Running With Scissors

Katzkaesque

Peter's final decision in his life was, perhaps, the best decision he ever made—Peter decided to do the right thing.

He mustered every ounce of his strength to take out the marriage certificate from under his poncho. "Anyone has a pen?" he said. "I forgot to steal one."

Sarah stood up, clutching her left side. There was a trickle of blood falling down from her forehead. A beam of white light shone at her face, making her squint. The light then realized it was being rude and stopped at once. "Not the time for it, Mr. Katz."

"It's the perfect time for it,'' said Peter. "Just gimme one."

Annoying waddled towards him with a bag in her hands. She spilled the contents in front of Peter which ranged from combs and lipsticks to pens and scissors. "Aunt Selice always keeps a bunch of arts and crafts stuff in her bag. Says it helps her explore her creative side. Her paintings are disturbing, but her crochets are remarkably lifelike."

Peter grabbed a small, unamusing pen, scribbling a few things in the back of the marriage certificate. It was barely legible since it was covered in random splotches of blood, but the title was clear and legible: Final Will and Testament of Peter Katz McGuffin, with the Katz crossed over several times.

Sarah stood beside Peter, looking down at the document. "Mr. Katz, what is-"

"My will,'' said Peter. "For when I die, which is gonna be any moment now if I keep bleeding out."

"Don't say that," said Sarah. "We're gonna get out of this one. We always do. I'm gonna get you to Boston and you'll get your treatment. This doesn't have to end here."

Peter felt the taste of copper in his mouth, which he found very odd since he didn't remember eating a fistful of pennies. "It has to end here. I'm not going to get better. I was never going to get better. I can barely move, let alone escape. But you can."

Sarah opened her mouth to protest, but Peter pushed the document on her abdomen, shutting her up. "I'm trying to do the right thing here. Lemme be a distraction while you guys escape."

Annoying leaned back against the bus, clutching her head back to stop a nosebleed. "Daddy, we're not leaving you here."

Peter tried to stand up, but his pain was too much to bear. He was about to collapse when Massimo caught him at the last second. Sarah placed Peter's arm over her shoulders and pulled him up between the two.

"Let me go," said Peter. "I'm going down my way. It's the right thing to do."

"Mr. Katz, I-"

"Lemme do this," interrupted Peter. "You've already sacrificed so much for me. Lemme do the same for you. You don't have to go down with me."

Peter's eyes burned with a determination he never displayed before. It was intense enough to make Sarah swallow her words. She only managed to whisper an "okay."

"Massimo not want be the buzzkill," said Massimo. "But Tituba am a zombie?"

As if jolted awake, Tituba jumped from the floor. She removed the ax from her mask in one move, exposing a tuft of black hair underneath. As she began to move towards Peter, Sarah and Massimo tensed up. Peter, however, stopped the both of them.

"It's okay," said Peter. "Let her come. Trust me."

Tituba stood in front of the trio, raising the ax above her head. Peter felt her eyes piece his own, but he stood his ground.

After a few seconds, the butcher lowered her ax. "Dead man walking," she said in her raspy voice. Without saying anything else, she turned around and walked away to the side of the bus that was halfway lodged inside the Hephaestus' Palace Hotel and Casino.