" How could you?! How...how could you hurt an innocent child like that? Don't you have a child? A niece or nephew? Weren't you a chi_"
Another gang member kicked Malcolm on the chest, before hitting a pistol on his head, causing him to lose consciousness.
" Take him to the car." the gang leader ordered, before looking at Malcolm with an unreadable expression.
_
" Wakie wakie!" a viking-looking lady said to Malcolm after pouring a bucket of ice water over his head.
Jolting, Malcolm gasped for air, while struggling to figure out where he was, and what the heck was happening.
" Time for judgement, sleeping beauty." a man said this time in a mocker smile, while three others chuckled before their leader walked in.
" Excuse us." The leader ordered in a stern voice. They then left, but not without saying a couple of words meant to piss Malcolm off.
The room grew silent as they left one after another.
He then took a couple steps to stand directly opposite Malcolm who had his hands chained behind a chair. The said leader tucked his hands in his pocket, looking at Malcolm who had his eyes closed, like he was meditating.
" I find you very interesting Mr.... Malcolm." he said, thinking Malcolm would react especially as he mentioned his name. But Malcolm didn't even move a muscle.
All Malcolm knew was he would not resist the urge to squeeze the fucktard's breathe out of him, when he got the chance.
" Aren't you surprised I know your name? Malcolm?" The gang leader asked. But Malcolm said nothing, as his eyes were still shut.
" You answer me when I talk to you!" The man exclaimed, but Malcolm still kept mute.
Taking two steps forward, the leader called Hova before speaking up again, this time in a stern voice.
" It seems you don't want the little girl to live.''
* No response *
Then Hova delivered a punch on Mac's face. Holding his collars, Hova spoke up in anger " The next time you stay quiet, I'll gouge your eyes out, do you understand?!''
* No response *
" What the fuck is wrong with you!'' Hova shouted at Malcolm in anger.
Suddenly they both heard a gunshot, which was immediately followed by a scream, and then another gunshot.
Taking out his gun from the back pocket of his trousers, immediately he pushed Malcolm away, Hova aimed it at the door, before he started approaching it slowly.
Reaching the door, he was about to open it, when he heard Crab, one of his men shout '' Everybody leave! It's Cr_"
* Gunshot *
'' Darn it!" Hova cussed. He didn't need anyone to tell him what was happening and who was behind it.
" I'm gonna get back at you Cruseh." Hova promised. But in order to do that, he had to stay alive.
In a bid to do just that, Hova walked to the window and looked through it, reminding himself that he was on the third story of an abandoned building.
But he could manage since the ground was grassy and all, at least he hoped so.
But what about the strange, weird and annoying dude? He couldn't leave him behind. Of course Hova didn't mind if he died or not, but,... he really needed to know more about this Malcolm of a person who was able to stir up guilt in him through mere questions.
" Hey you" he said to Malcolm who had his head bowed low. " Come with me." he said, as he went behind him, to unlock the chain tied to Malcolm's hands.
" Aren't you scared I might kill you?" Malcolm spoke up, startling Hova for a moment.
" Surprising that this is the first thing you say Malcolm." Hova said, wondering what type of person Malcolm really was.
Well, he was the type that Kendrell and Jordan were not wholly familiar with, thanks to his high tendency of being unpredictable.
" You didn't answer my question." Malcolm said, looking ahead. " You don't need an answer." Hova replied, before throwing the padlock away and straightening up.
" ... because I can leave you here to die. Or better still, kill you my self. So, your question doesn't really deserve an answer." he added.
" Now come with me, let's leave. You don't need me to tell you what's going on." Hova said, as he headed for the window, which had a severely broken window pane.
" Why follow you? I'm still gonna die anyway.'' Malcolm said.
Not like he wasn't frightened at the thought of death, but he felt he would be better off escaping on his own.
And the last thing he wanted was letting Hova have the pleasure in seeing the fear in his eyes.
" You have no choice motherfucker!" Hova said in anger and frustration as he tried to keep his voice down. Then he heard three gunshots, almost at the same time.
* Gunshot *
Without waiting for a word of response from Malcolm, if there was any, Hova carried the chair Malcolm was previously sitting on and hit it against what was left of the window pane.
" We're gonna jump down. It's up to you if you want to come with me or not." Hova said.
" Why the 'we are' if it's up to me?'' Malcolm asked.
* Gunshot *
" We don't have much time." Hova said, looking at the ground, without replying Malcolm's question.
" Don't be scared." Malcolm trolled.
" Why? Wanna go first?" Hova asked.
But too his surprise, Malcolm drew a deep breathe before taking a couple steps backwards.
In the blink of an eye, Malcolm jumped out the window without looking more than once. Hova was dumbstruck for a moment. But above that, he knew that was a challenge for Malcolm who landed on his feet.
Malcolm did tweak his knee, but that was the price he had to pay for being Hova's victim.
In no time, Hova joined Malcolm. But unlike Malcolm, the injury on his leg was quite severe. But he wasn't new to the pain, so he had to keep running.
_
Almost like it was inevitable, they were caught by Cruseh's men, and eventually brought to him.
" Well, well, well... Look who we have here." Cruseh said with a smirk.
" I'll kill you, you bastard!" Hova said with burning rage.
" Really? How are you gonna do that?" Cruseh asked but got no response.
" If I'm guessing correctly, you're gonna have to escape first. Unfortunately for you, that won't be possible" he added.
" You don't know that" said Hova.
" Of course I do. I'm sure your friend here agrees with me." Cruseh said, turning to face Malcolm, who was also kneeling next to Hova.
" Damn you." Hova retorted.
" Ooh... It seems like we have a VIP in the house, right boys?" Cruseh turned to ask his gang members.
" Actually boss, we might just have the chess piece in front of us." a gang member spoke up.
" Ahh. I get what you mean." Cruseh said with a slight nod as he got the message, but first he needed to confirm something.
" Keep your eyes on them, I'll be back soon.'' he said before leaving at once.
Later that evening, Cruseh returned and then went right into the inevitable torture aspect. Torturing both Malcolm and Hova, like he knew them to be the best of partners in crime.
Eventually, Hova gave up the information he knew, but Cruseh wasn't done just yet.
So he asked his men to take both Malcolm and Hova to his sponsor, none other than Gringo.
But on their way, they had an accident, which was why Malcolm was found alongside a couple others. [Chapter 41]
The scene that took place right before the accident happened, caused Malcolm to jolt on the hospital bed.
But since his body could not react to it that much, his index finger moved a little, as well as the readings on the Cardiac Event Monitor which accelerated to over a hundred. But all of that did not go unnoticed by Kendrell who was sitting by the bed, next to his best friend.
* * *
A/N: I'm so sorry y'all for the poor quality chapter. I understand my personal emotions/affairs should not reflect, but I couldn't control it.
It's just one of those days.😔 I hope I do better in the subsequent chapters (if there'll be a lot of them even), and I hope y'all stick with me. Thanks.
Lots of Love, Cris. 💞❤️