Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rewrite)

End of the Line 2/4

During the two-minute gun battle, the two former friends continued firing at each other until Big Smoke finally ran out of ammo and heard his weapon click. CJ then found the light switch and turned the lights back on. He put the goggles over his head to face Big Smoke.

"Ah shit!" Big Smoke grunted. "Perhaps I should've loaded this damn weapon before using it!"

"You ain't got nothin' to take me down now, do ya?!" CJ told him.

Just then, Ryder kicked open the doors with his assault rifle. "Hey CJ!" he shouted, running up to CJ. "You blast that fat motherfucker yet?!" He then looked up and down at Big Smoke. "What's the matter, fat boy?" Ryder sneered. "You misplace yo' bullets?"

"Shit!" Smoke muttered, staring at CJ. "So you gonna blast your old homie now then, nuggah?! Huh? You gonna take out your own family, CJ?"

"My real homie wouldn't sell me out!" CJ responded. "My real family wouldn't work with another gang member for some moolah! Any last words, Melvin?! Before you finally shake hands with the devil?!"

Big Smoke let out a sigh in defeat. He then lowered his weapon to the side. "I guess I'm pretty guilty for all this," he finally said.

The look on Smoke's face was enough for CJ to alter from being legitimately furious to feeling rather shameful. His friend truly looked genuinely remorseful. CJ then lowered his weapon as well and decided to get some answers.

"So Smoke," CJ told him. "What made you flip out like that, man? Was it the drugs or what...?"

"I got caught up in the money," Big Smoke answered. "The power. I don't give a shit."

"Why you didn't just quit, man?" CJ asked, on the verge of tears. "We was like family homie - you, me, Sweet, and Ryder. We were all like brothers. Why sell us out?"

"I had no choice, CJ," Big Smoke told him. "I had to do it. I want to tell you something, Carl. Before you came back, Tenpenny and his lackey appeared on my doorstep to try to make a deal with me. Like a motherfucking fool, I took the money!"

Big Smoke then turned to angrily toss his weapon to the wall. "I really cared about the Grove Street Families and thought I could help bring them back on top with a little cash in their pocket!" he growled. "Unfortunately, right after I decided to talk Sweet into making some easy green, Tenpenny called me and told me that I still had one more job to do after I took the money."

"Yeah?" CJ asked. "And what was that?"

"Kill the leader of the Grove Street Families," Smoke answered.

"Shit, Smoke!" CJ cried out in shock. "C.R.A.S.H. forced you to kill Sweet?!"

"I honestly tried to call the whole thing off with Tenpenny," Big Smoke continued. "So I tried to convince Sweet to be my partner in the crack game. Big ass mistake! Sweet predictably refused, and that's when I gave Tenpenny a call and told him I'm taking the deal back. But unfortunately, it was already done. I already agreed to the deal since the money he offered me was his way of showing me that he paid me to murder the leader. He threatened to separate my head and body fifty feet from each other if I didn't do as I unwillingly agreed to."

"C.R.A.S.H. paid you to kill my brother?!" CJ asked, sounding even more shocked.

"I couldn't do it on my own," Big Smoke told him. "I didn't have the heart to kill my closest homie. But if I didn't do it, Tenpenny was gonna serve my head to his Pitbull. So I was caught in a quandary at this point. I had no free will to talk myself out of this conspiracy. I had one of the Ballas do it for me."

"So you mean to tell me that my Moms' murder was all an accident?" CJ asked.

"That's what I'm saying," Big Smoke told him. "The bullet wasn't meant for your Moms, and I had no intention to kill Sweet."