Pitbulls In a Skirt 2

by Mikal Malone

  “What up, B?” Carson says to one of them before giving him a manly handshake.

  “Ain’t shit, shawty,” Dipbug says. “The city on high alert! Niggas noid as shit around here!”

  “I feel you,” he confirms. “What ‘bout you, Kit? You holdin’ up?”

  Carson wasn’t saying it, but what he was trying to do was feel them out.

  “I’m good. I just be glad when shit gets back to normal around here.”

  Carson took note at how fidgety he was.

  “No doubt. You ‘aight, though?” Carson asks Kit. “You lookin’ kinda nervous.”

  “I’m good. It’s just cold as shit out here.”

  “I feel you. Look…I gotta holla at Ed right quick. I’ll get up ‘wit ya’ll later.”

  “Everything cool?” Kit asks.

  “I don’t know…is it?” Kit doesn’t respond. “I’m just fuckin’ wit you. I’ll get up wit’ you later.” He made mental notes to tell Yvette that something was up with Kit too.

  “Aight, man,” Dipbug says.

  Carson walks toward Ed and Harold who were playing cards in the booth. “Must be nice to be so relaxed. Considering the city is on high alert.”

  “It is nice,” Harold replies. “So why you not on post?”

  “’Cause I’m on some otha shit tonight,” He smirks. “Ed, let me holla at you.”

  “What up?” Ed asks before looking at Harold. “I was ‘bout to crush this nigga in this game.”

  “I gotta rap to you now, homie…and we got to do it alone.”

  “Aight,” he relents. When they are alone he says, “What’s up?”

  “Look man, Yvette holdin’ a private meetin’ wit’ the people she trust. So everybody ain’t invited on this one.”

  “She trusts me?” he points to himself.

  “Why? She shouldn’t?”

  “Fuck yeah!” he says cockily. “Yvette know I got her back.”

  “Cool, we need you to come right now. We tryin’ to find Mercedes.”

  “Oh, aight. Let me tell Harold.”

  “Man, we have to leave now. If she wanted Harold to be in on it, I would’ve told him myself. We gotta roll now,” Carson demands. “Harold gonna be aight. Dipbug and Kit got him.”

  Carson could tell Ed was guilty. Not only were they too lax at the gate to be in the middle of a war, but his vibe was foul. Both of them. And if the opportunity presented itself, he’d be the first to take them out.

  Ed

  “If I can do anything to help, count me in.”

  Ed and Carson walked to community center. There were ten rooms inside and Ed was led to the one on the far end of the building. Ed’s instincts told him something wasn’t right. But what could he do? Once inside the room, he saw Derrick sitting behind a desk.

  “What’s goin’ on, man?” Ed asks him. “Where’s Yvette?”

  “She comin’. For now you need to sit back.” Ed sits. “You aight?”

  Ed swallows hard. “I’m cool. I just wanna do my part to find Mercedes.”

  “Is that so? Tell me, if you were gonna find her, where would be the first place you’d look?”

  Derrick gets up and sits on the edge of a table across from him.

  “I don’t know. But I’m fucked up about her missin’ like you.”

  “Fucked up about her missin’ like me?” Derrick points to himself. “Naw, my dude. You could never be as fucked up about it as me. Neva.”

  “You know what I mean. If I can do anything to help, count me in.”

  “Oh I know you will help me find her,” Derrick smirks. “I’m sure of it.”

  Ed’s phone vibrates indicating he has a text message. The message says, ‘In twenty minutes we movin’. Be ready.’ It was from Harold.

  Looking up at Derrick, his expression shows guilt.

  “That was my, man,” he says trying to erase the message.

  Carson snatches the phone and reads it. “Fuck does this mean?” He asks him. He doesn’t respond. “Derrick look at this shit!”

  Derrick takes the phone, reads the message and looks at Ed with an inquisitive stare.

  “You got two minutes to tell me somethin’ before I start pushin’ your teeth down your throat.”

  He stands over top of him.

  Ed spends the next hour explaining what he can about the message, softening his involvement in everything. He hoped what he was willing to say, would be enough.

  It wasn’t.

  Yvette

  “Years ago we fought to keep Emerald. And we won.”

  I look around the conference room in the community center and see 56 men we feel we can trust. They all wait on my word.

  “As you all know Mercedes is missin’. And we think whoever came through our gates had something to do with it. We also think they’re still here. We called you all here because we need your help finding her and we know all of you are loyal to Emerald. We have to look out for one another during these times. Things are about to get serious,” I say.

  “Can I say somethin’?” Kenyetta asks walking up to front.

  “Sure,” I respond backing away so she can take the floor.

  “This is war, fellas. Years ago we fought to keep Emerald. And we won. We are fighting a new war today, and we’ll win again. There will be bloodshed and lives may be lost. But we promise, if you ride wit’ us, you’ll all benefit for your sacrifices. Can we-,”

  Before Kenyetta can finish, Derrick busts through the community center door.

  “I gotta talk to you,” he says interrupting the meeting.

  “Excuse us for a minute,” Derrick says. We all take a few steps back. And the men in the meeting talk quietly amongst themselves as they wait.

  “We got Ed,” he whispers. “And he told us they plannin’ to take down the city tonight.” Derrick is anxious. “Black Water and Cameron are involved.”

  I see Kenyetta stumble a bit and I help her keep her balance, “You aight?”

  “Yeah…yeah I’m good,” She stands on her own two feet. “Go ‘head, Derrick.”

  “They’re sendin’ texts to everybody involved in their plan. Whoever with them will receive a text and walk off no matter where they are to meet in Unit B. I ain’t sure, Vette, but I gotta strong feelin’ my shawty in there too. That nigga stuck to his guns ‘bout not knowin’ shit about where she at but I know he lyin’. Cameron involved.”

  “I just can’t see Cameron bein’ involved in kidnappin’ her,” I say.

  “If he ain’t involved, it sure looks like it,” Derricks responds.

  “The boy Cameron never learns,” Kenyetta says. “He fucked up! He needs to move on!”

  “I know,” Derrick adds. “Looks like he’s gonna need my help.”

  While we are talking, one of the men in the front row looks at his phone and walks toward the door. Me, Derrick and Kenyetta look at each other.

  “What’s goin’ on, Vick?” Keneytta says to the man she invited to the meeting.

  “I just gotta check on my post right quick. I’ll be back.”

  “Well we tellin’ you its fine. So they can wait,” Kenyetta told him. “Nothin’s more important than finding Mercedes.”

  “It can’t wait,” he continues moving toward the door. “I’ll get up wit’ ya’ll later.”

  He was almost at the door when I yell, “Somebody drop his ass!”

  A few men move to do it but Doctanian, one of our oldest friends, enters the door and knocks Vick out. He was coming in as Vick was going out. I called him earlier to tell him what was happening but couldn’t reach him so I left a message. Apparently he came straight over after hearing it. And although he owns a sports bar outside of Emerald City now, and was no longer in the drug game, he’s still considered family.

  Rubbing his knuckles from laying Vick out he says, “Who is this nigga?”

  “Somebody who got exactly what he deserved! Dropped!” I tell him.

  Doctanian laughs and walks up to us. We embrace and already feel saf
er with him around.

  “I heard about what happened, so I dropped everything and came through. Whateva you need me to do, I’m in!” Derrick gives him a handshake and pulls him in a one arm hug.

  “Thanks, man! For comin’.”

  “Please. You was there for me when Erick killed my shawty and dumped her.”

  The thought of the same fate happening to Mercedes sicken our stomachs.

  “And I’m here for ya’ll I don’t give a fuck who we gotta murder! We fam!” Doctanian continues.

  We talked a few more seconds alone, and reconvened our meeting. Shit was about to get real serious in Emerald. Guaranteed.

  Black Water

  “By the time they make a move it’ll be too late.”

  Black was watching his sons’ fire at empty beer bottles in the back of Tyland Towers parking lot. His sons ranging from 16 to 19 crashed each bottle with a single shot. Although young, they were marksmen. And at present, no man or woman in their age range or older could fuck with their firing skills. Black Water had been training them since they were old enough to hold a weapon. His other sons ranging from 10 to 13 were waiting to fire at the targets next. Because tonight it would be them, not their older brothers who would get a chance to show their skills. In the entire world, there was not a group of children more vicious or coldblooded than the children of the Black Water Clan.

  “What you mean you can’t find Ed?” Black asks as his younger sons finally step up to practice. He’s on his phone. “When was the last time you saw him?”

  “When Carson came to get him. I don’t know what was said because they stepped off. But the way Carson looked at me, made me feel like somethin’ was up.” Harold says. “They may know something.”

  “You could tell all that by a look?”

  “That and one by one dudes started leavin’ post and shit. I asked a few of ‘em what was up, but they ignored me. They knew something I didn’t.”

  “It don’t matter. By the time they make a move it’ll be too late.”

  When Black’s call ends, he watches his wives Shade and Shannon walk toward him with their guns in hand.

  “Ya’ll ready,” he asks kissing them on the lips.

  “We were born ready daddy,” Shade says wrapping her arm around his waist. “So don’t worry, we got you. Everything gonna go smooth.”

  “It better.” He says.

  Harold

  “People had chosen their sides and now it was time for battle.”

  “Okay it’s ‘bout to be on,” Harold says when he enters his apartment. The men had recently got off of the phone with Black and knew now was the time to move. “I just spoke to Black and our troops are movin’ toward this building as we speak. I doubt very seriously all of us gonna make it outta this shit alive though. So if you wanna get some pussy from that slut in the bathroom you betta do it in now, cause it might be your last fuck in life.”

  A few of the men line up next to the bathroom door preparing to rape Mercedes again. Harold had raped her earlier that day and wasn’t interested anymore.

  As he looks out of the window, he wonders what was to become of him. He was frightened.

  There was not a soul on the field. People had chosen their sides and now it was time for battle. He wonders if the women they called Pitbulls were as vicious at he’d heard or if it was just a rumor. Either way, he realizes it is too late to turn back now.

  Mercedes

  “If I’m gonna die I’m gonna die like this!”

  I don’t know what happened but I snapped. I grew tired of the sexual abuse. Fifteen men raped me today and I was raw and in pain. No longer could I just bend over and take it like they told me over and over again.

  Don’t ask me where the strength came from ‘cause I can’t be sure. Maybe it was the food Kit snuck me everyday when everyone else was asleep. Or maybe it was thinkin’ about my children being left with Cameron. Whatever it was, caused me to grab the last man who was about to climb on top of me, and choke him until the life left his body.

  “Fucccccck youuuuuu!” I scream. I’m naked from the waist down.

  Spit escapes my mouth and drops on his face. I’m in a murderous rage. If I’m gonna die, It’ll be fighting. I squeezed his throat so hard, my entire body trembled. When he stops fighting, I place my head on his chest, but my hands remain on his throat.

  “Mothafucka!” I say out loud squeezing his throat one last time.

  When I’m sure he’s dead, I take his weapon, and remove his jeans. They’re too big for me but will do for now. Once dressed, I grab the 9 and open the bathroom door. The weapon shakes and I tell myself if someone tries to stop me, I’m pushing his wig back.

  I heard them earlier saying a war was getting ready to take place in Emerald and I need to be there for my friends. For my family. Easing out of the bathroom, I notice everyone is gone and I hate the apartment, which held me hostage for so long.

  Barefoot, I tiptoe toward past the living room and to the front door. I stop myself from opening the door right away. I hear their voices…in the hallway. Suddenly I’m scared. What if they catch me? Fuck it! If I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die fighting! There was just no way I could give up. Pressing my ear against the door, I listen attentively.

  “That nigga betta hurry up and come on,” someone says.

  “He probably in there makin’ love and shit,” another one says.

  They laugh.

  Judging on how close they sound, I gage they’re about a few feet from the door. Taking one deep breath, I open it and run into the hallway. The gun in my hands shake at I aim at them in whipping motions from side to side. My hair’s all over my head and I’m nervous. The oversized jeans I’m wearing fall down a little exposing my vagina. And I focus on Kit, the man who nursed me through the toughest experience in my life.

  “Get your hands up!” They slowly comply as I pull up my pants. “K…Kit…get the fuck outta here!”

  He looks at me.

  “Go, Kit! Now!”

  He carefully runs down the stairwell.

  “I knew I ain’t trust that nigga!” Harold says.

  “Shut the fuck up!” I yell. “Don’t make me shoot one of you mothafuckas!” I scream backing up slowly. I caught them off guard so they couldn’t pull their weapons when I first entered the hallway. “Stay still or I’ll shoot anybody who makes the slightest move! I’m not fuckin’ playin!”

  They remain still and I continue to back up toward the elevator. I press the button with my free hand. Someone moves and I fire hitting him in the chest.

  “I’m not fuckin’ playin! Don’t make a fuckin’ move or I’ll shoot all of you niggas one by one! Keep your hands in the air!”

  They remain like Toy soldiers. And the moment the elevator door opens, I jump inside. When the door closes someone says, ‘Get that bitch!’ And my heart races.

  Sweat runs down my forehead as I nervously stand in the elevator, my bare feet stick to the filthy elevator floor. If they run down the stairs before this door opens, I’m dead. I hit the basement button several more times trying to hurry it along.

  “God, please help me. Please.” I say trembling.

  Once the door opens, I run out of it and away from the building. I hear their voices behind me. Their footsteps pressing against the grainy dirt grow closer but I’m barefoot and fighting for my life. I can’t let them catch me. I won’t let them catch me.

  “I’ma kill you, bitch!”

  “Fuucckkk you!” I say.

  They are many but the gap between us grows larger. I’m too fast! I was fighting for my life. It’s hard to catch a person who’s running for her life. My feet appear to grow wheels as I run faster and faster.

  “Yvette! Help Me!” I scream into the field.

  I wonder where everyone is but I’m relieved I don’t hear anyone behind me anymore. They’re all gone! Thank God they’re all GONE!

  I run to the community center because we made a pact a long time ago, that if one of us ever g
ot in trouble, someone would always be at the community center to receive him or her if they could just get there. The plan was made when Dex and Stacey were alive and we prayed we’d never have to use it. But I needed this plan to work for me right now.

  Once there, I push open the double doors and my bare feet make a squishy sound. Quietly I walk toward the door where we hold our meetings and twist the knob. It’s dim inside but I see someone on their knees praying. I walk closer aiming my gun and the person stands.

  “Derrick?” I ask shaking terribly. I smell his cologne and know it’s him.

  “Baby,” He walks up to me and takes my weapon. Placing it on the table he says, “Is that really you?”

  He examines my bruised face, messy hair and oversized jeans. “You so beautiful. You’re alive and you’re so beautiful!”

  I fall into his arms and he holds me tightly. For the first time in days I’m home. In his arms I’m really home.

  Carissa

  “For the moment I need to be comforted.”

  I can’t believe I’m free from Emerald. And up until a few weeks ago, I never realized I wanted to leave. Luckily for me I had a man who loved me no matter what.

  “What you thinkin’ ‘bout, baby?” Lavelle asks as he runs his fingers through my hair. We’re stretched out on the couch watching Keyshia Cole’s TV show that I recorded.

  “I’m just happy to be here wit’ you that’s all.”

  “You just sayin’ that,” he jokes. “You ain’t tryin’ to be wit’ a nigga for real.”

  “I am happy,” I look up at him. “Had it not been for you, I probably would’ve gotten killed in Emerald. I’m tired of having to look over my shoulders all the time.”

  “I don’t know what I would’ve done if somethin’ happened to you. But you ain’t gotta worry ‘bout shit now. I got you…I got us.”