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"I'll do it." Smitty pointed a gun- a pistol that he had picked up sometime a while ago- at Evan, who simply chuckled.
They stood in an alleyway somewhere in downtown Los Santos, with Smitty expecting to die any minute but trying to keep up a conversation with Evan in the hopes that maybe he will get some information out of this..
Well, that may happen if he's not killed before he can figure out how to evade his gang leader.
"Go ahead.. It's not like that'll change anything." Evan stood there for a moment, trying to figure out the idea without words that was at the tip of his tongue. He knew there was something he wanted to say..
"What would you think if I said that I hired Nogla, knowing that he was a so called traitor?" That was it, he ascertained. That was what he was trying to remember.
Evan grinned, glancing at Nogla, who didn't say anything: Smitty didn't really know how to react.
"The fuck?" Smitty muttered before raising his voice at Evan, "What was the reason behind this whole assassination thing then? Did you do this for.. for fun, or something?"
Evan laughed. "You call it 'fun', but I call it 'using my leadership to get you to do whatever I want'." He looked at a confused Smitty before continuing. "No, it wasn't for fun. The gang members you were supposed to assassinate had disobeyed me.."
Evan faked a sigh, but Smitty saw through this for the first time.. this wasn't someone he could trust anymore.
In retrospect, this was someone he could never trust.
"Perhaps asking you to kill off Marcel was too much.. what a shame. Guess you're smarter than I thought." Evan's continuation had Smitty thinking for a moment.
"Is that the only reason why you're trying to get me killed here?" Smitty was beginning to actually get angry at him.
"I would've said more, wouldn't I?" was what Evan replied with before genuinely sighing and following up with..
"I might as well just finish you off now." With this, Smitty figured he might have barely enough information to tell the remaining gang members.
The vague responses could be pieced together, right? Smitty was confident in that.
Evan had only said he was going to finish Smitty off at that moment to inflict fear in him: all he had here was Nogla, who didn't bring anything with him., whereas Smitty had a gun and partial remorse for his next action, but that was enough for him.
Hesitantly putting a finger on the trigger and aiming for Evan's head, Smitty closed his eyes: he didn't want to watch someone he once called a friend die.
He hadn't wanted to do this in the first place, but he figured it would be better than risking the lives of the other gang members.
"I wish I could say I was sorry."
He didn't shoot for a couple of seconds, waiting for Evan to say anything..
but nothing was said.
The bullet piercing through Evan's head felt like it was echoing through the alleyway. It briefly rung in his ears.
The sound of Evan's body hitting the ground was the only thing Smitty could focus on. The sound of the bullet lingered in his mind, but otherwise, its effect had already been overshadowed.
Smitty took a breath and opened his eyes.
They widened in surprise.
Evan's facial expression spoke words that Smitty wouldn't be able to say. Things that may catch in his throat and remain stuck there until he analysed the result of his actions and subsequently let the words out.
Nogla's wasn't the same, however.
He wasn't scared.
He wasn't surprised.
He hadn't shown any feelings at all.
"Oh my god.." Something was finally said as the two processed what had just happened.
It wasn't Evan who had died.
"Suppose I'm more of a traitor now." Smitty nonchalantly said, still gripping his pistol. In this moment, he knew that if Evan had been the one who died, he might have reacted differently. The circumstances might also have been different..
..maybe Nogla would've killed him, but he doesn't know that for certain.. he had just guaranteed that it never will.
Smitty not doing anything else left Evan dumbfounded. "Are you not gonna shoot me?"
Smitty looked up at Evan in surprise. "I was going to.." he began, but trailed off as he observed and acknowledged something. "..hold on. If I'm not dead, then.. are you willing to spare me or something?"
Evan initiated eye contact as Smitty continued his new sentence. "Considering all the things I've done against you, such as Brian and I 'killing' Nogla.. Anthony and I thinking.. no, realising something was up after we almost killed Marcel.. me very nearly shooting you just now. Like.. I ended up killing Nogla anyway."
Evan didn't say anything, instead directing his attention to the pistol Smitty held.
The latter repeated what Evan had said moments ago. "Aren't you gonna.. aren't you gonna kill me or something?"
Noticing Evan's eyes at the pistol, Smitty tossed it at his feet, where he picked it up and looked at it, an idea or two running through his head already.
"I don't want to." His gaze still at the pistol, Evan spoke after a few seconds. His voice had softened with his initial sentence, but it went back to normal with the next couple. "You can leave if you want. Tell everyone the gang's been disbanded."
"Huh? Just like that?" Smitty was surprised: is this really how it ends?
"Well, yeah." Evan said, "I don't see the, uh.. the point in keeping it around." Smitty nodded, and that's when Evan began explaining part of its backstory.
"Nogla and I go back quite a while. We had met in high school and became friends, and then we ended up in the same gang a few years back and got to know each other better.. that was before everyone except the two of us died in a shootout and the gang dissolved." Evan paused, trying to remember what was next.
Smitty had paid attention the whole time, making sure to make a mental note about informing any gang member who asked about how Evan and Nogla met.
"We joined about.. I think it was 3 gangs together. The last one was where I met Brock and Scott, though Nogla had left that one to go to university. The three of us formed our own gang and I invited Nogla after he graduated."
Smitty had taken all of the information in and suddenly felt worse about the situation. He had killed Evan's best friend..
He realised that, regardless of who he killed, a best friend of the other was dying. If Evan had died, he was sure Nogla would've killed him and made a big deal about it. Maybe Nogla would've started new assassination missions and found someone new to kill supposed traitors.
"We.. we used to hang out with each other a lot since most others had their own friend groups and wouldn't associate with anyone else, so we ended up pretty close."
Smitty didn't know what to say. "Oh.."
"Anyway.." Evan swallowed back saliva that had suddenly filled his mouth and held back tears. "I don't know why he did that. I don't understand why he got himself killed just to save me of all people." Evan crouched down, looking at Nogla's body. "I won't know why he did it.."
Smitty had never seen Evan genuinely upset at anything before.. once again, he felt bad, despite the fact he couldn't have predicted what had occurred.
"Go." Evan said, bringing Smitty out of his thoughts.
"What? Why?" Smitty was confused and was worried he was missing some sort of context while lost in his thoughts.
"Just leave, before I change my mind about killing you." Maybe he wasn't missing anything.
"Um.. alright." Without hesitating any longer or saying anything else, Smitty walked away, intending on heading back to the base.
He heavily regretted killing Nogla..
Maybe he should've killed Evan too, seeing how miserable Nogla's death has left him.
..
A few seconds later, Smitty knew he didn't need to think about it anymore.
He didn't need to turn around to check.. that noise was unmistakable.
Evan had already done the job for him.