Another Last Chance Read online

  When Christine came off the phone they’d both continued talking about parties, her friend Cassandra and all her favorite drinks. She was drinking a lot faster than before and when asked about her transportation arrangements she explained that her cousin would be coming to pick her up.

  During the latter part of their conversation she’d gone into her messages several times to update her friend that she was having fun. She’d even snapped a picture of both of them and forwarded it to her friend.

  At 3:45 a.m. she received another message.

  “Okay, that is him. He outside, in the car park,” she said in a slurred voice and slid out of the seat. Kevin remained sitting and she’d placed her hands on the table and looked back at him.

  “What happen? You not coming?” Her question was more like a plea for his company. She then stuck out her hand making it obvious.

  They were already close to the door and Steve and the fellas were taking shots at the bar. Kevin thought about it and decided that he would sneak out and return without anyone noticing. Even though that was technically breaking their first rule, he felt somewhat responsible for her being so intoxicated. As he stood up she held him across the waist for support, making it much easier for him to leave without any hesitation.

  The atmosphere outside was a lot different. It was quiet and cold with the full moon yellow in the dark sky. Kevin had given Christine his coat and the first gust of wind made him shiver, and he tried to hide it.

  Only a few persons were outside, mostly smokers and cell phone abusers.

  The bouncer flicked his cigarette and came back to the entrance. He raised his brow at Kevin as he passed by.

  The further they walked, the more Kevin realized how drunk she actually was. She was literally leaning against him, making it difficult for him to walk straight.

  “So, you had fun?” She looked up at him while talking. The strong scent of alcohol coming from her breath made him turn away. He kept his head straight.

  “Yeah, it was good.”

  “Okay, cool, cause I could make it even better.”

  He looked at her with raised brows. The conversation was becoming inappropriate. Not only because of his intentions of remaining faithful, but because he knew that she was drunk and it was the alcohol talking. He had no idea what to say.

  “How far he park?” he asked, changing the topic.

  She studied him for a moment and then looked around. “He say he in the car park to the back.” She was smiling and rubbing on his chest in a gentle, seductive way. “You want to have some fun?”

  Kevin didn’t need any time to think about it. She looked good, but he knew it wasn’t worth it in the end. His intentions were simply to come and have a good time and the time they’d spent inside the club was more than he could’ve asked for.

  “Nah, I good. Maybe some other time.”

  She stopped walking.

  “What you mean, you good?” The smile was gone, and she had a concerned look on her face. There was something more to her eyes, something that only a conversation would reveal, but they had done enough talking for one night and time was against them.

  “Hmm,” she sighed. Her eyes becoming dreamy. “I like that. You know, exactly what you have home. More men should be like you. Or at least my man.”

  She started walking again and Kevin felt proud of the decision he’d made.

  There were two parking lots and the one to the back of the club was a new addition with poor lighting and mostly deserted. Kevin thought it was strange that someone would go through the risk of parking there, especially if they were just here to pick up someone.

  “Why he park so far, though?” Kevin asked while looking around. There wasn’t anyone close by.

  “I really don’t know. I think he come with his girlfriend, so they must be want the privacy.

  “Hmm,” Kevin sighed, knowing that wasn’t a good enough reason.

  They entered the car park and he noticed her looking around and tip-toeing to see over the few cars. Something wasn’t feeling right.

  “What happen? You not seeing him?”

  “No.”

  “What kind of car it is?”

  She went into her purse and took out her phone. “I not sure, he does always borrow his friends’ cars.”

  She started making the call. She was standing on her own and when the person answered, she told them that she was in the car park and hung up after their reply.

  “He say he over here.” She pointed in the direction and started walking to the darkest area of the car park. Kevin kept behind hoping to see her enter the car so he could leave.

  She walked up to a car and he noticed that she had gone closer to the trunk of the car instead of going in. She was looking at him with the same concerned look on her face and that was when he stopped. He knew something wasn’t right and whether she’d decided to enter the car or not, he wasn’t about to go any further.

  Before he could ask anything, he heard footsteps running up behind him and he spun around.

  “Wha… ” he shouted out and felt something solid hit him across his back. He fell to the ground and began rolling from side to side, grimacing in pain. He received a few more blows across his arms and back.

  “No, stop.” He heard Christine say in a panicking voice and while struggling to catch his breath he heard more footsteps walking around him.

  “You say you just wanted to talk to him,” he heard her say in a crying voice.

  “Yeah, well. We go talk just now,” a man’s voice said.

  “Well, this wasn’t part of the plan. I don’t want anything to do with this, tell him he could keep the money.”

  Kevin looked to where Christine’s voice was coming from and from a blurred vision he saw a man walking away and she got into a car and started the ignition and drove away. He could hardly make out anything else and turned away.

  “Hmm… what we have here, boy?” another man’s voice said. Kevin recognized the voice.

  Biggs and five of his boys were standing over him. They had surrounded him.

  “What… you want?” Kevin said in a tough voice, although he was breathing heavily and still trying to fight the pain.

  “You for real right now…? Nah, you can’t be fucking serious,” Biggs said, looking around at his boys. “This fool have to be kind of retarded.” He walked closer to Kevin, standing in front of his face and then turned his back looking in the opposite direction. He looked frustrated. Kevin kept his eyes on all of them preparing for any sudden movements.

  His eyes were away when he heard Biggs move and the instant he looked back at him the only thing he saw was the tip of his shoes and felt a hard kick to his face. His head jerked with the impact and it felt more painful than the rusty piece of iron that one of the fellas was holding in his hand.

  Biggs' shoes had landed right below Kevin’s left eye. Kevin put his hands on the spot and pressed against it while groaning in pain. He was now on his knees with his body in a crouched position as if he was begging for mercy. Biggs placed his foot on Kevin’s shoulder and kicked on him causing him to tumble over and his body curled up on the ground. His hands were still covering his face.

  “I want you dead. I want you, and all yuh friends dead. But don’t worry. I going to accomplish that tonight. I going to cut you up in little pieces and send a message.” Kevin was looking through his unprotected eye. His vision was getting dark, darker than the night.

  Biggs looked at the other guys and walked away. Kevin saw the look on their faces and he knew that he’d have to make his body as small as possible and hope that he wouldn’t be beaten to death.

  The guys started to close in on him and they began to kick, stomp and cuff him for what felt like five minutes. At one point he was even beaten on his back with the piece of iron.

  When they had dealt their final kick and stomp they stood around in silence and he could see some of them smiling through a crease in his swollen eyes.

  His entire body f
elt weak and sore and he lay there, certain he would not survive much longer.

  They lifted him by his arms and feet and took him to a car where he was thrown onto the backseat. At that point he began to regret, not only leaving home or ambushing Biggs and his guys two weeks ago, but as far back as the day he’d met Marcus. He wished back then he could’ve seen this coming.

  He vomited on the seat and realized he was too weak to move. Suddenly, he heard a commotion outside the car. The voices were getting closer and it sounded like Steve and Marcus.

  A gunshot rang out and Kevin flinched and shoved himself off the seat to the floor of the car. He could hear Biggs's voice outside, shouting and instructing his boys to get into the car. The door opened with gunshots still firing from both sides and he felt their feet stomping on his head, shoulders and legs as they got into the car and it sped away.

  One of the windows shattered and the pieces of glass fell onto his body. The car swerved around a corner and Kevin could feel the breeze from outside coming into the car more freely.

  As they covered a distance Biggs couldn’t stop cursing. Kevin realized two of Biggs' men had gotten shot and had to be left behind. And someone from Kevin’s crew had been shot too.

  Kevin got some more stomps just for being in the position he was in, and when his groans become overbearing he was pulled up on to the seat to await his final moment.

  They drove for a long time and came to a quiet area where trees and distant streetlights were the only things in sight. The car stopped, and Kevin knew it was the end of the line for him.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Kevin felt as if he was about to have a seizure. He was panting heavily and he leaned forward and placed his hands on his head as he began crying in his frustration. He couldn’t see clearly, and his mouth was bruised and bloody so his pleas for freedom and forgiveness were soft spoken and ignored. He started to struggle, even as he continued begging for his life as he fought the blows from elbows and fists as they attempted to quiet him down.

  “I said to shut the fuck up,” the guy on his left said and landed another cuff to Kevin’s jaw. Kevin held his face and leaned forward trying to mentally control the pain. Blood was draining from his mouth onto the floor of the car.

  “Nothing better don’t happen to John and tall man, or is fucking war. I swear,” Biggs said in a loud voice.

  “What about this one? You still carrying him back to the house?” the guy on the right said. Biggs looked back at them and shook his head.

  “Right about now I don’t really care about all that. Just do whatever you have to do,” Biggs said and turned back to the front.

  It seemed as though Kevin’s time had finally come. The car came to a stop in a dark spot and the guy to his left handed his pistol to Biggs and said he was going to the trunk for something bigger and better that would do much more damage. He got out and left the door open.

  Kevin looked over his shoulder and realized that the guy on his right was busy loading an extended magazine. He then looked outside to the dark, descending hill. The guy said something to Biggs and then he heard the trunk close. At that moment Kevin pushed his body as hard as he could and dived out into the bushes and began rolling downhill. He immediately heard rapid and single shots cutting through the grass and trees around him. He kept his eyes shut tight and kept on pushing his body and doing anything he could possibly do to continue rolling. During that time it seemed as though the shooting would never stop.

  He rolled into a shallow river, got to his feet quickly, and ran a few metres downstream and then across as shots hit the water. When he got to the other side he picked up the pace. The shooting stopped but he continued running full tilt. The further he got, the darker the forest got. Finally, he stumbled on a dirt track far away from the river. The moon was overhead. That was the first thing he noticed when he collapsed in exhaustion onto his back, taking large gasps of air. His wet clothes made him feel as if he was freezing and he was trembling and beginning to throb with pain all over.

  After a few minutes Kevin got up and continued moving again. It was not the way he would usually push himself, but he felt as though he was getting a second chance at life and he wasn’t going to lose out on the opportunity.

  About twenty minutes later he limped on to another dirt track. Some distance away, he could see a structure resembling a barn. It was very big, and he could see lights shining through two windows on the lower section.

  He saw a dark silhouette walk across the room. It happened so fast that he wasn’t sure if it were his eyes playing tricks on him. Whatever it was, he was about to find out.

  He cautiously walked towards the building, remembering his earlier encounter. There were no trees in the area around the structure, only a few tree stumps. The grass was also cut. Kevin decided to scope out the area before attempting to call for help.

  The side that he’d approached and the back was clear from any foreseeable danger and he slowly walked to the opposite side. He had to control his gasp of surprise.

  There were two police cars and a large truck parked in a gravel area of the land. The only thought going through his mind, other than being dehydrated and weak, was that he was finally safe.

  But then he walked back and peeped through one of the windows that he’d previously crept under and noticed something strange inside.

  There were three rows of metal tables with lights hanging over them. There was also a closed door in the centre of the room. Kevin would have to go back around in order to see what was on the other side of the door. He cautiously moved around the building to the other windows. Inside, the room looked identical to the last with the same iron tables and lighting overhead. The only difference was that there was a staircase leading to the top floor. Although he was confused by what he saw, he was satisfied that the police were there and he found that was a good enough reason to call for help.

  He walked to the door and began shouting out to the officers or anyone inside. But nobody responded. Soon his throat began feeling sore and he felt a sharp pain moving up to his chest. The shouting was becoming too painful and he began banging on the door. That didn’t work either. He was tired and knew he desperately needed to rest.

  He walked across to the police vehicles and pulled on all the doors. They were all locked and there were no alarms to assist him in alerting the officers. Lucky for him the truck was left open. He gave it some thought and, although it was almost morning, he climbed in and made himself comfortable. But it seemed as though he had no sooner closed his eyes than he heard someone banging on the door and when he opened his eyes he saw a police officer standing outside the truck. He was startled and immediately sat up. He squinted against the glare of the morning sun.

  The officer took a step back and gestured for him to open the door. Kevin rolled down the passenger window.

  “Who is you?” the policeman said. He was a tall man dressed in blue and black tactical wear with two police emblems on the jacket. A machine gun was strapped across his chest and he held it at an angle that was easy for him to raise and shoot if he found it necessary. His finger was already on the trigger guard.

  “My name is Marvin, sorry…” Kevin said.

  The officer kicked the door to a close and lifted his gun, pointing it to Kevin’s face.

  “Don’t fucking move. What happen to yuh face, and what you doing here?”

  “Last night I did get lost and I try calling, but nobody didn’t answer.”

  The officer was studying what was said and then began looking across his shoulders.

  “Lost? And what happen to yuh face?”

  Kevin knew he had no choice but to continue lying in order for his story to sound convincing. “I was hiking with some of my friends and things did get ah little out of hand.”

  The policeman was still looking around, but now in a more vigilant manner. “What? Hiking? And you decide that this was the best place to come and hide?”

  “Well, yes sir. I see the police car
s and it was kind of a quick decision. Again, ah really sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”

  Kevin heard a noise and when he looked over his shoulder he saw another officer walking towards them. He was similarly dressed and he was also carrying a machine gun and a pistol was in his leg holster. He looked as though he was born with a bad temper.

  “What going on here?” he said.

  “This little fucker get beat up, and lost, and decide that this was the best place to come and hide,” the first policeman said. The other officer came up to the vehicle.

  “Hmm, you get a good cut ass boy. They try to kill you or what?”

  Kevin remained silent.

  “Where you from?” the second officer said.

  “Arima,” Kevin replied.

  The officers glanced at each other, then looked back at him.

  “Arima?” The second policeman looked annoyed. “And you come quite up here to hike? You playing you is a fucking white boy or what?”

  “No sir…” said Kevin.

  “So is what then?” His voice got louder. It seemed as if Kevin’s direct answers was pissing them off.

  “Nothing,” he said.

  “Nothing?” The second policeman shook his head in exasperation.

  “This look like ah fucking toy to you, boy?” He lifted the gun and pointed it at Kevin. Kevin pulled back as far as he could. “You feel this is ah fucking game or something?”

  “N-no sir!” Kevin’s voice was almost hoarse and he felt cramps in his stomach and his bladder was becoming weak.

  “Come out the fucking truck!” The first policeman pulled the door open and Kevin almost fell on to the ground in front of them. The thought of dying filled his eyes with tears and he began pleading for his life between his heavy breathing. He heard one of the officers take a step back.

  “Watch you now. Like ah little pussy. No wonder your partners them try to rape you.” Kevin refused to look up at them. His hands and lower back was starting to give up on him, but he knew it was a pain he’d have to bear. They were quiet for a while and then he heard their footsteps circling him.