Short sharp breath. Frantic running. Flashes of light pierce
the darkness. Bursts of gunfire break the silence. Peps turns to return the
fire before ducking into an alley. Panic. Peps pelts to the end of the alley
and dives into the street. Gunfire still blasting behind him. Sirens blare in the
distance. Reinforcements. He takes a split second to consider, “left or right.”
Both ends are brightly lit. Left he goes scrambling as fast as he can. Car-tires
screeching. A land rover turns into the street ahead of him. He stops, curses,
turns back running. Gunfire. His flung forward to his right. He spins to return
fire mid flight. More gunfire. Peps hit the ground hard, sending searing pain
through him.
Silence. He
touches his chest with his left hand, and then lifts it to his face to look at
the blood. He gasps. The pain grows in intensity. He feels wet, uncertain if
it’s the puddle of water he lies in, or the blood, or both. Two pairs of steps
move towards him. Pepsi tries to raise his head but cannot. Two blurry figures
stop at his sides. Admiring their work.
“Finish
him, the pest deserves it any way,” the potbellied one says.
“That would
be extra….,”the younger one starts but his voice trails of when his superior
looks at him. “My apologies,” he adds before raising his pistol level to his
head…
BANG! BANG!
BANG! Came the noise that stirred peps from his sleep. Beast was laughing
hysterically while pounding at the table. Baba sat opposite him cleaning his
gun with a grin on his face. He never really laughed.
“What is so
damn hilarious?” peps demanded, a little startled though visibly furious.
“You mate.
That’s what’s funny. You’ve screaming and squealing like a little whore,” beast
replied. “Having another vision,” he teased
Peps rubbed
his eyes and face with both hands. Now fully awake he mould over the tease. He
was superstitious and never let such dream go lightly. This was the third time
he had died the same way in a dream. The idea was haunting. He didn’t want to
dwell on it any longer but he was sure it would weigh heavily on his mind.
“So oh
great one what did you see this time,” beast went on with the tease. This time
trying to posture his large frame and enormous arms into a bow. “Did the gods
show you the future of our next lootings?”
Peps looked
up and laughed with him this time. “They said you ought to get me a drink and a
whore. Can you manage that?” He stood up to reach for the bottle but sat back
down when he noticed it was empty. “Do we have anymore or did you just drain
everything?” Baba looked up and replied “We didn’t have much, we need to get
more.”
“lets go for a walk then,” peps responded almost
immediately. he was eager to avoid revisiting the dream. He grabbed his guns
and tucked them into his belt. Threw on his jacket and headed for the door.
Beyond the door they were the whispers. No
one dared speak their names aloud. No one dared mention their deeds. They
reigned brutality wherever they went. They spilt blood with every chance they
had. For peps, this was his comfort. Whispers were their entourage. Their
actions were worse than those of demons.
Now they were on their way to reign more violence and
terror.
Baba and
beast walked on either flank of peps. Peps dreaded the dream he had and wanted
to inflict pain on any living thing he saw. Beast was not human. He lacked an
element that made him qualify. Baba on the other hand was broken in more ways
than one could count. Their slum life had hardened them. They reveled in
causing pain. Beast used to be the instigator but this night peps would start
the cycle.
They walked
into the pub starting a brawl with those who tried to walk out. Peps,
repeatedly, kicking one of the clients in the face and ribs. Beast was punching another for sitting when they
came in. baba laughed hysterically as though the brutality was comical. The
owner tried to intervene but was silence
by a blow to the jaw. He staggered falling backwards while baba grinned on.
When the
carnage was over peps made his demands through winded breathes. “ old man… you
owe me… or else wouldn’t be here.”
“But I paid
for this month, I gave you everything,” he replied
“ Rates
went up again we want more plus double the supply of liquor.”......
