The Kiss of Death [Dave East]

14

THE CONCRETE WALLS WERE STAINED WITH blood, dead bodies laid all over the floor. Some of the Vice stared at the bodies with unreadable emotion. The incident had thrown everyone's sanity away, the question was; what now? Anissa moves the pieces of broken glass off of the coffee table to get a better view of the scattered photos. They were of the container, she flipped the photo around. 760 Eco Drive. She tucked it into her pocket, standing up straight. They've finally gotten their money back. "We got Russell on speed dial." She spun around at the voice. Cesar was leaning against the broken door, pistol in hand. He had blood splatters on his face and neck, fingers coated red.

"You should be with the rest, collecting bullet shells. What're you doing up here?"

"I came to talk wit you, boss."

She watched him with low eyes as he stepped into the tiny office. "I don't have time to talk. We need to get Russell here before the police do. Let's go." She moved for the door but watched him jump in front of her. Anissa felt her muscles tense. She didn't like this, any of it. From the way he looked at her to the way he bucked up. "Cesar." She said dauntingly.

"Hm?"

"Move." She said through a cloudy vision. "Anissa. Who's scared of you anymore? Vice doesn't respect you no'more. I tried. I did. At first, I thought it was all cause of Dave and when he didn't get his shit cocked back I—" His words pierced her ears. Cesar's voice sounded out while she tried to figure out what he meant by that. Cocked back. Dave hasn't had any near death experiences since the shooting at his house. The shooting. Now that she thought about it, Piru couldn't have figured out where Dave lived. At the time not even she knew. They just knew the area.

He must've tipped them off and they followed Dave home. "These Piru bitchass niggas 'bout dumb as hell. I gave them the description to Spades car—" She cocked her gun and aimed it at his face, however he didn't tense a single bit. "You tried killing them?" She asked. "It's a big loss for Vice. Spades a cutthroat killer, Marcus mad loyal and Lucks real smart. But Dave a loose end. If I kill you, they just gon' pull my cap back. So all y'all gotta go. Then Vice gon' listen to me, you ain't got nothin ma." He laughed, shaking his head.

Downstairs on the first deck Spades was reassuringly tapping Dave's back. The tattooed man gave the right hand a nod of appreciation. They had cleared out about a hundred and two shells but there was no point in trying to do anymore, police were on there way any minute now. Commotion caught everyone's attention. Objects were hitting the ground from one of the rooms upstairs. Two gunshots went off and then silence. Cesar wandered to the edge of the railing, looking distraught. "Fucking bitch." Spades growled, aiming his gun at him. But something seemed off. He held his chest, and then suddenly toppled over the railing, falling flat onto the rock hard floor. Everyone turned away as his body made contact and split open.

After calming their nerves, everyone stared at Cesar's lifeless body. They all in unison glanced up at the height he'd fallen from. Anissa hovered over the railing, blood patterns on her cheek. Some stared in fear whilst others gazed in awe. The great Smoke Rilla. She slithered down the steps with slow and heavy strides. She didn't address the murder and instead looked to Spades for some sort of direction. He firmly nodded, giving her the green light. "We have one of the workers. We already made him call Harden. They should be at the drop soon." Anissa nodded, following Spades direction. She headed to the furthest room in the first level.

One of the workers was tied to one of the land pipes. His face emotionless with dried tear prints covering his cheeks. He looked defeated. "I called Harden. What else do you want?" His voice was hoarse. Anissa crouched down, taking a deep breath. "Piru killed my people." She started off. The worker quickly shook his head, breaking out into a fit of sobs. "I'm not with them! I'm not!" He cried. Anissa ignored his pleas and cries as she reached for his hands. He flinched quickly, jumping. She calmly pointed to his wrist that were bounded right. He nodded hesitantly and relaxed a bit. Anissa tugged on the knot, watching it melt as it became undone.

She helped him up, and forcefully dragged him back to Vice. "Which one of these bodies were in charge of this entire warehouse?" The worker took a second, whipping his tears to clear his vision. "Her." He pointed to one of the bodies. She laid on the concrete ground in her own pool of blood. "How long ago did you phone Harden?" She asked. "Uh, twenty maybe thirty minutes ago." He said. Anissa nodded, clutching the ends of his shirt tightly. "I'm not nice. I kill when I have to. I know when to stand down from a fight." The worker teared up at Anissa's words. He knew what was next. Spades took two big steps towards the worker and held the end of the gun to his temple. Despite his feelings about this massacre, he pulled the trigger.

Anissa let go of his shirt letting his body hit the ground. After a couple of minutes passed, headlights shone through the windows. Harden must've been here. Two doors were heard being shut loudly from outside.

_____

Anissa coughed into her arm as the building blew up into flames. The loud fire cracked and popped, leaving a gust of dark grey smoke to blend in with the dark night sky. "We should head back." Spades said into her ear, his voice shaky. "Not from these ends. Can't stay for long." He added. Anissa lead the large group back into the dark woods. They trudged and carried on through the trees, wandering what felt like aimlessness. They could hear sirens in the distance as they stumbled upon the opening that the vans were parked at. Dee glanced up, immediately starting the engine. One by one, The fearful Vicelords climbed into either van with their head low.

Dee glanced over her shoulder at Spades who climbed into the passenger seat. He didn't say anything, he didn't even look at her. He stared dead at the window, deep in thought. It didn't have to be said, but everyone was second guessing their life and who they were. What happened at the warehouse was unfathomable. "You think Zion would've done it?" Spades said in a low voice, not glancing at Dee while he spoke. The ride was so quiet that Spades wasn't sure if Dee heard him. "No." She responded quietly, shaking her head. Spades wasn't expecting Dee to be so honest with him, he thought she'd lie to spare his feelings. But he needed that.

Anissa crouched in the back of the van, staring at a slightly distraught Dave. His head was low, clutching the AR close. She looked down at her knuckles, scrubbing at the dried blood that stained her skin. She grew frantic, dropping her gun loudly, aggressively rubbing at her knuckles. She found herself becoming breathless, panting at quick pace. She stumbled a bit off her toes, her back crashing against the side wall. She watched in shock as her hand shook uncontrollably. She clutched her shaking left hand into her right palm, bringing it into her chest.

Anissa suddenly stopped, catching her breath. What the hell was that? She thought. She glanced around the back of the van, to see if anyone noticed her little break down. The only person staring at her was Spades. His eyes shot down at her through the rear view window. He stared at her for a longing moment and then breaking his gaze. She stared down at her feet, gritting down on her teeth. She can't let up now. Anissa was bitting down on her maulers so hard, she swore she chipped something.

Not now. She told herself. Not ever.