“Come on, do it, fucking do it you pussy, fuck, fuck, little dumb fuckin…. GAH come on, come on, just one fucking hit and that’s…”
13 year old Jonathan Mongola clenched his fists and threw his face forward into the brick wall, instantly he felt skin peel against the stonework, bruises already forming around his left eye, the bottom on his lip scraped across the jagged edge of the bricks. It was painful, it was awful, it was stupid.
But was it enough?
“NNNNRRRGGGGHHHHAAAH!!!” Jonathan clenched his jaw so hard to keep from crying out then he damn near cracked his back teeth, he stayed still for several moments, letting the pain wash over him before he could finally let go and step back. Using the black mirror of his phone screen, Jonathan checked the damage, the cut on his lip looked bad, a lot of blood dribbling out of him, the scrapes across his cheek were suitably brutal with torn flesh still dangling off where the brickwork had ripped into him. But the bruise on his eye wasn’t deep enough, it was rough but nothing Fitz hadn’t given Jonathan before on a regular Tuesday night, if this was to work, Jonathan needed to go overboard.
Looking around quickly, he grabbed a loose rock, brought it up to his face, and with a hefty smack he slammed the stone into his already bruised eye.
The bite-marks he left on his arm to hold back the screams were deep enough to draw blood.
It was a little over an hour later before Jonathan walked through the doors of Mongola Manor, Vivienne Mongola was busy deciding what shades of luminous orange the new curtains should be when she spotted her eldest son walk through the front door. She took one glance at his bloodstained face and conveniently turned away, pretending to be invested in her glass of wine, her third of that hour.
Caring not for the ignorance of his mother, Jonathan strolled on through the hallway towards his father’s study near the back of manor, sure enough Fitz was found in a leatherbound armchair, sipping on a single-malt he had been overcharged for and reading a well-worn book with a cracked spine. Jonathan knew the book well, out of the hundreds of books inside his father’s study there were maybe 6 that had actually been read and weren’t just for showroom purposes. These six were almost primarily novels that backed up Fitz’s claims of racial prejudices, books like Thomas Dixon’s The Clansman, Jean Raspail’s The Camp of Saints, Hitler’s own Mein Kampf, or the book currently in Fitz’s hands, William Pierce’s The Turner Diaries.
All racist trash, all books Jonathan had been made to read by his father, all books he wanted desperately to burn in hellfire.
Jonathan knocked on the open door and waited for a reply, Fitz took one glance at him but said nothing as he returned to his book. It was several moments of silence and a gentle sip of whiskey before Fitz finally spoke.
“I told you they were animals.”
Jonathan winced as the cut on his lip burned in the warm air. “Are you satisfied now, sir?”
“Depends, did you give those niggers what they deserved?”
“Dad I…”
“Answer the question boy.”
“No I…. there was three of them, they jumped me, I was caught off-guard.”
“Typical of a coon sneak, too cowardly for a fair fight.”
“They got the message though sir, Nina won’t have anything to do with me anymore.”
Fitz let out of a long sigh as he took another sip of overpriced whiskey. “I supposed that will have to do. Go to the kitchen and clean yourself up, you’re a fucking embarrassment boy.”
“Yes sir, thank you sir.”
Jonathan turned away from his father’s study and headed for the kitchen. He was distance himself from Nina over the next few days until she would want nothing to do with him, it would hurt to lose her friendship but he would never have to subject her to his father’s insulting rhetoric, their friendship would end in distance, not hatred.
Jonathan knew how his father’s game was played, he could take a small loss if it meant a larger victory in the end. And besides, after several years taking beatings from Fitz, Jonathan wasn’t afraid of a few cuts and bruises anymore.
The van was quiet, it had been quiet for some time now, ever since The Crew left the building site there hadn’t been a word spoken over the grinding of the elderly engine. Taylor was at the wheel, glancing every now and then to the back of the van, trying to fill the silence but not sure what he could even say. Jonathan sat on one side of the van, his head hunched over as he stared at the floor, slowly disappearing into the rocking motion of the van’s drive, while Artemis sat across from him, her eyes boring into him ever since they left the building sure.
The only sound heard over the engine, was Scarlett gnawing on a severed leg bone, taken from the aftermath of their job. Seemingly unaware and uncaring to the awkwardness of the situation.
“So…” Artemis let out of a long note, as though trying to convince herself not to continue with this line of questioning. “…You want to talk about it?”
Jonathan looked up from his moping, surprised at how nice it was to see Artemis’ face peering out at him through his sulking.
“What’s there to talk about? I… sorta lost it I guess.”
“Lost it?” Taylor chuckled from the front. “Son if that was you losing it then tell me to stay out the way when you actually go crazy.”
“He’s got a point Jon, you did go HAM on that mare, not saying she didn’t deserve it but…”
Jonathan straightened himself up in his chair and leaned backwards. “So what’s your question?” He asked with a little more harshness than he wanted to.
“Just making sure you’re alright, you’re part of The Crew now, need to make sure your head’s in the right place.”
“I’ll be fine, it’s been a while since I had a flare-up like that, guess it just caught me off-guard is all. Don’t worry, it won’t happen again.”
Artemis was about to question the validity of that statement when Taylor got a call over the radio followed by Bryan’s crackled voice.
“Youse guys there, got a quick one for ya on the way back.”
“Not sure that’s a good idea Bry.” Taylor hemmed over the airwave. “Last job was rougher than we expected.”
“This one’s easy, just a scare tactic. Ace’s High Banking has a small herd next to it’s local branch, they want us to shoo them off.”
“Really? Just chase them away?”
“Yep, fucking wee cheapskates didn’t bother to pay for a Rehousing option.”
“So what happens when the Fluffies inevitably come back?”
“Well we charge them again.”
Taylor chuckled and glanced out the window, there weren’t too far from the bank and a scare job wasn’t a difficult task.
“Alright we’ll check it out, call you if anything comes up.”
Taylor hung up the radio and started off on the detour towards their next job, silently hoping this one would go a little easier than their last work.
As per the bank’s instructions, Taylor parked a couple streets over and led The Crew around the back-alleys towards the bank’s rear, discretion was key here although Jonathan couldn’t understand why, everywhere in this part of the country was infected with Fluffies, why a bank thought they were any different was anyone’s guess.
But they did as they were told and soon the three adults and one cannibal mare found themselves at the bank’s backside, sure enough a small herd of about five Fluffies had gathered around an upturned trash-can and were using it as their make-shift home. Nothing any of them hadn’t seen before except for two key differences.
The first being Teddy Bear wearing a T-Shirt with the bank’s company logo was propped up in a ‘Guard’ position near the perimeter of the herd. The second being several stacks of cash littered about the place, being used as steps, beds, chairs, anything except for monetary purposes.
Jonathan didn’t say it out loud but these Fluffies had more money on hand than he did.
As The Crew approached the herd, one of the stallion – a dark green unicorn with a grey mane – stopped tending to a very pregnant looking peach mare and rushed over to them, although curiously there wasn’t a look of fear on his face, rather he seemed quite jovial.
“Wewcum, wewcum fwiends. Fwuffy namesies am Dowwah Biww an Dowwah Biww hab da bestesh deaw fow YU!”
There was a beat of silence as The Crew was caught off-guard by Dollar Bill’s surprising motor-mouth, most of his words coming out so fast they barely had to time to process what he had just said. Dollar Bill took advantage of the confusion and kept talking.
“Dat’s wight, cos yu am in Dowwah Biww wand nyo an wai is dat? Cos yu wan Dowwah Biww tu gu way, it am sadies bu twue wight? Weww nu need be sadies, cos Dowwah Biww knyo dat hoomins wike deese pwetty papahs, an Dowwah Biww hewd hab wots of pwetty papahs, su if Dowwah Biww wewe tu weave deese pwetty papahs wight here…”
Dollar Bill lifted a hoof and one of his toughies pushed forward a stack of cash towards The Crew’s feet, granted the bottom was a little too damp to be used properly but there was still close to a grand in hard cash.
“….An den Dowwah Biww tuwn awound, fow nu weason. Dowwah Biww tuwn bak wiv nu pwetty papahs an nu hoomins weft tu take homesie way. Du dat sound gud?”
Several more beats of silence passed before Scarlett finally worked out Dollar Bill’s fast-tongue and scowled at him.
“…Dis mummahfuka twy tu bwibe yu Jon.”
“I agree, little shit’s worked out he can pay people to leave him alone. Where’d you get the money bud?”
“Dowwah Biww nu knyo wha hoomin am im-pwy-in, Dowwah Biww an hewd find pwetty-papahs on gwound afta hoomins dwop dem.”
Artemis shrugged her shoulders. “It’s possible, bank like these won’t notice a couple grand going missing here and there. With most things going digital these days, it’s likely the paper money is just to have some on hand as a reserve so they’ve not paid as much attention.”
“See, nice chocowate wady gits it, hoomins nu cawe bout DEESE pwetty papahs, jus take dem and gu, nu need be meanie.”
“Nice try sugar.” Artemis smirked at the green stallion. “But I’ve got principles, no deal.”
“Ok, ok, yu dwive a hawd bawgun. Dowwah Biww neba yoose-awy du dis bu…”
Dollar Bill raised his hoof and another Toughie pushed forward a second stack of cash.
“TWU pwetty papahs, dat am finah offa.”
Jonathan and Artemis caught eyes with each other, to Artemis’ surprise Jonathan was actually smiling, mostly out of the absurdity of the situation there were in, but she was glad the events of earlier weren’t sticking with him.
“I mean it’s a decent deal Art.” Jonathan conceded with a wry chuckle. “I’d take it.”
“That’s cause you’re dirt poor Mongola.” Taylor interjected, stepped up to Dollar Bill. “Some of us still take pride in our work. No deal sonny, we’ve been told to remove you from the premises and that’s what we’re going to do.”
“Sweeten da deaw.” Scarlett coldly ignored Taylor, her eyes directed at Dollar Bill’s.
“Hey no, I’m the one…”
“Maybe if pwetty mawe join hewd den Dowwah Biww can be peh-sway-de……”
“Nu eben fukin fink bout it.”
Dollar Bill laughed. “Ok, Dowwah Biww see whewe wimit is nyo. Wha if Dowwah Biww gib yu bestesh, stwongesh tuffie fwiend awound, Da Ace Beah.”
Dollar Bill turned to the Teddy bear as though presented him to an audience, the bear stood unmoving his glorious introduction.
“He neba sweep, neba need nummies, he jus watch oba hewd an neba wet meanies neaw. He am…
“He am fukin wittew toysie, yu fink dis fukin amatah howah.”
Having had enough, Taylor pushed himself forward, putting himself in front of Scarlett. “Scarlett please, I’ve got this.”
“Du yu?”
Taylor scowled at her before turning back to Dollar Bill. “Look, we’re not having any deals or any negotiations, you lot need to go right now.”
“An dewe am nuffin Dowwah Biww can du tu change dat?”
“That’s right, we can’t have you hanging around here anymore.”
“Can hewd stay tiww speciaw-fwiend hab babbehs?”
“No, it’s better you leave now before the babies come so you can get settled in faster.”
“Can hewd stay tiww end of da bwite-time.”
“It’s mid-afternoon, you’ll have hours to find a place before nightfall.”
“Can hewd stay wittew wonga tu say bye-byies tu homesie?”
“Christ sake, NO! You all need to go now, skidaddle, vamoose, fuck off.”
Artemis couldn’t help but snort back a laugh. “Jesus Taylor are you actually negotiating with a Fluffy?”
“More to the point…” Jonathan added. “…are you losing?”
“Shut it, the pair of you. Now look here buddy, you’re on your last warning. Move your arses before I start throwing them.”
Dollar Bill sighed and conceded defeat. “Ok hoomin, Dowwah Biww undastand, hewd need tug u find new homesie an neba wetuwn. Wink.”
“….Did you just say ‘wink’?”
“Wha? Nu, neba, wai wouwd Fwuffy eba say dat? Wink.”
“You just… you just said it again. Are you implying…”
“Fwuffy nu impwy aneefing, jus agweein wiv hoomin dat hewd am neba tu wetwun tu homesie. Wink.”
Scarlett rolled her eyes. “Yu nu meant tu say ‘wink’ yu fukin dummeh, yu jus DU da wink.”
“That’s not the issue here Scarlett. Look I mean it, you can’t be here anymore.”
“Ok, ok. Dowwah Biww undastand.”
In a very exaggerated fashion, Dollar Bill attempted to wink, but only ended up blinking with one side of his head dipping down lower than the other.
Any flustered anger of Taylor’s had been quickly replaced by confusion as Dollar Bill gathered his herd to ‘leave’ their home. “No, I… I mean it, I’ll be back here and if any of you are still here I’ll have to…”
“It ok nice hoomin, Dowwah Biww heaw yu, hewd am gun.” The green stallion gave another bad wink with half his head dipping low again.
The Crew watched as the five Fluffies slowly marched their way out of the alleyway in search of a new home, crucially Jonathan noted that the Fluffies hadn’t taken any of their food or warm newspaper bedding, or even the cash stacks they had offered The Crew with. In fact, as the Fluffy herd turned the corner out of sight, Jonathan was willing to bet anything that they had turned the corner and gone no further.
Taylor turned back to his colleagues, a little embarrassed at how that turned out. “Well that was… interesting.”
“It was certainly something.” Artemis said with a giggle.
“It was fukin weiwd.” Scarlett interjected.
“So what do we do now?” Jonathan asked, turning away from the corner. “I know you said you’d be back but you can’t watch this spot indefinitely.”
Taylor shrugged. “Fuck it, we’ll do what Bryan suggested and wait till the bank calls us back, try and squeeze a little more out of them. Unless anyone else has a suggestion, I say we head back.”
“Scawwett hab finkie-pwace huwties, wan wie down.”
“I concur, let’s get back to base and think about getting some fucking lunch.”
With Taylor and Scarlett leading the way back to the van, Jonathan took a moment to speak with Artemis alone.
“Hey, I just wanted to say… thanks for checking up on me earlier, I know I seemed harsh but I do appreciate it. Truth is, I wasn’t fine, I might not be fully fine ever again, but I will try to do better. And if I ever step out of line like that again, just call me out on it.”
Artemis was silent for a few seconds before a smile grew onto her face and she patted Jonathan on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, you’re part of The Crew now, you best believe your bullshit will be called out.”
She chuckled at him before jogging on to join Taylor at the van, Jonathan took one final look back at the empty alleyway, the Ace Bear toy and several stacks of cash still laying about untouched. He thought about the events of the last few hours making up his first day, and while it had been a strange set of events, there was nothing he could think that put him off the job or the people he would spending his time now.
Truth be told, he felt like he could make something worthwhile out of all this.
Ignoring the allure of lost cash for the moment, Jonathan jogged on towards the van, ready to end his first day in the place he was now willing to call his new home.
well the father was worst and a smack with a shotgun butt would requires.
