Amitola: The Making of a Tribe

by A. Grant Richard

  “Anyway, that’s why you and I can’t.” She stammered then smacked herself in the forehead. “Ugh. Why can’t I just say it?”

  His face flushed red and his eyes watered. “Take your time, baby,” he encouraged her.

  “It hurt so bad. I don’t know what they did to me, but I hurt for days. I think I’m better now, but,” she wept. “Oh, God…” She broke out in silent sobs; her diaphragm was constricting uncontrollably.

  He held her and rocked her back and forth. He kept repeating, “I’m here. You’re safe.”

  In between sobs she tried to continue, “I thought I’d just had a virus like everyone else, but when Brian, our doctor, checked me out is when I found out I was pregnant.”

  Tye’s pulse quickened and he closed his eyes.

  She continued, “I didn’t care how the baby got there. It was still my child. The problem was I had severe injuries to my inner thighs. Something they used to restrain me punctured the skin. It looked like I got beat with a meat tenderizer. Anyway, needless to say, it was infected. Brian said the only way he could treat me while I was pregnant was with penicillin and we didn’t have any. The cherry on top was that the old guy at the grocery store wouldn’t give us a bottle unless I agreed to give him sexual favors once a week.”

  “Un-fucking-believable,” Tye said as his body tensed. He fought the urge to jump up and punch a wall. He knew he had to stay calm for her. He made a mental note to have a talk with this dipstick once they were in Amitola though.

  “I actually thought about doing it, Tye. That’s crazy, isn’t it? I didn’t know how else to save my baby, but Brian wouldn’t let me. He said my injuries were so bad, and my hormone levels were so low that the baby wouldn’t make it anyway. He treated me with some other medicine to cure it. I lost the baby a few days later. This was my first time out since. I wouldn’t have gone, but we had two deals to make and the last time Rodney tried to do it alone they screwed him over.”

  His pants heated up again. It was fascinating to him how she subconsciously rubbed his jogging pants while she was talking, but he didn’t mind at all. In fact, he was glad she did. It was the only thing keeping him focused. “Besides the guy who runs the store has anyone in Amitola done anything to you?”

  He saw her countenance change.

  “Um, yes, that’s really the only incident I remember. He was taken care of,” she said. Her mind wandered off again then she snapped back to the present. “The men in Amitola are great. Well, some of them are jerks, but not like that. And I found many men out there who weren’t jerks either. It’s just after a while you don’t know who’s who and it isn’t worth it to find out. Especially after what happened with Ethan.”

  He brushed her hair with his fingers the way he’d done with his girls when they were little. “I can’t believe a man you knew your whole life did that to you. How could he do that? I don’t get it. And you kept going…”

  She continued, sobs breaking through in intervals, “Maybe I just got numb to it after a couple times. Maybe because it was happening to so many women, it became a part of life. I don’t know. I don’t even know what I’m trying to say through all of this. I guess, just, this whole time I didn’t see myself as a victim, and I didn’t want to be treated differently. I felt like I hadn’t changed. I lost my child, yes. Other than that I believed they didn’t get anything from me. I didn’t give them me. Then you found me, and now everything’s different. I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

  She leaned her head back on his shoulder then reached up to touch his face. “I didn’t know,” she said. “Until you found me I didn’t know what they’d done.”

  So much love swelled up inside him, but at the same time, so much anger. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m just saying. Obviously, I don’t trust like I did before. I’m much more cautious. I mean, I put a gun in your face, and your kids were right there, and I knew it. I didn’t even think about it. I knew it was you, Tye. I know you. You’re part of the reason I’m alive, and I could’ve killed you. Then even when I did decide to trust you, still, I pushed you away.”

  She collapsed back into his arms, exasperated. “My faith is gone: my faith in people, my faith in God, my faith in me. And now, you’re telling me you want to be with me, and I realize how much I want to be with you too but after what they did to me--. What if it keeps me from you? What if I’m wrong about everything and I freak out if you try to touch me or worse? I thought I had processed all of this, but I don’t know what to think anymore. I feel like everything turned upside down.”

  They both held onto each other and cried. His heart broke for her, and he didn’t know how to repair either of them. He replayed her words in his head, over and over again. He repeatedly drove his fist into the mattress. He thumped the back of his head against the wall. He wished this was all some horrible nightmare they could wake up from.

  Finally, he got up and knelt down in front of her. He grabbed her hands and stared deep into her emerald eyes. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry any of this happened to you. No matter what you did, or what you like, or what you said or didn’t say, none of this is your fault. You did—“ She turned her head away, and he pulled it back to him. “Look at me. You didn’t do anything wrong. And I don’t know what you think I might see differently in you, but I can guarantee you, I don’t think you’re broken. I don’t think you’re weak. I don’t think you’re dumb or foolish and I certainly don’t want you any less.” A smile broke through the tears. “I still want you to be mine. I still want to make love to you, repeatedly, in whatever capacity that may be, but only when you’re ready. We’ll work through this together. You don’t have to do this by yourself.”

  She threw her arms around him too. He gripped her tight as brief cries of relief bellowed out. She said, “Thank you. You don’t know how much it means to me to hear you say that.” They held each other for a while, neither of them saying a word. The comfort of the other spoke more than any words could.

  After a couple minutes, Maia kissed him on the forehead and broke the silence, “You do know that if I let you make love to me, then you’re as good as stuck with me forever, right?”

  “I’m counting on it. Besides, whether I let you make love to me or not, you’re still stuck with me.” He embraced her and planted kisses all around her face. “Another thing, I know you don’t want me asking questions, but there are some things I think we should talk about.”

  “Like?”

  The door swung open, and Elex walked in. “Dad’s back. He wants both of you to go downstairs.”

  Caleb waited with Clarence and Jay while Maia and Tye made their way down the stairs. He could tell they’d both been emotional and wondered what had gone on while he was away. He made a mental note to ask later. Right now there were more significant issues they had to tend to.

  Maia’s eyes met Jays, and before she could step onto the main floor, he rushed towards her. Maia held her hand up in his direction. “Tye, this is Jay Morvant. Jay, this is Tye Agosta.”

  Jay reached around her and gave her a hug though she didn't reciprocate it. He let her go and sized up the stranger standing next to her. He turned his attention back to her. “You’ve been crying? You okay?”

  “I’m good,” she said.

  He got close to her face and threw his hands up. “Where the hell you been?” he asked.

  Maia shifted her weight and crossed her arms. “Excuse me?”

  “You had the kids worried sick. I went out four days in a row looking for you, nearly got killed.”

  She forced a grin. “So what you’re saying is I should’ve stayed gone a few days longer.”

  Most of the men cracked a smile. Clarence did too, but he tried to cover it with his hands.

  Jay loosened the straps on his leather jacket. “Oh, you think it’s all fun and games. I’m trying to look out for you, and you could care less. Standing there making jokes. This ain’t funny.”

  “If you did it out of the kindne
ss of your heart, for your friend, then I greatly appreciate it, and I apologize for my sarcastic comment.”

  Jay’s countenance changed, and he dropped his head like a little puppy. “So who’s this?”

  Tye offered his hand. “Tye Agosta. Maia’s husband was a good friend of mine. She is too.”

  Jay barely shook his hand then he stared at Maia. “So where they staying?”

  “With us.”

  “Yeah, I know that much. Where?” he asked again.

  She clenched her jaw. “With the kids and me.”

  Jay rubbed his forehead and wrinkled his nose. “Are you with him?”

  She exhaled, annoyed at his rude behavior. Clarence walked over to Jay and spoke under his breath. Jay made a face then walked away, apparently unhappy with the situation.

  Tye leaned into Maia. “Let me guess. That’s the guy who’s into you?”

  “He’s not into me. He’s lonely, and I’m the only one who’s left. There’s a big difference.”

  Danny chimed in, "Yeah, he buys into the whole animal planet mindset. All that nonsense you just saw is his mating call." He placed a hand on Tye's shoulder and said, "If he challenges you, put him down. None of us will mind." They laughed it off.

  Caleb approached them. “They have three guys in the building out back. They got information out of two of ‘em. We need to go check it out.”

  JT put his head down and chuckled in disbelief. “That dude Jason, he’s ruthless. He strung ‘em up butt naked and kept throwing cold water on ‘em. One dude shook so bad he chipped his teeth. He's plucking ‘em in the forehead, slapping their stomach. He beat the mess out of them boys. You sure he was just a cop?”

  Danny nodded. “Yeah, he whooped ‘em like a red-necked grandchild that’s for sure.”

  Tye strained his eyes at Danny as though that would help to understand what he’d just said. “You mean a redheaded step-child?”

  “What? No. What kind of sick puppy whoops up on a child with red hair?”

  The guys shook their heads, and Maia covered her face so he wouldn't see her laugh.

  “Whatever…we need to talk this over and see if we need anything else from ‘em. Then we have to figure out what we’re gonna do with them,” Danny said.

  “Alright, let’s go,” Maia said.

  “No,” Danny said, stopping her. “It’s best you don’t come. If they know, a woman is here and somehow escape, they’ll be all over us before we’re ready.”

  “Oh, come on. We’re not going to let them get away, and you know it.”

  "You're not coming," Danny insisted.

  "Why?"

  Danny tapped his foot and contemplated. “Listen to me. The things they’re talking about in there ain’t exactly the kind of stuff I’d want my wife to hear. It’s dirty as hell, and it’s sick—twisted. I’m not letting you in there. You’d never get that outta your head.” He walked closer to her. “You once asked me to stop you if you were stepping into something you ain’t built for. This shit, it’s evil. I’m telling ya, you ain’t built for this.”

  He shook his head and looked at the ceiling. “None of us are built for this. Stay here,” he demanded as he walked away waving for the guys to come with him.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The guys made their way to the old carriage house where they strung up the dog hunters. Tractors, equipment, and overgrown weeds nearly concealed the old building. With Tye on his heels, Caleb followed Danny through a rickety gate with brick pillars on both sides.

  Tye closed the gate behind them and caught up to Caleb and Danny. “It’s so terrible that she couldn’t come?”

  JT and Danny shared a sideways glance. “Dude, I wish I’d never heard this stuff. These people are sick in the head,” JT replied, pushing aside overgrown weeds and limbs.

  Clarence and Luke expressed a concerned look on their faces, unsure of what they were about to walk into. A muffled sound came from inside, but they were unable to distinguish anything. Danny knocked on the door and seconds later a disheveled Tony cracked it open.

  He shook his head at Danny. “It’s worse than we thought, bruh.”

  Tye closed the door behind them. His pulse quickened as he looked around the room. One man hung suspended in the air by his hands, the rope tied to the open rafters above them. The place reeked of sawdust, the pungent smell of mold, and old oil. It was empty except for a few chairs, a bench and some moving boxes that had become a home to rodents. A second man curled into a fetal position on the cold, concrete floor, weeping. The third man sat in a chair, tied by his hands and feet. All of them were bloody, bruised, and beaten. Their naked bodies shook from the cold making them hardly able to even speak in protest.

  Dumais pulled Clarence to the side and whispered something to him. Without a care as to who heard him, Clarence replied, “I don’t care if he has a problem with black men. He’ll get over it.”

  Caleb’s eyes darted to Jason and Dumais. “What have you found out?”

  The two men looked at each other and huffed as though trying to decide who was going to deliver the hefty news. Not one to back down, Jason delivered the goods at full speed.

  “According to these pricks, not only is their job to capture as many women as possible but to eliminate as many men as they can too. They castrate all the boys they keep as slaves. To make it worth their while, their bosses pay based on their numbers. So, they’re out doing all of this for privileges.”

  "That's what happened to those men's heads that we saw. They scalped 'em," Jay said. Clarence nodded.

  Tye examined the man hanging from the rafters. “What kind of privileges?”

  “Food, booze, shelter, entertainment, sex with a female,” Dumais said, averting his gaze.

  Jason cracked the bones in his neck and exhaled. “That ain’t the worse part. If they don’t get enough scalps and women, then they get punished. These sick bastards make them choose between the public humiliation of fighting to the death, being part of an all-male orgy or committing public suicide. It’s their way of making sure they get rid of the weaklings. The system works. They’ve butchered over a hundred thousand men since they started. And yeah, they keep a tally.”

  The men stood silent, faces squinted, and the contents of their stomachs threatening revolt. Tony wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I don’t know how the world came to this, but this, this is ungodly. This is vile. I don’t even have words for this.”

  Clarence looked him square in the eye. “Son, if you think this is something new you’re sadly mistaken. This kind of insane behavior took place every day in the world around us, but it was kept quiet. As long as they kissed the right rings and padded the right pockets, they could get away with it. Now, the men in charge of this don’t have anyone to answer to anymore, so there’s no reason to hide their demented nature.”

  Tony gave Jason a look, urging him to speak. Jason resisted, so Tony spoke up. “We found out who gave them Maia’s picture.”

  Tye and Caleb both looked at him with urgency, waiting for him to finish. “That guy that we killed; the one we hung from the Back Barros Oak. The gang he’s with call themselves Sons of Laveau. That’s the same group Brent was with when he was killed. One of their guys gave them the picture and said they only pay if she is unharmed and untouched. She’s one of their biggest bounties to date.”

  Caleb shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. If that’s the case then why did that guy…” He looked around the room not knowing who knew what about Maia and decided to be discreet. “Why did he try to attack her if she's not supposed to be harmed?”

  “We thought the same thing. My guess is, that guy probably had no idea who she was at the time. She does look different from that picture. She’s a grown ass woman now,” Jason said.

  Without skipping a beat, Jason handed Clarence a piece of paper. He opened it, and Caleb stood to his side and read it with him. “Oh, so this is how they choose? Figures.” Clarence said allowing a sigh escape.

&
nbsp; The paper passed from hand to hand. All of the men expressed their disgust at what they read. Caleb walked over to each hostage and raised their face so he could see them. He wanted to look into the eyes of these once average Joes to remind himself how easy it was to become of them. They were all a few decisions away from the same wicked behavior.

  Jason pointed to the notepad on top of the bench. “We got a list of their camps, routines, training, everything we could think to ask. If you need something else, let me know before we dispose of them.”

  The man in the chair objected and began thrusting himself in an attempt to escape. “No, no, I told you what you wanted to know. I can help you. Don’t—“

  Before he could finish his sentence, Dumais stuffed a piece of cloth inside his mouth making his muffled yells barely audible.

  Tye spoke under his breath to Jason, “What are we going to do with them?”

  “Well, we're not gonna spoon feed 'em ice cream. What do you think we’re going to do with them? We can’t let them walk out of here. They'd come back and scalp us all by midnight,” Jason said smirking as he cut down one of them. “We keep the guy in the chair until we’re certain we have all the information we need. He knows the most and these two weren’t all that cooperative anyway.”

  Caleb, Tye and a couple of the other men shared knowing glances. No one objected. It was an “us” or “them” situation. This is who they were now. This is what it meant to protect those they loved and themselves. This is the new world in which they lived.

  Tye took a moment to comprehend what their escape would mean for them. He had the most to lose; his daughter, his son, the woman he was falling in love with, his friends, and himself. He wasn’t going to let that happen. He’d lost enough. He stared at the floor then as Jason got closer, he said, “I’ll take one of ‘em out.”

  Jason patted him on the back. “Welcome to the big boys club. We’re glad to have ya.” He handed Tye the rope attached to one of the men and said, “Let’s go.”