Oscar had always felt a little lonely, coming to America alone without any of his family.His parents passed away in poverty at the hands of a corrupt government with little help to its poor citizens and both of his brothers had fallen in the Great War twenty years ago working in the French Foreign Legion. He still remembers his brothers Miguel and Antonio fondly. Sometimes at night, he can hear them speaking to him, sometimes Oscar truly believes that they’re still alive, trying to speak to him, but he knows deep down that he’s lost a screw or two during the Great Wars.

He had started as a petty hoodlum, stealing from the homeless, feeble elderly. He hated much of his life at this point, a man nearly in his fifties doing what he could to survive. He was lucky that one day he was noticed by a crime boss in Summerlin. Taking in what he’s learned, he quickly used his combat prowess to earn his reputation in Summerlin as an enforcer for Paul Vitti.

After some years of working, he was one of Las Vegas’ top soldiers. He was a lot older than most of the people he was working with not just in Summerlin, but the entire criminal side of Las Vegas. Some viewed him as too old to be useful, but Oscar always impressed. He impressed Don Vitti in particular when he strangled a new earner who was “protecting” businesses in our turf without paying the tax.

He used his money from his time working to finally setup something he could call ..Home. He had acquired a deed to an old building and renovated it, naming it “The Camel” A place to quietly drink or find a hump or two, if that was your thing. It was a quiet success for old Oscar. The place was regularly busy during the night and was often packed full of the younger crowd trying to drink their worries away, or to find a nice woman they could share one of the many private rooms with.

The place was great for his life. The taxes paid on it made him look good to the local mayor and made sure he wasn’t visited by any shady federal tax collectors. He made good money to kick up to Don Vitti and his boss, Godmother Niki. Things were great for old man Oscar, but he always felt like he was empty. Missing something.. Some nights he just had strange urges he tried to restrain. For many years in America, he had restrained these urges deep inside of him, but tonight, tonight was different.

“Looking for a family?” Oscar said to the homeless man scavenging through a garbage can. He showed great pity towards the lowly drifter and felt awful that a man would ever have to stoop so low as to eating out of waste. The man looked starving and fearful. “It’s okay fella, I was like you once to. Alone. No one else in the world, no one cared for me, no one knew my name.. It took a long time to get better, but we all can, right?” He said as he insinuated the man to get into the back of his vehicle.

“What's your name?” Oscar said to the vagrant, defiling the back seat of Oscar’s pristine new vehicle. “Frederick Grover” He said in a quick and quiet tone. “I aint got no family, I lost me job and I got nothing else to do. You said you’d feed me and help me?” Oscar looked at the man, almost fatherly like. “Of course Frederick. I’m driving back to my club in Summerlin now, from there we’ll get you feeling like you’re back with family again” Oscar said with a sly grin on his face.

They had arrived at The Camel. Oscar ushered him out of the vehicle and brought him inside. The bright lights scared him and he shielded his eyes from the small town that was The Camel. Oscar quietly brought him upstairs to his private second floor and brought him to the family meeting room.

“Do you like Spanish food? I have quite the dish I think you’ll like. It’s so good, you’ll be thinking of your family” He said to Frederick. “I’ve never had Spanish food but it's gotta be better than half eaten trash” He said as he finally sat down. Frederick had finally felt safe for once in his life. He was having food prepared for him, he was away from people to judge him and he had finally found a friend to help him along when no one else would.

A few moments later, Oscar had prepared a special Spanish dish for the homeless man. He served him the food and sat down, only to watch him eat. “I already ate, I just want to make sure you’re fed. Tell me? Does that dish remind you of family?” The man finally began to smile up until he started gagging on the food. The toxin had finally kicked in. He stood up, gasping for air, but it was to no avail. Frederick was now dead. In an instant, Oscar had killed this homeless man for no reason other than his sick obsession with the homeless.

Sometimes you shouldn’t accept an invite to join someone's family, who knows, maybe they’ll poison you. Maybe they want to kill you while you’re in a homeless state, maybe they’re a sociopath who enjoys murdering the homeless.

He had an accomplice dispose of the body somewhere that would be found within some days. He made sure to put a card with information on the body, letting the world know that the homeless man was Frederick Grover. A few days later, the local newspaper covered the death as an accidental death. “No good. I’ll have to be more creative soon” He said to himself as he read the paper in the very place he had murdered the poor homeless man.

The Deed.

Several days had gone by since the death of the homeless man, Frederick Grover. The coroner who investigated the body ruled it an unnatural death, but police had cited it as an accidental death. Homeless man eats some bad stuff out of a trash can, it causes a reaction to his intestines and he chokes on his vomit.

Oscar was happy the first of many went so well but he wasn’t satisfied. Tonight would be number two. He hadn’t the foggiest of plan in mind for who his next victim will be, or where he will find them. As he took a look in the mirror, he could see he was in some minor discomfort. He HAD to find something tonight. The urge was too much for Oscar to contain now.

He took to his vehicle and drove around the outskirts of the city. There were always homeless, prostitutes and strange people roaming around late at night. He kept an eye out but wasn’t having any luck until…

“Hey handsome! You want a good time?” He heard through his window as he looked over. It was a younger woman, perhaps mid twenties and quite pretty. He wasn’t looking for a prostitute, they could be found anywhere.. But.. Maybe? “What’s your name?” He barked towards the young woman. “Cindy” She said as she walked up a little closer to his window, trying to put her head into the car.

“You should go home Cindy, it’s late. Your family will be worried” He said very fatherly like. Despite him having no children, he looked to many of the younger Vegas associates as his children. “Oh, no honey. My family lives across the country. I hopped trains here when I was younger to get away from all that nonsense. Now speaking of hopping.. If you’d like, I can hop around on your..” She was saying as Oscar had interrupted her. He found his second victim.

“I wasn’t really feeling it at first Cindy, but you’ve convinced me. Hop in” He said as he opened his passenger side door. The young lady immediately jumped in. “Why don’t we go somewhere a little more quiet?” He said as he winked at her. She nodded as he drove her deeper into the desert. He eventually stopped at an old abandoned gas station 16 miles out of the city. He had remembered passing by on a previous road trip from Los Angeles.

As they got out of the vehicle they had walked inside and she prepared her routine. Oscar thought about how he would do the deed today. Since she was very hands on, maybe he should return the favor. She had already taken off her shit and was beginning to drop her skirt. “Oh wow, you look fantastic Cindy” He said as he eyed up the woman that was young enough to be his daughter. She looked pleased at the compliment.

“Why don’t we do things a little differently? Let me ask you a few questions before we.. I.. Get into it” He said as he winked at her. “Looking for a family?” He said as he posed such an odd question to the young woman. It had visibly confused her. She had a family and she sure didn’t want no weird shit from a strange old man she had found for work.

“That’s such a weird question honey, I already have a family.. I’m a whore, but I ain’t..” She began to say as she undid her bra, exposing her large bossoms. She looked a little weirded out but she had worked for similar strange clients, Oscar had imagined.

“Beautiful. Now let’s get done to business” He said as he began to take off his shirt. “Cindy, you lucky lady. I want you to lay down facing the other way. We’ll start off with a massage” He said as he smacked her ass on the way to the table. She was all sprawled out as he liked. She was ready for the deed.. Or so she thought.

“Cindy, before we do the deed.. How did your family feel when you left them so long ago? Have you spoken to them at all?” He said as she continued to lay in her exposed position.

“My parents loved me. I was a smart girl, was going to be a nurse in the local hospital and I loved helping people. When my mother passed away and my father had married another woman, we didn't see eye to eye. I had lost my father to that ..Witch” She said in a nasty tone.

“Well Cindy, that is a sad story. There is one positive side to it though” He said as he began to massage her upper back. “What is the positive side?” She said, as she began to relax a little more from the massage and began to lose the tension in her body.

“You’ll be seeing your mother soon” He said as he grabbed her neck from behind and began to strangle her. His size and position on her made it very easy to begin choking her out. Her petite size and the position she had been exposed to made it impossible for her to fight back meaningfully. After a few minutes, Oscar saw her eyes go white. The deed was done.

He took a moment to catch his breath and returned to his vehicle. He had an associate report to the police that they had seen an armed robbery take place at the gas station the deed was committed at, so they would find the body.

One week later while reading the local news, Oscar saw a large portion of the newspaper dedicated to the life of Cindy. Lots of anonymous sources saying how wonderful she was. How caring and loving the lady was in her life. As Oscar kept reading he saw a line from the police underneath the comments.

“Police chief Snyder of the Las Vegas Police is looking for witnesses or any kind of information regarding the murder of the young woman found at the gas station outside of the city. Any information is appreciated. Please contact your local lawman's office with information.” Oscar laughed at that. There wouldn’t be any witnesses, and no information would come forward... But it gave him a new game to play.

Several weeks went by for Oscar. The world had a lot of blood and killing. People were gunned down left and right.. But he was not a part of such madness. Many neutral mobsters held together in Las Vegas, more specifically, the Summerlin Casino, owned by Miss Niki. Oscar would occasionally gamble here to pass the time and often report to her within her meeting room in the back.

He met a lot of the degenerates that gambled here on the regular. He use to think he was alone in the way he would recklessly throw the dice, but no, there were hundreds more in this casino alone.

He had been watching a hectic game of blackjack. A few patrons were betting the farm on them winning and as always.. The house always wins. He grew intrigued as a few of the more serious bettors were losing faith in their ability, one even exclaiming that blackjack wasn’t fair, but he would win big at dice.

Dice. Oscar did love the throw of the dice. More so then he would like to admit to friends. The man went on and on until Oscar devised his plan. “Gerald, right? I believe I’ve seen you here before. One of the high stakes gamblers?” Oscar said as he extended his hand. The man looked at him and reluctantly shook his hand.

“Oscar. Oscar Cañellas” He said to the man. “I hear you’re looking for some higher stakes away from the casino? As matter of fact.. I was looking for someone to play some dice with. High stakes, no backing out, winner takes all kind of deal.. I’ve got a hidden back room away from anyone else too, so no one would know you’re a winner” He said to Gerald. The man didn’t even take a moment to think about it.

“My family has been wealthy for a very long time. We’ve been top quality producers of steel for generations. It’s time to make my own fortune away from the family. Now, where is this room?” He said very eagerly. “Ah great! Right this way” He said as he led him into a dark corridor to an old room on the maintenance side of the building. He opened the door to a small room that was dimly lit.

Oscar put a chair up to each side of the table and a pair of die on the table. “Let’s go, sir” He said very eagerly. The man quickly picked up the dice and rolled it. And rolled it. And rolled it. Several hours went by and the man was at a huge win. He had Oscar down quite a lot of money until Oscar had decided to double or nothing and won. The man began to get visibly upset, as that was his shot at taking home the win.

“DOUBLE OR NOTHING” He shouted at Oscar. Oscar smirked at him and threw the dice at the table and it fell off. He glanced at Gerald to pick it up. “So.. Gerald. Do you know what money cannot buy?” He said as the man bent down to see what the dice roll was. “Money cannot buy ..life” He said as Oscar pulled out his blade and began stabbing the man over and over. The man screamed and screamed until it was over. Oscar had been prepared though and made sure he was well aways from any witnesses and covered all vents and doors in the area to prevent noise from echoing.

He had a change of clothes in a locker in the room and he cleaned himself up. He left a note on the back of the victim.

“This is a fun game. This one was a one-off though. Sea you soon”

The body, along with the cryptic clue, would surely be found surely by one of the maintenance workers doing their rounds. Oscar quickly double checked he hadn’t left anything and removed himself from the room, heading back into the casino to watch some blackjack games.