Los Carnales

Chapter 39: Mayhem

Candy braced herself, gripping the handgun tighter than she clenched her teeth. She aimed at somebody's head, thinking only of how quickly these people would kill her to earn their stripes or a cash reward. Lauren was right, it was getting easier. And because she was starting to let loose and enjoy herself, she was the one to shout out the famous phrase all Los Carnales members loved chanting in honour of Lauren and love for their gang:

"Qué viva el Alacrán!!!"

"QUÉ VIVA EL ALACRÁN!" Jaquan and Lauren hollered with her.

Candy fired the first shot, enduring the loud 'CRACK' and the rush when her hands jerked back, followed by Lauren aimlessly spraying bullets on the thugs running away for cover to shoot back. She stuck half of her body out the window and aimed with perfect precision, unloading all of her bullets into bodies that dropped dead like flies. Carter ordered Jaquan to keep driving as he, too, stuck out his body and blasted the shotgun after every pump, hitting every single one of his targets. Screams of terror echoed around the suburban neighbourhood as the bodies of Latino men and women hit the ground, bleeding out all over the place without a fighting chance.

"Son of a bitch," Candy spotted a man cowered behind a car with a phone to his ear, accidentally letting 'Emiliano' slip from his lips loud enough for her to hear; he overestimated the gunfire overpowering his voice. Candy crawled back into the car only to exit abruptly, cocking back her gun.

"Candy, where are you—"

"Venga!" she beckoned, running toward the SUV, aiming her gun with both hands. (Come on!)

Lauren bolted out of the car, following after her. She saw what Candy was after and raised her weapon, covering her as she chased after the man currently running away as fast as his legs could carry him. He waved his glock in the air, ditched the phone that was in the other, and kept glancing back before reaching a wooden fence to hop over. As soon as he jumped up, Candy successfully caught him by his green shirt and yanked him back, forcing him to fall onto the concrete. She pointed her pistol at his head but caught two men running up on Lauren from behind, not yet firing their guns; believe it or not, trying to shoot while running at a far distance wasn't as easy as non-shooters thought. They were about to pull the trigger but Candy switched up and fired at them both in a flash, the bullets piercing through their skulls, startling Lauren who didn't notice.

"Cuidado, Alacrán," she said right as she aimlessly shot a bullet into the man's leg when he tried getting back on his feet. (Be careful, Scorpion.)

"Who the fuck's this pendejo and why are we out of the car for him?" Lauren lowered her gun, seeing as Candy clearly had it all under control. Jesus, when did she get this way and why was it so sexy to her? She felt like an amateur all of a sudden. "Oye," she kicked his side before Candy could answer, "who was on the phone, cabrón?"

"Emiliano," said Candy. "Look, everyone around you is dead and will continue dying, there's no point in making the wrong decision here trying to escape. Tell us where your new boss is and we'll spare you as a thanks or don't and you die with the rest of them."

"If I'm going out, I'm not going out a rat or a bitch. Fuck you!" he snarled.

Lauren threw her gun to the ground and kicked him in the face so hard, teeth and blood flew out his mouth and onto the dead grass. Her fists rained down on his face, cracking some more bones as she straddled him, losing all her patience. "Motherfucker! You tell me where he is RIGHT NOW or I swear to you that you will die a very slow death, you're gonna wish you had opened your mouth sooner! SPEAK!"

"Don't knock all his teeth out, he's no good to us if you rob him of his chance to do exactly that," Candy quipped. She sighed and held Lauren back with a gentle hand on her shoulder. The man coughed hysterically, face contorting in pure anguish and agony. "You have a family, maybe some friends you wanna make it back to...tell the story of how you were the only to survive the ambush by Los Carnales and Candy Estrabao. No?"