still clear. I stepped inside, thinking about where a killer family could possibly have their victims. The one place that came to mind was upstairs, the one of two places you never go to in a horror film. That, and also the basement. I found the staircase and stealthily creeped up, my back hugging the side rail. In this situation, it's best not to make any noise. Especially with supposedly creaky stairs.

Making it to the top, there were three doors with possibly three rooms attached to them. I crept to each door and looked through the keyholes for any sign of Moxxie. When I reached the second door, there he was. Tied up to a skinless human chair, just stirring himself awake. Jesus Christ! He was sitting at a table with a roasted human made up like a roast pig. 'Oh, man this just keeps getting better, doesn't it?!' I ask sarcastically.

I peek through the key hole again and I could see the two kids looking creepily at him as he regained consciousness. His reaction was quite suited if I do say so myself, being worried in the position he was in. "Oh. Well, hello little ones," I heard him saying. He obviously was trying to get on their good side. "Aren't you cute?"

"It's nice to have a new critter to play with," said the kids simultaneously. Well, there you go. Convincing enough for me to shiv 'em. Then again, I'm a fool for redemption. So, I grabbed the sniper rifle, stuffed my Ruger into the front pocket of the sweater I was wearing, and tested the door to see if it opened outwards or inwards. Seeing that it opened inwards, I took a deep breath and burst inside the room.

Holding the gun by the barrel and forestock, I closed my eyes and swung it at the heads of the little brats. My hit made contact with their heads almost as if it were nothing. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the kids down on the floor not moving. Oh my god, I just whacked a couple of kids! Somehow, I felt conflicted. I felt a little bit of relief when they both softly groaned and sighed.

"I can't believe you just knocked those kids out," said a stunned Moxxie. "I didn't think you would do that."

"Me neither," I admitted. "But they were going to do who knows what to you after seeing that." I pointed to the roast human. I took a good gander at the whole room and it was just as horrible as you could imagine. All around there were several taxidermized human heads, pieces of tanned human skin mounted on the walls, and even half a human skinned and mounted. It's eyes wide open, arms folded, and white teeth bared. Shit, even one of the skins had the phrase "Bless this Mess" on it. "Mother of God! It's like the Deadites from Evil Dead possessed the cannibal family from Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

"Uh, what?" Moxxie asked me, having no clue what the fuck I was talking about.

"Movie references, but that's not important. What is important is that we find Blitz and Millie. I just hope they're okay. First things first though." I placed the sniper rifle on the table, making a face of disgust at the corpse and fiddled with Moxxie's ropes. I managed to get him free and using the rope, we tied the little assholes up. I soon noticed a glow coming from the other side of the room through a porthole house window. I went to take a look and saw what might have been the makings of a bonfire.

"We better hurry," I said. "By the look of it, I think Mills and Blitz might be in trouble." Moxxie gave me a understanding nod and grabbed the sniper rifle off the table and cocked it ready. I nodded back and double checked my cartridge. Yup, ten bullets accounted for. I slid it back in and made sure the safety was on. "You're not gonna chicken out on killing this time, are you Mox?" I asked to be certain.

"Never when Millie is in trouble," he said, weapon ready.

"I hope so, for the sake of everybody." I had no doubt about him, only slightly with me. I certainly hope that I didn't hesitate either. "Let's go!"

Out of the house, we ran down the forest path conveniently lit with torches. Oh I hope we're not too late. It wasn't long until we could hear presumably Martha's voice crying out. I halted as I made Moxxie stop as well, indicating if he was hearing it too. As we got closer, the noise was getting louder.

"Satan! We return your filthy creatures back to the pits of Hell!" While the bitch was speaking, I gestured to Moxxie that I stay hidden on side of the path and him the other. He gave me a nod and we took to it, stealthily creeping close like wolves closing in on a kill. "May the root of evil remain honored as we continue thou work!"

As we got closer, we could see husband and wife about to burn Millie and Blitz at the stake with Martha having a torch in hand and Ralphie just watching. Ah crap! I signaled Moxxie to be ready and he acknowledged me with a small salute. I steadily aimed my gun at Ralphie. Figured I'd shoot him first then have Mox take out the blonde. But I did wonder, does regular fire burn imps? I was about to find out when Martha tossed her torch onto the gasoline soaked wooden stake. It went up in flames as soon as it touched the gasoline soaked pole while the bitch cunt was chuckling evilly.

"Yeah, that's not exactly how it works, lady. Sorry, your fire doesn't really hurt us. But I mean, I can fake if it'll get your dick hard." Blitz said as Millie giggled. Whew! That's a bit of a relief.

"Oh. Shit." A stunned Martha didn't seem happy how this turned out. But her evil smile returned as she went for Plan B. "Well, I'll just shoot you in your smart ass mouth." She made ready her shotgun in hand.

"That would be more effective," said Blitzy. He made a goofy face as Millie wasn't too keen on his comment.

"Blitz!"

Martha raised her shotgun at the two, taking aim while she cackled. It was now or never. It all seemed like slow motion as I immediately raised my gun at her. "God forgive me." I said in my thoughts. Everything I remembered was running through my head. Breathe in deep. Aim. Slowly squeeze. Exhale.

Four loud bangs ran out through the woods. Two shots hit the nutcase in the chest and one went perfectly through the neck as Moxxies' was nicely put through her head and eyeball. The bitch collapsed to the earth dead. My heart was racing as well as my adrenaline. I just killed a human for the first time, if not my first time killing anything with a gun. Did I have any regrets? Any nighilistic traitorous thoughts? Not sure to be honest with you.

A happy Millie snapped me out of it as she greeted Moxxie with open arms after he freed both her and Blitz. I suddenly remembered the dad. Shit! Looking around, I saw he was halfway down the path back to the house. Ah double shit! Ah well. He won't get far.

I went over to assist untying the imps from the wooden stake. Millie was happier than sin to see her Moxxie come to her rescue and hugged him. As the two Eskimo kissed, I helped the boss up on his feet after saying Moxxie wasn't getting his paycheck for this. I thought that was a little unfair. I mean, yeah, his hesitation almost cost us our lives but he still pulled through in the end. If it were up to me, I would have paid him half his usual pay instead of the whole thing. But I'm not the one in charge. Yet.

"Oh yeah, thanks. I'm fine," a sarcastic Blitzo said to his cohort as he leaned against me for support.

"I'm sorry, sir," Moxxie said as he loosened his embrace with Millie. "I compromised our objective, and put us in harm's way. It won't happen again. I promise." I smiled. It's always good to own up to one's mistakes. It helps with the whole conscience thing.

Blitz gave his little helper a big hug. "Apology accepted," said he. But then I heard him muttering something to him. I don't know if Millie heard it, but I certainly did. "But if you ever pull a stunt like this again, I will fuck you and your wife!" Not certain if it sounded like a threat, but it's still concerning. I kept my mouth shut, pretending I didn't hear it.

"Alrighty, job well done everyone. Now let's get home!" Blitz said to all of us. He was reaching for his "hell-phone" (I'd like to call it as such) when I noticed Moxxie looking to up the trail we came down on.

"Yeah, give me a moment. I need to get something I left back at the house."

"I'll come with you," I offered. "You might never know if the dad might be waiting for us. Safety in pairs and all." Something was up and I wanted to know why. Plus, if he was going by the house I could probably pick up something alcoholic from there. Assuming that the killer family had any.

"Okay, fine you two. But hurry up," said Blitzo as he finally found his phone. Calling Loona, he told her that we were ready to come home. While he was doing that, I grabbed one of the other shotguns left behind as Moxxie grabbed one as well and followed him. I assumed we had the same idea in mind, that being we kill the rest of the family. We hustled through the woods when I was hearing a noise growing louder as we got closer.

There glowing on the ground was…another hell-phone? Where the hell does Blitz get multiple phones? Oh, well. The sound was coming from it, no doubt. Curious, I picked it up and listened just enough to realize that it was Stolas blabbing. I don't know what he wanted from Blitz and I don't think I want to know. I ended the call, hoping that he'll take it as a disconnection and hustled up to Moxxie.

We entered through the massive hole in the house and eventually found the dad named Ralphie and his two hell spawn hunkered in the corner of the game room, the daughter holding a teddy bear. Cocking our shotguns, we aimed at the family of three. "Don't move, ass fuckers!" I demanded.

"What're you gonna do, fellas? Kill us?" I wasn't sure of it, but it felt like the guy was fearful for himself and the kids being just a few kill shots away from joining Martha.

"After the shit we've seen, oh you bet your ass we should." Oh I was so waiting to let loose with my new toy.

"He's right, you know. You people are monsters," said Moxxie. "But, you should have a chance for a life and a purpose."

"Yeah-uh what? Excuse me?!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing! "I'm sorry, Moxxie. But what the fuck are you on about? You do realize these ass-clowns nearly tried to kill us, right? Or have you forgotten the Hannibal Lector suite upstairs?" Just when I think it's going exactly how you think it might go, he gets cold feet. Again.

"Look at them, Barry," said Moxxie as he gestured to the kids. "They have their whole future ahead of them. They will face their crimes justly."

My brows furrowed as I frowned at the family of three. I really didn't want to against my gut on this. Because when the hell have killers actually turned over a new leaf? I sighed with aggravation after some hesitation and some back-and-forth bantering of thoughts, then lowered the shotgun. "Fine. But you had better be right about this. Because I would hate to later regret letting them go only to kill again." My trust in people is only was good as their word. "But I'm keeping the shotgun."

"Good. Now, I will call your earthly authorities," said Moxxie talking to the family as he grabbed what he thought was the phone. "And they will make sure you are dealt with fairly. I'm handling this my way."

"Uh, wait. Moxxie? I don't think that's the-" Moxxie pushed a button and, as I suspected, the TV in the next room came on. "-phone." Sighing, I looked to the dad. "You got a phone we can use?" I asked him. I would call 9-1-1 on the hell-phone, but I don't want to take the risk in them finding out about the main number on the phone.

"Yeah, it's in the kitchen," he said, thumbing at the next room.

"Then, what is this for?" Moxxie asked with device still in his hand.

"It's a universal remote. Got it for the kids." The dad hugged the kids as I heard Moxxie say "Aww."

"Yeah," I agreed, until I realized 'oh wait, killer family!' "No, wait. Not alright! Don't forget, they tried to massacre us!" Shaking the sudden warm feelings off, I scoffed. "You stay here! I'll get the phone!" With a huff and another scoff, I grumbled my way into the kitchen.

One phone call and stern warning later (think of it along the lines of "don't make me have to come back here again"), we made our way back to Blitz and Millie. The portal was opened by the time we got there.

"There you two are," said Blitz. "Have a good wank-off session, you two?"

"Excuse me?" Moxxie questioned.

I replied with a simple and resounding "Uh, no!"

"Look, I don't care where you come in the living world. Just come to your job on time." Blitz emphasized as he prodded Mox with a finger before pinching his cheek. "Alright, see you boys in the office." And with that, Blitzy bounded through the portal.

"You doing okay, sweetie?" Millie asked her loving husband. Her hand held the hand Moxxie was using to rub his pinched cheek.

"Better now, honey. I think I just needed a moment to process."

"You have good heart, honey. Just a fuzzy head." She sweetly nuzzled him and gave his cheek a little peck. She then turned her attention to me. "Are you doing okay too, sweet-pea?"

"Hmm? Oh me? Yeah, I'm okay. Just uh, getting use to this experience is all."

"Well, okay. But you just tell us if you're not feeling up to it, alright?"

"Don't worry. I promise I will," I said with a reassuring smile. Millie patted my arm and stepped through the portal.

It was just me and Moxxie now when we heard sirens behind us. Looking back, we could see two cop cars and a chopper made it to the scene. Looks like Moxxie was getting his wish after all. That's what we both thought at least until…

KA-BOOOM! Chopper launches a missile and destroys the entire house! I'll be honest with you folks, I never saw this coming. Neither of us did. Shock was on both of our faces. And then, for me at least, restrained laughter. I mean sure, it could have ended with us killing the family or the justice system doing so. But use of lethal force of this magnitude was the last thing I, or Moxxie for that matter, expected to happen. It's literally funny how things turn out. Karma's a bitch, and today she was not happy.

Doing my absolute best to restrain myself, I looked at Moxxie and tried to offer a reasonable answer to why this happened. "Maybe they were resisting?" I suggested shrugging. Something then hit Moxxie in the head and we looked to see that it was the head of the small teddy bear the daughter was holding earlier. Poor Moxxie. His shocked reaction now turned to what I think could be described as "scarred for life" kind of shock. The next thing I knew, we were being yanked back into the office. Me by the pants, and him by the throat.

Back in Hell, all of us including Miss Mayberry were celebrating our killing of Martha with cake with "WE DID IT! :)" written on it with a small banner saying "KILLED THE BITCH" and complete with generic party hats. While I was kind of proud, Moxxie was still looking distressed.

"Did you see my little Mox-Mox?" Millie said proudly as she hugged him. "He's teeming. Oh Moxxie!"

"Well, here's to another mission accomplished," said Blitz, injured arm in a sling. "And Moxxie finally learned not to fuck up. And let's not forget our new employee with the assist. Well done, bud."

"Glad I could help," I said being my best to be modest after swallowing some cake. "I'm just happy I didn't mess up either." I know it was an act of murder, but I am glad to get some positive reinforcement out of it.

"And killing people isn't that big a deal if they try to kill your back," said Millie.

"That's messed up." Miss Mayberry admitted, ruffling Moxxie's hair.

"Yeah, but that's what you paid for, right?," said I. That got a laugh out of everyone as I couldn't help but smile and chuckle a little.

"Yeah, fuck that family." Blitz said.

Time passed and it was to pack it up for the night. Client was satisfied and we were well paid. Before I left with Team M&M, I remembered that I had something for Loona. From my back pocket, I pulled out a bottle of liquor I took from the kitchen fridge of the now deceased family. When she asked me why, I told her I thought it would be nice if I got her a little something from the other side. You know, being courteous and all. I didn't know what she liked if she didn't like it, she could do whatever with it. A small smile and a thank you was all that I got from her. That was all that I hoped for and that was all that I needed.

Making it back to casa de imp, I looked to find Moxxie on the sofa while Mills was showering up. "Hey, man. You okay?" He didn't say anything. He still looked sad about all that just transpired two scenes ago. I sat down next to him, trying to find the right thing to say to him.

"I'm uh, sorry about what happened back at the cabin," I went on. "Honest and truly, I didn't think they'd get annihilated like that." A little chuckle escaped from me. "It's kind of funny if you think about it." Seeing that it did little to lighten him up, I cleared my throat. "Anyway, um, I'm kind of glad you made the call to let the cops take care of it." He eyed me questionably at what I was getting at. "I mean, it's kind of like with my situation when I met you guys. You three could have just killed me then and there, but you didn't. You decided at that time to give me a second chance for a better life. That may not be exactly what happened today, but hopefully you get what I'm saying. I mean, if you guys decided not to spare me, I'd probably be dead and not have the chance to know y'all. If that makes sense."

He said nothing for a time. I looked to see if I was getting through to Moxxie, hating the thought of me making it worse than it sounds. Fortunately, it made him smile a little. Whew! I could have said more, but it felt like it was best to leave it at that for now. Still, I felt like I needed to add a little more positive reinforcement for him. "It'll be okay, Mox. You'll see. As far as I'm concerned, you can never be a screw up. It's just life being the one screwing with us. It's just hard to deal with sometimes."

I patted him on the shoulder and got up. "It'll get better, you'll see. Anyway, I'm hitting the hay." I stopped at the hallway and looked at him. "You gonna okay, though?" I asked to be certain. Moxxie looked up at me and nodded, a small smile widening a little. I said good night and headed off to bed. After saying good night to Millie as well, of course.