Jaxon's POV
Truly, I wouldn't deny the feeling after I met Cassie. I felt wanted and loved. She behaved in a way I wasn't expecting. I thought she was angry at me, and that made it hard for me to express myself. However, by that time, all my worries disappeared. My smile was back. I took a taxi to drive me home. I wanted to prepare for my appointment with her.
My clothes needed to be canged so I told the driver to take me to the shops. The driver did as I wanted. I purchased black trousers and a white shirt. I wanted to look best in front of Cassie. After shopping, I found the driver still waiting for me. I had paid him to go with me wherever I wanted, but I was surprised when he told me he had an emergency before I even entered into the car. He gave me back my money, and without talking too much, he pressed the gears and left. He left me standing while looking for another taxi. Within a few minutes, another taxi stopped for me. I told the driver to leave me downtown in my new apartment. I rented that apartment on that same day. I thought moving away from my mother's house was the best thing to stop myself from always remembering the memories of my mother.
There were three men inside the taxi, including the driver. I greeted them, and they cheered back at me. My mood was positive, and the driver elevated it by playing the West life music. The songs of love were a game changer to my mood. I was dancing as I was drawn to the music.
When I was in fantasy dancing to the music of love, the driver took a turn, which was not leading to my apartment. I told him my address, thinking maybe he forgot, but he said he knew. After that, I kept quiet, thinking he was driving the other passengers to their homes first. From nowhere, he started to step heavily on the gears. I couldn't keep quiet, so I complained. He didn't even care. I realized I was the only one complaining, and that made me wonder. We were already in the bush closer to where my friends and I used to play in the mines during our training as S4S members. I looked at the man next to me. He was quiet, sitting upright, not even leaning on the seat. His eyes were focused on an empty air. The other man who sat next to the driver was continuously chewing his gum and bursting it from his mouth. The atmosphere in the taxi seemed weird to me. I wondered why I didn't realize before getting into the car.
When I was about to tell the driver to stop and leave me, the driver suddenly stepped on the gears. I pedaled my eyes everywhere, thinking something was wrong. Before I could even ask, I saw two vans following behind us. They were speeding, instilling a sense of urgency in the atmosphere. It was in that moment when I felt threatened. I looked at the driver and he said, "I am sorry Sir. They paid me to leave you here with these two men."
The man next to me held my shoulder and commanded me to exit the taxi. I almost disagreed, but I realized I was probing a fight, so I cooperated. My day was supposed to end by me having sweet moments with Cassie, not by me with wounds from the fight. I held the bag of clothes and stepped out of the taxi. The man next to the driver also exited. After that, the driver drove away, leaving me with those two giants. I didn't know what they wanted from me, but I knew my date with Cassie was going to be disturbed.
The two vans that were approaching behind us encircled us. They hummed, moving in a circular manner, creating a lot of dust. My eyes spotted Mathew in one of the vans. He was seated in the front seat. At that moment, everything made sense. Mathew set me up. He wanted to finish me off for sure. I had thought his threat meant nothing, but I was wrong, I underestimated him. When the vans stopped, Mathew came out. He had men who looked ready for blood. He removed his long coat and hat and gave to one of his men. I looked at him, coming closer to me. He was a boss indeed. His men were making sure that even if you wanted to pull the trigger to kill him, they would protect him by their life.
"I want to know what you have decided," he said, putting his hands behind his back and triumphed, " What choice did you make Jaxon?!"
From his brown crocodile shoes up to his fearless eyes, I ran my eyes up him. Mathew was just a boy, I wasn't afraid of him.
"My decision... " I sighed and giggled, " That shouldn't be your concern, Mathew."
He laughed and screamed, "I see you chose war. However, that's so pathetic because you are surrounded!"
Mathew's demands were not my favorite. If I were to leave town as he wanted, nothing could have stopped him from trying to kill me. Any of his demands didn't lead to peace, so I had to stand my ground. I looked at him and his men around me. Yes, they looked physically fit, their big postures, frightening at sight, but I doubted they had a technique to fight.
"Fight now or never!" I screamed.
Surely I don't even know how I screamed. It was an involuntary action. Mathew's men didn't wait for an order. They came straight to me, their fists ready to deform my face. One of them came from my left, and my right fist landed on his face, the other came in front of me and I held his collar throwing a punch on his nose and the second punch on his mouth. I then pushed him away, trying to create a space to kick the other man behind me. Those men were beginners to me. They were exposing themselves and were fighting with the same technique. They were not trained as we 'the S4S' trained ourselves.
When I was easily throwing painful punches, one of the men threw a heavy stone, and it hit my neck. I instantly fell down. For a few seconds, I felt paralyzed and remained lying on the ground. Mathew's men grab that opportunity to crush me onto the ground by their boots.
"Stop it!" Mathew screamed. He saw I was bleeding from my nose.
His men stopped. He came in front of me and touched my forehead by his shoes. I could tell he was thinking about what to do with me.
"This man was one of us. It shouldn't be a painful death for him," he said.
His men agreed with him, and he asked, "Have you changed your mind, Jaxon?"
Nothing came in my mind except spitting saliva onto his boots. My actions angered him. He quickly removed the pistol from his belts and pointed it at me. His hand was shaking. He wanted to finish me, so I thought of something.
"You want to decide my fate?" I said, wiping the blood from my nose and saying, "I knew from the beginning, you were a coward, Matthew. That's what you have proven to your men."
He kept on looking at me without saying a word, so I continued.
"Prove me wrong and fight like a man. If you are going to kill me by a pistol, it would be crystal clear, you are afraid of me," I said, gasped for air and said, "If you're a man, wait for it, I want to die knowing your boss, maybe I will feed you his intestines."
His men looked at him and agreed with me. He put back his gun to his belt.
"Forty-five minutes, Jaxon, go and decide your fate," he said and turned, going back to the vans.
All of his men followed him, and they drove away, leaving me still on the ground. My day, which was supposed to end with candles on a table, was spoiled. Mathew called for a war. It was time to finish it. He acted faster than I had expected. For sure, I wasn't needed in Gwanda town. But, that time, I was standing to fight back rather than running away. They killed my mother, so I had to fight.
I slowly walked going back to my apartment. Luckily, for me, someone offered me a lift. So, within a few minutes, I was in my home. I looked at my phone, thinking of telling Cassie that I was no longer coming to the date, but I stopped because it would've been difficult to tell her the reasons. Mathew's clock was ticking. He wanted me to decide my fate. I chose war. My fight was to destroy the S4S once and for all, even if I meant my death. I opened my old notebook, which I found from my family house, and browsed it through. My eyes landed on Jane's name, and I phoned her. It was already war. The war that Mathew thought he would win within forty-five minutes.