Cherjypt

Max sat between the legs of an upturned chair. His back was against the brick wall of the New York alleyway. He was facing the empty, quiet street. The release of a deadly bioweapon into an tightly packed city tends to empty the streets a bit. An elderly robed man turned around the corner of the alleyway and walked halfway across before leaning against a wall.

“Hey kid, how you doing,” The old man said. Max leant over and reached for his shotgun, “You’re really going to gun down an old, unarmed man?” Max stared at his gun, it was hidden behind a box out of view. He waited a few seconds with his hand hovering over the box. He reached in and placed his gun on his lap. “Alright fine, have it your way. At least let me rest a bit before killing me”

“I’m not going to kill you,” Max stated, “But I’m not going to trust you after I just met you.”

The two men stared at eachother, the old man looked at the ground and back at Max “You ever heard of Cherjypt?”

“Just hurry up and finish resting.”

“Now now, I’m asking a simple question,” Max continued staring and the old man went silent. Time began slowing down as the pain of silence shot through both men.

“Fine, yes I’ve heard of Cherjypt. It’s a brand of gun.”

“Before the bioweapon was released I used to work in the factory that created these.” Max saw a cockroach crawl accross the wall, this bug became the most interesting thing in the alley. “I even started collecting these guns I liked them so much…”

“I think if you have the strength to talk this much you have the strength to go away,” Max said trying to be as terse as possible.

“You’re going to want to hear this story, it’s important to you too,” The old man said.

“How so?” Max asked leaning onto his gun. The old man used his leaning hand to yank his robe open and he squeezed the trigger of his Cherjypt shotgun. Hot pieces of metal flew into Max’s skull before he could fire back and painted the alley red. The old man jogged over to his chair and prized Max’s gun from his hands.

“Ah, another Cherjypt for the collection.”