We armed ourselves as we headed towards the back of Club Thirst. By now, the blaring techno music had been cut off. The strobe lights were still on, however, with enough strength to kill three epileptics in a second. We waded through growing pools of blood to reach the back door.

  I braced my body right as I kicked the door, cracking it as it swung open. With my gun drawn, I looked around for anyone in the back. I tried messaging Tóxica, but I didn't get a response. Squirm wouldn’t be able to kill her on his own, but that didn’t mean she was safe. We stepped into the club’s kitchen, the bane of every health inspector in South Rain.

  After looking around, the only thing we could find was mold and spoiled food. With the kitchen cleared, there was only one path left. A small hallway that led to Squirm’s office, alongside the only other exit in this building.

  When I tried to open the door, though, it wouldn’t budge. I tried a few more times, moving from kicking to ramming it with my shoulder. Whatever was keeping it shut was a lot stronger than the last door.

  “Stand back,” Reload said, bored of watching me fail.

  He pulled an axe out from behind his back, driving it into the door with one blow. After a few heavy strikes, he managed to tear apart the door. That was when we saw what had been blocking the door. Corpses had been wedged against it, with even more strewn across the hallways.

  They were all beyond mutilated. Blood splatters stained every inch of the hallway, with blood still dripping down from the ceiling. Whatever faces were intact had nothing but a terrified expression left, a small glimpse into their last moments. But I recognized them. These weren’t just henchmen, they were Squirm’s personal entourage of henchmen.

  I whispered to Reload. “Just checking. Did you do this?”

  His excited gaze met my shocked face. ”You kidding me? My guns couldn’t do half this shit!”

  “Alright, then Tóxica’s close.” I continued to march forward, ignoring the squelching underneath my feet.

  After trudging through the pile of gore, we reached the manager’s office. Inside we heard a barely audible voice screaming, alongside the sound of violent thrashing. Reload and I nodded at each other, getting into position as we readied our guns. I kicked the door in, both of us storming in with our guns raised.

  And I lowered my gun just as fast as I raised it. “Tóxica, what the fuck is this?”

  The manager’s room was covered in blood, alongside whatever remained of Squirm’s henchmen. Tóxica stood there, her right arm violently twitching, covered in blood and clinging chunks of flesh.

  Squirm was left on his desk, still alive, his arms and legs forced behind his back, leaving him hogtied. There was something bulging out of his mouth, but a strip of duct tape stopped it from getting out.

  The worst part, though, was the fact that he’d been stripped naked. At the very least, the layers of blood helped cover up the worst of him. This was way past being a horror movie. I had to fight the urge to look for the camera, because this was the type of shit you’d see on LiveLeak.

  “You said to improvise.” Tóxica shrugged.

  Even Reload was shocked. “This is some real Carrie meets Dexter shit.”

  “Why the hell is he naked? The plan was to kill him!” I couldn’t tell if I was more confused or disturbed.

  Tóxica showed off her arm, which was still shaking sporadically. “He did this to me, so I made things even.” She’d been hit with Squirm’s power, making her lose control of her muscles.

  “Okay, whatever,” I gave up trying to reason with her. “We’ve got a few minutes at best before Disciple reinforcements pull up. I’ll go grab the bags, get the safe open and grab everything that’s not nailed down.”

  While the two of them tore apart his office, I headed back to the ice cream truck. Club Thirst was Squirm’s club and main safehouse, where he’d spend his free time and keep his money. I couldn’t tell you how many times that asshole dragged me to his office just to show off. So I knew that this place was loaded.

  When I threw open the doors to the back of the truck, Frank nearly pissed himself in fear. Through the blood crusted holes in his shirt, I could see that his injuries were already healed. I was happy that he was alive, the only reason I went to grab the bags was to be the one who checked up on him. The idea of the others finding him dead bothered me.

  I climbed into the back, grabbing the duffel bags. “Frank, happy to see you’re feeling better. Try and get the truck started, if it doesn’t work, grab the keys off a dead guy’s body.”

  “What the fuck, I nearly died!” he sputtered. “I’ve seen spikeball games and stuff, but oh my God! That was horrifying.” He stared at his hands, soaked in his own blood.

  After I picked up all the bags, I kneeled down and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Frank, look at me. I know what you just went through was terrifying, and I’ll be there for you if you want to talk about it. But right now, we just shot up a club owned by the Disciples and took out a lieutenant. We’ve been here for about eight minutes, the goal was to get out in ten. So unless you want to actually die when their backup arrives, get moving.”

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  He stared into my eyes, quiet for a moment before nodding. “Alright, I understand.”

  I hopped out the back of the truck and ran back to the manager’s office. The spilled blood seemed to shine underneath the flashing lights, dancing between colors. But when it went back to red, the sight made me sick to my stomach.

  I entered the manager’s office to find the safe in the back wall open, the metal door ripped off its hinges. Reload and Tóxica were moving fast, piling the cash onto the cleaner parts of the desk. I tossed the bags to them.

  “Snake Jesus, Squirm, that has to be at least half a million,” I said while looking over the haul. He started to thrash more violently, knocking over a stack of twenties. “Hey, play nice or I’m drowning you in a pool of your own blood,” I threatened him.

  He stopped struggling after that. We shoved piles of cash into the bags, pushing each one to their limit before moving onto the next. It didn’t take us long to get through all the cash, but that’s when we found the real high value items.

  In the back of the safe was a pile of gold bars, jewelry, and drugs. I knew that this was his main vault, but this was more than I could’ve ever hoped for. By the time we finished up, I could hear the jingle of the ice cream truck outside.

  As we started hauling the bags out, I realized something that was a bit surprising. Tóxica was stronger than me and Reload. Not only was she carrying twice as many bags as us, but she was doing it with one arm. Her other arm was violently shaking, still affected by Squirm’s power. She repaid the favor by carrying him with that arm, giving him a rough ride.

  I wanted to argue about bringing him, but we didn’t have the time to waste. I’d rather deal with him and his super resistance later, instead of spending more time at Club Thirst trying to kill him. Considering what we just did, it wouldn’t be surprising if another lieutenant, one who was actually dangerous, was on the way.

  The ice cream truck had gotten out of the club’s entrance, and was now waiting for us in the middle of the street. I jumped into the open back doors, the others rushing in after me. Tóxica threw Squirm inside, causing a pained groan to escape from his taped lips. Once all of us were inside, Frank sped off.

  I walked up to Frank in the front seat. “The music’s funny, but turn it off. That jingle is gonna lead them right to us.”

  “I can’t!” He flicked a bunch of buttons on the dashboard, none of them responding. “Something happened to the truck, it started playing and I can’t turn it off.”

  “Fuck. We can’t go to the motel like this. Just try and get some distance from the club for now.” I shouted at the others, “Reload, pass out some guns! We can’t turn off the music, so get ready for some company!”

  The original plan was simple enough. Reload and I would distract the henchmen by killing them, while Tóxica would transform and massacre Squirm and his cronies. Then we grab the money, drop it off at the motel, and ditch the ice cream truck in some abandoned lot.

  Of course, something always had to go wrong. Some henchmen got away, and I’m certain a few survivors were able to heal themselves after we left. So they were able to report what we were driving. The fact that we were in an ice cream truck already made it hard to hide, but there was no way they wouldn’t find us with this damn jingle playing.

  I searched the truck’s console, hoping to find some way to shut the damn thing off. With the countless bullet holes riddling the truck, leaving it barely functional, I hesitated to mess around with the wires. If I could just get to the roof and break off the speakers, then that should stop the music.

  I focused on where they would be, trying to use [Take], or any telekinetic ability, through the metal. But no matter what I tried, nothing happened. If taking down supers was supposed to make my powers stronger, I definitely wasn’t feeling.

  While staring at the ceiling, I felt a bullet graze my side, the searing pain made me stumble as blood started to pour out. I turned to see which one of my dumbass lieutenants just shot me, only to see that neither of them did, their backs turned to me. Shots rang out as the back of the ice cream truck was being hit, bullets ripping through the thin metal.

  Without any way to see out the back, Reload and Tóxica weren’t able to return fire. I was about to tell them to open the door, when I saw our bags of money sliding across the floor.

  “Toss the cash in the freezer then give them hell!” I called out.

  Streams of light leaked through the growing number of bullet holes, the colors of the city bleeding into the truck. The truck swerved violently, making it hard to stay on two feet, as Frank desperately sped through the streets to escape our pursers.

  Tóxica managed to stuff Squirm into the freezer, despite his struggling, alongside the money. With everything secured, we threw open the back doors. The car behind us was practically kissing our bumper, the back doors having scraped their hood. Motorcycles flanked the car on both sides, helping pour bullets into us.

  Reload lifted up a pistol, needing only one shot to splatter the driver’s brains across their seat. The chasing car spun out, crashing into the motorcycles on their side. The wreckage of the crash blocked off the street, stopping the other cars following behind us.

  At this point, I gave up any hope of getting away quietly. The gunfire meant that they knew our current position, but the jingle would let them track us. I grabbed an automatic rifle from Reload, firing where the music came from. After just a few bullets, no more noise came from the skylight where the speakers once were.

  Frank continued to speed through the streets, throwing us around the van in the back. We barely managed to shut the back doors before Reload fell out. After a few dozen traffic violations, I called out to him.

  “Okay, we should be in the clear! Take the long way and drop us off at the motel. After, abandon the ice cream truck a mile away and walk back.”

  The ride calmed down after that, but we were all on edge. Without the music playing, we stood out less. I mean, we did still stand out, but less people would notice us. And even if they did, people in Surge Gang Territory weren’t going to run off to the Disciples. People tried to not get involved when it comes to fights between villains.

  Once we arrived at the motel, we tossed out everything in the freezer. The second we finished, Frank drove away. We brought our new fortune to the second floor, storing them all in room eleven. Even though she could easily lift him, Tóxica dragged Squirm across the pavement.