Cas
Sitting in my office is the only place I can find peace and quiet. My headaches haven’t reared up since we got our hands on Danny, but today, it’s coming back again. The pressure to beat him to death is too much, it’s over whelming how bad I want to punch him over and over until his skull is nothing but a crumbling mess. I owe it to Oak to do this with a clear head and inflict as much pain as I possibly can before he takes his last breath. Opening the bottom drawer of my desk, I pull out my old hunting knife, not that I’ve ever used it for hunting and pull it out of the sheathe. The blade gleams under the light and I envision it slicing into Danny’s stomach.
The door opens and Sparky sticks his head in.
“I thought you’d be in here,” he says, coming in and closing the door behind him, “Everyone’s ready and in the basement.”
He doesn’t sit but he doesn’t stand still. His cheek is healing nicely but it’s going to leave a dirty scar for sure. A constant reminder of what he went through every time he looks at his reflection.
Standing, I cross the room and stand before my brother and best friend. He had me scared when he wanted out of the club, I couldn’t imagine not seeing him most days or standing shoulder to shoulder with him in times of need.
“You were there, you saw what Oak went through. I’m counting on you to make sure that cunt feels everything and more.”
“I’ll never forget, he’s going to get an instant replay, brother.”
“Let’s get down there.”
Side by side, we make our way to the place we will all remember for today and Sparky heads through the door first. I make sure to close it behind me and keep the prospects eyes from what’s about to go down. My brothers are waiting and the silence is eerie.
I zero in on Danny and look to Pope beside him.
“Untie the cunt,” I order.
My adrenaline is furiously racing and I inch closer until I’m standing before him. He sits, staring up at me with his smarmy fucking grin and I itch to give him a slap.
“Stand up.”
He leans forward and spits at my boots, “Fuck you.”
Before I have to ask, Pope kicks the chair from him and Danny falls on his ass. Together, he and Sparky haul him onto his feet and he stumbles but quickly rights himself.
He holds his head high and narrows his eyes. I can’t help it, using all my strength, I swing my hand and backhand him to the floor. His lips busts open and he spits a pool of blood onto the floor, one of his teeth falls out and clinks on the brick.
“I knew this would happen if you caught me, bring it,” he goads.
His attitude ignites my fury and I intend on showing him how we’re going to, bring it.
I drop to my knees in front of him and grab onto his hair, pulling him up so we’re at the same height.
“You got it,” I say, bringing my head back and smashing it against his nose.
The sight of his blood somewhat calms me, but I need more to feel anything remotely close to normal.
“Okay,” I begin, rising to my feet, “As we only have one cunt to play with and we all want our piece of him, we’re going old school. Each of you will have two hits each, usually you can hit wherever, but on account there are a lot of us and we want him to last a while, you’ll have one hit to the face and one to his body. After, you’ll have one go with a weapon of your choice. Sparky will go last and have free reign until I say.”
My brother looks surprised I would give him this, but if I could give him more, I would. Brothers begin to circle around closer like hungry wolves.
“Who wants to go first?” I yell, turning slowly to look at everyone.
Pope is the first to stand forward.
“I do.”
I give him the nod and his boot flies through the air, landing heavy upon Danny’s cheek and another two teeth fly out of his mouth.
Pope moves around him and yanks him up by his hair. Once he has him where he wants him, he delivers a breath crushing blow to his ribs. He double overs trying to catch his breath and Slade steps up next as Pope backs off.
Slade is quick to deliver another blow to his ribs where Pope got him and follows it up with an upper cut to his chin. Ricky slowly circles him and punches him in the back of his head, choosing to follow it up with a punch to his right kidney. Dex boots him in the balls and as he doubles over, screaming out in pain, Dex finishes it off by stomping on his nose. His blood is painting the floor red and his face has a gaping hole where his nose used to be.
Brother after brother step forward and take their turn and once they’re done, I push in front of Sparky and kneel in front of Danny.
I light a cigarette as he stares up at me, I can’t work out if he’s riding the pain out or trying to hide it from us. Either way, he’s going to feel it by the time we’re done.
“Are you sorry yet?”
His head rolls to the side and he laughs, spitting up blood.
“Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t get to more of you.”
Hissing, I stab my cigarette into his eye. A shrill wail fills my ears and I shove him back down.
I don’t trust myself to stay close to him and move away and Sparky takes my place.
“You should’ve killed me when you had the chance,” he mocks him and lands his first punch on his jaw. It’s shortly followed by another and another and then he pulls himself up leaving Danny a bloodied heap on the floor. He wastes no time sending kick after kick into his stomach. It’s been a long time since I’ve witnessed Sparky lose himself like this to violence, he doesn’t stop and he doesn’t slow down. He unleashes everything he saw happen to Oak and everything he received himself and he’s giving it all back tenfold.
“I told you you’d die and you should’ve listened,” Sparky pants, stomping his boot on his head causing him to lose consciousness.
“Enough, Sparks,” I say, but he doesn’t hear me.
“Pull him off,” I say to Slade and Pope.
At first, Sparky is too far gone to notice they’re his brothers and he turns on them. I stand myself between him and our brothers and his struggle to regain himself is hard to see. Tears stain his cheeks and his body is trembling in rage.
“Enough, just for now,” I say, softer than usual and then over my shoulder, “Chain him up.”
While Pope and Ricky do as I’ve asked, I take Sparky to the side and hold his face in my hands so he’s looking at no one but me.
“Come on, brother,” I urge, “Focus, you want to remember this.”
His eyes lazily roll and I can almost feel his rage.
“I will never forget this.”
“Keep a clear head, brother.”
With that said, we both turn to see Danny strung up, ready for more. He’s coming around and I’m glad because I want him to feel every minute of pain.
“Choose your weapons, brothers.”
The basement becomes a flurry of movement as brothers surround the table holding all sorts of violence.
I can feel the hunting knife in the back of my jeans and I stand back and watch Danny take hit after hit. I listen to his bones break from baseball bats, knuckle dusters, and Pope’s choice of a steel pipe.
By the time every brother has taken their turn, his body hangs limply and twisted and he long ago blanked out.
“Wake him the fuck up,” I grunt, stepping forward for my turn.
I assess his injuries while I wait for Pope to get a bucket of water. Both his eyes are fucked, one from the cigarette burn and the other is swollen closed and bruised. Both his cheeks bones are broken and his skin sinks in. Half of his teeth are missing and his lips are busted. As far as his nose is concerned, he barely has one anymore. I could go on but he’s basically fucked and on the verge of taking his last breath.
I unsheathe the hunting knife and adjust my grip on the handle. Pope throws water over him and his flinching and twitching lets me know he’s awake again.
“Any last words?”
His lips move but I can’t hear what he has to say. I move closer and lean in.
“Have you spoke…to Denzel…lately?”
The last few days I’ve been getting his voicemail, I didn’t think too much of it because of everything else going on.
“I got to him too…took out your supplier,” he laughs and then chokes on his own blood.
I don’t want to hear this, it’s another fucking clusterfuck of a mess to sort out.
“Who gives a shit, there are many more Denzels out there. Maybe I’ll send Kyle out to find them, now he’s wearing our prospect patch.”
A low, deep growl escapes him and I laugh. He’s too weak to do anything about it. Wrapping my hand around the base of his neck, I’m so close to him my cheek brushes against his, I can feel his blood seeping into my pores and I whisper, “You’re nothing, and no one will remember you. No one will come to avenge you, you’re dying for a cause that never had any merit in the first place.”
His head falls on my shoulder and I sink the knife between his ribs and hopefully, into one of his lungs.
Dragging the knife out, I stab into his stomach repeatedly until his chokes and wheezes come to an end. His body goes slack against mine, and for a second I don’t move. I wait to see if I can feel his heart beat that final time, but it was already too weak to start with. Shrugging him off, he drops to the floor and his blood pours from him and surrounds me.
There are no cheers, the silence is deafening and covered in his blood, I slowly turn to finally see the club beginning to heal. We all wear our victories but today, we’re not proud of them because we’re only here because Oak is not.
I drop the knife and it clatters on the floor by my feet.
“For Oak, may he rest in peace.”
“For Oak,” Pope roars and the rest follow suit.
Oak’s name is chanted so loud, it bounces off the walls and down into the foundations of the club.