All the King's Men ( An Urban Love Story )

♟Into the woods.♟

Xavier stopped running once he was sure he'd had enough of a head start on Demon and Tank. Trying to catch his breath, he wiped his face and he stood his full height to inspect the number of bullets he had in his guns. His Beretta had 4 bullets, and Jaden's stolen Ruger had 3 shots left.

He put the Ruger in his waistband, "This gon have to be enough." he decided.

He heard branches crackling and hurried behind a tree to wait for the men to run by.

He heard one of them speak, "The fuck Mama got this fuckin forest in her backyard for anyway?"

Before Desmond could tell Marquis to shut up, X jumped out from behind the tree and aimed the gun directly at Marquis's head smiling manically, "gotcho bitch ass."

"Shit!" Marquis slowly turned his head and stared down the barrel.

Desmond's pistol was hastily aimed at X but he wasn't sure if he'd shoot quick enough for Marquis to get out the way.

"Gon head and drop that gun fore I blow this nigga brains out," X said in a low tone.

"Nah, don't do that shit, D. Don't do that," Quis warned, anxiously shaking his head.

Xavier instantly slammed the butt of the gun into Marquis' face, "Shutyobitchassup"

Desmond took the opening and fired a shot into Xavier's stomach and causing him to stumble back before turning the gun on Desmond, firing a shot hitting him in the thigh.

"Ahhhh" Desmond went down.

Quis kicked X over with his timbs and grabbed the gun out of his hand. Once he saw he was down and bleeding out, he went over to help Desmond up.

"I gotchu," Quis helped him to his feet as he limped on his left leg. Just then a bullet ripped through his chest.

Desmond's body tensed, as Marquis tried to figure out what happened. Turning around, he saw Xavier sitting up holding another gun.

"Die by yo bitch gun, nigga." Xavier spit, as blood spilled out of his stomach wound.

Without thinking twice, Marquis let off the last 3 shots in the gun he took off X. Two in his chest and the one final shot tore through his skull.

His body fully collapsed into the shrubbery as Marquis stood over him, to see if he was dead. Shooting a man was one thing, but he'd never killed anyone before.

"Fuuuuck," Desmond groaned on the ground. Marquis didn't realize he'd dropped him to shoot Xavier.

He rushed over and picked his best friend back up. "D, I need you to try to cover the hole in front, Imma put pressure on yo back." He instructed him. "I don't know if it hit anything important, but you can't get no air in that bitch."

"It hit me, bitch, I'm important," Desmond spoke slowly, trying to make light of the situation, even though he was getting dizzy.

"Stop talkin bruh. Imma get you to the hospital. It's a through and through, you be aight." Marquis told him, nearly dragging him out of the trees. "Jeff, pull the truck up." He yelled trying not to panic, as his blood was pouring down his own face from being hit with the gun.

"Two men rushed over and took over for Marquis, carrying Desmond over to the truck, propping him up in the back of the flatbed.

"Tank!" a voice called out and Marquis looked over and saw Mama running outside with towels. She handed Marquis one to wipe the blood off his face, then hopped in the back of the pickup with Desmond and put pressure on his wound as she tried not to show concern.

Things weren't looking good.

Desmond looked at the woman helping him and thought about Jaden. "Can you...get my phone out the truck?"

Mama fished her cellphone out of her bra and dialed the person she already knew he wanted to talk to.

•••

Jaden's ringing phone woke her up from a nap. Glancing over, she saw Mama's name on the caller ID. She was hesitant to answer because every time she called lately, it was bad news.

Taking a deep breath, she picked up. "Hullo." She said before clearing her throat. The call was staticky so she couldn't hear if anyone was talking. "Hellooo." She repeated.

"Jae... love...okay..." the distorted voice said.

"I can't hear you."

"Jae, I love you, okay." Desmond's voice came through sounding strained.

"Are you okay?"

He panted in the phone, "you want the truth?" He groaned.

"Desmond!"

"Imma be aight...I took a bullet, or two. Ain't shit" he said, trying to convince himself more than anyone. "I love you so much, baby, " he tried to catch his breath, but it was becoming more difficult.

Suddenly the call ended.

Jaden dialed the number back and it went to voicemail. "Jace!" She screamed from the bedroom.

She ran into the living room to look for him while going to Desmond's contact to call his phone. The phone rang and rang before going to voicemail.

She then went to Jace's contact and dialed him, he picked up immediately, "I'm outside the door, what's up."

She dropped the phone on the living room floor and snatched open the front door, "Desmond was shot!"

Jace looked at Jaden in confusion. "What you mean?"

"He just called, he sounded like he was struggling and he just kept saying..." her voice trailed off as she started to cry.

"Sayin what?"

She sniffled and wiped her eyes, "That he loves me, but he sounded so out of it." Her phone began to ring it was Mama's number, Jaden picked it up, "Hello." She said frantically.

"Jae, I'm texting you our location now." Mama's voice came through the phone and the call ended.

"She's sending their location now. We need to go," she said grabbing her running shoes before leaving out the apartment with Jace right behind.

The text came through and Jaden mapped it. It was a hospital 30 minutes away.

Neither of them talked in the car as she sat in the passenger seat of trying not to panic. Her stomach was in knots.

Jace knew his brother was hard-headed and stubborn, but he never thought of a life without him. Possibly going to jail was one thing, but his brother dying was unimaginable.

Jaden rushed inside the ER waiting room and immediately saw Marquis. His dreds hung loose, hanging wildly with face bandaged up. His shirt was soaked in blood.

"What happened?" She asked with tear-filled eyes. "Where is he?"

"They been workin on him since we got here. They lost him after he talked to you but they resuscitated him twice."

Dizziness took over as she tried to take in what Marquis was telling her, but before anyone knew what was happening, Jaden fainted.

♟•••••♟