Lawless

by Jai Williams

  Captain Harris looked at the guy–well, tried to anyway because he had the blindfold on. “You think this world is so great, with murder, torture and rape? You get joy out of doing that?” he asked.

  “Well of course, my good sir, I get the joy out of killing; it’s thrilling – that rhymed unintentionally. Oh shit, I think I feel a rap coming on, guys. Give me a beat,” he said cheerfully, so two men started beat boxing.

  “Yeah, so my name is fuckin’ Jim; I won’t tell you about me, no. I’ll tell you about them, hoe. These motherfuckers are fuckin’ fucked, yo. And all the fuckers fucking coming are next, bro. Your fuckin’ with the fuckin’-fucker wrong truckers. Now if I have to spell it out to ya, I’ll sell it out, screw ya. The fuckers are dead; that is no doubt, understand it, I demand it, please don’t make me fuckin’ brand it. So, your fuckin’ fucked that’s what I say and soon you’ll be like no fuckin’ way. And the last you’ll pray, will be nothing, because you’ll end up like a dumpling. Now before I hand this hypothetical mic over to Gary, you motherfuckin’ fucks better be prepared because he’s scary,” rapped Jim.

  “Now my name is Gary; I’m a fuckin’ crazy dude. I never eat with my mouth shut, now that’s considered rude. I don’t care about feelings; no, they’re fuckin’ gay; the only thing I care about is in bed with whom I lay. No laws and cops – you see once I took some ecstasy and got horny from one to three. All the killing I do, gives me that high and that’s no fuckin’ lie. See, I’m always fuckin’ drunk, never sober – oh shit, wait I’m coming down; drink it up, now that’s closure. I never considered myself as crazy but I do some crazy shit on the daily. I punch, I kick, I get the flow, fucking with bitches is what I know. I drink it up, I get so sick, the woman licking on my dick feels so great but I’m a prick; forget about now show ‘em, Nick,” rapped Gary.

  “Yeah, my name is Nick. You talking shit. All these woman get my dick. So, you fuckers fuck with the wrong people, yo think that’s fine, you motherfucker will be dead in time. Every time people do this they feel ruthless; yeah, they’re all clueless. I feel the aggression it enhances, but killing has all the answers. Fuck you guys and your bromancing, you all here will shit yo pants, man. We coming closer and closer to Dwayne; yeah you will feel the fuckin’ derange. It’s insane but he plays the game with everyone that comes in chains. So, I say fuck ya, you ran out of luck here and the last thing you’ll be riding in is this truck, yeah. So, boom you’re gone; I say this shit in this tone. Prepare yourself for anal fucks, ah man I’m just kidding; that’s totally yuck. Now Chris, show these motherfuckers how you roll, because you’re the greatest of them all,” rapped Nick.

  “Yeah, so this is what we do, go from town to town, gather up the bitches and we take them down ground. I killed so many people I forget how many are dead, probably over hundreds – I don’t know; that’s what I said. When I met Dwayne, man I was fuckin’ shaking; the man is fuckin’ scary but I was never faking. We had same interest. We worked out and helped each other’s fitness. I’m not one to cry, surely I have before; that’s no deny, I say the truth I don’t lie, to the big boss is where I fly. I-I-I feel super mad, when I kill I feel quite glad. I feel different one day then another day is Sunday or Monday I can’t tell, nay. I like to rap, yeah I rap a lot; well, that’s because I used to be a rapper, now take your shot – is it cold or hot? I can’t tell; I forgot, perhaps I’ll get drunk later, jump in and stir the pot. When I was a rapper I was at the top yeah, fight through fear that’s how I got there. I was rich and famous, I didn’t feel shameless. I got so high though; got paid in those nice flows, but wow, party all the time smoke, that thing and I do my rhymes. I got to where I was yeah, I did it solo, completely on my own dishing out these solos. I survived this world and made it here now that shit ain’t random. Dizzy, crazy, dunk, horny yeah that’s my fuckin’ anthem, WOO,” rapped Chris.

  “Wow that was just – just wow. Nice jobs, guys, that’s probably our best one yet, and Chris you’ll always be the best, simply because you were a rapper back before the world changed,” said Jim cheerfully.

  “Why did you have to torture us? Please, can you stop?” said Captain Harris.

  “Well, I like rap. It was the only thing I enjoyed back when the world was normal–well, your kind of normal – and now there’s no more rap so I make shit up. Well, sometimes when I come across a rapper, which is rare, I take them and force them to perform for me and others who like rap, watch too. But since Chris has been around I haven’t had to do that,” replied Jim.

  “Let me guess, when Chris showed up, you then killed the rappers you had,” replied Captain Harris.

  “Ding-ding-ding. We have a winner,” replied Jim with a loud and cheerful voice.

  It was quiet for a while after that. They finally got to the city. They passed the sign that had the city of blood written on it, which is where Ronnie and the others were going to eventually park their cars. It wasn’t a large city, nor was it a small city, so it was in the middle. They drove straight through the city, until to their left was an NFL stadium, the place that Dwayne was living in. They drove up to the front entrance and stopped the trucks.

  Jim stood up. “Okay motherfuckers and father-fuckers let’s get the fuck up and head the fuck out. Because we’re here and it’s time for you four men to meet fate. And by fate, I mean Dwayne. And by Dwayne, I mean…ah, actually that’s it. Dwayne is just Dwayne,” he said.

  One by one, all the men in the back of the truck hopped out. Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson still had blindfolds on and their hands were still cuffed behind their backs. Jim, Gary, Nick and Chris pushed Captain Harris and the other soldiers in the direction of the front entrance, where they would shortly meet Dwayne. Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson couldn’t see what the place looked like, but it was just an NFL stadium – well, that’s what it looked like from the outside, but they would soon see for themselves what the inside looked like. They were pushed through the entrance and Captain Harris and the soldiers could hear a man speaking.

  “So, you found the men that were causing trouble,” the guy said.

  “We sure did,” replied Jim. They entered the stadium and headed down to the back of the building. Although Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson couldn’t see anything, they could hear a loud cheer that seemed to be coming from the field area of the stadium. They finally headed down the long hall that had the room that they would be chained up in and that Ronnie and the others would try and rescue them from. They stopped near the door at the end of the hall, and Nick opened the door; the lights were already on in the room. The room was quite large: it seemed like the room was built and not originally there. The room had a concrete floor, the walls had a rock feature to it, the ceiling was just a normal ceiling with nothing special about it and attached to the walls were chains like in the gladiator times. Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson were all chained up to the wall with their hands chained above their head and their ankles were chained on the floor so they couldn’t move their feet or attempt to kick anyone who was standing in front of them. The men took the blindfolds off Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson. All Dwayne’s men stepped back after chaining them up.

  “So, is this how you do it. Chain us up, beat us to death and watch us starve to death,” said Captain Harris with an enraged look on his face.

  “Well first of all, we chain you up; that’s a no-brainer. Then Dwayne will show up and that will be insaner,” said Chris in a rap style.

  “Can you stop it with the rap for fuck’s sake?” replied Captain Harris with an annoyed look on his face.

  “Ah man, haters gonna hate,” replied Chris with an offended look on his face.

  They all heard a man’s voice coming from outside the room, which got louder as he got closer to them. “Haters-haters-haters,” said the mystery man. He finally walked into the room and they could see him standing there with a grin on his face. “Well-well-well. Looks like we got ourselves a new bunch,” he said. “Now men,
what do we usually do to those we find and bring back here?” asked the guy.

  “We give them two choices, boss,” replied Chris.

  “And those two choices are?” asked the guy.

  “They either join us or fight in the arena,” said Chris.

  “Yes, correct. Now tell these men what we do to those who kill my men,” replied the guy.

  Gary turned to Captain Harris and the soldiers chained to the wall. “They don’t get any choices. They fight in the arena until they die or you finally think they’re ready to work for you,” he said.

  “Yes, that’s right,” replied the guy. The guy near the door walked up closer to Captain Harris and the soldiers on the wall. “Now guys, I’m the big boss here. I’m Dwayne and I don’t like how you killed my men. So, we are going to have a long chat and then expected guests are going to show up because it’s all part of the plan. Ha-ha-ha,” said Dwayne cheerfully.

  Chapter Twenty One: Meet Dwayne

  So, they finally met Dwayne, a tall guy aged around fifty-five and wearing a leather jacket, jeans and boots – the same as what he was wearing all those years ago when he encountered Ronnie’s parents, except he wasn’t wearing a bandana on his head. Now, he just had his hair out. Dwayne still had that mean look on his face; a guy like this couldn’t get rid of that look. “Now first of all, you guys took one of my men, which is Ted, and when you captured him, you killed lots of his men but technically, they’re all my men. They all work for me. Yes, he probably told you a story where he came to that town and started his leadership there but that’s what I told him to say when he–ah, well, tortures his victims. I found men and woman, but mostly men, say yes and want to work for me rather than fight in the arena and die, but some of the men that were brought here did say no, and they were sent to fight in the arena until all their goodness was stripped away from them or until they died. And once all your goodness is gone, then what do you have?” said Dwayne in a calm manner. He waited for an answer but there was no reply. “You have badness or evilness or whatever the fuck that makes you feel no remorse,” said Dwayne. Dwayne pointed to his men while looking at Captain Harris and the soldiers. “None of my men have felt guilty or horrified about the people they’ve killed because that’s what makes a criminal a criminal. Being inhuman, having a withered soul or no soul at all – these are the things that are in the job description and once you have all those things, then you’re allowed to be called a criminal, but until then, I suggest–no, actually I encourage – you to go down that path of no return because once you’re there, oh boy, that bittersweet taste of evil – there’s nothing like it. And have fun doing it, of course; it’s not like it’s a career that you were forced to go down, no it’s more of a, ahhhh. I can’t describe it,” he said with a smile.

  Dwayne looked left and right at the wall with Captain Harris and the soldiers chained to it and gave them a quizzical look. “I am puzzled. Now which two of you are the ones who went guns blazing in the building that Ted was in?” he asked. There was no answer. They felt vulnerable, their hearts were pounding, they were just looking at the floor with fear – more fear than when they were chained up in Ted’s torture room. Now that they knew that Dwayne set up Ted with that gig, they knew that this man was going to be more of a monster than Ted. Dwayne walked up and down the wall, looking at Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson separately, trying to figure out which ones were the men. He clicked his fingers. “They aren’t here. They’re somewhere else. Probably at your base planning to come here and…” he said confidently and paused for a second “…save you,” he said with a thrilling smile, “And when they try to save you, I will personally chain them up and punch them in their stupid fuckin’ faces. It will be just a taste of what’s to come for them and believe me, what’s to come for them and all of you is worth the wait but before all of that, you’ll have to be beaten a bit, then you’ll be chained here in the dark until our visitors show up,” said Dwayne with a smile.

  Dwayne put his right hand up to his cheek so it was making a cover to the side of his mouth, so those on the left of him couldn’t see his lips move. “Spoiler alert, the visitors are your people,” he said happily. He removed his hand from his cheek. “And then when your people, your so-called rescue crew, show up, I’ll tell you the whole story of how we planned this all out and you’ll be like…” Dwayne paused for a second, “…what? No way. What the fuuuuuuck,” he said with an enthusiastic tone. “And I’ll say ok, now it’s time for you guys to hear the passion and excitement of the crowd while you go stabby-stabby kill-kill or stabby-stabby die-die. Whichever it is, the crowd will still love it because the gladiator times were the bomb. I wish I was born in that time and by that I mean as a ruler not a slave sentenced to fight in the pits. Nah, fuck that; I don’t want to die for people’s amusement,” said Dwayne.

  Captain Harris looked up at Dwayne. “How hypocritical of you,” he said nervously. Dwayne got up close to Captain Harris’s face.

  “What was that, buddy? Do you mind speaking up for the class, because I think you just insulted me in my own house. So why don’t you just…” he said, feeling insulted “…NOT SAY A FUCKIN’ WORD!” yelled Dwayne angrily. Dwayne stepped back and looked at the soldiers. “And that goes for the rest of you. If you think you can insult me in my own god damn, motherfuckin’ house, then you got to get bashed,” he said with a furious look on his face. Dwayne drew his fist back and ran at Captain Harris and slammed his fist across Captain Harris’s cheek. Blood splattered to the left and a cut that was recently stitched up on that cheek opened up. “WOOO, looks like we opened up a cut in the process. Jesus, it must be Christmas,” he said rapturously.

  Captain Harris looked at Dwayne with fear in his eyes. Bruce, Alan and Jackson looked at Captain Harris as best as they could and saw something that they had never seen before and that was that their Captain was showing fear. They thought their Captain was a guy who could never be made to fear, but somehow Dwayne brought that fear out of Captain Harris. Maybe because it’s what Dwayne said, was going to happen or maybe it was the power punch. But one thing the soldiers did know was that this wasn’t going to be easy to get out of or easy at all, because if Dwayne sent ten or so men to check out the school that Ted was taken from, then who knows how many men there were roaming this stadium and patrolling the streets of this city.

  Dwayne walked over to Bruce, who was chained next to Captain Harris. “All right, listen here, motherfucker, this is how it’s going to go down. I’m going to punch you in the gut. Sorry for ruining the surprise. And then you’ll go…” he said with a serene look on his face. Dwayne re-enacted what someone looks like after they have been punched in the stomach but he did it in a non-serious way, “Cough, cough.”

  Dwayne threw his fist into Bruce’s stomach and Bruce responded in pain. “ARGH-COUGH, COUGH.”

  “W-w-w-what, can I get a hell yeah; motherfucker just got punched in the gut. I think I felt your insides. That doesn’t count me being inside you, right, coz I aren’t gay, I love da pussy,” said Dwayne. “Not pussy as in you guys coz you guys make me sick. You guys are a disgrace to all soldiers; you in fact shouldn’t be wearing those uniforms. So, what I’ll do is force you to kill to survive in the arena and eventually, you will look at those uniforms and say what the fuck, I shouldn’t be wearing this; I should just be wearing blood,” said Dwayne in a vicious tone.

  Dwayne walked over to Alan who was beside Bruce and Dwayne fake guffawed. “HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!” Bruce looked up to Dwayne.

  “Why are you laughing?” he said as he was shaking.

  “I was just thinking about that movie where the guy gets…” replied Dwayne with a serious look on his face, Dwayne thwacked Alan across the face. “…FUCKIN’ PUNCHED!” he yelled in excitement. Alan spat out a bit of blood. “This is my fuckin’ chain room. My fuckin’ I punch you in your fuckin’ face room. And you treat it like a cheap hooker. Nah man, I’ll fuck you up if you do that again. The only mess that can go on the
se floors is the blood that drips or flies off your face, not the purposely spat-out blood. But since you’re new here, I’ll let you off with a warning, ok?” said Dwayne, feeling irritated.

  Dwayne finally approached Jackson, who was the farthest one away. “What’s going on, man? You’ve been like quiet this whole time. You’re like the shy lonely kid in school, nobody gives a shit about because well, you don’t say shit. Now I don’t want you to feel left out so…” he said with a smile “…cock shot,” said Dwayne with an open smile. Dwayne underarm punched Jackson’s genitals, Jackson had his eyes wide open and his mouth wide open too.

  “ARGH-SHHHHHIIIIIIITTTTT, FUUUUCK,” he said in pain.

  “I’m sorry, did you want to have kids? Of course you want to have kids but you’d have to give them to me. But I don’t like kids, so in other words, boo hoo,” said Dwayne carelessly.

  Dwayne walked back over to Captain Harris. “So, now that we’ve got our meet and greets out of the way, it’s time to tell you the rules and the way I run this place. So, firstly I send my men out to find people to bring back, and sometimes if there’s a large group like your group, then they just observe. So, let’s start at the beginning of how you guys got here and how all of your people will either die, work for me or die before they even get here.

  “So, it started weeks ago, my men were just searching around towns and they saw some soldiers in a town they came across but they hid and just watched these guys. They followed them everywhere until they came to this base which was a military base, your base. Anyway, my men looked around the whole place trying to find a way to get in unnoticed but there was none, so they came back to me and told me their discovery. So, that’s when I came up with the idea that two of my men should go to a town where some of your people would search and wait there until they found my men, who would act like they were lost, scared and needed some food, water and a place to stay. So, your people that found them brought them back to your base and these two men built up your trust and well, you should have noticed that there was something off about them, but I don’t know. You’re probably a fuckin’ idiot. So, when these two men finally went with some of your people on scavenging trips, they would pretend they got lost but no, they were actually just checking in with some of my men that followed them. And soon enough these guys told us about the snatch and grab.