Villain

[sobrique]

Following on from this...

I woke with a start. I was laying on the floor of my workshop, and I felt like I'd been laying there some time. I'd been sleeping awkwardly, and on moving quickly succumbed to a cramp.

The pressure within my skull was near intolerable, a headache more than the equal of those I found in the many bottles of vodka I had consumed in the past.

I stagger to my feet, across to my workbench. Flicked on the kettle, and made myself a cup of coffee strong enough to clean saucepans. My migraine subsided just a little, and I glanced around the small room. It had the feel of a party aftermath. Books were scattered across the floor, pages loose around them. The teracotta incense burners that I'd been using were shattered, fallen on the floor as the table had overturned. In the middle of the floor was a faded chalk marking. A circular pattern, which was not quite faded beyond all recognition.

I couldn't clearly remember what had happened the previous night. Or even if it had only been the previous night. To a man who had spent weeks on end drunk, this was far from unusual.

I went in search of more to drink. My flat was in quite a state, clothing and assorted debris was scattered everywhere. I couldn't find any sign of what i'd been drinking though, and I was starting to think a hair of the dog would be in order. I fished out my long coat from behind the sofa, put it on, and wandered out into the miserable Coventry weather.

It doesn't seem to matter where abouts, or when, but there's always a dreary sort of greyness to the place. On this particular occasion, it was also raining. I don't mind that so much, at least it keeps most of the idiots off the streets. It was nearing sunset, the cloud to the west was glowing just a little less dully than the rest of the sky.

I wandered down the street, cars splashing past. The wind was catching at my coat a little, but I paid it little heed. My thoughts turned bleak. All the fools in their cars, rushing home from work, to vegetate in front of their television, desparate not to miss the next episode of whatever pointless soap opera held their attention at the moment.

Would they even notice being enslaved, provided they got their fix of TV and junk food?

The street lights were just flickering on as I rounded the corner to Alexander Wines. As ever, Rob was there, accompanied by Elsa, the dog. This place a little less soul-less than most. I was greeted cheerily as I walked in.

"So what's it to be today then?"

"Just a bottle of vodka if you please, oh and a Jelly Snake for Elsa".

As I leant over to feed my offering to the friendly mutt, she growled, and jumped at me, biting deep into my hand. In deep suprise, I shoved at her, to push her away - this dog is the very essence of soppy. I managed to divest myself of the dog attached to my hand - she didn't manage to bite deep.

Rob was almost apoplectic with apology. As I said, Elsa was a soppy dog, and wouldn't have cause harm to a flea. I waved it away.

"Don't worry about it. Didn't really hurt, I figure she was only playing."

I took my bottle of vodka, and walked out onto the street. Behind me, Elsa was still barking furiously. I unscrewed the cap, and swigged deep. The faint burn of cheap liquor flowed down my throat. I thrust the bottle into my coat pocket and marched off through the streets of Earlsdon. I don't really know to what end, but there's something about wandering aimlessly whilst drunk that near exactly matched my mood at the moment, and I didn't really fancy returning to my bombsite of a flat just yet. It always seems to matter less when you're drunk.

It was getting late, when I found myself wandering through and underpass in Canley. The vodka didn't seem to be working all that well, which is about right - so pissed I couldn't tell. I knew they were there, just at the end. 3 of them, looking to score some cash. I don't know quite how I knew, because for sure I couldn't see them, but it was quite clear that someone was waiting for me.

What the hell, it had been ages since I'd been in a fight. Since I stopped drinking properly at least. I staggered down towards the end of the tunnel, feigning more drunk than I really was, which given that this vodka bottle was nearly empty, was very drunk indeed. I was just passing the point where they were waiting when I heard the distinctive 'clunk' of a pistol being cocked.

What kind of street hoods were these? It was all better in my day, when your street scum at least had the decency to try and knife you. Staggering around in false obliviousness, I moved closer to them, but at least one of them wasn't fooled. The gun fired, and I felt a sharp pain in my chest, followed quickly by a sense of outrage. They weren't just mugging me, they were also murdering me. The rage buoyed me up, and I charged them, fists flailing. A knee crunched into a groin, and fists smashed into faces, all to soon, the fight was over. I fight really dirty, and having been shot I really had not a lot left to loose.

In the fading adrenaline rush, I realised suddenly that I was still standing and they weren't. In fact, they were lying very still, and the guy who I had punched in the face looked a lot worse than I'd normally expected. Somehow I knew they were dead. A neck bent like that, and the stillness, but glazed look in their eyes told me that these thugs would be mugging no more. A pretty bunch we'd look, killed by each other.

I looked down, expecting to see my life blood pouring down my shirt.

There was none, only a 9mm hole, and a bullet flattened against my chest. I could scarce believe it. The bullet, I pulled away. I was uninjured. It fell from my hands as I turned and ran. This was not something that I had expected. And more importantly, it was not something that I wanted to be explaining to the police.

I fled in to the rainy, streetlit night, suddenly and inadvertently a killer.

Comments

[the-wood-gnome.livejournal.com]

Dark, super powers, excessive drinking, what more do you need :)


although you slip tenses from present to past and back in a coupla places, not sure if this was intentional though.