Vash stopped and looked back with some surprise.
Meryl was still looking at him like an angry mother, but now she had two Derringers in her hand. She tossed them to Vash, who caught them both in mid-air in one motion that everyone but Meryl thought was very cool. He smiled at her, but she looked away and crossed her arms. Vash shrugged and ran toward the bank.
"Gee, Meryl, that was awfully nice of you to loan Mr. Vash a gun. I thought you were mad at him."
"I am mad at him, Millie. However....that does not mean I want him to be killed."
Millie giggled. "That's true. If mr. Vash dies, you'll be single and lonely again."
"Millie, has anyone ever told you you are simply annoying?"
"Sometimes. I wonder why."
Vash cautiously looked through one of the holes in the wall. The large wooden lobby was filled with rubble and a handful of people tied up. The only exception was one man, about 6' tall with a cool expression and a big tattoo of an X on his face. He held a large pistol to a woman's head. "No corpses," he thought. "That's good. Maybe i'm not too late." He started to make a move, but two other untied men stepped out from the back room. One was a little skinny guy, with a crazy look in his eyes. The other was a mountain of a man, about as tall as Grey the Ninelives. Both had similar X tattoos and were carrying sacks of what was most likely money. The skinny one spoke first.
"We got the money!" Then the cool one.
"How much?"
"Maybe $$60,000, plus a buncha jewelry. Enough to tide us over until next month."
"Good haul. C'mon, let's go."
"Wait! What about these fine folks? We can't leave until they get their promised slaughter."
The cool man lowered his head and closed his eyes. "....Fine."
The big guy had been silent until now, but then he started laughing. A loud, evil laugh, oozing with malice and joy at the thought of causing pain. He would be Vash's first target. |