Lucky Dog 1 translations 10 Giulio route 03 best

Part 3: Daivan

Chapter 10

Bloody Rain

     

     

The black shadow that’d dancingly descended from the roof of the wreckage flutters down upon the wind, straight into the middle of the thugs that’d gathered around the Packard.

     

     

GD Soldier 4: …A-Ah…!

GD Soldier 5: …Haa…!

Before the hoodlums could even open their eyes wide at catching sight of this oddity…

     

The blade that’d flipped open the instant the shadow’d descended slices open the two men’s – already just two bodies collapsing to the ground – neck bone and jugular.

Giulio: …Huu … haa … haa…

Gian: …Wh—?!  Giulio…!!

GD Soldier 6: Th-The fuck are you?!  Where’d you—

GD Soldier 7: He’s here!!  Gonna fu—

     

     

Like Giulio’d been there from the very start and belonged there, he walks through the crowd of gangsters.  Takes a few steps.

And at the same time, the small blade in his hand dances in time, flutters…

     

     

More corpsified gangsters fall like dominoes with wet thunks, without a scream.

GD Soldier 8: U-Uwaaah!!

Like kids at recess, the hoodlums raise a shout and point their shotguns at Giulio, who’s standing there like the bogeyman.

Giulio: …Hehe…  So noisy…

     

GD Soldier 8: Ee—  Ah?!  A-Ah…!!  Ah…

     

The kid’s hand holding the piece and his sliced-open flank start spilling out blood, fresh, gushing onto the ground.  The poor kid kneels down, preparing for his impending death.

GD Soldier 1: Wh-What?  The?!   Fuuuuck?!

GD Soldier 2: It’s him!!  Kill him!!

The gangsters that’d been sidling up towards me raise a screech like some demented bird, raise their guns … and turn their backs to me.

Gian: !!  …Giulio!  Look out!!

I yell.  The two startle.  I raise my shotgun.

     

Bam!  The recoil flings my arm back like a hard kick and I get thrown onto my ass, looking real pathetic.  The shots I’d fired … fireworks against the mud.  The End.

GD Soldier 3: Here’s ‘nother one!!

Shit, shitshitshit…!  Still on my ass, I struggle to pull back the gun’s pump.  Of all times…!

The grime soaks through my pants and underwear, leaving me with a chill…  I spit out the gum I’d been chewing.  Then…

     

Gian: W-Waagh!

The thugs let their typewriters fly mercilessly at the stupid undies-soaked idiot sitting on his ass.  The bullets spatter where my stomach’d been were I still standing and ricochet away.

Gian: Shit!!

I duck my head in at the sound of bouncing bullets and fragments slicing through the air.  I crawl forward and point my gun at them, and then I see…

Giulio: …Signor … Gian!!

Giulio, who’s already corpsified his nth gangster, turns my way with a stiff expression.  There’s more than ten feet between us, but I can see them clearly….

…The clearly tear-filled eyes about to spill over.

GD Soldier 9: Gotchaaa!!

Another thug leaps forward behind Giulio.  No one but me sees him.  My heart ices freezes, and I see…

     

…The spitfire of machineguns…

Giulio: …Tsk!

The rust-petalled gunfire burst towards the black shadow … but it’s already long gone.

GD Soldier 9: Nngh—?!  Ungh, nghhh?!  …G-Gah!!  Aaaaagh!!

     

A dark shadow takes the man from behind – gouges out his kidney.  The man lets out a really painful-sounding shriek, his hand still on the trigger of his machinegun.

Giulio grabs the limp gun and the hand holding it … and, the guy’s finger still on the trigger, twists it.

      

The gangster’s hand and gun shred two of his pals standing elsewhere to tattered pieces.  They fall.  The muzzle then points towards the guys that’d been hunting me…

     

GD Soldier 1: Ugh!  Guaah!

Mowed down by the typewriter from behind, the thugs fall over like bowling pins.  Then…

Giulio: Signor Gian!  Are … you all right…?!

Gian: Guh…  You saved my ass.  Sorry ‘bout that, Giulio.

I pull myself up, swaying all the while, as Giulio turns piercing eyes towards our surroundings, cautious … before suddenly looking like a scolded dog and trotting over to me.

Giulio: You are not injured … anywhere?  My apologies … for allowing you to become the decoy…

Gian: The only victims here are my soggy pants and balls.  …But, man…

I draw in ragged breaths saturated with the odor of blood through my parched mouth.  In, out, in…  Can’t even work up any spit.  Cough, and it comes out the throat dry.

The crimson tragedy spread out behind Giulio…

Gian: You … You really are amazing…  Rather … just what are you?  Ha … hahahaha…

Giulio: I-I—

Vrrrrrr.

Gian: …Gh!!

Giulio and I notice it at the same time … and make a leap for it.

     

     

     

Ratatatat.  Bang bang.  Pew. Pew pew.  Bang.

Gian: Shit, that was close!  …Damn, looks like the show’s just getting started!

Giulio and I lay low in an alleyway and turn our eyes down another street, towards a big pitch black Pierce that’d appeared there.

     

Ratatatat.

Machinegun spitfires flutter from the window, sending rounds bouncing out over our heads.  A door opens, and livid shouts disperse through the air.

Ratatatat.

Giulio: There are six men…  Including the driver, seven.

Pew pew.

Gian: Mm … but … aren’t they a bit far?

I duck my head in under the bullets and flying fragments … when suddenly my eyes stop on the lass still unconscious on the ground from before.

Gian: There’s a back way here.  Let’s skedaddle out.

Giulio: But … there are still enemies…

…He’s still thinking about annihilating all the enemies, even now.  That twistedness, or whatever you want to call it…  Stuff starts crumbling down over my head when…

     

Ratatatat.

Gian: N-Ngwah!!

GD Executive B: Come out, filthy Daivan maggots!!

Giulio’s voice reaches my ear tucked into my shoulders.  His hand rests on my shoulders as I look up.

Giulio: Signor Gian, enter the building.  There may … still be enemies.  Be careful…!!

Gian: H-Hey?!

Before I could get an answer out…

Giulio takes a flying leap into the road.  At first, I thought Giulio’d keeled over.  That’s how low he was ducking down as he zipped forward like a hunting hound.

GD Executive B: There he is!!

     

I open my mouth to shout, but nothing comes out.  Giulio’s so, so, so dead.  That’s what I thought.

But…

Giulio smashes open the wreckage’s glass ruins of a window.  In an instant … he disappears inside.  I finally manage to draw in a breath, and heave it out…

Gian: …Shit!!

I grab the bag for the gun I’d tossed to the side earlier, hurl out a single curse that’s got nowhere to go, and fly into the ruins through the back door.

     

The essentials of a hollow abandoned building – dust and the scent of mold … and mixed with it, the stink of sweat and rotten shirts.

There’s still some weight left in the bag Luchino’s man’d given us.  In it’s a round of shots in a box with a deer drawing on the label.

Gian: Ummm … how’d this go again…

I think hard, hard enough I can feel my mind exploding…

I remember once, long long ago, some idiotic warden in some joint or another trying to scare us prisoners by fiddling around with a shotgun.  I remember what I saw then and somehow manage to load the shots.

Then, I sling the pack around my shoulders, and like a thief I slink stealthily into the abandoned building.  On the other side of the wall, I can hear shouts and the rat-a-tat­ of machineguns howling every now and then.

Ratatatat.

…They still haven’t found Giulio? I hasten my pace a tiny bit and creep through the half-open door and into a pitch black room.

Gian: U-Ungh…!!

Suddenly, noises burst to life above my head.  I almost raise my voice in surprise and whirl my gun to face where the sound’d come from.

…Think shots can pierce through the floor and pinch off the guys up above?

…But, I’ve got no idea what it is that’s up above.  It’s practically impossible, but if it were the old pops tied up on the floor above, “awful” wouldn’t even begin to cover it.

I spot some stairs now that my eyes’ve gotten used to the dark and sidle up to them…

I climb the steps, dark and void of any sign of life.  I stick my muzzle forward in place of a flashlight…

     

The floor above’s got a long hallway and doors lined down the side.  I stop startled at the wideness of the hall before I sneak into the nearest room, its door half-open.

Inside the room’s a crumply bed and a table.  I move through the paragon of a bachelor’s pad and silently glance down through the window…

     

Gian: …Ack!

Straight below, I see the merciless wreck of the Packard sticking out of the building and the bodies Giulio’d cut up … and new hands standing around, each toting a gun.

I move to stick the gun through the broken window … but stop my hand.  Deep breath.  …Shit.  Even if I kill one, they’d just retaliate…

It happened right when I pulled the muzzle back in.

     

Behind me, I suddenly hear footsteps and bellows.

GD Soldier 10: …?!  B-Bastard!!

Just as I’m about to stand, my eyes catch a man through the door just as he flies in.  The pistol in his hand, its muzzle’s pointed at me…

Gian: Aaaaaagh!!

     

I flip the gun backwards and clock the thug one across the jaw with the grip.  …Tsk!!  He’s not going down!!

GD Soldier 10: Gwuh…!!

…Shit, you tough bastard…!!

     

Without waiting to finish loading in more shots, I thrust the muzzle into the guy’s gut, still tottering on his feet, and pull the trigger.  A burst explodes and the man flies out into the hall.

Gian: …Guh … h-haa…!

I stick new ammo into the shotgun and leap out into the hall.  The air solidifies almost audibly, and there’s footsteps…

Reinforcements…?!  I flip the gun out into the darkness and, forgetting to breathe, squat down.

…Everything’s silent.  The sound of the typewriter clicking away at Giulio outside’d also disappeared at some point in time.

…No … Giulio…?!  I take in a breath through my mouth that’s been dried to prickliness.  Exhale…  I shuffle down the dark hall…

…and out in front of another door.  It’s then…

GD Executive C: …Fuck, the fuck’s going on here?!

A voice pierces through the air from another room.  I jump.  My feet stop.

GD Executive C: Fuck, it’s just like that fucking Bakshi’s said!  We … shit, someone set us up!  You!  All of you, get together, and quick!!

An angry shout, soaked with irritation, comes from the room.  He still hasn’t noticed me.  I set my mark on the room the guy’s in…

…and, sliding against the wall, peek inside…

GD Executive C: …Shit, we’re busting this joint, and now!!  We’re getting back to Rockwell and giving the boss a report!  Fuck…!  Dave’s gone and set us up!

GD Soldier 11: That’s impossible…!  Mr. Dave’s one of them Petes…

GD Executive C: Aagh, move!  Fuck, where’s the horn?!  …That bastard!  Stupid macaroni asshole, he wanted us here from the fucking start…!

…There’s a phone in this hulk of a building?  …It looks like … the move here’d been set up some time back.

In the room’s … two.  One’s a man in an executive-type suit, looking more like an actor playing some tax office worker than a gangster, and the other’s his henchman.  Just those two.

GD Executive C: Damn dago…!  I’m gonna make him squeal what the fuck’s going on…!!

The actor-looking captain irritably whirls the dial with his finger … and I see it.

…3 … 3 … 4 … 7 … 6…

Every time the finger stuck in through the dial moves … something in my head answers with a trill.  …What’s this…?  …I don’t know this number!

…But … somehow, I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere—

GD Executive C: …Fuck!  Damn pig, pick up…!!

…Shit, the phone!!  He’s calling for back-up!!  An electric shock runs through my head and down my spine, and I kick open the half-closed door and burst into the room.

     

Gian: Non muoverti!!  …Hold ‘em up boys!!

I yell out in Italian before my brain can catch up.  Hastily I tack on some English.

GD Executive C: Guh, ngh?!  You…!

GD Soldier 11: B-Bastard!!

The actor-like man doesn’t even drop the receiver.  The thug, though, picks up the machinegun that’d been lying on the floor and…

     

     

     

Bang.  Clickbang, clickbang.  Clickbang.  Click.  Click.  Click.  Click.

…I’m … outta shots…

Gian: …Gh!  Haa…!  Haa … haa…!  …Fuck!!  I fucking told you not to move!!

I unload every shot I have … before finally putting down the gun.  Fresh blood’s splattered against the wall like red paint.  The phone’d been blown away.  Nothing’s left but the line.

Gian: …Geh…

I gaze down at the gruesome bodies lying on the floor and I can feel my empty stomach rolling and doing back flips.  …No good.  I don’t think I’m cut for this line of work…

So this room’s an executive-level room, huh…  It’s got a pretty average-looking bed and desk.  On the desk’s spread a bunch of documents and notes.

A suit peeks out from a case abandoned on the floor.  …I pop another bag open like a boiled clam shell, and in there’s…

Gian: …Wow.

…Bills looking hot from the bank, jam-packed to the brim.  I reach a hand towards it … then stop.

More importantly…

Gian: …Giulio…?!

I leave the horrid room behind and dash into the hall.  Halfway down, my feet twitch to a stop and I jam some shots into the gun before taking off again.

…Both the guns and yelling’ve stopped.

…Silence, like I’m the last survivor left in this world.

     

Gian: Giulio…?!

I rush out of the building and yell.  There … I can feel a wave of heat, smell the stench of blood…

…and see nothing but bodies every which way.

…But Giulio’s…

…The slinking black shadow that’s him … isn’t there.

Gian: Giuliooo!!

If someone else hears, I’m screwed … but panic takes hold, overwriting the caution.  Panic that I’d been left alone, and…

…that I’d lost Giulio.

…The terror rouses me, and I yell.  I run.  I run through the blood and the mud, and turn my trembling vision round and round.

     

I’m the only one in this wreckage…

I kick at the dirt, practically stumbling forward as I take step after step.  When I see one of the corpses on the ground isn’t Giulio, I move my eyes and feet again.  I feel like if I spit, my heart’d come straight out … but I walk.

I flip open the door that’d been left hanging open on the black Pierce, the second wave’d come in, sitting in amidst all the mud.  …There’s no one.  There’s not even a body in its vicinity.

Gian: …Wh—

Somewhere … someone … shouted?  No, that’s not it.  That’s not a shout.  This’s more like a scream, or rather a shriek…

I look for the direction the voice’d come in.  Tilt my head.  Then I run.  Stop…

GD Executive B: U-Uwaaah…!!  D-Don’t get any closer, fucking monster!!

Gian: …!!

This time, I hear it clearly.  A screech of terror from a guy different from the one who’d let out the shriek earlier.

The voice’s spilling out from a thin path threading between two buildings on the verge of collapse, standing so close they’re practically leaning against each other for support.  I run forward…

Gian: …?!  …N-Ngh, ah…!

There, at the entrance of the lane that’d probably been used as a dumpsite for trash…  I didn’t notice it because of the black asphalt…

     

A body lay there, blood from his split face spilling out, dying his whole body in crimson and anguish.

Gian: …Giuli…o…

I continue down the path, narrow enough there’s no way two people crossing wouldn’t miss each other.  My shoes get stuck in the muck, but I can’t bring myself to care as I keep moving through the cavernous space…

GD Executive B: Eegyaaah!!  A-Aaah!!

Again, the shriek from before wells up … and vanishes.

GD Executive B: A-a-aah…!  D-Don’t get anyeaagh!!

The cries continue.  I know Giulio’s there.  I know already, and there’s no reason to stop his murdering, but…

GD Executive B: E-Eeeeee!!  Gaaaaaah!!

Giulio: …Hn … hah, hahaha…

Gian: Wh-What’s…?!

…Giulio … just what is he doing?

The image of Giulio’s knife stuck in my mind.  That skill, like a flash of instantaneous death, rending the brawny muscleheads apart like tiny birds.  The shrieks I’m hearing now…

…Something’s not matching.  They don’t go together.  …No, another memory matches.  …That time, back at the cabin … when he’d finished off that traitor…

GD Executive B: Gaaaaaaghh!!  S-Stop!  Please!!

I exit the alley, and there…

     

Gian: U-Uwah?!

     

My shoes tread through the puddles when my feet … slip a little.  This isn’t water.  …This is blood, puddling up enough to flood my shoes.

Lying like logs in the middle of the blood swamp … are countless corpses.  The bodies of the thugs.  …I can’t tell at a glance how many there are…

GD Executive B: E-Eyaaaaaagh!!  H-Help meee…!!

I cross the bloody lake.

Once I’m past, I notice I’m at a crossroad.  And…  There’s a noise.  And…

Someone’s down this path.  I move down it…

…And there…

…There was something there.

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The next chapter is very, very NSFW for many reasons!