Lucky and the Killer ✔

Snakes and Dead Men

King helped Gray's father out of the floor. The man stood, rubbed his head, and stared at the three strangers in his living room.

"Uh, sorry," Jay stammered. "Gray's...got a mind of his own."

"Tell me about it," King said and pointed to the bandages encircling his side.

"I suppose you're looking for that girl then," Jay said, dusted off his pants, and sat back down on the recliner. He glanced over sideways at his front door—which stood open just enough to let a cricket inside. "Lucky."

"Lucky," King answered firmly. "Yes. She's been here then."

"Oh I know Lucky," Jay said, "but yes, she's been here."

"How do you know her?" King asked. The two girls behind him stayed quiet, but their eyes were heavily searching the place. Sarah eyed everything in the cabinets behind them. All of the tiny trinkets were polished, clean, and under the curio cabinet's lights. Lilly looked at the furniture. She took in the beautiful burgundy color and tan, tapestry-laden, accent pillows. It didn't look like a bachelor pad at all.

"She's Rachel's daughter," Jay sighed, "and I loved Rachel. So, of course I knew Lucky."

"It's true?" King asked.

"It's true," Jay confirmed. "Gray left me with this beautiful concussion and took Lucky with him. I tried to raise the boy."

"Do you know where they went?" Lilly tuned into the conversation herself.

"I haven't the foggiest," Jay said.

"What's that?" Sarah asked.

"What?" Jay asked back. "The foggiest?"

"Yeah."

"It's just an old saying."

"It means he doesn't know and even his ideas are foggy and cloudy," Lilly explained.

"I like that saying," Sarah said. "I don't have the foggiest, either."

"You never do," King said.

"I do, too," Sarah protested.

"Well, that doesn't help at all," Lilly sighed. King stepped over to the open door and nodded his head at Jay before finally hopping back out into the dark. He didn't have any more leads. No matter what he tried to think of, he didn't know how to find her.

"Gray...," he mumbled beneath his breath, "where did you go?"

"He's going to keep her alive, right?" Lilly asked. "So, it's okay. Try not to over do it."

"Over do it?" King laughed to himself. "No, I'm not over-doing it at all. I'm under-doing. I'm under-doing so bad that it's pathetic. I should have had him dead by now. Besides, that son of a bitch has my gun."

King started walking again, down the driveway and back towards the sidewalk, without ever checking to make sure Lilly and Sarah were behind him.

"You've got a gun, though," Lilly called as she tried to catch back up to him.

"Yeah," he called back, "but I want my gun."

"I thought you wanted Lucky," Sarah chipped in.

"Yeah, and Lucky's my girl," he said, but he never looked back. He knew they were following. He could see their shadows moving into his. They'd finally caught up, panting and huffing, into a calmer stride behind him.

"King," Sarah started, "does Lucky like the dark?"

"Huh?" he asked.

"Does she like night time?"

"Oh," King said. "She does. She likes the night, but she likes twilight more."

"Dawn is my favorite," Sarah said. "Does she like dogs?"

"She likes cats and dogs," King said.

"What about snakes?"

"She hates snakes." King said. His mind drifted back to the tiny, green snake she'd squealed at the night he took her back. Her eyes'd gotten wide, but they were nothing compared to the look she had when he put the cloth over her mouth. He never wanted to see her look at him that way again.

"I may have left my snake in her room," she said, "and I got to thinking, he's really scared of the dark. So, I wasn't sure if he would go crazy and try to run up her dress or something."

"You have a pet snake?" Lilly said with a bit of disgust. "That's so gross."

King fixed his eyes on the roads in front of him. The next three streets were familiar ones, but none of them gave any kind of hint that she would be down them. He felt like screaming her name, but it wouldn't do any good.

"So, what do you think?" Sarah asked. "King? Will she take care of it if she finds it?"

"She'll kill it."

"Tsk," Sarah said, "but Prince Elmer doesn't hurt anybody."

"Prince Elmer?" Lilly laughed.

"Don't make fun of him," Sarah said. "He's had a hard life so far—hard enough without Lucky trying to kill him off."

"I bet," King laughed. Despite everything, he heard his laugh echo out into the night air. It was something she would have laughed at, too. He could just picture her running around the bedroom with her shoes trying to swat at the poor, defenseless thing. The laugh caught in his side, and he clutched the bandages again. "Ow, that hurts. Don't worry, Sarah. I don't think Lucky could kill if she tried."

They turned the first street. If Lucky would have run anywhere, it would have been that way because that was the direction of the city. She was a smart girl, and she would have gone for the lights first.

"You really need to sit down," Lilly said. "Aren't there some sort of benches up that way?"

"I'll survive," King said. "I wasn't born to die this way, believe me."

"How were you?" Sarah said.

"What?"

"How were you born to die?"

"That's just another saying," Lilly chimed in, but King kept quiet because he knew better. He knew that he would die one day, but it wasn't going to be soon—unless it meant saving Lucky. Losing her had already killed him once. It wouldn't be that big of a thing to die again.

"King!" Sarah suddenly screamed. "It's dead!"

"Oh my God," Lilly gasped. She ran past King and Sarah. Her hair fell out of the pony tail she'd put it in, but she didn't even notice. She kept running ahead because she'd already seen Zee.

"Lilly!" King called after her and started to run as fast as his side would let him. "Wait. It could be dangerous."

"Zee!" she cried as she collapsed beside him and pulled his head into her lap.

"It's the Wicked Lord...," Sarah whispered, but the enthusiasm left her face. It drained of color, and the little girl stood still on the sidewalk. She watched King and Lilly run ahead of her, but she wouldn't get any closer. She whispered to herself and froze. "I don't like the dead."

"He's been shot," King's voice came from a distance. Sarah bit her lip and turned around. She covered her ears and shut her eyes. Lilly's screams cut through anyways, and it made Sarah shiver.

"He's still...," Lilly's muffled voice prodded into her ears, but she wouldn't listen. She wouldn't look. She couldn't. She'd seen too many dead men in the past, and their eyes stared at her from inside her memories. Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes and ran.