Two Left

Cordite coils up and finds its way to my nose. The sharp smell brings me back to the moment, snapping me out of the daydream I was having.

It was nice.

I hadn't just shot someone.

But the smell of the gun brought me back to the real world, the world where things were dirty and dark, where life was cheap and happiness was a dream.

The real world. You know. The one that sucks.

I flipped open my revolver. Two shots left. I close it, and holster it again, close to my heart. I walk over and look down at the poor bastard that got on the wrong side of my bullet. Twenty two, tops. A kid.

I don't have enough to drink in the office.

I pick up his piece. He won't be needing it. A decent automatic little thing. I pop the magazine, and do a quick check. It's got more than two bullets at least. I load it again.

I frisk the body. He's got a key in one front pocket, a wallet in the other. I pocket the key, and check the wallet. Chester Maxwell. I let it drop on his chest, and stand up. A quick scan of the room, nothing else important catches my eye. It's as dismal as when I first arrived, a crumbling office with peeling paint and the smell of ruin.

I move to the door, but stop and turn around. I look down at the kid.

"Uhh... Sorry, Chester." I mumble. Yeah. Whatever. Kid knew what he was doing. Shoulda known better. Right.

The key I got off the body fits in the lock on the door, and I swing it open. My new pistol introduces me to the room first.

No goons this time. Just the target.

A little girl, Stacey Mculloch. Five years old. Heir to the empire, when she's old enough. She's got a colouring book with almost as many colours of crayon as the walls have of mold. She looks up at me and smiles.

"You're new." She says pleasantly.

"I'm new. Ready to go home kid?" I ask, quickly stowing the gun and offering my hand.

She recoils a bit at that. "You're hurt!"

I look down at my hand, it's covered in blood. Right. The kid. I wipe it on my pants quickly.

"Oh, no... just..." Damn I hate this. "It's uh... not mine. Nothing to worry about."

"Oh." She looks at me a little more cautiously now. She stand up, and grabs something from under the bed before she comes over.

I pick her up with one arm, and we head out. She hands me what she grabbed from under the bed. It's a band-aid.

"Just in case." She says, and smiles.

I take it, and nod. A smile cracks my lips.

Feels weird.

But I like it.

I make sure to avoid Chester on our way out.