Cans of spaghetti and preserved fruit plopped of the shelves. One can of peaches smashed open on contact, spraying juice all over the boots of the man who was hurrying to fill his bag.

“Damnit Cleidus, we aint got much time. Quit foolin with those can goods and help me find the safe.”

“You won’t be complaining when we’re eating these on our way down to the boarder.” He sneered back.

“This is our last score. We won’t need canned goods after this. Now hurry.”

“Yea, yea…” he muttered, kicking the peachy mess out of his way, heading back towards the drink coolers.

            Carla had emptied the registers drawer into her pack already, but that wasn’t the big score. She knew there was a safe in this place loaded full. The man who had been behind the counter, the only person working in the store when they burst in the back door, hadn’t given her the location before he forced her to put a .45 caliber bullet through his forehead. She’d seen his hand flash under the counter, and without hesitating, pulled her trigger. She wasn’t one for taking chances.

            Turned out he was reaching for the key that manually opened the register. While she had pulled his limp body out of the way and used the key to open the till drawer, Cleidus had taken care of the few screaming customers in the store. No one had made it out, but it been close. One man had almost made it to the door. He was caught in the back by Cleidus’ shot gun, and now he lay in a bloody heap at the foot of the glass.

            Cleidus dropped his pack at the end of the counter, the cans and bottles making a jangle of noise.

“Carla, I’m sure it’s back in the office or something, if it aint up here.”

“Well, no shit dingus, but one of us needs to be up here keeping an eye out while the other goes and looks. You can’t do that while you’re picking through Spaghetti O’s!”

“Whatever. You’ll thank me later. Go on, I’m here-“

RING, RING!! RING, RING!!

“What the hell was that?” Cleidus looked towards the parking lot. They heard knocking on the window behind the counter, down by the rows of cigarettes.

“Oh, shit. Some fools pulled up to the drive through. Cleidus, go on back to the office. And take him with you.” She pointed at the cashier’s body. “I’ll handle this.” She waited until the body had been drug away, leaving a shiny trail of blood, then ripped open the window. They didn’t have time for this, but she wanted to send this idiot away without raising much more suspicion.

“Can I help you?” She asked, all sneer and canines.  

“Well, hello bitch. How about a smile?” The bastard was all out drunk, or just had no respect for women. “Give me a pack of Reds.”

Carla felt the heat rise up in her cheeks. She had had every intention of giving the person whatever they had needed and sending them on their way, but her fuse had been ran up today. Hell, truth be told, her fuse had burnt up a longtime ago. She stood, not moving a muscle, weighing the options.

“I aint got all day.” The prick said.

            The decision was easy then. She smiled, then pulled the .45 up and blew the assholes face off. When he’d seen the gun rising into view, he had pulled his foot off the brake to slam it down on the accelerator. Now, as blood splattered into the vehicle and across the windshield, his foot completed the last task his had brain had sent it, and the little blue S-10 pick-up went flying into the gas stations dumpster.

“What the hell happened?” Cleidus yelled, running back from the office.

“The asshole asked for it!” Carla yelled back. “Did you find anything?”

“Yea, yea, already got it open. Didn’t even have an electronic lock on it, Carla. These guys weren’t ready at all-“

            Carla threw an empty sack at him. “Shut up and get it loaded. I saw a button for a silent alarm under the counter over here. I bet he hit it when he first saw us. We aint got much time.”

            Cleidus didn’t argue, and ran back to do as he was told. Carla grabbed a carton of Pall Mall’s off a shelf, pulled a pack out, and then dumped the rest into her bag. As she lit one up, she turned and looked out the big glass windows on the front of the building. Dust was rising about a mile up the long road that cut through this little town like a knife. A normal citizen didn’t make the dust rise like that, Carla knew that much.

“Shit.” She grabbed her gun, shouldered her pack, and headed towards the office. “Cleidus, pigs are about a mile up the road now, you got it all loaded?” As she came into the little room she saw him put the last stack of bills into the bag.

“All done, just in time!”

“Alright, you go out back. Get all this loaded up, get the car started, and get in the back seat. Make sure you have that AK loaded and in your hands when I get back there.” Cleidus whooped and hollered as he ran off to do the job. Carla went back to the front. She saw the cruisers now. She shot out the window, then went ahead and reloaded her gun. If her plan went right, it would be empty again and she’d been in the front seat of the Buick Regal in about five minutes.

            She knew that there was probably three cruisers, five tops, barreling down towards the store right now. Back-up would hopefully be another ten minutes or so. The cars would skid through the parking lot, and slam to a stop in front of the building. The doors would be thrown open, handguns appearing just above the windows. Her goal was to fire all the rounds she had to hopefully distract them into thinking the pair were still in the building, then sneak out the back to the car. The first cruiser turned onto the street the gas station sat off on, and her mind emptied. She was made to handle these sort of things.

            She fired the first round as the car skidded into the parking lot, not at anything in particular, as long as it hit the cruiser. The point wasn’t to take the officers out, just to make them feel endangered and pissed so their only thought was to stop the cars and start shooting. If she hit one in the process, well, it didn’t feel right, but it usually sealed the deal.

           

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