I could see Ashton duck into an alley in front of me, pistol is hand, boots clicking on the ground. Calum nudged my back to push me forward, making me walk further into the darkness.
"Don't scream." Michael whispered in my ear, making me shiver. "Keep your gun loaded and stay alert."
My heart was pounding in my ears, not from the fear, but from the thrill. I always heard stories of killers recalling the addicting feeling of taking a life. It's like nobody can stop you, someone's life in in your hands, all depending on whether or not you pull the trigger.
I glanced down at the series of tattoos burned into my forearm, the most recent being a small bird; representing the time we climbed trees in a park to get away from the cops, followed by a car tire; for the time Ashton taught me to shoot from a car window, a cigarette; showing the first time Calum lent me one when we were travelling through the Rocky Mountains, a chain to show our bond together, and finally the first tattoo I'd even been given; the wings, which nobody had ever told the meaning of yet.
A shout from behind me startled me and I turned around and pointed my gun. "Go ahead." Michael said. "Shoot."
I closed my eyes and imagined the man's head as one of the cans we set up on a fence and shoot down when the sun is starting to set. I pulled the trigger and bang, the man fell limp on the ground.
"Good job, Luke!" Ashton called from the other side of the alley as he wrestled another guy to the ground and shot him in the head. I didn't look away, but stared intently at the pool of blood forming on the dirty ground.
The wail of sirens was heard from all the way across town, making our heads snap up and race down the alley to the truck. Michael and I climbing in through the doors, Calum climbing through the back window, and Ashton climbing down from the open sun roof.
We sped down old country roads at ninety miles per hour, windows down and old cassette tapes playing loudly on the radio. I propped my feet up on the dashboard, my once clean white shoes now splattered with dried blood.
