Dragonfly by Jax Hill 

Pete said the Dunkers — the crew-cut surfer and skater punks — were stationed around all the entrances to the convention center, calling out to passersby that guns and violence were destroying this generation, and that they were taking their lives in their hands to go into this air-conditioned hall.

But that wasn’t what the Dunker himself had in mind. He led Pete and Bruiser behind the center into the parking garage where in the basement there was apparently a second, smaller convention going on — automatic weapons and guns that required no license or waiting period. How did the Dunker even know about it?

“It was all out of the back of cars,” Pete said. “Cars and trucks loaded down with guns and ammo. The Dunker goes strolling in like he’s walking into the Wal-Mart, and he starts shouting back to me and Bruiser about the inventory — Enough fire power here to conquer the world, boys!, he shouts. I wonder if the local police would like to know about this? Or if they already do?!, he asks us. By now Bruiser and I regret following him, but think about it — if we hadn’t, he would have been walking in there alone.”

Pete marveled at this. He was a man who appreciated courage, and I could tell he admired the Dunker for what I perceived as his foolhardiness. That was Pete. Truth be told, his temperament suited the Dunker better than it suited Torstein’s style ... but once you’d fallen prey to Torstein’s Irresistible Charm, not even the Dunker could change your mind.

Pete said he thought it might be the devil of a fight if the Dunker kept shouting at the arms dealers.

“You generation of vipers!” he shouted. “You killers of children and blighters of the future! Don’t you know that the means by which you deal death to the innocent could be the means by which you’ll die yourselves?!”

You have to consider the Dunker’s remarkable voice, enclosed in the basement level of a dark parking garage. He had that amazing, booming voice to begin with, then it echoed back from all the concrete walls, ringing loud through the darkness and the half-light.

“You’re making your own bed, but you may not find it so comfortable when you have to lie in it! Even now you can change your ways and stop this evil thing you’re doing. If you will abandon your sordid business in murder, and follow the light to truth, you can still escape the wrath to come!”

Pete said trunks started slamming, buyers started stampeding to the elevators, and the dealers themselves started sizing up whether they thought they could take down the giant who was ruining their business ... of course, they could have used their own weapons, but once the shooting started, the police would be forced to respond (whether they wanted to or not!) and the flea market would be shut down.

“You can flee the sound of my voice,” the Dunker continued to bellow. “But the message will follow you and ring in your ears: you are doing evil, and evil will pursue you! You are courting violence, and violence will pursue you! You are dealing in death, and death will pursue you!”

Someone yelled back from the sidelines:

“Shut up, you freak! Get the hell out of here before we kill you!”