help me | ashtray

i'll be back

The energy in the room changed for a moment, there was complete silence, then Ash got up.

"Ash?" Cassie called as she watched him speed into the guest bedroom, she follows him.

When she gets to the door he's already got a black hoodie on. "Ash what are you doing? We have to call the cops!" She spoke but it was like talking to a wall.

He grabs the old purse and walks past Cassie downstairs, "Ashtray!" She called to him.

As he walked past the group he took the gun out of the bag and started loading it.

"WOAH-"

"What the fuck-"

"You had a GUN in my house?" Suze yelled, her tone was a mix of fear, anger and impressed.

Ash looked out the window, the sun was starting to rise. "What time is it?"

Everyone kinda stood there with their dicks in their hands.

"What time is it!"

Lexi quickly looked at her phone, "U-uhm it's 4:52" She said quickly.

Ash looked at Nate, "Give me the keys." He said.

Suze quickly chimed in, raising her hands up, "NO No no no no no no. We have to call the cops-" Ash was quick to interrupt.

"Laurie is a human fucking trafficker! She ships off at 5:00 every Saturday, and the cops aint gon' get there before me."

Nate looked at him like a little kid, "Alright I don't know who the fuck you th-"

"You think this a fuckin' game bruh?" He raised the gun at Nate and everyone's eyes widened. "Shit! Here, fuck-"

"Ohhh we're keepin' him-" Suze whispered, Lexi lightly elbowed her to keep her from saying that too loud. Ash, Rue and Nate were already out the door when Cassie sprinted after them.

"A-Ash wait-" She caught up to him.

"The fuck you doin' Ma." He said more as a warning than a question.

"I'm coming with you."

He shook his head as he approached the truck, "No."

"Ashtray, it's dangerou-" He cut her off, "That's why yo ass is staying here-"

Cassie grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to look at her, her eyes were tearfilled and she was shaking. "D-don't leave me here like this"

There it was, it felt like a time loop, or a hellish case of Deja Vu. The only real positive male figure in her life, leaving, not knowing if she'd see him again.

Ash put his hand on her shoulders, "I'll be back, I promise."

He left in the truck with Nate, she watched as they drove out of sight. She slowly walked back towards the house, her breathing was heavy, yet she was almost silent. Then, she got an idea.

~

With Ashtray's driving, it didn't take them long to get to Lauries. "Pull over here." He double checked the cache and the safety and hopped out. "Wait here, if I'm not back in 3 minutes run the truck into the duplex."

"What? No-" Ash already slammed the door in his face. "Fucking Christ."

Ashtray started out with the windows, he tried every window on each side of the duplex. He grunted to himself and snuck to the back door. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his pocket knife, along with a bobby pin.

 In the middle of lunch Cassie would always change her mind about her hair, and guess who was stuck holding the pins for her. At this point he had a good handful in most of his pants pockets.

He used the pin and the knife to lockpick the door, a trick that Grandma taught Fez and Fez taught Ashtray, it didn't even have a handle, just a lock and a door, which was even more unsettling.

When he heard the click of the doors lock releasing, he slowly pushed in, closing it behind him and  looking around.

One of Laurie's men were asleep on the couch, another passed out in a Lazy Boy. There was only one more, but he slept in the room with Laurie, according to Rue.

Next he looked around for the alarms, or birds 

The moment Ashtray's eyes met with the birdcage his eyes widened, one of the cockatoos already had his wings up and ready to go off. He stayed as still as possible, waiting for the bird to calm down and focus on something else.

This gonna fuckin' suck-

He got a split moment, he quickly jumped up and stuck his hands through the bars killing one bird with the knife, and twisting the other ones head.

"Fuck-" He whispered to himself, wiping the blood on his sides.

He moved on to checking rooms, each room was either empty or didn't have Gia inside.

"Go out the back door, its unlocked, be silent." He warned the other girls he found, almost demanding when he got to the silent part.

Ash cut their zip ties with his pocket knife and watched them go down the hall and out the door, he sighed in slight relief, going back to his original task.

There was one room left, besides Lauries, this one had a lock on it, to which Ash struggled not to scoff at.

It took him a moment but he managed to unlock the door, only after breaking a dozen other pins, he slowly opened the door, he heard a whimper and closed the door as fast as possible without making too much noise.

He turned around and saw her, "Gia, c'mon we gotta-" he approached but she flinches. He puts his hands up, "It's me it's Ashtray-" He took his hood off and looked at her.

Her eyes widened and she looked towards the door in fear, "The big one isn't asleep."

Ash froze up, "What do you mean-" she gulps. "He went to the b-" She was interrupted by the sound of the toilet flushing down the hall.

"Shit."