Commit To Violence

"I don’t give a fuck if you don’t say another word. You gonna die slow, bloody and painful tonight." Bobby dropped the ax and swung the sledgehammer over his head and brought it down on Rawls’ kneecap.

Rawls screamed and Bobby hit him in the other knee- cap.

"That sounds like it hurts," Black said. "I think you better tell this nigga something."

"Fuck that, Mike. He ain’t got to say shit to me for the rest of the night," Bobby said as he hit Rawls in the chin. "I’m about to go Kunta Kinte on his ass." Bobby dropped the sledgehammer, knelt down in front of Rawls and pulled off his sock. Then he shoved the sock in Rawls’ mouth. "The time for talkin’ is over." Bobby got in Rawls’ face. "It’s party time."

"Look at him, Bobby. He’s all confused and bothered. I don’t think he knows what you’re gonna do. I mean, I don’t think he saw Roots."

Bobby picked up the ax. "Well, he’s about to find out." He knelt down in front of Rawls again and grabbed Rawls’ ankle. "This is gonna hurt."

"No shit," Black said as Bobby brought the ax down and chopped off Rawls’ toes.

As Rawls grimaced in pain and the blood oozed out of what was left of his foot, Bobby went in the kitchen and came back with a knife. Then he ripped the sleeves off of Rawls’ shirt and made long incisions down his arms. "Now we gonna see if you bleed to death before I cut your throat."

Mike walked back over to Rawls. "You sure you don’t want to tell me where Ebony Washington is and where the papers she was carrying are?" he asked, but didn’t bother to take the sock out of his mouth.

"Mike!"

"What?"

"If you not gonna help, get the fuck out my way."

Black shrugged his shoulders and took two steps back. Bobby stepped in front of Rawls and began punching him in the face with hard lefts and rights. Once his hands started hurting, Bobby picked up the sledgehammer and began ramming it into Rawls’ chest. Rawls could hear his ribs cracking. Slowly he began to realize that he was going to die, just the way Bobby said he would, slow, bloody and painful.

"Damn, Bob. I heard that shit. I think you broke his ribs," Black said.

"You wanna hear bones breakin’? Watch this," Bobby said and came down with the hammer on Rawls’ arm with so much force that it broke the arm of the chair. Rawls opened his eyes and looked at the blood and his bone sticking out of his arm. He bit down harder on the sock because the pain had become more than he could stand.

Bobby walked around to the other side of the chair and was about to do the same to the other arm when Rawls pushed the sock out of his mouth with his tongue. "Okay—okay, shit! I’ll tell you what you wanna know."

"Fuck that!"

Bobby raised the hammer over his head, but Black grabbed his arm. "Let’s hear what the man has to say, Bob."

"Okay," Bobby said, but as soon as Black let go, Bobby brought the hammer down on Rawls’ other arm. While he screamed in agony, Black looked at Bobby and shook his head. "No point wasting a good swing."

Once again, Black pulled his chair closer to Rawls. "Where is she?"

"Brooklyn—in a house on Sterling Street. They got her in the basement."

"How many men are with her?" Black asked.

"Three: two upstairs, one in the basement watching her."

"What’s the plan?"

"I’m supposed to meet them there later with the money, and then we’ll let her go."

"Good man. Now where are the papers she was carrying?"

"I don’t know," Rawls said. He really didn’t know. He had no idea what papers Black was asking him about all night. All he knew was that when they brought her in, she wasn’t carrying anything.

"I’m getting tired of this," Black said and stood up. He kicked Rawls in the chest and the chair fell over. Black went in the kitchen and got the biggest pot he could find. He went to the sink and filled the pot with water.

Black came back to the living room to find Bobby standing over Rawls kicking him in the face. "Bobby!"

"What?"