by Brick
I was semiconscious on the floor, but I could see when Dame walked over and kicked Gina in her ribs. When she fell over, he brought his big foot down as hard as he could into her stomach.
“You ain’t gotta get rid of it, bitch,” he ranted, kicking her again. “I will.”
Tears fell from my eyes for her, not my own pain, but because she had just heard her baby’s heartbeat. Judging by the bloodcurdling scream she let out, I knew Big Jake would never know he was so close to being a daddy.
Dame kept beating and stomping her. I knew he was going to kill her. When his steel-toe boot connected with her face and her head snapped back, I found strength from somewhere and got up.
As fast as I could, I threw my body over hers, which seemed to piss him off further. He unrolled the thick leather belt from his hand and started to beat both of us with it. I would have given anything just to hear Gina scream, just one scream, to let me know she was still alive, but I got nothing. All I heard was my own screams, and all I saw was the faces of niggas and bitches sneering and laughing.
I saw that bitch Sasha standing with folded arms next to Pookie, and I knew in that moment, me and Gina had been set up.
The leather belt landed across my naked body. I was sure my body was looking like Jesus looked when they beat him before putting him on that cross.
I still didn’t move from Gina’s body. Even as I tried to hold my hand up to keep the hits from getting to me, I kept her covered as much as I could.
Mama, if I die in here today I’ll be glad. I can’t keep doing this, Mama! Why you and Daddy do this? Leave me here like this? Too much pain and hurt. Can’t do this.
Even as I talked to my mama, I couldn’t help but wonder where Trigga and Big Jake were. They were noticeably absent, and after so many kicks, hits, and punches, so was I.
Trigga
“Hand me that stash.”
“Which one, bro?” Jake said, moving quickly behind me.
“Nigga, any of them, man! Move fast, an’ secure that bitch’s mouth.”
Jake tossed me the stash then bent down to send his fist forward, cracking teeth, then snatched it back before tying the mouthpiece. “I did. Damn. You know I’m just the guard. This shit is your thang, punk.”
“Yeah, yeah, man.” I laughed then squeezed my trigga.
Pow-Pow!
Me and Big Jake moved around a group of trees, clearing up our footsteps and lacing the land with bags of dust, lime, and other products.
Trick-ass bitches think they gon’ run game on me, set up members of my newfound fam. Naw, shit ain’t ’bout to go down like that.
See, everything was on point a couple of hours ago after getting orders from Dame. Jake and I was out, running errands, making sure bossman’s networks were giving us the right units of drugs to bring back to the house.
We left that spot, heading to several PBs houses, when both our cells went off. Since Jake was driving, I clicked on the message, which was sent by one of “my eyes” in the house. And the shit I saw moved up the plan. Shit was popping off in the underworld. The image looked like this was some World Star shit. All I heard was niggas and bitches ooing and aahing, shouting out various damns and whatnot.
As the camera turned, I saw that nigga Blackout flashing nothing but his whites as he gassed up Dame, who was kicking Gina and Diamond like they wasn’t human. Everything in me got mad quiet and shit. I was heated. Like I was no longer in the car, nothing but that image was playing. I memorized everything, and everyone.
Sasha’s clown face was grinning, her hand on her hip, as she stood next to Pookie. Nothing but her pink, flabby peeling lips whispered in his ear before she shouted out that Gina was knocked up.
My mouth straight up dropped when she said that shit. Gina was breedin’? I listened while that broad Sasha then shouted out some shit that Diamond was sneaking out, tryin’a runaway and shit. That’s when Blackout and Pookie threw my name in there, saying they see me talkin’ to Gina and Ray-Ray all the time. On hearing that, Dame kicked the fuck outta Gina.
“Fuck, nah!” I shouted.
His foot landed into her stomach as he stomped her. It was like I could feel each blow.
Gina’s and Ray-Ray’s screams filled the car and had a nigga’s jaw clenched tight. The screen shook as my eyes tried to get a better angle than it zoomed in. With one final blow that I saw Dame give to Diamond then Gina’s head, my cell cracked in my hand then flew into the dashboard, almost breaking.
I yelled for Jake to pull over but wasn’t nothing to tell him to do, because he already was pulled over looking at his cell, gripping the steering wheel of his car.
Jake yelled, “We got set the fuck up! They set our fam up, Trig! That’s what the fuck this is about!”
My head shook. I slowly pushed my hoodie back in disbelief, listening and watching until the end. My eyes ended the message with more intel about what was going on, telling us that they had heard Sasha lie to Diamond and Gina to get them out the house. They had also heard that Gina had sliced up Pookie’s face then ran off to some doctor, where they got caught. All this shit was sloppy and messy as fuck. Now they were in the underworld. Wasn’t shit I could do to save them from “the seven punishments,” which was already going down as we watched. I was ready to place my blade against each nigga’s throat.
Jake’s growling yell took me back to the car and outta my mind. “Gina’s having a baby, man? And that motherfucka got my girl down there tryin’a kill her and it!”
The fact that the car was moving again made me realize Jake was ready to kill.
I reached over and swerved the car over on the side of the road to get him to stop before we both got killed. “Pump them brakes, nigga! Chill the fuck out. I need to think, homie. You know we can’t run up in there. Our plan would be all the way done. Feel me? Naw, we gonna get them bitches back.
“See, Sasha thinks no one knows about her weakness, but I got her fuckin’ ass. And Pookie?” I let out a harsh laugh as I rubbed my hands together. “I got that nigga and Blackout too. See, you don’t fuck wit’ what ya think ya know about. I let my hand be shown too much. Time to close that shit up and play this shit all the way forward. Feel me?”
Jake stared at me confused, hurt, and all the way pissed off. I could tell all he wanted to do was to get back to Gina, and I could feel him on that shit. I wanted to get back to them too. Wanted to take all them fuckas out and snatch up Diamond and Gina. Everything had to happen in due time, and now this shit was being sped up.
“What the fuck we ’bout to do, man? What we gonna do? Ain’t shit we can do. Dame crazy, man. We ain’t making it out this shit without some of us falling an’, I ain’t about to let Gina be that one.”
On some real shit, I played all the angles out in my head, and everything Jake was saying was true. See, I had my plan too, not just the group shit. Dame had not only fucked up once, but he’d just fucked up for a second time. Shit, the fact that everyone was at Dame’s taking pieces of Gina’s and Diamond’s flesh didn’t feel like some accident, not with us out here running simple-shit errands. That nigga Dame had specifically sent me and Big Jake on this errand run after he got a phone call that had to be from one of them niggas.
Nah. Felt like we were being played and manipulated. I dug in my jacket and pulled out my pop’s and mom’s journals. I only carried them on simple assignments when I know I’m going straight back to my crib. I memorized every line in each book. Shit was second nature to me now, so I knew what page to fall on. Licking my lips, a name stuck out for me, one I had been hearing on the streets as a small kid and could never get to—Phenom.
“Chill and listen. That nigga is done. He’s in his last hours. Check it. You eva hear ’bout the invisible street king? A nigga known for having mad Glocks and any kind of weapon you want. Nigga can make senators run game for him?” I asked, while looking at the words my pops wrote.
Son, our demand for community control flows naturally from the science of our life. It teach
es that we are the Supreme Being in person and the sole controllers of our own destiny. If we know this, work for the community, we get to peace, because in the absence of peace is chaos or confusion, and in the absence of confusion is order. The streets are nothing but chaos, and you will be that order. Remember these teachings. Find Phenom. He will give you your inheritance.
“Yeah, man, dude is like a legend, got hands across the nation, they say. Phenom. What about him?” Jake stepped close to me.
It was like my pops knew his time was coming. Closing my parents’ books, I put them back in my jacket and glanced at Jake. “We ’bout to meet that nigga in the flesh. I got a way to get to him. We make a statement to that bitch Sasha, bring chaos. Then I go get us our way out.”
“A’ight, bro. Whatever we gotta do to turn that nigga and his bitches into fertilizer,” Jake growled.
Game time was on. Everything I did so far had a reason to it. If the unit Dame was linked up to came for us, best believe, I could work out something. The LKs wanted me on their side, as did the Jamaicans and Nigerians. It was always a way out in something, so I guess it was good that what Jake was telling me ran through my head. ’Cuz a nigga had to get at this plan and wasn’t about to let some fear shit mess up Jake’s mental. We all were getting out of here some way, or we would become the masters and controllers of the overall game.
“Check it. Dame just got us in the game with big leaders. This is what we do. We got cards, so we make sure those big bosses want us. Feel me? The politicians, the old money, we make sure they want us, and we use them like they will use us. That’s our fallback until we can hide, but right now, since that ratchet, Beyoncé wannabe, loose-pussy-lip bitch Sasha wanna set some bitches up, with Pookie and Blackout helping, yeah, I got some shit for them.”
I pulled out a black notebook that I had strapped to the inside of my hoodie. I also only carried it when I was out on duty. Then I’d hid that shit in a way that even those niggas who watched me never saw. Thumbing my nose, I flipped through it.
Jake’s emotions were getting to me. It had my mind working, sifting through the plan like a game, and it fueled me. I lived for the type of shit Dame, Pookie, Sasha, and Blackout was pulling. Gave me lessons and made me stay tight on my shit. Which was why I needed to calm my homie down, or else the plan would crumbled. And then I’d have to go back to plan B, C, and D—me and my Glock taking out Dame by myself.
“What we doing, bro?” Jake asked, the veins in his forehead visible.
“Look, I need you to chill—Take out your gun and load it then unload it. This ol’ cat in the streets taught me that, to calm me down when I used to blow up and shit. Do that and listen. Bodies ’bout to drop. Sasha got money and product stashed she stole from Dame herself. She also got a nigga who she meets with in the streets to sell for her. She’s mad close to him; I never used to know why, but I do now.”
I brought up pictures on my cell to show Jake who I was speaking on. “Nigga is her brother, and he’s foul as fuck. We get to him, take him out, drop Pookie’s prints, then we go to Pookie’s. The more on him, the more pain he can get. Feel me? And you know Pookie got stash, so we lace it with Sasha’s shit. And then we snatch up that nigga’s cousin. He’s not even from L.A. Bullets to his head, Sasha’s prints. All of that, and we leave Dame a nice note—DOA. Let him see that these bitches been playing him up the middle. Then we link Blackout to all of it too. Feel me?”
Jake sat back in his seat flexing his gun. He loaded it then took the bullets out, and repeated the process. He slammed his head against the headrest. “A’ight, but we doing something to Blackout’s peeps too. He has some cousins in the street who are goons too. Take them out.”
“You know it. Hide this shit, and let’s get this going. Everything we do gotta work where Dame can’t get the math of how long we been gone. Bet?”
Jake started the car and pulled off with a grunt. “Bet.”
Riding through the A, we hit up all of Dame’s PBs to make our time look good. Stashing our ride, one of Dame’s PBs was a chick Jake and I used to help, so she covered us and didn’t ask any questions. She always trusted in what we did, so we knew we could trust her with this cover. She also hated all them niggas in Dame’s house, including Dame, so it was all good.
Yamamoto Tsunetomo’s The Book of the Samurai said some shit like, “if a man was mad strict, then the people he commanded would be untrustworthy, and if he over-trusted them, then they would become uncontrollable.” Dame had been all of that, which was why his house was falling.
We went through the plan as fast as we could. Both Jake and I had items that belonged to our enemy, so we used what we could, lacing Pookie’s and Blackout’s place, then snatching some of their people. House to house we went. We’d tie up some niggas, made them grip Glocks then take out people, repeating the process over and over while we rode through the A in Pookie’s brother’s ride, dropping bodies left and right.
I stood over bitches recording some of what we did, just to save it for Sasha, Pookie, and Blackout. Our masks covered our faces, as well as our hoodies, but I didn’t give a fuck if they knew who we were, since they were dead to me anyway. Shit was sublime for me, and from the look on Jake’s face, shit was just as good for him too. Everything we did, we did for Gina and Diamond, and to fix the plan.
When it came to Sasha’s place, shit got a little hard. We circled the abandoned two-level house. I circled the back, taking the porch stairs, and landing in the main bedroom. Jake went through the basement. Place smelled like ass, pussy, shit, and piss. Everywhere I stepped, fresh or dead roaches crunched under my kicks.
A four-poled bed was in front of me. Dirty sheets with come spots lay crumbled over the huge mattress, dried condom wrappers lay on the bed and the floor, and clothes were everywhere. Damn sure didn’t know how the fuck anyone but someone homeless or on that shit could live in here. Which made a perfect hideout spot. Sasha had learned a lot being Dame’s bitch, but now she was about to learn what it was like to be mine.
Jake appeared down the hall ahead of me, in the kitchen. He gave me a signal, telling me the place was empty, then we wrapped around downstairs. We moved quietly, listening, until we heard that nigga blasting his music and yelling about some video game. Loud stomps from his feet made the ceiling above us rumble.
I quietly climbed the stairs. Trash was everywhere, graffiti on the wall. Just for the fuck of it, I picked some trash up and threw it to get that fool’s attention, but his TV was so loud, he didn’t hear shit.
I rounded the corner and saw Big Jake watching from the corner of the room. His mask covered him up, making him look like a monster in darkness, and his gloved hands held his silver Glock.
I walked to the side and kicked a chair down. “’S up, nigga? Damn. You ain’t ’bout shit if you ain’t hear me and my partna.” I laughed.
Sasha’s brother sat up fast on the couch. His brown eyes locked on me. He shook his head. Nigga looked just like a male twin of Sasha, ’cept nigga was huge like a wrestler. He had locks like me, but they were matted, looking like stuffed red and brown caterpillars. His sagging jeans were dusty as fuck, and his shoes were off his feet. The sound of him cracking his knuckles made me grin, ready for battle. Was I scared? Naw. Did I worry I couldn’t take him down? Fuck, no. I loved challenges. This nigga was about to be a fun kill.
“I know you. You that special-ed, mute, bubba-gump nigga, Trigga. I got some shit for you,” he barked out. Gold flashed from his crooked teeth.
Nigga sounded like he smoked too many blunts and swallowed acid. His voice was both scratchy and deep. It annoyed me.
“Am I, nigga? If I am, think on why I would be hitting your fucked-up place? Smells like your sister’s cunt for real, son. Ya needa handle all that.” I laughed, fanning flies that flew by.
“Man, fuck you! You played my sista,” he roared out.
I pointed my gun at the sloppy nigga in front of me. He was nothing but stank, rolled up in fat, and hot air with whi
te eyes.
“Naw, she let herself get played—played in the ass, mouth, cunt, throat, armpit, probably her eye and ear too. I don’t know, nigga, but your sister is foul, just like you, and like you ’bout to be. I’m going to have fun letting my gun make her my bitch. Feel me?”
“Yo, fuck yo’ life, nigga!” Sasha’s brother spat, charging at me.
I laughed and then shrugged. Guess I wasn’t gonna get any fun out of him anyway, so I stayed where I was, watching him spit while he spoke, his saggy titties slapping through his stained beater as he rushed me. Shit was kinda funny to me. All I heard was Slap, slap, slap. Made me think of some thick pussy riding me. It kinda made me want to fuck for a moment.
My boot kicked out a table to push him back, and it took Big Jake to body-drop that nigga, just to hold him down. Nigga was built like a tank, but Big Jake was stronger.
Jake yelled out, “Attenshhhunnnn, you bonecrusher-ass nigga!”
Several rounds of emptying our Glocks took out that nigga. We left him right where he fell in the middle of the living room, surrounded by roaches and dog shit, and that was the end of Sasha’s blood.
While we marked Sasha’s place up for show, you know, just in case shit didn’t pan out the way a nigga planned, we snatched up two of that nigga’s goons who were also Sasha’s cousins and dropped them in the back of the trunk of our ride.
Darkness from the sky was our friend. The streets seemed to be mad quiet for some reason, but it didn’t bother me none. Matter of fact, it worked to our advantage, moving around like we were, as we headed to the drop-off spot with these bodies. Time seemed to tick off, but the way we moved quickly and professionally, everything fit in right on time.
Now we stood in the forest of Georgia. Blackout’s cousins and their rides were behind us, and Pookie’s cousin’s ride parked opposite of it. Three niggas sat on their knees, bound and whining, their faces bloody.
Jake walked behind the lame-ass niggas to untie them. He moved smoothly but quickly. As he pointed his gun, a bullet from its barrel followed with him, leaving bodies to fall on each other like dominoes. We didn’t have time to make this perfect, but we did have time to make it look like each nigga squeezed their own triggers at each other, so no CSI shit could pop off. That was our only moment of concern, to make it look good and not fake.
