8x Scope

"Ahhhhh, fuck! Fuck!"

Before Eugene could figure out what was going on, he screamed in agony.

Gavin's grip was too strong. He felt like Gavin was crushing his fingers right into the handgun!

And Officer William.

One second, he had still been excitedly holding up his shirt, desperate to get his idol's autograph.

The next second, he got his idol's big gun instead—and the kind that was shoved straight into his mouth...

"Mmph mmph mmph?"

William bit down on the muzzle of the Colt in utter confusion, his eyes full of bewilderment, with a faint look like a fan turning hater.

After instantly controlling both men, Gavin said softly to Madison,

"Old Mac, search them."

"OK."

Madison nodded with a menacing look, came to Eugene with a cold face, and yanked the revolver away.

"Ahhh, easy, my hand's gonna break!"

While Eugene was screaming, Madison searched him up and down, then found a survival dagger on the inside of his left calf.

After undoing the sheath together with the straps, Madison drew the dagger and looked at the blade.

"Gavin, this knife looks pretty good. What do you think?"

"It really is. The pattern's pretty nice."

Gavin answered, then kicked Eugene in the lower abdomen. Eugene immediately clutched his stomach, dropped to his knees, curled up, pressed his head to the ground, and kept groaning.

After that, Madison took William's police USP and nodded to Gavin.

Seeing that, Gavin finally pulled the muzzle out of William's mouth.

Once he could finally speak, William hurriedly waved his hands again and again, staggering as he said,

"Are you two really the sports stars I thought you were? God, you look like two robbers doing an impersonation act!"

"Damn it, my head's a mess. I can't have gotten it wrong. I'm Gavin's die-hard fan. How could I possibly mistake Gavin!"

"So you are real, but you really did rob me too. Looking at it that way, you were the ones who robbed the gas station as well. You..."

"Shut your mouth."

Seeing that once William got started, he would keep rambling nonstop, Gavin prodded him in the chest with the muzzle.

Feeling the hardness of the Colt, William swallowed and nodded in reply.

"OK, I won't talk!"

"Good. Next, I ask, you answer."

Gavin nodded, kicked the groaning Eugene with his foot, and asked William,

"He's your cousin?"

"That's right. Sort of my cousin."

"Where do you live?"

"We both live in Ennis, less than twenty kilometers from here."

"How many people at home?"

"My mom passed away six years ago. I live with my dad, and I've got an eleven-year-old little brother at home. As for Eugene, this guy's an asshole. He doesn't have a house. He spends all day bumming around at his sister's place."

"Fuck you, William, you're the asshole!"

Eugene struggled to lift his head and cut William off with a curse.

William spat on the ground beside him and continued,

"You're a fucking good-for-nothing asshole, Eugene. Your brother-in-law's been dead for two years, and your sister's still got a two-year-old kid. Even with things like that, she still has to buy you booze. How can you face your sister!"

"Bullshit. I put up her fence, I mow her lawn, I fixed her sewer, and I patched her roof too. You think I don't do anything at all and just lie on the sofa every day waiting to eat oatmeal?"

"But you don't look for work, and you don't make money. If you stay at home mooching, you're trash. If you don't even do the work you're supposed to do, then you're trash among trash!"

"Fuck you, William, I'm gonna cut out your tongue and shove it up your ass..."

"Enough!"

Gavin cut off their argument sharply and stepped on Eugene, pinning him to the ground.

With Gavin's foot on his chest, Eugene's chest heaved violently, and his eyes glared fiercely at William.

Seeing that, Gavin tapped William's chest with the gun and said,

"You shut up. Let him talk."

As soon as he finished, Gavin turned to Eugene on the ground and asked,

"You said in the car that you ran someone over?"

"Yeah, I ran someone over, but what's it to you? You think you're Dallas Batman, cowboy?"

Eugene replied with a stream of curses.

Gavin paid no mind to his foul mouth and continued asking,

"Tell me where you hit them, and what kind of 'person' you hit."

"Fuck, the first one to catch me is actually the famous Gavin King. I'm such a fucking joker."

Eugene shook his head unhappily, then answered with his face full of resentment,

"Just now I was taking that idiot and had already gotten to Hutchins, but right on the road about to enter Hutchins Town, there was actually some film crew shooting there!"

"What were they shooting?" Gavin immediately pressed.

After a brief recollection, Eugene cursed with lingering fear,

"A fucking zombie movie. Those people looked just like the zombies in The Walking Dead, but their makeup was awful. There wasn't even any blood on them. Probably some third-rate little crew."

"Is that so? They were gathered outside the town? Was there anything obvious nearby, like a crashed plane, dogs running around, overturned cars, things like that?"

Gavin kept pressing, and Eugene immediately replied,

"Yeah, there was an overturned tanker truck, but it was far away."

"And then? Then you left?"

"Bullshit. Was I supposed to stay there and wait to get caught? I turned around and ran right after I fucking hit someone."

"Good thing the crew didn't send a car after me, but they definitely called the cops. When the police get here in a while, maybe I can ride your coattails and get on the news a few more times, big star!"

"Cut the crap. Keep talking. Why were you passing through Hutchins?"

"To take that idiot to a hospital in Dallas. The doctor's daughter in Ennis Town is his ex-girlfriend, so he insisted on going into the city to get a cast on his foot. Fucking delicate bastard!"

At that point, Eugene spat at William, and William hurriedly hopped aside to dodge it.

At the same time, while Gavin was still thinking, Eugene continued muttering to himself,

"Shithead William. It's all your dad's fault. Great, now I'm gonna be working prison guys' assholes!"

"Bullshit. My dad's almost sixty. What could he have done wrong!"

William failed to hold back and growled back at him.

Hearing that, Eugene clicked his tongue, looked desolately up at the sky, and muttered,

"Forget it. Doesn't matter anymore. Nothing I say now will help."

"When you get home, remember to tell your dad that the nail gun he used to fix the roof yesterday was the one I lent him half a year ago!"

"Half a year ago, he told me the nail gun was lost. I didn't even ask him to pay for it. Then today, when he was fixing the roof, he took it out and used it again. Does he think I'm a goldfish? That I can't recognize which nail gun is mine?"

"What?"

William was startled by Eugene's explanation, then quickly asked him,

"Fuck, my dad's memory really has been bad these last few years. He might be getting dementia. So when you ran out of my family's shop just now, you weren't stealing money to buy weed, you were taking back your own nail gun?"

"What else was I supposed to do? You weren't home. I argued with your dad all afternoon, but he just wouldn't admit it, motherfucker!"

"Then why did you run when you saw me come back from overtime?"

"Don't you think me sneaking into your house to take my own thing is embarrassing for both me and your dad?"

"I twisted my ankle so bad it nearly broke after chasing you for just two steps. Is your thing more embarrassing than mine?"

"Shit. Fucking bad luck. Your old man owes me one, and so do you. Don't forget to get me a lawyer!"

"I will. I'll go back and talk to my dad, then find you the best lawyer!"

"As for you hitting someone, I'll testify for you. When the time comes, we'll say you weren't fleeing the scene, but were in a hurry to take me to the hospital. Hopefully it can help knock a couple years off your sentence."

William said this to Eugene dejectedly, while Eugene gave a disdainful and unhappy click of his tongue, then turned his head away on the ground and stopped looking at William.

Looking at Eugene's figure, William turned his head aside, unable to bear it.

He had known Eugene for twenty years, and they were even distantly related. They knew each other inside and out.

Aside from the seven or eight years Eugene had gone off to serve in the army, they had always hung out together.

Though Eugene was nine years older than him, in the end they were of the same generation. There was no real generation gap, and they got along very well.

But now, Eugene was actually going to be sentenced over a pile of random, lousy messes...

William truly did not know what to say. He regretted it, felt too ashamed to show his face, and even began blaming his own dad in his heart.

But just as William was feeling miserable, Gavin suddenly looked toward the road on the right, the direction of William's town.

Noticing Gavin's movement, Madison glanced at the road a couple times, then nervously asked Gavin,

"I can't see anything. What's there?"

"A figure. Moving much slower than a zombie. I can't make out anything else."

After Gavin answered, he lifted his foot off Eugene on the ground and asked him,

"Do you have binoculars in your car?"

"An 8x scope. I brought it back from the army. It's in my trunk."

"Keys."

"Here."

As Eugene tossed over the car keys, he sat up with a grimace.