Chapter 44
Hound Dog
A fter letting loose of Melody, all the rush of adrenaline returned. My focus turned toward Saber. The pathetic excuse of skin hunched over in pain. A crowd of my men came with a few hostages in tow.
I bent down to the ground, facing toward Saber. Saber tried to scoot away from me, kicking his feet, dragging himself across the ground.
“Why try Saber? You signed your death warrant the moment you threatened my ol’ lady,” I said.
His soft whimpers attempted to latch on to any kind of hope.
B.B crept up behind me and handed me my gun, the one I had dropped when rushing to Melody. “One of the prospects and Blue’s ol’ lady are on the way with one of the trucks. Greene offered a police escort, he’ll spin a story,” B.B said.
It wasn’t going to be too long before Melody could get to a hospital. I begged silently that she would be able to hang on long enough. My hands were still painted with her blood, it was enough fire to end it once and for all.
“Make sure they put me down as an emergency contact, I don’t need anyone stopping me once we’re done here.” I commanded.
“What we gonna do about this lot?” B.B’s sinister voice echoed.
I straightened up, slowly walked over to Saber. His body trailed a line of blood. “I’m done worrying about every step they take.”
I walked past a line of men with their hands behind their backs, with sneers that I was the evil one. And maybe I was because I would unleash a cleansing. Just then, a truer evil thought passed my mind. “Get Reverend, he should be here for the last rites. A true, proper end to the era of the Hogs.”
It wasn’t a punishment for Reverend, but a chance to ensure true purity would be here. I wasn’t playing God, but I did feel close to it.
Before I knew it, Saber tried to find a “weapon” of some sort. I stepped on his wrist. “Still thinking that you can find your way out of this?”
Reverend stepped up beside me. “Prez.”
“Do you think there is any redemption in the evil of this world?” I asked.
“Depends on which version of you’re asking. As a spiritual leader, I have to have faith that we all can be redeemed. But if you’re asking me as a brother, witnessing the pain and truth of this evil, no amount of redemption could save them. Their fate was sealed.” Finally he said something we could agree on.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Blue’s ol’ lady and Woody helping Shooter cart off Melody. Her practically lifeless body sent an ache in my chest. As soon as the tail lights faded in the night, there was nothing that was going to stop me.
I signaled two of the guys to pick up Saber, holding him. His grunts and groans were like a symphony. Blood kept dripping from his chest. The wound wasn’t straight to the heart, that would be too good for him. His head bobbed back and forth. His beady eyes appeared so helpless.
B.B and Reverend stood behind me, waiting for orders.
First step would be preparing the bodies and then light the place up like a funeral pyre.
I took his head, pulling it back. Because the last thing he’d see when he meets his end is my face, knowing that the man that he craved to take down would be his undoing.
“You don’t deserve any of this, you deserve the levels of hell.” I hissed. “Your own envy and pride caused your end. Not me, not my brothers. I wonder what the soul feels when the guilt of your own club dying from your stupidity would feel like.”
Reverend started to mutter prayers and rites, but I only asked that the souls be buried down in hell. There was no rite they deserved, not after all blood that they spilled, every innocent life they took by pinning drug overdoses on innocent artists.
One by one, each of the brothers ended each Hog’s life. Tears, sweat, and even piss spilled on the floor once each had dropped to the floor. Gunshots echoed in the warehouse, like a clashing cymbal.
Saber struggled against my men holding him. The horror of each one of them dying by our hands finally scared him, knowing that he was going to be next.
When the last member dropped to the ground, my gaze turned to him. Reverend finished his last prayer. I knew one thing for sure, I would never turn back and regret this moment.
As each of my brothers stepped away from the fallen bodies and stood behind me, there was no greater feeling or act of vengeance compared to that.
“I win, motherfucker. Saint’s will forever reign in Memphis. See you in hell.” With that, I delivered one final blow to his head, the light disappeared from his eyes.
The wash of relief rushed over me. I let go of the breath I was holding back for so long. One that I held the moment Melody came into my life and the moment that I knew trouble was brewing.
I could have released my anger in so many ways. I could have lasted his torture a lot longer.
I holstered my gun.
“It’s done, boys,” I said.
“Time to light it up,” B.B announced. “Y’all know what to do, make the bodies unrecognizable, no traces left behind. In and out.”
“We don’t need to be here any longer than we need to be.” Fender added.
I stared at Saber’s body, waiting for a moment of doubt, that I would awake from this dream and still be living in a nightmare. That moment never came.
I knew that our chapter would be like any other chapter, we’d do anything for the club, to show that no one would take what we had away. We’d do anything to show power, control.
I’d beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission later if needed.
I knew our consequences would come after, I’d be prepared for anything, even if it was the mother chapter coming after my ass for a dumbass move.
Time had passed and the brothers and I stood outside the gates, this would be the moment that everything would be final.
No dead to be risen from their watery graves. No outside threats that we knew of coming after us or pinning something on us.
Maybe for a while, we would go back to breathing without having to glance over our shoulders.
Someone tapped on my shoulder, pulling me from my thoughts. Reverend stood there, with a match in his hands.
“Cleanse by fire?” he asked.
“A means to an end.” I said, striking the match and dropping it in the puddle of lighter fluid. I wasn’t going to leave until I knew that building would come down.
The fire grew like a hungry monster, consuming everything. Fire blazed across the warehouse, latching on with its fiery hands. The dark red and orange of the blaze sent a rush of heat.
It’s wrong to think that this was a glorious sight, but I never said I was right.
It felt like justice. It felt like the start of a new life.
B.B clasped a hand on my shoulder. “Time to go, brother.”
“We fucking did it, B.B.”
He chuckled. “Wow, did the infamous Hound Dog just say we?
“Asshole.”
“Dickhead.”
“Do you regret me coming into your bar that night? Pulling you into all of this?” I asked. I’d never asked B.B if he regretted it, but all that we'd been through the past decade or so, I never wanted any brother to feel like they regretted being patched in nor me being president.
“They always said that when opportunity comes knocking, don’t ignore it. Well, it was hard to ignore when you busted the hinges,” B.B joked. A small smirk plastered on my face. “Listen, Hound. We’re given this one life, and we make it the best we can. If that meant that I needed to trust my friend, then I trusted my friend.”
“Even when we accidentally set your ass on fire,” I couldn’t resist mentioning the moment that B.B did question what he got himself into.
“Even then, plus I got a little sexy burn that makes women stop and stare,” he said cockily.
“Sure, that’s what they’re staring at,” I joked.
“Oh, Hound, you know what they’re staring at.” I knew the fucker probably had winked at me. “Don’t worry, there’s only one person that I’d let stare at me with no limits.”
That was going to be another discussion for another day.
I couldn’t stay around any longer. I had someone more important to see.