This day started off like any other for Carrie. She rose from her bed in the morning, shuffled across her floors to the kitchen, mingled around the coffee maker as it brewed; and ended her mourning routine with a fair amount of time in the bathroom, preparing herself for the long day ahead of her. 

What took the most time for our Carrie was the issue of her hair. Styled after such long gone heroes like Ms. Page, Carrie prided her vintage pin-up girl look. She stood in the mirror, adjusting tiny details to the curled up bands and flowing back. Her arms were adorned with a multicolored explosion of colors and art. As well as being a admire of the long time fashions of the past, she also found such exquisite beauty in the way of body art. 

Satisfied that her beautification process had been complete, she stepped out of her cramped and claustrophobic bathroom. Making her way towards the garage door, she heard the telephone ring behind her

~Ring~Ring~

“Great, just my luck” She mumbled as she let out a sigh and turned towards the beckoning receiver. 

“Hello?”

“Carrie! Where are you! Get to the shop pronto!”

~Click~

The receiver tone went dead.

With a look of controlled frustration, Carrie gritted back her urge to scream and made her way back to the garage. Opening the door revealed a Cherry Red moped sitting in a otherwise empty, spotless garage. Climbing up the front bumper were black flames, and protruding off the back was a small checkered flag attached to a thin wire. 

“Morning darling,” Carrie remarked to her vehicle. “Ready to go give ‘em hell today?” She asked while mounting the aged machine. As if in response, her two wheeled baby roared to life on the first try. “I know I can always count on you,” she said lovingly as she patted the gas tank. 

Waiting for her docile garage to open, she stood feet spread apart, humming bike between her legs and helmet adorned.  Pulling down the elastic goggles from atop the helmet, Carrie was ready to ride. 

~Put Put Put~

The ancient beast carried away Carrie into the carnivorous red sun rise. Reaching the shop, she stopped. Planting her feet, she killed the engine and propped out the kick stand. Carrie slowly peeled off her goggles, then plopped off her helmet. Having uncovered her head, she swung her hair back and forth quickly to poof her hair back out. With her head angled down towards the ground a bit, she looked her eyes up.

Carrie was met with her boss, worming and dodging between working mechanics and scattered car parts across the shop floor. Approaching her with his arms flailing and lungs exhausted, he took a second to gain his composer and wind. 

“You need to get back there right now. I don’t know whats going on.”

“Take me to it.”

Making their way through the crowded shop floor, Carrie; in her two inch heels towered over everyone, especially her dwarf of a boss. His head only reached the middle of her stomach. 

Lead down a tiny hall, away from the view of everyone else in the shop; the boss stopped and turned to face Carrie. 

“So are you sure you are ready to see this?”

“Chris! For the last time, yes! You have called me five times over the past two days about this. I am here aren’t I? Just show me the damn thing already, I want to see what you are so excited about.”

“Alright, alright. Point proven,” the small man said defensibly, putting up his hands; as if blocking her words. 

Around he turned, sliding a key card through a reader and punched in a quick combination of numbers. Within a matter of seconds the normal way depressed in on itself, revealing a long dark corridor. Stepping into the dark, the floor lit up with each foot forward. Down the two walked until the reach the end of the room, where Chris then clapped in a quick succession. 

With the concussion of a light grenade, the room blasted into view. High watt bulbs mounted at different angles along the ceiling hummed down upon the starting couple. The wall in front of them was adored with every type of weapon imaginable. Ranging from standard military issue assault rifles to the most obscure modified small arms, it was a Black Operation team’s wet dream. 

What sat in the middle of the wall was something that Carrie had never seen in her entire life, or even heard about. Staring wide eyed, mouth agape, she was speechless. Chris turned towards Carrie, grinning from one dumbo ear to the next. 

“See, I told you it. Something to see, eh? Think it was worth the three million I dropped on it?”

“Three million? Chris, you spent three million dollars on me? Aw, you are the best!” Carrie squealed in excitement, and bent down and squeezed the life out of the tiny man. Putting him down, his hair was disheveled and distraught. Carrie then planted a large kiss on the old man’s wrinkled forehead, leaving a fresh mark of her black lipstick. Chris gladfully soaked up the extra attention given to him by Carrie, becoming a slight bit love drunk; leaving him speechless for a brief moment. In that time he, he simply pointed his arm off to the right. Carrie took this as invitation to investigate the wall further.    

Making her way all the way to the far left, she went to work looking up and down the rack; trying to pick out anything she had not seen on a previous trip to Chris’s Shop Towards the middle of the rack sat two pistols she had never seen before. Eying them with curiosity, she picked them up. 

“That there, Cassie, is a two of a kind right there. You will never see anything like them. Refurbished Colt .45’s, taken from a raided drug cartel house not too long ago. Those bastards get some of the best guns around, did you know that?”

“No, I didn’t Chris. What makes them so special though? They look like any other .45 I’ve ever had.”

“Well that is where you would be mistaken miss. Do they feel a bit lighter to you?”

“Yeah, I guess. But what else. I don’t care if the guns lighter, doesn’t help me much when I wanna hit the little fuck.”

“Always the one with practicality, I like that about you. Furthermore on the guns,” Chris cleared his throat, as if too prove a point, “The ends are grooved in such a way that a flash suppressor can be attached. And on top of that, those Ese’s felt the need to get the clip release extra greased up. Fastest release I’ve ever seen to be honest.” 

Carrie stood there with one pistol still in her hand, and quickly tested the release. It came out so fast she wasn’t used to responding, so it clattered to the ground. Carrie bent down at her knees to pick up the fallen clip, and while she did Chris walked behind her towards the new weapon. While walking, he just so happened to keep his eyes directly locked onto the end of his bending over employee. When she moved to stand up, he quickly darted his eyes in the totally opposite direction and began to whistle his favorite show tune to himself. 

“You were just starring at my ass, weren’t you?”

“No, no, I wasn’t. Pssh, I can’t believe you would even think such a thing.”

Carrie just started at the man, holding back a small smile; masking it with the rubbing her teeth inside of a closed mouth. Chris started back with puppy eyes almost on the verge of tears. She then turned towards the wall and picked up the talked about news of the week. 

“Does it work?”

“I think so, I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet though. Would you like to?” 

“Do you even need to ask?”