Читать книгу Gods & Gangsters - Соломон - Страница 7

“Yo Messiah, you ain’t gotta do this!” Lil’ Earl pleaded.

“Man shut the fuck up and just dig!” Messiah ordered, his gun held down by his side.

Lil’ Earl chopped down with the shovel, lifting another chunk of earth, and flopping it down onto the growing pile, but Messiah could see his heart wasn’t in it.

Knowledge, Messiah’s twin brother, sat in the passenger seat of the rented Taurus smoking a blunt, leaning out of the open door. Messiah was called Messiah because he was the first twin. The King Twin. The One and Only First Power. His brother called himself Knowledge because his wisdom was knowing who was the best. Both of them claimed superiority over the other for different reasons. Everyone else just called it a draw.

There was a steady bumping noise coming from the trunk. Lil’ Earl paused and leaned on the shovel.

“Come on, cuz! I swear we ain’t got to worry about Ty,” Lil’ Earl repeated for the thousandth time.

Messiah stepped up to Lil’ Earl and put the gun to his forehead for extra encouragement. “You damn right we don’t, ‘cause that’s exactly why you diggin’…cuz. I don’t give a fuck about that nigga. He fucked up. We told him not to take that shit and he took it anyway! You think I bailed that nigga outta jail ‘cause I like him? I bailed him out to keep him from rattin’ us out! You my cousin, and blood mean something to me, but don’t get it fucked up and make me choose blood or money, E.,” Messiah spat coldly.

The whole time he spoke, he had the gun pressed to Lil’ Earl’s head. Every word made the gun metal press into his flesh, and despite the cold wintery night, Lil’ Earl was starting to sweat like a nun in a cucumber field.

Tyrone laid in agony, stuffed in the trunk of the Taurus. His whole face felt like it was bashed in. He could hardly breathe because the blood had caked up and congealed in his nose. Deep down, he knew he was about to die. He felt it the moment he walked out of the county jail and found Lil’ Earl outside waiting for him.

“I told you I got you, my nigga,” Lil’ Earl had smiled and said.

He had known Lil’ Earl ever since first grade, but something screamed at him don’t get in that car! Now it was too late to listen.

Tyrone cursed the moment he saw the gold nugget watch. He had to have it. Messiah had told him, “No, we here for the guns,” but Ty couldn’t resist. He used the butt of a magnum .357 to break the counter and in the process, cut his hand on the glass. The police used his DNA to trace the robbery back to him. Now, he was about to pay for his greed with his life.

“Dig!”

Lil’ Earl was bone tired when Messiah, looking down into the crazy edged hole, finally told him, “Alright, that’s deep enough.”

Lil’ Earl crawled out of the hole. By the time he had finished, Knowledge was knocked out, the extinguished blunt stuck to his bottom lip.

Messiah hit his leg. “Man, wake yo’ ass up! We gotta get this nigga out the trunk,” he said.

“Man, fuck that nigga!” replied, then went back to sleep. Their ma had to get Knowledge out of bed with a glass of ice water sometime. It got him up, but it rarely got him all the way to school.

Messiah gestured to Lil’ Earl. “Open the trunk.”

Lil’ Earl laid the shovel down and took the key from Messiah.

Messiah stood with his gun at ready. Sure enough, as soon as Lil’ Earl opened the trunk, Tyrone lunged at him with all the strength that he had left – which wasn’t much. He managed to knock Lil’ Earl to the ground before Messiah was on him, pistol-whipping him with the gun. The cold cracks of the metal against Tyrone’s skull echoed through the trees.

“Please, don’t let me die, Lil’ Earl!” Tyrone begged, as fresh blood was brought out of his cranium by Messiah’s blows.

Lil’ Earl’s eyes were guilt ridden and his mouth speechless as Messiah dragged Tyrone’s limp body to the hole, then dumped him in. Messiah picked up the shovel and handed it to Lil’ Earl.

“Now cover him up.”

“Cover? But…he’s still alive,” Lil’ Earl pointed out. Tyrone’s hand moved slowly up to protect his skull from Messiah’s assault twenty seconds too late.

Messiah laughed. “This ain’t just punishment; it’s a lesson. Give him something to think about.”

Lil’ Earl shook his head. “Man, cuz, th-that’s cold blooded! At least kill the nigga, be---”

Bloc! Bloc!

Both shots flew by Lil’ Earl’s ears so close, he felt the heat. “Bury him or join him,” Messiah said, with no heat in his voice, just promise. The look in his eyes let Lil’ Earl know he was dead ass.

Slowly and with shaking hands, Lil’ Earl began to dump dirt on a man he had grown up with. He couldn’t even look at him as he did it.

Such is life.

As the dirt slapped into Tyrone’s dazed face, and covered his mouth with earth Messiah could see Lil’ Earl maybe regretted ever bringing his twin cousins down to North Carolina…

Messiah wondered how long it would be before he’d have to make Lil’ Earl feel it for real.