Sunday, June 20, 2004

   Cream Filling & Nougat: Third Helping (Chapter XIX)
[If anyone's curious, "Playland" is the name of an amusement park in Vancouver. As such, I'm most likely using it as my inspiration, and using names of rides from it as well. A little bit of whatever for the curious, I suppose . . . anyway, it's time for a gratuitous action scene!]


Cream ducked behind the egg shaped ride car as gunfire hammered the ride area mercilessly.
"That'd be great, old man! 'Cause as far as I know, the Tilt-a-Whirl isn't exactly bullet-proof!" he shouted while the bullets continued to rain down at him from almost all sides. As a bullet hissed past his face from the side, he immediately jumped back into the padded seat of the tall car.
"Hole up somewhere better, man!" Nougat commanded from the precinct. Cream barely registered the comment, as he listened to what almost sounded like footsteps on the uneven metal platform. Another solid shot ringed around the outside of the round car, causing Cream to jump in his seat.
"I know! They're gettin' a little close, and . . ."

Before he could finish his sentence, someone had swung around the wheeled car around on its circular track by hand, his pistol aimed directly at Cream's face. Cream instinctively threw his phone at the thug and miraculously struck the man's face. As the thug's face glanced away, Cream fired two rounds into the man's chest at point-blank range and knocked him into another adjacent car. Finally realising what he had just thrown, Cream quickly scanned what he could of the Tilt-a-Whirl platform, but was unable to see it. In addition, the gunfire deterred him from any more intensive searches. Instead, Cream looked out in the new direction the tall car faced and looked for a way to escape. Directly in front of him was another small ride with a low fence presumably for children, while the closed down carnival games were lined up behind it. Seeing nowhere good to run, Cream stood up and wheeled the car around in a new direction. Though open to more visible muzzle-flashes, he spotted the hooded bumper car area and immediately dashed towards it.

Cream fired the rest of his magazine at the various points of light to unknown effect before diving over the fence of the elevated enclosure. The gunfire lessened as the men above could no longer see him, so Cream used the moment to reload his weapon and ready himself between the jumble of small, multi-coloured cars. Sure enough, he saw two heads come into view along the bottom of the fencing and quickly snapped off two shots before they could raise their own weapons and ducked back. The young detective turned around to check his rear and saw bodies springing themselves over the fence. He quickly fired a large volley and dropped two of the thugs before they could get behind their own cars - one crawled his way back to the remaining gangster while the other remained motionless on the ground.

Cream didn't need to think long before accepting that eventually people would soon surround him. Looking all around him once again, he put a bullet into each of the four surrounding edges of the enclosure before charging towards the most visibly clear side. As he got closer, he saw a man crouched below the fence. Cream swore and started pulling on his pistol's trigger until the slide locked while he dove headfirst over the fence and towards the ground three feet below the bumper car platform. As the ground neared, Cream stretched his arm out and shoulder-rolled as he touched down - for the short moment his head was upside-down, he saw the crouched man completely shot up and slumped against the side of the platform. He completed his roll, got back onto his feet, and dashed as hard as he could over the open ground.

With the many bullets still hissing past his body, Cream looked towards the entrance to the park and saw a line of armed men standing in front of it. He then looked towards the nearest high fence with barbed wire and charged at it. Reloading his weapon as he ran, he slowly swerved to the side so that he could hide from his pursuers behind the nearby washrooms while he got himself over the fence. To his surprise, as he rounded the corner of the small building, he ran directly into another man who was assembling a scoped rifle from behind cover. Cream's heart skipped a beat as he stared down the large weapon and gasped when the trigger was pulled.

A click sounded, followed by a shocked expression on both men's faces. Cream didn't even bother to wonder why the rifle didn't fire and rushed forward, grabbing the barrel of the rifle with his left hand and whipping his pistol across the man's cheek with his right. He followed up with a swift elbow to the man's nose and swung the barrel of his pistol back across the other side of the man's face. Once satisfied with his handwork, Cream put a heavy heel kick into the man's sternum, knocking the wind out of the would-be sniper's lungs and the level ground from his feet.

Finally seeing his chance to escape the park, Cream jumped up and grabbed the edge of the washrooms' roof. After swinging himself up, he crouched down to quickly look over the remaining men. There were at least half a dozen almost directly underneath him, with more coming from the background. Cream looked back towards the fence. The top of the barbed wire was a foot higher than the flat roof of the washrooms and about a car's length away. The distance unnerved the officer who knew that while remaining was certain doom, being caught in the wire would be just as bad. He breathed hard, trying to will away the cramp he felt in his side, and built his resolve. Finally ready to leap for his life, Cream creeped back to give himself some room, ran, and sprang off the lip of the roof.

The hammering feeling between his shoulderblades instantly knocked the spring out of his legs and Cream tumbled back towards the pavement. With what strength he had left, he twisted his body so that he could land on his hands and feet. Upon hitting the ground, his limbs gave way and he sprawled over the ground motionless. Cream's mind remained fully aware, meanwhile. He knew he had been shot in the back, that he had fallen off a roof, and that very soon people would be surrounding him. He lifeted his eyes up as best he could and immediately saw many pairs of feet surrounding him.

"Hold on," one man said, "he said to take him in alive if we could."
"You mean even after he wasted all the others?!" another exclaimed.
"Even after, yes," the first man answered. "But . . . . . alright, take your shot."

The last thing Cream sensed was a quick shuffling of feet and a heavy impact against his face.



[If any of you are curious, I am greatly feeling bad about pretty much not visiting anyone lately. And I know, everyone upon hearing such a thing goes "don't worry about it" and all - well, at least I do - I still feel bad about it. I don't know when I'll be able to fix that just yet, but I will see what I can do, 'kay? 'Til then, it's friggin' late and I need to be in bed. Peace!]
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