Brothers in Blood: For the Children

New Recruits

Zay’s count had been off. By a lot. Instead of the fifty they had been expecting, Zay showed up with well over a hundred. GD came, driving another van full of young men, Scud asleep in the passenger seat. he hadn’t gotten any sleep on overnight flight. Custer was there, laughing and joking with the skinheads. All the boys, white or black shaved their heads. “Its an ideology thing. skater hair or cornrows are markers that separate.” That was how Zay had explained it anyway.
They filled the basketball court, the mercury lights still on from the rapidly fleeing night. It was five thirty, and Mac was cranked like it was noontime. The mass slowly filtered out into smaller, tighter gangs, all united, all different. They all came from different towns, different parts of town, all had their gang signs printed clearly on their jackets or sweatshirts. Without fail, every sign had the image of a man holding a spear above his head, somewhere in it. Mac knew the sign well, as he had been one of the first to wear it, years ago. He still had the sweatshirt, tucked away somewhere at the house. There was some rivalry between the individual gangs, but they all had respect for each other and would guard another’s back, as long as they had the Catechumen on them. One army, a dozen different factions.
Mista D looked down from Mac’s truck at the soldiers. Yeah, he could call them soldiers, they would be soldiers someday and it would be their cause. Black white red yellow was the flag they flew, the colors they wore. jeans, leather boots, T-shirts were standard issue, all shirts emblazoned with the Catechumen. He glanced at GD. The fire was starting to glow, he was smiling and watching Zay work the crowd. he gestured for silence and all the voices went silent. Zay pointed up at the men in the back of the truck. “These are the Leaders, the Commanders, the Shepherds! Mmobola the Voice of Reason, Lynch the Mastermind, McNaughton the Iron Fist, Dickerson the Careful Planner, Banna the Reckless, McCoy the Rugged Wind. They are our kings, theirs is the cause of justice! Do you chose to follow them and the others who will come?”
The energy was like static, building all through his speech. And when he was finished, thunder and lightning rolled. The crowd erupted, their fists raised high, pumping and screaming their approval. Lights went on in houses, blocks away, as their raucous exclamation intensified. Zay raised his hands for quiet and the noise died down, slowly. he looked at Mac, and grinned. Mac and Jack grinned back. Mista D was watching over the boys, his eyes glistening, his face beaming. “They’re yours, they have chosen to follow you. Do you accept them as your own?” The silence became thick again with the electricity of the moment.
Jack nudged GD, poked Mac, glanced at Mista D, jerked his head at Custer and shook Scud back awake. “Jungle cry, gentlemen?”
Mista D’s deep bass voice boomed out first, a long “Buuaaa.” It was joined by Scud’s high tenor “Geeaaoo.” Then Custer’s “Heeyea.” Jack’s “Raaaaugh. Mac’s “Neearaaa.” All flowing together, an animal, alien sound that sparked off the emotional gunpowder in the young men assembled before them. The explosion seemed to raise them all up off the ground in a whirlwind of euphoria. Even the level-headed Zay was screaming and jumping around.
When Mista D ran out of breath, Mac raised his hands over his head for quiet. the court echoed, a few of them still caught up in the moment. he waited until they were settled before he started.
“Someone wanna tell me why you all here?” A dozen different answers went up. “I’ll tell you why! You here because you care about the future, and want to stop the crack heads who want to destroy it. Fight for the children of tomorrow, the children of today, and remember the ones its too late to save. Drive hard into the ranks of dealers, white and black and Hispanic. nail them, not because the color of their skin, but for the color of their HEARTS!” He put so much energy into the last word, that he nearly fell off the truck. “Where the heart is, that’s where they want to take the future. And they taking kids to hell, down into darkness. battle the kingdom of darkness, with out own fire. You all being here shows me that you’re all willing to put race aside in order to fight for this cause. You’ve all shaved your heads as a sign of your brotherhood.” He put one foot up on the cab. “Who are we! Let the world here us!” he raised his hands and all the individual gangs screamed their own names.
Mista D held up his hands now. “No, no that’s who YOU are, not who WE as a whole is. We is all one gang now, fightin’ Street cred an’ thugs, bustin’ down doors an’ stuffin’ da drugs. Fightin’ darkness, like Mac say, who are we? We da Catechumen, brothas, Catechumen, fighters fo’ truth an da future. Now who is we!”
It started softly, in comparison to the other cries, a few started chanting, “Catechumen,” then more picked up, gradually growing louder, “Catechumen.” It got louder, like a train speeding down a hill. “Catechumen!” Jack was glowing, jumping up and down in the bed of the truck. “Catechumen, Catechumen! Catechumen, CATECHUMEN!” This was it, no turning back from this battle now. He hugged Mac hard, exhilaration raising his voice an octave. “The kids gonna have a chance now, Mac, its really gonna happen!”
The rest of the day was spent, meeting with the individual gang leaders, giving them their assignments, what parts of town they were covering. The plan was to start a recognizance network that all flowed back to Jack’s house, where the gang leaders would meet in a daily basis to report and receive instruction. Zay hung back from these meetings, watching and listening, but never really participating, just absorbing information. Scud took him aside around four in the afternoon. They walked out onto the back deck and stood watching the kids playing on the swing set.
“It’s so right, them being able to do this.” Zay was the first to break the silence. he caught Scud looking at him out of the corner of his eye. “Kids just being kids, not having to worry about drugs and how their body looks to other people. Way too young for that. Its innocence, you know? Good stuff, they shouldn’t lose it.” he sighed and looked up at the clouds. “But there’s nothing we can do to stop them, it ain’t like Neverland, where kids can go and never grow up. This is the real world, and there’s nothing we can do to stop them from growing up eventually.”
“But we can keep them safe while they still want to be young.”
“Its still not long enough.”
Scud leaned against the railing. “how old you, Zay?”
“Twenty two.”
“How long you been thinking like this?”
Zay was quiet, one minute gazing at the clouds, the next at the kids running around the yard. “I was doing a play, back in high school. The director would bring her kids to rehearsal, two little girls, one three, the other seven, I think. I got to know the older one, played with her back stage sometimes, just had fun being a kid, you know? She fooled around, did her own thing, danced however she wanted to, said things that she had no idea what they meant. And she didn’t need to. Cutest little girl you’ve ever seen, amazing what she could do to someone who was having a bad day. One smile, and bam, the sun was shining again.” he folded his arms across his chest. “Then I remembered that she had to grow up, that there were people sick enough to take advantage of a kid like her. Killed me, thinking about that. tried to get back into the mindset of a little kid, just couldn’t do it.”
“You ever write any of this stuff down?”
“yeah, some, just a poem. See, I figured out what makes little kids tick and what drives certain kinds of adults. Two things in everybody, just depends on how you think about stuff that makes them shine. Like a muscle, I guess, you entertain things that make sense to you, they get more developed. Child-heart and Protector-hand.” He peeled off his shirt, and showed Scud the tattoo on his chest.
It was a heart, one half supported by blue-green vines, flowers, and a Robin hood-ish figure, the other half supported by a stone tower and a knight. A castle was above the heart, appearing to sink behind it. It was half white and spiraling, completely fantasy, the other looked like a shadow image compared to it, gray stone with straight towers, brightly colored banners hanging off the ramparts.
he pulled his shirt back over his head, a little cold from the breeze. “Had one of my friends do that last summer. Just kind of a reminder why we do the things we do.” They didn’t say anything for a while, just watched the kids play in the gathering darkness. They heard someone calling for one of the kids, but none of them were reacting. It was a woman’s voice, young by the sound of it. She came around the corner, and both men’s jaws dropped.
She was five three, hundred and fifteen pounds max, dirty blonde, and a figure like a magazine cover. She had one of those Colgate smiles, the kind that isn’t measured by inches or whiteness, but by wattage. “That’s some kid’s mother?” It was the only thing Scud could think to say. A little boy ran by. “Hey Cameron’s sister!” She responded with a wave, and went on looking for the kid. Jack came out onto the porch and saw Scud and Zay’s awestruck expressions.
“That’s Kenea, you’ll be seeing her around.” Jack, grinning, clapped both men on the shoulder and went over to her.
She saw him coming and skipped over to him and hugged him. “Oh, its good to see you, Mister Lynch!” She kissed his cheek and he did likewise. “Have you seen Cameron anywhere?” It was then she noticed the gawkers at the railing. She smiled sweetly at them, making the men turn bright red. “hey boys!” She turned her attention back to Jack. “have you seen him?” Jack pointed inside the house and lead her in. Zay’s neck cracked as he watched her go by. Scud followed them in.
Kenea was sitting on the couch with a boy, about seven, talking to him while he battled aliens on Jack’s TV screen. A timer went off and he put down the controller. “Can I stay here tonight?” Zay wanted to step in and say, ‘yeah, and she’s welcome too!’ Jack was in the corner. “It’s okay with me, we’ve got room tonight, not that many kids are sticking around.” From the kitchen, the heads of the other gang leaders started appearing, taking furtive glances around the doorframe at the attractive woman in the next room. Zay noticed she didn’t have a ring on.
“If Mister Jack says its okay, then its fine with me. Just give me a call tomorrow morning so you can get ready for school shopping, okay?” She smoothed his hair, then turned and walked right into Zay. He put his arms out to steady her. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you standing there.” She looked at his face. “You were out on the court this morning, weren’t you, jumping around and getting everyone hyped up?” Zay nodded, nervous at being so close to a woman like her. “You sticking around?” He nodded again, and noticed Mac and GD standing in the doorway, laughing silently at him. “Can’t you talk?” “I’ll be around, got no where else to go right now. What are you doing tonight?” “Why do you ask?” “New around here, thought maybe I’d get to know some of the locales, the people.” he stuttered and looked away. She smiled and touched his shoulder. “You’re car somewhere nearby?” He jerked his thumb behind him, shaking. “Right out back.” “Well, than let’s go.” Mac winked at him, and the two disappeared out the back door.
It was getting dark, so Mac went up to his room, the one he shared with Mista D and three other guys. No one else was there, so he pulled out his cell phone and dialed home.
“McNaughton’s, Rachel speaking.” Her voice was tired, and it had a tone that something was wrong.
“Hey baby.” He heard her calling the boys to the phone and smiled to himself.
“Kevin, the boys have something they want to tell you, they found something that you should know about.” The twinge was stronger, it started eating at him.
“Whats up, Rachel? What happened?”
“They found one of the bodies from the attack on the house.”
“In the snow?” It wasn’t likely that a body from the attack could have turned up on top of the snow after seven months.
“yeah, hanging out of a tree.”
“How are they? Kyle and James, how’d they take it?”
“They want their daddy. I told them what you’re doing is important, but they won’t stop shaking, and they can’t sleep. They’ve been with me the past few nights.”
Mac stood up and pulled his suitcase out of the closet. “I’m coming home right now. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Mista D walked in and watched Mac pick up his car keys and head for the door.
“I can’t ask you to do that,”
“Rachel, this is one of those things that makes or breaks a father. I’ve got to be there for my kids when something happens. I’m coming home. Love you, babe.”
“Love you too. I’ll see you when you get home.”
“Rachel, you sound like you need sleep. Put the kids in front of a movie, and go to bed. They’ll keep watching until I get home, and it’ll take their minds off of what they saw. Get some sleep, babe, I’m on my way.” She hung up. He closed his phone and went to find Jack. Mista D followed him down the stairs, gesturing for Scud and GD who had been locked in a vicious Halo tournament to come too. They all met up in the living room, where Zay was just coming in. Scud commented, “That was quick, what’d you do, just take her home?” “We made plans to take Cameron shopping tomorrow, just to give him a male role model, a little closer to his age.” Then he saw the look on Mac’s face and started to step out, but Mac stopped him. “This you gotta hear too, Zay.”
He looked at Jack. “I gotta bail for a coupla days. We must have missed one of the bodies, and the kids found it up in a tree. I’m their father, and its my responsibility to be there for my kids.” Jack nodded his consent, the other guys looked at the floor, ashamed that they had missed something in their cleanup. Zay was completely confused. “What’s this got to do with me?” Mac looked at him. “You’re gonna take my place while I’m gone.” The Tribe looked at him surprised. Mac had never been one to take off his responsibility and give it to someone else. But then, Mac had never been a father before either. “These kids looked up to me ‘cuz I started them way back. You’re the next best thing, their regional commander and resident nutcase. You know what you’re doing and can follow the cause straight through. Got faith in you, Kid, don’t fail me.” he saluted Zay, exchanged bear hugs with the Tribe and left. The rumble of the diesel engine starting up, then faded into the falling night.
The tribe waved goodbye, then came back in. Zay was sitting on the couch, his chin resting on his fists. he was staring at the TV, his brows hunched down over his eyes. “You guys got bodies up at Mac’s place?”
Custer filled him in on what had happened, from the individuals to Rachel, to GD’s house, New York and Whip, Mac’s breakdown and the shootout, to the laser chase in Ohio. “You guys should write a book or something, write it down and send it to Peter Jackson or something. It all really happened?” They all nodded. “Crazy, man. That’s some freakin’ crazy stuff.”