Los Dos Cazadores (Privado)

The mariachi man torn after her and went past her. The man turned a corner and the mariachi man followed him close by. For a short and stocky man he was pretty fast on his feet. The man ran down the dusty night road and past a few old people that were conversing and the mariachi man kicked up more dust behind him and took to a side street after seeing him go into his black el camero and attempting the drive off. He leaped off the overhead ledge of a small building and landed on the clean car and smashed the window and kicked the man out of the vehicle.

He tumbled on the dirt floor for a few minutes and lay there on his back panting heavily. The mariachi man got out and placed a firm knee on his bounty's chest and placed a well made knife at his throat. "Mister Alvarez, you've been captured for the crimes of extortion and bribing. You'll be turned in alive so that I can claim my bounty from this towns sheriff."

He looked over his shoulder to she the woman finally catching up and flipped some strand of hair from his face and said to her, "Buenas noches again miss...I am Rafael, the man of a thousand blades..."

 

Capítulo Dos: El Amante

Rafael had been wandering the night streets of the same town for some time. It was around one in the morning and he had just finished turning in Alvarez over to the sheriff of the town were he was taken away and he was given his 45,000 pesos. It was a very small bounty in all consideration but he felt that he was doing the town a favor and that was good enough for him.

As the dust kicked up into the night breeze he heard a shuffling in a dark alley not to far from the inn in which he was staying at. The shops were closed so assumed it was a robber trying to break into someone's home so he pushed out his right hand and a small blade colored knife slivered into his grasp and he slowly stalked his way until he saw what was going on.

A young woman who was dressed very revealingly was trying to open a door. She was frantically looking up and down the splintered door for a way to escape. When she turned her face to him he saw that her face was streaked with dark black marks, obviously showing signs that she had been crying. She pressed her body to the wall and began to whimper. "Por favor, por favor no me mates..." she shakily murmured.

Rafael raised an eyebrow and put his knife away and walked towards her hands outstretched trying to show that he wasn't hostile to her but she kept on shaking violently. "What has happened to her?" he thought to himself as he was about a few inches away from him. He fell to her knees and began to fiddle with his belt whimpering still, "If you want me to make you feel good I can, just let me go please!"

He pushed her hands away and grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her for a moment and asked her in a hissing voice, "What's going on?!" When her eyes widened in horror from his eyes he turned to see three men with automatic weapons aimed at them.

The man in the middle threw down a cigarette and stepped on it with his heel, "Perra estúpida, ahora tú y tu novio se va a morir. Mátalos!"

The weapons opened fire but before making their deadly contact, the man in the mariachi outfit grabbed the woman by the waist and dived into the rotting wooden door. "Well Milagros...this is the long night you told me about."

 

Rafael's back slammed against the slate wall of the small building and advacned up the stairs quickly with his hand grasped tightly on the woman's hand as they scrambled up the stairs. "What the hell do they want from this woman?!" They ran to the end of the stairs and he slammed the door behind them shut. One of the men in the same suit kicked in the door opposite of them and raised the automatic weapon at them. Rafael threw the woman on the ground to help her dodge the zinging bullets. From his sleeves, he got two of the same medium sized knives and leaped on the man and cut his throat, hitting his jugular and sending him down the stairs out the other end of the door. He waved to the woman on the ground rapidly and shouted at her, "COME ON, COME ON, RAPIDO!!!"

 

Rafael and the unknown woman ran down the rattling metallic stairs of the building and looked out. The sun was peeking out over the distant horizon and he looked over the ledge and saw the men in hot pursuit. He grabbed the woman by the hand and ran to the edge of the roof and looked down. It wasn't a steep fall but it would dangerous and to time consuming to recover after the landing. He pushed the woman back and told her to jump.

Frantically she looked at him and shouted, "What are you crazy?!"
"Yes, now go! Go now!"

She reluctantly nodded to the command and heeded his request and stepped back. She ran forward, her bare feet skiffing on the sandy roof and leaped forward. She landed on the ground and stumbled and continued. She looked back at him and turned up a sinister smile. Rafael's eyes widened at the relized setup and turned around to see two men armed with automatic weapons aim and fire at him. He raised his hands up in a febble attempt to block the bullets. He gritted his teeth as three bullets ripped into his right shoulder, side, and right side of his chest.

He fell off the building and hit the ground with a loud thump and rolled over to see Milagros running towards him but not to him. "Damn it..."

 

Rafael's eyes looked glassy and light from the room kept blinding him. He heard a voice speaking to him and he saw the face of his wife and smiled. She was speaking, but he could hear nothing from her lips. He reached up and touched her face and whispered her name. He was dead but he didn't care, he was with his family. However, when things slowly became clearer to him, his jouyous expression warped and turned to a contortion of sorrow and hatred. His glassy eyes watered violently as he weakly grabbed the arm of Milagros and shook her shoulder, cursing wildly.

 

Rafael looked from side-to-side breathing rapidly and saw that the woman he had once believed to be his wife in the afterlife was the woman that he had met only a day ago. He was about to get up but his body throbbed from the pain. He looked over and saw a bloody cloth with three bloody and gory bullets on it. He felt the bed he was lying on get damp with his own blood and began to sweat. His tears pilted on the sheets and clenched his fists. "Him . . . he tried to kill me . . ."

 

Rafael stayed motionless except for moving his head to observe the room. He was somewhat amazed that he had the strength to carry him all the way up here on her own. Looked down and saw his dusty boots and saw his jacket. It had three holes in it and he cursed under his breathe but calmed down seeing that nothing else had been removed from the jacket. He sighed and rested his throbbing head on the soft pillow and closed his eyes.

He turned his head to the left and saw the aquamarine curtains get brighter from the sunlight. It was about 7:00, he didn't really know and he didn't care. All he knew is that he needed to get out of the town. More men would be coming after him. He closed his eyes again and fell asleep.

 

Rafael stirred in his bed and smelled the dried blood that had once soaked his bed and opened his brown eyes to see Milagros looking elsewhere smiling. Her smile gave him a warm feeling that slowly worked its way from his stomach to his chest. It had reminded him of the times when he would wake up to the meldious tune of his wife and gigglins of his daughter.

He slowly sat up in the bed wincing as the bandaged bullet wounds in his body throbbed. When he got up he had realized that he only worde the wrapped up bandages that were on his torso. She had cared for him this much when he been resting the entire time? The thought lingered in his mind as he looked at her silently and heard the morning bustlings of the town. He sluggishly moved his feet over the edge of the soft bed and got up. He smelled of blood and dust and walked, holding his side (which had the deepest bullet wound) pressed a weak hand on the white wall and dragged his feet and continued onward.

He didn't like to feel vulnerable like this, it made him feel like he was someone's baby. He knew that Milagros had good intentions for his well-being but he pushed out all other thoughts of this and his cold expression returned to his face. He looked over his shoulder and the three hanging bangs got in his eyes and he cleared his throat and said, "Buenos Dias..."

"Why can't I say thank you?"

 

Rafael nodded silently to Milagros and continued his hard struggle to the bathroom. He truly was grateful to her helping him out in his time of great need but he would never go so far as to verbally thank her, he believed that his silent gesture of thanks was good enough for her. As he opened the door to the white-walled bathroom he slowly and painfully pulled off his jacket and made the long process of stripping down to nothing at all. He turned to the left to see the large clear mirror reflect an injured and dirty Rafael and he turned up his nose when the harsh stench of blood found its way into his nose.

As he stepped into the shower and drew the drapes over he slowly undid the bandages on his body and turned on the water and adjusted the shower head so that the flow of the water would be gentle on his wounded body. But as he closed his eyes he saw the images of his wife and little girl bleeding in his arms. Ignoring his wounds he slammed his knees on the wet floor of the tub and drew himself into a pathetic fetal postion and began to weep softly, his voice inaudible due to the rush of water and outside noise.