by Brick
Anika’s machetes had men running for the hills as she took out body parts, any part that she could get to she cut it including heads. I saw one roll and Gina kick it out the way.
“Ew, that’s nasty as hell,” she said with a frown.
Crazy thing was she had just shoved a screwdriver-like shank through one of Kim’s men’s skull. I didn’t see Speedy but I could hear that nigga’s laughter and knew he was doing what he did best, cutting niggas up.
“Oi! That shit was gives a whole new meaning to Asian takeout,” he yelled then started to sing. “‘Nobody wanna see you rising. When you do they don’t even like it. They just wanna see you deep in crisis.’”
“Cut the theatrics, Moseif, and get to your agenda,” Phenom’s voice came from somewhere to stop Speedy’s wild singing.
I could see Ghost running back to her hiding place because we were outnumbered. I loved the little girl because she was both brilliant and resilient. I rushed across the room to Trigga.
“Yo, li’l shawty, what took you so long?” he asked as I untied his hands.
“Had to make sure we got the timing right. Didn’t want to add another bullet hole to you.”
I moved around to the front of him and caught his heavy body on mine before he could hit the floor.
“Can you believe this motherfucker used a tranquilizer on a nigga?” He was joking, but I was afraid.
Whatever had been in that tranquilizer had him sluggish. I’d never seen him as weak in body as he was in that moment. His weight was threatening to cripple me, but there would be no way I would let his body hit the ground. Well, that had been my plan, until shotguns shells came flying at us. I took as much of his weight on me as I could, grabbed for my gun, and was set to return fire until Dante’s feet connected to my face. It was almost lights out for a bitch. My vision became blurry. Head started to swim and I could taste the coppery faint hint of blood, but some kind of way, I remained conscious. Dante grabbed me by my leg and slung me across the room into a wall like I was a rag doll.
A yelp of blinding pain escaped my lips as my back slammed against the concrete. I wanted to move but couldn’t fast enough. My gun had flown one way and I another. But none of that mattered at the moment, Dante was standing over Trigga with the sawed of shotty aimed at his chest.
“Time to go night night, nigga.” Dante arrogantly poked fun at him before cocking the gun.
Shit started to get crazy in that moment. I took a running leap for my gun at the same time Ghost came charging from her hiding place. She was still a little girl after all. And in her mind she was about to watch the only parent she had left be murdered. Too much had fallen on her. In that moment I’d hated we ever trained her to be the fighter she was. She ran full speed ahead toward Dante, her little fist raised with her sharpened pencil ready to do damage, only to have him turn and send a full blast of the shotgun into her chest. Her little body went flying backward.
“Ahhhhhhhh, no!” That was all I could scream, all I could muster. “Ghost, no!”
I watched in horror as her little body spazzed and it looked like she was convulsing. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as blood started to seep from her lips. Trigga used a leg sweep to take Dante off his feet. If he had been weak before, seeing Ghost take that hit to the chest gave him strength like never before. I saw Trigga jump from the floor. I rushed over to Ghost and picked her little body up. Hot tears rushed down my face as I turned her over. She kept twitching in my arms.
I knew Dante and Trigga were fighting behind me because I could hear their grunts and groans.
“Chasity! Chas,” I screamed out to her. “Oh God, oh God. I’m so sorry, Chas.”
All I got for a response were coughs and twitching. I was so distraught that it took me a moment to realize that I didn’t see any blood on her shirt. I laid her flat and ripped her shirt open. A shotgun blast behind me caught my attention.
Trigga was now standing over Dante. “Night night, nigga,” he growled out, cocked the shotty, and was about to shoot him again until I turned to see Chyna.
“That’s my kill, cuzzo,” she told Trigga. “Been waiting for a long time for this moment.”
On her closed fists were black gloves with barbed wire. In her hand was a shank that I knew only Speedy would have made for her. It looked like some shit from Edward Scissorhands.
“You took something from me I could never get back, Dante Orlando, so I take something from you that you can never get back: your life.”
There was a coldness in my cousin’s eyes, but also a sadness. By default he left her with no choice but to kill her first child. No matter what Dame had done to me, I was damn glad that nigga didn’t leave his demon seed in me. I would have never known what to do with myself or the child if he had.
ENGA was live and in full effect as our whole team walked into the room and surrounded a dying Dante in the middle of the floor. Anika was body blocking Phenom because even though he’d promised his daughter she could kill the bastard, in his eyes was a father’s love and the need to kill the man who had violated his daughter. Chyna climbed over Dante and straddled his lap. He was trying to talk but couldn’t thanks to that hole in his stomach courtesy of the shotgun blast from Trigga.
Chyna proceeded to pull Dante’s exposed intestines from his guts with a smile on her face. She then stood and used the shank in her hand to mercilessly jam it into his dick over and over and over until blood drenched her glove-covered hands. It would have been nice to hear that nigga’s screams and yells, but the more he tried the more he choked himself to death. Once she was done, she cut away the front of his pants. The sight of his mangled dick made all the men except Phenom turn away.
“Bloody hell, mate. That’s some fussy shit, yeah?” Speedy groaned.
She looked at my aunt, her mother, with tears in her eyes. Anika nodded. Chyna turned back and around and proceeded to cut his dick off all the while this nigga was still alive. Chyna leaned over and shoved Dante’s dick and balls, what was left of it, into his mouth. Then she stood and beat his face with the barbwire gloves until holes riddled his once handsome face. Punch after punch turned his face into what looked like ground beef. She did that nigga dirty, but no dirtier than he had done her. Chyna beat him until she started sobbing loudly and it broke my heart.
I wondered what she was doing when she moved behind him. My curiosity was satisfied when I watched her pull a wire from her shirt pocket and wrap it around both her hands. She placed it around that nigga’s throat and pulled for dear life. I swear I heard skin and cartilage tear as the wire severed his head. It was as if she’d had a nervous breakdown all before our eyes with the way her sobs got louder and louder. She didn’t stop pulling until Dante’s neck sat detached from his body.
Once she was sure the deed had been done, she released her grip and her shoulders slumped as her head dropped. Her chin sat against her chest while she cried loudly. Phenom walked over and scooped his daughter into his arms, cradling her to his chest like the little girl she was. DOA was no more. There would be no rise from grave for DOA.
It wasn’t until Trigga turned his bloodied and beaten face in my direction that I realized I was cradling Ghost’s head in my hand as her limp body lay on the floor.. He rushed over to us as quick as he could and took her from me.
“You made her a bulletproof vest?” I asked him.
“Couldn’t risk losing her,” was all he said as he ripped the vest away from her body.
Although the pellet shots didn’t penetrate the vest, her chest was still bruised badly from where the shot had landed.
“She still need to see a doctor, Kwame. The blast knocked her out cold. Could have broken something,” I told him.
His lips were swollen; eyes almost shut damn near as he stared at me. He wrapped an arm around my neck and pulled me close to him. “I’m sorry,” he said to me.
“Me too and no matter what, I still love you,” I admitted to him.
Nothing really needed to be s
aid between us. We’d survived another day and finally, finally we could have some peace. He kissed the top of my head. I smiled through the tears and looked up at him, wanted to say something, but his kiss stopped anything I may have wanted to say.
ENGA, we hood misfits, are here to stay.
Chapter 27
Trigga
Inked on my left arm next to the names JAMIR, FATIMA, and ASSATA, was the reminder from Sun Tzu that he who wishes to fight must first count the costs. In this long battle, naw this nonstop war against enemies who were simple kills and others who were far from weak, that cost in life was no doubt great. Each and every one who was a part of ENGA had lost a lot and never was going to get back what was taken. That’s why we all fought so hard feel me?
Old world law, an eye for an eye had nothing on what we did and still do to avenge what was lost. That was why ENGA doesn’t just belong to us, it belonged to every misfit in the hood, overseas, even in the ’burbs, who had been taken from and looking for survival and vengeance. That was why ENGA was now inked between my shoulder blades like two wings of death, because me and mine were the bringers of justice.
Everything after the final big show, that final battle with the last of DOA and that pussy-ass nigga Dante, changed everything for us. But let me take it slow on the rewind.
I was dragged out of the room by my family. We didn’t exit the way we’d come in. I guess, during all the melee, they’d found other exits in the building. Through it all, a nigga was fighting to keep a hold of Chasity. Someone had taken her from my arms because I was too weak to hold her and stand on my own. I saw it all, saw how she was thrown back, saw the way the bulletproof jacket I had made just for her took the brunt of the force, but still giving her harm. My li’l street solider was still battle bruised from it and I needed to get to her.
“Calm down, bro, I’ll get you to her but let’s ride up outta here, fam; stop screaming,” Jake explained to me.
My dazed eyes glanced up at him and I noticed that his brown eyes and eyebrows where furrowed as he studied me in concern. He had said I was screaming and I didn’t even know it. Whatever the fuck was put in me from that tranquilizer was fucking me up big time.
“Just hurry and get him out of here. Dante poisoned him and if we don’t move out fast enough . . .” Anika’s voice cut off as if she was going to cry.
That shit right there had me shocked. Would I be missed if I was gone for real? Was I really poisoned? The answer to that hit me hard when it felt like several razors were slashing my insides out. Sweat beaded at my temples and my fists twisted in agony. I tried to hold on and not punk the fuck out but as we moved down the hallway, the smell of smoke from Dante’s body being lit up, had me stopping Jake in his tracks so I could empty my stomach.
“Trigga!” sounded behind me and I tried to turn to look at Diamond but damn if the world wasn’t hazy.
“Go right, and through that door, hurry!” Phenom bellowed out.
Damn, his voice was so fucking loud that it felt like he’d put one of those bullhorns directly to my ear and said what he had. That whirring movement picked up again as they rushed me out of the room. I felt myself struggling again, calling to Chastity, which had us slowing down again. I didn’t mean too but shit had me in my old zone again. It had me seeing my baby sister being gunned down again, which had me ready to rip heads off again.
“I’m okay, dad!” Chasity’s small weak voice hit me but didn’t resister.
Little did I realize I had broken free of Jake’s hold and went after a set of Dante’s goons in a fit of rage. I found strength from somewhere as I fought with my bare hands. Their blood coated me and my fam as they also fought. The little strength I’d mustered up to fight was quickly dwindling. As we rushed to leave the building, Phenom told me that in another part of the building they’d found several rooms that had kids, girls and boys of all ages locked up. Some dead from drugs and others dead from whatever violence was done to their bodies. He and the rest of the team had already released those that had been strong enough to run.
“There are more in there. I’m not sure we can save them all,” Anika said after she had mumbled a prayer.
“We have to save as many as we can,” Phenom said as we made our way through the building back to area where they’d seen the kids before.
“Dominique,” Diamond screamed and rushed around me to get into one of the rooms.
She moved so fast that it made me stumbled and fall to the floor. Jake grabbed me up and threw me back over his shoulder as if I were a bag.
“Diamond, baby, we have to go,” Anika pleaded.
“No! She’s still breathing, look. She ain’t dead; please?” Diamond pleaded.
“Ray-Ray, let’s go! Dat bitch was the one who got you locked up; come on this is Trigga, our Trigga; we gotta go please. Please! We can’t lose him,” Gina wailed out, rushing forward to pull on Diamond’s arm.
From how everything sounded, Diamond was conflicted and I could tell she wanted to save me more, but also save that chick. Lying on the bed, Dominique looked like a pale, pasty, and sweaty ghost with puke caked on her face. Needles lay around her and it was clear shawty had ODed or was coming damn close to it.
The sound of boots walking forward was all I heard with that of Speedy’s accented voice. “Step back, ma. I got her. Maybe Anika can help her, too. Seen it done before, mate.”
“Only if we move fast, please. Trigga is my main priority right now,” Anika sounded.
My uncle’s voice bellowed out, “Grab her and be out! We don’t have time for this shit.”
That was when everything sped up for me. We rode out of the storage house and headed past several spots in the A to Phenom’s and Anika’s true home hidden in the forest of GA. Medics surrounded me. All I heard was beeping of machines and I knew my heart stopped several times before it picked back up and beat normally again.
The sounds of Ghost begging me to not leave her, with that of Diamond’s cussing, screaming, “Don’t you punk the fuck out, nigga! You betta than this,” she would cry one minute, then, “Don’t leave me!” would surrounded me in my white chamber of my mind the next.
In it, I saw my fam again. Each one smiling at me for what I had done for them. We had did what I had planned long ago as a kid scraping in the streets, breaking into cars just to sleep in the back seats, or finding abandoned old homes to sleep in until the state got me. I had come a long way from murdering for a nigga who had been the one who murdered them. All around me was my fam. I was ready to go. My work was done.
But the sound of the voices around me kept pulling at me. Jake’s deep yells, with that of Speedy’s then Gina’s had my attention. It was the touch of my uncle’s hand though, Diamond’s lips on mine, Gina’s sobs, with the sound of Jake breaking stuff in the room and Chas’s hug that had me waking up in my bed. The sound of my pops and mom talking to me from the grave gave me a reality check.
They said that my time wasn’t done. Said, my new family needed me more than they did. Told me that my purpose was beyond vengeance for them, they told me to accept it and remember them always. It hurt hard for me to hear that, but they were right. My fam, my new fam needed me too. I could never let another nigga hurt my girls, which always included Gina, Diamond, Chasity, and now my cousin Chyna and I for damn sure couldn’t leave my homies hangin’. Through this knowledge I continued to learn that shit is crazy in this life. In all my teachings, a nigga was the bringer of chaos and now finally it was righting its course.
Glancing at everyone, I knew there was more to do. Maybe not now, but later, and I had to be that nigga Trigga for when that day arrived.
Epilogue
Trigga
A week later, still weak and healing from whatever that shit Dante had pumped in my system, I stood outside in the rain of the place that made me who I was in some sense. Flowers rested at the broken down door of my parents’ old home. My mind reflected back over my journey in this. I had to visit my parents’ place before
I made a visit to my old stomping grounds. Just needed to visit the place I’d spent the first few years of my life. There would never be any place like home and over the years I’d come by there to sit and think plenty of times. But there was no time to be nostalgic. I had other work to finish.
Later on that same day, I stood at one of the trap houses of Dame’s old empire. It was one of the places where Dante had been holed up before he died.
“This is the spot, blood? Don’t look like shit at all,” Speedy sounded off to the far right of me.
A quietness was in me as I stared at the house that used to be just a chill spot for Dame’s goons to leave product and pick up money. It was just a quaint little ranch-style house that had been remodeled to fit that nigga’s liking. Painted red with black bars on the window, the house stood out to those who knew what went on inside.
“Yeah, this used to be a torture chamber,” I quietly responded.
Jake chuckled. “Compared to his mansion that used to be hell on earth, I’d say this was definitely the old torture chamber.” he added. “Shit feels like years already. You ready?” Jake asked.
We all stood with hoodies on. All black everything. Ghost was on my left in between Jake and me. Diamond and Gina stood on the left of me holding hands. Behind me was Speedy and Chyna, our new misfits. Man, life was on some crazy shit and everything had come full circle.
We all walked forward, climbing the fence as a black car waited behind us. In it was Phenom, Anika, and Diamond’s best friend, Dominique, who we’d learned had been kidnapped, and forced to into Dante’s sick game. Behind that car, sat my cousin Mirror in his SUV. Seemed like the Trap was quiet for the most part, but word had gotten back to us that we needed to check out one of Dame’s old spot. Kids were missing after taking Dante down, a lot of them. Way more than the ones we’d found in the old warehouse.