Play Time
The more Junior and Lucky discussed their killing game, the more enthusiastic they became. They discussed it endlessly, and planned it out in specific details. Sometimes they didn’t agree and debated the rules. That’s what they were doing at the moment, sitting at the game table, drinking beer, and figuring out the best way to commit their second murder together.
“I still say we ought to just pick out whatever Detection weapon we like best. I like knives and ropes and running people down with cars. Yeah, those’re my favorites. Clean and easy, and the car’s always a quick getaway,” Lucky was telling Junior.
“Huh uh, choosing the murder weapon yourself won’t be any challenge. C’mon, Lucky, what’s the fun in that? We need to draw the murder weapon out of a little pouch and let it be a big surprise. That’ll make it super exciting. And a hell of a lot more difficult. Like, what if we got something that we don’t know how to use? Like a chainsaw, maybe. Then we’d be new at killing with it, and it would make murdering the victim a whole lot harder. It would make us better at it if we had to learn to do it in different ways.”
Lucky stared at him. “So you’re sayin’ that we go with whatever weapon we draw, whether it’s a good option under the circumstances or not.” He considered it briefly. “Well, you know, I think you might be right. That’ll surely keep us on our toes and make us use our heads. Stands to reason we’ll plan it better if we hold our feet to the fire like that.”
“Now you’re talking. A gun’s always gonna be easier than killing somebody with a rope. Especially when we get those silencers we ordered. Okay, so we’re both good with the how and the why of the weapons, right? So how do we choose the victims?” Junior smiled, getting really excited. “Maybe we could just drive around and point out somebody walking down the street. You know, real random like. That would make it really hard for the cops to connect us to the murder.”
“Or it could be someone we just want to see dead. No reason necessary. Maybe we see ’em and just don’t like ’em.”
Junior found that amusing. “You mean, pick out somebody that rubs us the wrong way. Like that cashier at Staples who gave us shit the other night. Remember her? What a bitch. She kept looking at us like we were dirtbags or something.”
Lucky jumped up and strode across the room. He sorted through the games on the shelves for a moment and then pulled out a box and brought it back to the table. “Or, my friend, we could use this. I used to play this all the time when I was in grade school. We could use its game board to choose what kind of victim. And that way, everything we do decide on is totally random. Cops would go crazy trying to trace victims back to us, or to each other. Maybe we could even leave them some stinkin’ clues. That’d drive them nuts. And they’re gonna need them if nothing we do connects in any way. Hell, this’s gonna be fun.”
“Well, now that is just brilliant, I’ve got to say.”
Lucky grinned, pleased by Junior’s rare compliment, no doubt. Junior watched him set up the board between them. “First off, you gotta choose your path in life. Remember how this game’s played? You figure out how you want to start off in your adult years, okay? What you want to do for a living, where you want to work, all that kind of crap. See here? It says: Career or College or Travel.” He glanced up. “So what’s your choice?”
“College, I guess, since neither of us plan on attending. Besides, those college kids look down their noses at anybody who doesn’t have a degree. It irks me, since I’m smarter than all of them put together. College chicks don’t even look at guys like us unless we throw around our money.”
“Okay. Done. We’ll choose a college kid to kill. Hey, maybe we can make it a competition of sorts. You against me.”
“As in, we both choose a victim and see who can perform the best murder without getting caught? That what you’re talking about?”
Junior was getting pumped now. “OMG, this is just gonna be so freakin’ cool, dude. But there’s gotta be a time limit. So how long do we have to get it done?”
“Well, let’s say we just spin the wheel or throw the dice to get that stuff. Whatever number comes up, that’s how many days we’ve got to murder our victim and get away scot free.”
“Great idea!” Lucky said. “Just pick some poor guy and whack him good. Awesome, man!”
“Maybe.” Junior contemplated Lucky. “Or, it might make the game more difficult if we just decide on the type of person we want and look for somebody who meets that description. Maybe we should pick a picture out of some magazine or newspaper or find somebody interesting on TV. Choosing a type out of a magazine would probably be better. My mom’s still getting a ton of subscriptions.”
“Where are they? Let’s look through them.”
“Over there, on the end table.”
Lucky gathered them up, brought them back, and spread them out on the table. “Okay, watch and learn, buddy boy.” He picked up a magazine with a slick photo cover. It was a woman’s magazine called Cosmopolitan, which had been Junior’s mom’s favorite reading material. Lucky shut his eyes, opened the magazine to a page near the middle, and then stabbed his finger down on the page without looking.
Eager to see what kind of person would be the first to die by their hands, they both leaned in close. “There you go. Victim number one, right here on the page in front of us.”
Junior could not hide his excitement. “What we’ve got here is a young girl with lots of long red hair and one very short skirt. Yum yum. Is she hot, or what? Maybe we ought to have some fun with our victim before we put her down.”
They both nodded, liking the sound of that. Especially Junior. He wasn’t as good with women as Lucky was. Lucky always bragged about having sex with at least a hundred women. He probably had, too. Women took one look at him and dropped to his feet. They liked his eyes and his self-confidence. All he had to do was stare at them for a while and they melted. Junior had never seen anything quite like it. “Sounds like a plan, Lucky, my man.”
“Sounds like a lot of fun, too.”
“Maybe we should do this first one together, hone our skills a bit, you know, before we start competing for cash. Have a trial run, just to get the hang of things. Might take two of us at first to take somebody down and make sure they don’t get away and call the cops.”
“So now we’ve got to go find us a girl with red hair and a short skirt. One of those stuck-up college coeds would be perfect. Then we kill her off with a candlestick, right? Spin and see how long we’ve got to get it done.”
They spun the game wheel and both boys watched it slow down and finally stop on the number three.
“Awesome. Three days to get it planned and carried out.” Lucky raised shining eyes to Junior. He looked…well, he looked really turned on.
Junior’s heart was racing. “Then let’s do this thing. The UCLA campus is a perfect hunting ground and just full of girls in short skirts. Good-lookin’ ones, too. I want to get a pretty one. The one in the picture is hot.”
“Three days to find a woman we like the looks of and is similar to this picture.” Lucky ripped the page out of Cosmopolitan.
“No problem there. You see redheads everywhere nowadays. It’s the new fad. Too many blondes, so they go red to get noticed.”
“Okay, cool, but after this initial kill, we go into competition to see who gets the cleanest murder the fastest. Hey, maybe we should come up with a specific dollar amount for the prize. How about a hundred thousand dollars? Or a new Porsche? My dad’s on tour again. He’s making tons of dough that’ll trickle down into my bank account.”
“You got it, bro. I would just love me a Porsche. A shiny black one. But now let’s go find us a pretty little redheaded gal.” He laughed. “Just like Charlie Brown’s girlfriend. But first, let’s pick up a pepperoni pizza. I’m hungry.”
Satisfied and excited, they headed up the steps and made a beeline for the garage. Game on. Oh yeah. Game is on, all right. Time to rack up some serious bloodletting fun.