I came from a family that believed in polygamy. You're smart so you know what that means, boy. I was sixteen when I escaped.
The more Michael reads the deeper he sinks into the words and soon starts visualizing and feels like he is now in the book.
The Colonel was 6'5", all muscle dark skin with a bald head. He wore black and grey with a gun holster around his shoulder that holds chrome .44 bulldog revolvers. It was told that the Colonel was the father of most of my mother's children in the community except for me and my brother Doc. The rumor was that our father was the devil himself. I highly doubted it at the time, but I was young then and now I know it's true.
"Hold her fucking still!" the Colonel shouted in a thick country accent.
"Ahhhh!" the young, brown skin woman screamed. I watched my brothers hold down her legs.
The Colonel gripped the ax with the wooden handle tightly as he stared at the young woman whose only mistake was getting kidnapped by my family.
"Please no, don't hurt me. Please just let me go," she begged as tears ran down her cheeks. She stared in my eyes as if she was asking me for help.
At first I felt sorry for her, but then I remembered who I am. There was no room for weakness in my family. The weak died first and get fed to the wolves.
The Colonel raised the ax high and came down hard, chopping off the woman's ankle with one chop.
"Ahhhh!" the woman hollered in excruciating pain as she twist and turned to the side doing everything possible to break free of my brothers, but she was over powered.
Her hands were chained to the wall of the barn. We had five barns all together and each served a different purpose. This one was used to have any victim that my family caught slipping or kidnapped from their homes in the middle of the night while they were sleeping. The barn that we were in was huge and had more than 30 women chained to the stalls that were used to keep the horses separated.
"Help me please! Help me!" the young woman screamed, but her eyes now left mine.
"Ice, get over here and chop off her other ankle now!" the Colonel shouted snapping me out of the trance I was in. "Don't you hear me calling you boy?" the Colonel shouted.
I slowly walked over to him without any emotion on my face. "Here," the Colonel said with his facial expression twisted up as he pushed the ax into my arms. He had a dead left eye and all you could see was the white of his eyeball as it wandered around.
"Now chop her other ankle off so she won't be able to run and we can use her to breed. Do the shit fast before she bleeds to death," the Colonel said through clenched teeth.
I noticed Doc enter the barn from the other side calmly walking up behind the Colonel, staring at me sinisterly. Doc was only a few years older than me. He was twenty years old. He was already as big and as strong as the Colonel. I was working out heavily trying to catch up to their massive body size. I was far from skinny but bigger than my other siblings. I looked at the screaming, helpless woman and could feel all eyes on me especially Doc's and the Colonel. Doc never liked me one bit and I knew he was just waiting for the opportunity to kill me one day.
From day one, it was said that me and Doc were the sons of the devil. It would be our mother who would continue to run the family and make an offspring that would be like no other. She said that the outside world was weak and we were strong and should rule it all. I read every day so that I could get my head on straight realizing that my family was crazy and we were a cult that lived deep in the fucking woods. I knew it was more to the world than North Carolina and killing from the age of five.
The Colonel would hang live pigs upside down and we were forced to stab them. He would say killing and stabbing pigs was the closest thing to human flesh and I had killed a few. See, in my family anyone is allowed to change and kill the other. I had killed five of my older siblings who tested me, but I had yet to kill a woman or any victim my family had snatched up.
"Boy why the hell are you hesitating. If you hesitate you die," the Colonel shouted and back smacked me.
I dropped the ax as my facial expression balled up in anger, twisted to the side from the power of his strike. I straightened my head out and stared dead in his eyes as my hand slowly reached to my side where I kept my rusted, but sharp machete in a holster that was connected to my belt. The Colonel only had one good eye, but seemed to know what I was thinking as his hands gripped the handle of the chrome 44 in his left shoulder holster.
"Go ahead boy! You feeling froggy? Jump if you think that you can take me! Make your move! I don't care if you are the son of the devil, I'll drop you where you stand then chop your little ass up and feed you to the wolves like I do everybody else!" the Colonel said through clenched teeth. He meant every word not taking his one good eye off of me, waiting for my reaction.
'I can take him; he can't be faster than me. I'll chop his fucking hands off before he can even pull out that gun, but now isn't the time or place,' I thought to myself as I remembered the last three of my siblings he killed; his own offspring, when they challenged him.
Even though he was an older man, he was the best killer in our family and the one to teach all of us how to fight, hurt and kill even though my mother said me and Doc never needed training. Killing was already in our blood and will come naturally. I put my rusted machete in the air and swung four times. In a blink of an eye I chopped off his right hand.
"Ahhhh!" The Colonel hollered, but his scream was cut short as the edges of my blade spilt open his neck.
Blood gushed out of his neck and sprayed onto the young, brown skinned woman and my two brothers who were holding her legs. She screamed more in horror as I swung twice more at the Colonel's neck. His neck was thick and full of muscles. I took one last swing with all of my might to cut his head completely off sending it flying in the air and watched it as it hit the floor, rolled and rested upside down. I stood there breathing hard covered in blood with an evil smile on my face.
"So what's it gone be boy, you gone try your luck today or what? Are you finna make your move?" the Colonel said in a deep, country accent that snapped me back into reality. I could see me killing him as clear as day. The image played over and over in my mind, 'What if I wasn't fast enough and he drew that gun and put a bullet in between my eyes?' I thought to myself as I slowly removed my hand from the handle of my machete.
"Just like I thought, you're soft and not finna do shit!" the Colonel said in his thick, country accent. I stared back into the Colonel's cold eyes and everything in my body wanted to attack.
I flinched as an evil wicked smile spread across Doc's face as he brushed passed the Colonel and removed one of the hatchets from the brown, leather holster on his waist. His eyes had an orange look to them as he swung down causing my other two brothers that were holding the young, brown skin woman to move backwards. The Colonel jumped out of shock mixed with fear as the young woman's face split in half in a weird angle. She didn't even have time to scream as Doc swung again cutting off her head sending blood squirting everywhere. We all stood back and watched the young woman's body twitch around like a fish out of water as blood poured from her neck. Doc stared down at her with a sick look in his eyes, smiling, proud of his work. He turned his head towards me and his facial expression changed to pure hate as if he wished it was me whose head was cut off. I knew it was bad blood between us and one day it was going to be me or him. I stared back without blinking.
"What the fuck was that Doc? I just wanted her foot chopped off so she couldn't run, not her damn face or head you stupid fool!" the Colonel shouted then flinched as Doc turned towards him.
Doc was the only one the Colonel feared next to Sylvia, but did his best not to show it. Any sign of weakness meant death in our family.
"You need to watch your mouth. The only reason I haven't gutted you like a pig yet is because my mother wouldn't let me hear the end of it, but if you value the piece of shit life you have, don't make the mistake of raising your voice at me. You may control everybody else in this family,
but not me. So keep that in mind because it's only a matter of time before I'm in control," Doc said through his clenched teeth meaning very word.
Doc walked off and brushed passed the Colonel, bumping his shoulder. The Colonel was in great shape. He always wore a white tank top showing off his arms. He outweighed Doc only by a few pounds. Between the Colonel, me and Doc, we were the strongest and the deadliest in our family. I was smaller than them both, even though I ate like a woman who was eight months pregnant and worked out daily trying to past them.
Anger rose in the Colonel's body. His brown complexion looked as if it was turning bright red as Doc walked past him as if he was an insect; a fly that was buzzing in his ear that he could easily swat. The Colonel stared at Doc's large back as his finger slowly touched the handle of one of his .44 bulldog revolvers.
Doc stood in his tracks and busted out laughing, "Hahaha!" the hatchet he used to chop the young woman's face in half was in his right hand. The blade still had blood on it, "I'm not Ice Colonel, I won't just wait and think about it. There will be no hesitating. So what's it gone be?" Doc said with a deep voice, without even turning around to look at him.
The Colonel kept his hand on the handle of his gun ten seconds longer then released it. "Just like I thought," Doc said through his clinched teeth and continued to walk out of the barn from the other end.
'Pussy ass Colonel, I know this weak man can't be my father. How can he fear Doc anyway?' I thought as a smile spread across my face.
The Colonel turned towards me, "What the fuck are you smirking for? You think shit funny huh? You disobeyed the rules and you know what that mean!" the Colonel shouted with rage in his eyes looking for someone to take his anger out on.
Chapter 5
Next thing I know, two of my oldest brothers rushed me. I grabbed Wade by the arm twisting it around behind his back.
"Ahhhh! Let go, let go!" he screamed in agonizing pain.
I smiled then pushed upwards. The sound of his arm breaking did something to me. It was a feeling that was hard to explain. It was a mixture of maybe joy, excitement and evil deep inside my soul. 'Why am I feeling this way,' I thought to myself, 'Why does it feel so good to cause others pain?' I questioned myself. I pushed Wade to the ground and spun and kicked my next brother Mark in the chin then ran up on him and pushed my thumb into his left eye. I rarely cut my nails, if anything I file them to make them sharper knowing I could use them as weapons.
"Ahhhh! Ice let go, let go!" Mark hollered in pain as he swung at my face. Even though he was taller and older than me, I was way stronger.
At times I questioned where I got this strength from. As a child, I learned the more angry that I become the stronger I was.
"Ahhhh! Ice, please stop. We were doing what the Colonel asked, you know the rules!" Mark screamed. I dug my thumb nail deeper into his eye socket until his eye seemed to pop and pieces of it and blood oozed down my hand.
"Ahhhh! Oh shit! Oh Shit! Oh fucking shit!" Mark hollered in excruciating pain as he tried his best to break free of my grip.
The sight of his blood on my hands turned me on and made me yearn for more. Then I felt a hard blow to the back of my head sending me stumbling forward. It caused me to pull my thumb out of Mark's eye socket, as he fell on the floor crying like a newborn baby. I turned around just in time as the Colonel was about to whack me once again with the butt of his gun. As strong as he looks, I'm shocked that the first blow didn't knock me out, but sent me stumbling just a little. I raised my left hand to block his blow and locked his arm between my bicep. In the blink of an eye, I grabbed his windpipe with my right hand and dug my nails in. In my family you never know what will happen.
"Ugah! Ughhh!" the Colonel gasped for air as he looked me in the eyes. My finger nails pierced his skin as I squeezed tighter and watched the blood from his neck drip down onto my hand as he struggled to breathe. A smirk spread across my face. My heart raced at the sight of blood and the smell of fear did something to me. I just can't explain and still don't understand.
I looked the Colonel straight into his eyes, "You thought Doc was the one you had to fear, huh Pops? You were completely wrong. I'm going to enjoy taking your life." I never tried this move on a human before. It worked on a puppy and a cat I once had. I snatched their windpipes out of their throat.
"It's going to be exciting to see how long it's going to take until your lungs fill up with your own blood and you choke on it," I said as I dug my finger nails even deeper and pulled with all of my might.
"Ughhh!" I gasped for air as a razor sharp knife pressed against my Adams apple. I didn't need to know who it was. There was only one person that moved that fast in my family and can catch me off guard. I already knew who it was. The smell of wild berries hit my nose; her favorite shampoo.
"Mom what are you doing?" I asked as she applied more pressure to the blade on my neck.
"I should be asking you the same thing Michael. Release your fucking grip on the Colonel's windpipe now or I'll slit your neck like a fat hog!"
"Yes mother," I replied. I feared no one, not even death, but when it came to my mother Sylvia, fear consumed my body and anyone with common sense would fear her.
The things I've seen her do with my own two eyes could make a grown man cry. I released the Colonel's windpipe and as soon as I did I received two punches to my kidney. "Ughhh!" Then I got one to my chest knocking the air out of me, "Ughhh! Ahhhh!" I coughed and bent over in pain and reached for my rusted machete in the holster on my side.
"Nah ah son, don't you dare!" I heard my mother's voice. For a second I forgot that she still had the blade pressed against my neck.
"You were wrong Michael. What did I tell you about being weak and feeling bad for others? I taught you all my life not to give a fuck about others and kill them fast because if they had the opportunity they would kill you with no hesitation," Sylvia said then removed the blade from my neck.
I grilled down the Colonel with a devilish look. Everything in my body wanted to attack him and rip his fucking head off and piss in his wound. The Colonel's fingers rested on the handle of one of his chrome .44 bulldog revolvers in the holster on his shoulder as if he could read my mind. I gritted me teeth. I was holding in so much and I was so sick and tired of my so called family. There had to be more to this world than what Momma and the Colonel had shown me. I fought through my tears as hate rose, not just for the Colonel, but for everything around me.
Sylvia turned me around and grabbed me by the chin and looked into my eyes, "Boy you are fucking weak? I swear I don't know what the hell I'm going to do with you. Why can't you be more like your older brother Doc? You two are very special, I keep telling you that!" Sylvia shouted while swinging the blade around in her hand as if she wanted to poke me a few times.
To be forty five, Sylvia looked like she was thirty and no way showed any signs of having seventeen children. She had thick thighs, a thin waist and a fat ass. Her face was beautiful, like the face of an angel. You would never know she was a cold blooded killer if you didn't look into her eyes. Her eyes are dark and evil. They say the eyes are the window to the soul. Well look into my mother's eyes and you'll see death, pain and a person that enjoys killing. Doc and I had our mother's eyes, but not our other siblings. We couldn't hide who we were with our eyes. Sylvia was a short woman, no more than 5'2", but her arms were stronger looking than most men from all the pushups she did. She was a honey brown complexion with smooth soft skin. That made me often wonder who me and Docs father really was because all my other siblings had features of my mother and the Colonel. All of them had the same complexion, all but me and Doc.
I was darker than night itself. I used to get teased by my brothers and sisters that when the lights go off I was so black they couldn't see me until I smiled. I was picked on so much that I eventually got tired and smashed one of my brother's head in with a rock repeatedly when I lost control of my anger. It was the first time I did that and I loved the feeling. The rules were simple, s
how no sign of weakness, cause pain and listen to the Colonel.
"You showing signs of sympathy for that woman there," Sylvia shouted while holding my chin with a tight grip and turning my head to face what was left of her.
Half of her face had slid across the barn floor, her body had stopped twitching and blood soaked into the dirt.
"Fucking come with me now!" Sylvia shouted. I nervously followed her out the barn, watching the hand that she held the knife in and looking at her long grey hair. Her hair came down to the middle of her back and it being silver had nothing to do with her age, it had been grey as long as I can remember, since I was a small child.
We were half way to the next barn. I tried not to think of what she had planned for me. I looked left at the silent woods filled with pine trees around our property. I never knew what expect with my mother, fear consumed my body. Between her and Doc, I knew they would be the ones to really hurt me or kill me. Sylvia leads me to a much smaller barn on the side of our property. I barely came to this side or this barn. The screams and things that took place always freaked me out. Sylvia opened the large double barn doors and walked in. It was dark inside with kerosene lamps all around. I could hear screams and mumbled cries in the barn.
"Help me! Help me please," I could hear a young woman screaming.
Sylvia turned towards me, "Ice!" she said looking me in the eyes.
Everyone called me by my last name, but not my mother, she always called me Michael unless she was upset with me.
"I've been training you from the time you could walk and you just won't listen, hear me boy. The devil is your father and lives inside of you. Embrace it, feed off it and let it give you strength. The world took from me, I was raped at ten years old and most of my life by my father. I prayed every night for God to come save me, but he never did. I even told my Pastor and do you know what he said Ice?" Sylvia shouted while pointing her knife at me.
A CHILD OF A CRACKHEAD IV Page 2
