Thanks to the Bellemonte captives, they shaved off a good number of rcenaries. It helped the residents move away from Gigante, and the only thing left to do was clean up.
As the residents took the trucks the rcenaries had used, they quickly drove away, following Lola’s instructions to leave Gigante without looking back. They drove themselves to the location they were told, and from then on, they were instructed to burn the vehicles and move on foot.
Lucky for all of them, many had once worked in the mines. In other words, they could use the underground tunnels to move a large group to District Five without attracting too much attention.
As that was happening, those who stayed behind in Gigante continued to move. A few residents, with the help of the boss and the lackey, as well as the Bellemonte captives, gathered the conscious rcenaries.
Lola watched as one of the residents tied them up.
"You fuckers!" the man in charge of the rcenaries—who was lucky to still be alive despite Lola running him over—barked. But raising his voice earned him a stabbing pain in his stomach, making him hiss and cough up blood.
Yet despite the blood he spat out, he ground his bloody teeth and glared at them. "You’re going to regret this!" He laughed. "You are going to be so dead!"
The resident, tightening the final knots of the ropes, glared at him.
"Shut up, or I’m going to kick you," the resident warned. "Do you think you’re still in control here?"
The rcenary glared back. "You fucking dog..." he hissed, enraging the resident.
"Let him be," Lola intercepted, raising a hand to stop the folk from assaulting the man in charge. She let out a shallow breath, eyes falling on him.
Slowly, she approached the man, whose ropes were tied alongside the others. After all, she had told everyone to tie up the ones still alive and gather them in the square.
Lola squatted a few ters away, studying the burning glare in the man’s eyes.
"You whore," the man in charge spat under his breath. "You’re going to be so fucking dead. Do you think you’re getting away with this? You will not, you fucking bitch. They’re going to fucking kill you, and if I get out of here, I’m going to fuck your brains out."
Hearing all those vulgar words spill from his mouth made the corners of her lips curl into a smirk.
"What makes you think you’re getting out of here alive?" she returned, tilting her head to the side. "Hey, don’t think staying alive after getting run over ans heaven’s siding with you."
She leaned forward, drawing out her next words. "It’s karma."
The man’s fury swelled, his breathing growing heavy. He stared at Lola with nothing but rage, shoulders straining against his restraints.
"You bitch..." he hissed through gritted teeth, his anger numbing the injuries he’d sustained when Lola hit him with her truck.
Lola shrugged nonchalantly and pushed herself to her feet. She gazed down at them, then glanced at one of the residents.
"Do it," she said.
At her order, the residents picked up gasoline containers and poured them over the n.
They didn’t hesitate. They didn’t think twice.
Gasoline was poured over the rcenaries like water, uncaring of their curses. One of them lingered, deliberately dousing the man in charge while staring at him coldly.
At the sa ti, others were doing the sa—pouring gasoline across the entire town of Gigante. A place where many had lived most of their lives. A place that, despite the struggle, held warm mories of the past.
But the bad mories outweighed the good.
Once the n in the square finished pouring the flammable liquid—earning grunts and curses—a truck pulled up behind Lola.
"Goddess!" one of the Bellemonte n shouted, having already gathered the residents who stayed behind and spread gasoline throughout the town.
Lola glanced at them, nodded, then turned back to the n tied in the square. Her lips parted, then closed again, and she offered them one last smile.
She winked before turning away. "Let’s go, boys!"
With that, she walked off, and everyone followed. So residents spat in the face of the man in charge, snickering before climbing into the truck.
Using the sa vehicles the rcenaries had arrived in to ransack their town, they fled the square.
As they drove away, the residents stared back at the town in complete silence. Faces grim, eyes burning the image into mory.
"Say goodbye to it," Lola’s calm voice echoed as she stood at the back of the truck.
Her words made them glance at her before letting out shallow, defeated laughs. Then they turned back, watching the streets narrow and fade into the distance.
No one spoke. Lola stayed quiet too, letting the silence linger—giving them what they needed.
When they reached the border of the town, the vehicle stopped several ters away. Lola raised the rifle she’d looted from the rcenaries, resting it on her shoulder.
"There will be no going back here," she said quietly, one eye closing as the other focused on the gasoline tank positioned near the border.
As her finger slowly caressed the trigger, she whispered, "Say goodbye to your prison."
BANG!
The bullet struck the gasoline tank dead center. In an instant, it erupted. Flas spread rapidly, swallowing the town in minutes.
It wasn’t surprising. Gigante’s houses were made of wood, and with gasoline, the fire devoured everything.
Slowly, Lola lowered the rifle and stared at the burning town.
Everyone with her—the Bellemonte captives, the boss and the lackey, and the residents—watched the inferno, flas reflected in their eyes.
The residents held their breath as roofs collapsed and walls crumbled. Watching the fire consu their town reminded them how fragile their lives had been. But every falling wall, every crackle of fla, every wave of heat told them sothing important.
Their shackles had finally co loose.
The town they once called ho—the one they tried so hard to protect—revealed its true nature.
Their prison.
It had kept them locked in for years without them even realizing it.
The Bellemonte n swallowed hard, the sight mirroring towns they had seen before—massacres they were forced to witness and participate in.
The boss and the lackey stared blankly, minds numb. Yet sowhere deep inside, watching Gigante burn without innocent people inside stirred sothing unfamiliar.
"Gigante is burning..." the lackey blurted out in realization. "... but everyone was safe."
Slowly, without realizing it, all eyes turned toward Lola.
She stood there, eyes fixed on the flas, sharp and unyielding. Then she looked back at them and said simply,
"Let’s get out of here."
They stared at her, then nodded as one, driving away from the burning Gigante with zero casualties.
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