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Johnny stands at the corner of a large intersection. A bum urinates on himself in his drunken state. The smelly bastard falls asleep amongst his urine and old newspaper. Propped against the dumpster, he drops his bottle. The clang of the bottle on cement echoes down the empty streets. Johnny turns his back on the man and fights the cold wind to light a smoke. A flash of light from his silver Zippo and his cigarette is aflame. Pieces of newspaper float down the street chasing other tumbling garbage. This city is falling to pieces. Most cities are falling to pieces. He thinks to himself.
A cold wind blows by. It tears at Johnny's ears and cheeks. He lifts the collar of his jacket up and the brim of his hat down to help block the cold. He looked at the sky. The moon shone bright. It light the street brighter than any of the street lamps would, had they been working. The air was cold, the moon was cold white, and the cement was ice. In this weather all a man could think about was death. The death of...her, lay heavy on his mind.
Never would she laugh again, never to smile...he hated the man who took her away from him...from this world. Johnny would never be able to touch her again. The last time he had touched her...she was already cold....cold...always so bloody damn cold!
A car pulled up to a building down the street. A man in an expensive blue suit gets out of the car and heads toward the building. Two other men, in not so nice suits get out of the car behind him. Johnny's heart starts to speed up...he starts walking toward the car. One of the men is heading inside the other is facing the other way looking down the street. Johnny quickens his steps. His heart starts pounding with anger.
He flicks his cigarette through the air.
Walking up behind the man Johnny pulls out a blade. "Oi, Suzy!" He says. As the startled man turns, Johnny guts him. The man's blood feels fire hot on Johnny's hands which had grown numb from the weather.
The cigarette hits the cold cement sending sparks of fire red tobacco.
He drops the man into the street. Johnny runs up the steps and throws his weight into the door. The old door gives way. Both the door and Johnny crash into the man standing guard behind it. Johnny stands up, using the door to pin the man down on the floor at his shoulders. He lifts up his foot, and smashes in the man's head, driving it into the wooden planks. He pulls out his pistol from his shoulder holster and aims it at the man sitting at the table in the next room.
The cigarette in the street is slowing down its path of destruction down the paper barrel, the smoke from its embers fading.
The man stares at Johnny.
"I suppose it was only a matter of time till you came to avenge her-"
*BAM, BAM, BAM*
Johnny holsters the still smoking gun and proceeds to the kitchen and out the back door. He walks off into the cold, dark alley...a little warmer.
The man falls to the floor doubled up. Trying to breathe, but the blood in his throat slowly chokes him.
The cigarette is smoldering in the street and just like the life of the man inside...it goes out.
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