Frank Miller's Rugrats

"CHUCKIE!"

It was too late. I saw my friend, my companion, get shot down by a suicidal maniac by the name of An. Pickles, my cousin. It all started around four months ago, really.

My name is Thomas. My dear friend, Charles "Chuckie" Finster, signed up to help out the police after this place went to hell. I don't even know how it happened.

My mother died when I was fifteen. My dad is depressed as fuck, taking more pills than I've ever seen. My friends...oh, my dear, dear friends...broke up mid-high school. Phil became a Nazi-skinhead and is addicted to heroin. I've jailed him more than twice now.

His sister, Lillian, became a whore. It's disgusting to even look at her and I don't think she even recognizes me anymore. Hey, she's worth the five dollars.

Susanna is a doctor. She's still a good friend, but her husband is abusing her. I don't want to get involved.

Spike had a heart attack when I was fourteen. I think it hit Dylan the hardest. He was weird in high school, but now...Jesus Christ. Dil bacame a Scientologist and joined a cult. I shouldn't have been surprised. Aliens were always his thing. He was able to quit, but his mental state was shattered. He disappeared two months ago and is assumed dead.

My cousin, Angelica, now goes by the name An. Pickles. I'm not sure why. Mid-high school, when the group broke up, she went nuts. No one truly liked her outside our group. I tried to lend some support, but I couldn't. I hate the whore, especially now. She killed my best friend. Anyway, she went through "phases." She was Goth, became a skinhead once and dated Phil, a whore, everything.

I guess she just finally snapped.

Gang wars broke out over drugs. It was like a battlefield outside. I still remember seeing Phil's place being burnt down, his widowed mother crying while being burnt to a crisp. His dad came out being gay two years earlier and left for Delaware, I believe. After all of that, the neighborhood was destroyed, wrecked, and I had to sleep in the old tree house along with all of my shit.

After some things were rebuilt by the state, I was able to return to my house, only to find out that Chuckie's dad was killed. I guess that's why we joined the cops.

Now then, as I saw my friend fall to the floor, I could hear Angelica's disturbing laughing. Someone hit me over the head and when I awoke, I was in one of the dirtiest parts of the neighborhood: the park.

The gang and I used to come here often, but now it's a nesting ground for junkies, cultists, and who knows what else. I'm walking past a crying prostitute that can't be older than ten...fuck. As I walk cautiously, I see many familar faces. Thankfully, I'm not in my police gear or I'd be dead by now.

Kimi, oh god...oh god, I forgot about Kimi, the only person still sane and pure. How will I tell her that her brother was murdered and is god knows where now? God damnit.

I'm walking away from a crippled kid who's around fourteen years old and asking for help. I can easily see a gun. He's picking it up. Bang. I'm tired of this place. I need to clean it up.

Two days later, I still haven't told Kimi. I've been avoiding her. Charles is still nowhere to be seen. I made a plan to clean this shithole up. Access to equipment is easy. The police station has been loaded since the first gang war.

1. I find Chuckie.
2. I take care of these gangs.
3. I end this.

Chuckie, where are you?

After walking around the city for clues, Lilian told me she heard something about Chuck's body being in the abandoned toy store. Almost three feet away from her door, as I was walking away, I hear a gunshot.

I keep walking. The toy store? Is this some kind of sick joke? Fuckers. The toy store became some hideout for some minor cult. It's no big threat.

I'm there, walking through the shattered opening doors. While walking down, I see so many toys I remember playing with as a kid. How long has it been, now?

I keep walking and when I start seeing rotten bodies, I feel like leaving. I can't. After a good 35 minutes, I still can't find anything, until...

On the wall. In spray paint, it reads, "Behind you."

As I turn around, a man - maybe a woman - wearing a hood with a big pink C on the front greets me. She/He is pointing a gun at me. I hesitate, grab the gun, and turn it. He fires and hits one of the decaying bodies. I hit her, as hard as I can, in his damn gut and take the gun. She's fumbling and I'm too nervous, anxious to get a clear shot. As soon as I can think straight, he's gone.

I check the gun out. On the barrel, it says "Reptar 2010." Reptar 2010? Damn, I haven't thought of that movie in ages. I always wo-

2010 is this year.

The movie theaters. I head out. My car has been stolen. Damn, I'm gonna have to hurry. "Who the hell is doing this?"

In there, it's dark inside and out. It's dirty. It's noisy. Something inside's playing. I walk in and see all of the big, infested candy treats. There's some light shimmering out. I walk in. On the screen is Reptar 2010. Is this some kind of joke? I walk toward the screen and look down the sides.

Stuffed animals, tons of them, are in every seat. What the hell?

I hear something fall behind me. Something heavy. I take out my gun and slowly walk toward the noise. I see a note with another C on it. I open the hood.

It's Charles Finster, my dead friend. He's grayish-white, but expected as he's been dead for two days now. With tears in my eyes, I pick up his body and run.

It's been two weeks since I found Chuck. I asked Susie to perform an autopsy on him after the funeral..and I finally told Kimi. She cried. I'm living with her now, to make sure she'll be okay...Hell, to make sure I'LL be okay. Only a few people showed up to the funeral, the ones who weren't destroyed. It was raining. I don't want to talk about it now.

A couple of days after the funeral, Susie got back to me with a report. He had a small toy in his stomach that was forced in. Someone cut him up and put a teddy bear inside. He also had a huge loss of semen; it was completely gone. What the fuck is going on?

The Gangs
There are two major gangs here: the Skinheads I've told you so much about and the Ratpers. Ratper is a slang word around here meaning "Supreme Monster." I can't remember where it came from. I decided to hit the skins first, as they're the least armed. Their main hideout is in the school. No other kids live around here anymore, so why even have it?

The easiest way in is through the western entrance. As I'm walking down the halls, I see my old locker. I take a look inside; I can't believe I still remember the combination. Upon opening it, I see a backpack. It's dusty and black. Some letter is cross out, leaving a C. I can't make out what the old letter was.

There's nothing important in the backpack, just some papers I assume are from who knows when. I dismiss it and keep walking. Walking down the halls of an empty school at night is scary as hell. Every noise makes me jump and overreact. I make it to the auditorium and...oh god.

I see bodies - tons of bodies - and blood. I can recognize some of the bodies and it makes me sick. The only thing standing out is a Reptar toy in the middle with the only working light shining upon it. There's a note taped to it. I take caution while walking toward this. I'm shaking and my mind is reeling. I'm sweating and can't think. The stench of blood and god knows what makes me want to split. I look at the note.

"Open it up."

I break the large toy. As I see the object within, I know everything. I fall to my knees with tears in my eyes. I hold in my hands Angelica's Cynthia doll, in its "perfect" condition.

I rush out the door and run as fast as I can, hearing her laugh in her mind. I can see her grin. I feel the world turn under me and I can't keep my balance. I'm going insane. I call Kimi, to try to tell her to leave. No answer.

I run back towards the park. Skinhead headquarters. It's midnight. The park is alive with horror and disgust. I can still see the crippled fourteen year old and a gun. It's on his stomach and is stained with blood. The boy is dead.

I head towards the center of the park. There aren't as many Skinheads as I thought. Only about ten of them are left. Phil sees me and walks up. "What the fuck are you doing here, Pickles?" He sounds threatening, but scared. I tell him I need his help, just once. I say I'll pay him and won't bust him. He and his friends agree to the deal. I walk to my house with ten Skinheads higher than the sky, but we're all armed. I'm hoping that's enough.

We arrive at my house; I guess it's not really my house. it was Charles'. They remodeled it a ton after the fights. It's now the largest house in the neighborhood. Two of Phil's crew break the door down and as they walk inside they both fall down into a hole. There's some sort of substance in the hole that burns my eyes.

They're goners. the pit is a good ten feet deep. We keep walking. Four more are picked off; three by gunshot, one by overdose. There are only six left: Phil, four others, and me.

We head downstairs to the basement, only to find some sick lab. There's gore and sexual fetish and I'm guessing this is where Chuck's sperm ended up. Two of us couldn't take it and offed themselves. There are only four of us left now. The last two of Phil's friends head up the stairs first. They fall back down after two shots of a gun. Only two of us are left.

There are still two more levels of this house left. I walk into Chuckie's old room. Memories flush back and I can't keep from crying. Phil hits me and tells me to get it together. Phil's looking pretty scared, but how can I blame him? We're both sweating and fumbling. We're scared.

There's nothing too important on the second level. We hear a cat meow and look at each other. Phil pissed himself. We walk carefully. There's two people and only one story left in the house. Phil goes up to the attic first. I watch his back.

Bang.

Phil is falling down. Tears are in my eyes. I walk upstairs and the lights turn on. Angelica is lying on a bed. She's in her old clothes and I can see Chuckie's old square purple glasses. There's a bottle of chocolate milk on a nearby table. A TV turns on and shows Reptar 2010. Angelica picks up something - a cookie. I can only say one word.

"Why?"

She smiles the devil's smile. She's walking closer; she wants something. She looks horny; she wants me. Her hair's in those two bows. I'm backing up and I trip over something. It's my plastic screwdriver. More tears fill my eyes. She's getting closer. In my pocket, I try to pull out my gun, but I pull out Cynthia and throw it at her.

She nearly faints. She grabs it and starts crying as loud as she can. "I only loved the past!" She cried. I see Phil's gun. He must have pulled it out before getting shot.

"I only loved you, in high school, where everything fell apart. I needed responsibility. I wanted to rule it all, but no one wanted me." She's crying. Her voice sounds the same as it did ages ago.

"You cared for me, Tommy! I need you, and...and...and Phil and Chuckie! And...and Lil, and..." She's babbling. She's lost it. I'm closer to the gun. She grabs me. I grab the gun.

Bang.

There's blood, there's gore, and there's everything with the world on my face. Her face is unrecognizable. I'm crying, sweating, and everything. I see Kimi, dead, of course. I wonder why Angelica fell apart when she saw Cynthia...unless...she didn't put it there. If not her, then...who?

Of course. I take out a piece of paper from my pocket, one from the backpack. "Area 51," it reads.

I smile, knowing what it means. I collect everything from my past and walk to my backyard. I take out a match...and I burn them all. I walk past my old tree and take one last cookie out of the jar. I go back to my old room and lay on my bed.

I take out my gun, point it, pull the trigger...

...and I'm gone.