Gianna's Grit | ✓

XXIV: We All Bleed Red

GIANNA

Kamari and the Tags had demanded that I stayed behind them all; "King will chop our dicks off if you're hurt". After snatching the gun Kamari had somehow gotten out of my purse, I begrudgingly agreed. I stayed on their tail, though one of the three eventually came to cover my back just in case. We'd crept in through a back foot at the warehouse Red supposedly owned, but no one knew where the man in question was—or his followers.

It's way too quiet.. and dark.

This had been the warehouse Red brought Kamari to when they'd branded him, so he led the rest of us through the building. I followed him dutifully before I heard his voice.

"You stay the fuck away from her, she's got nothing to do with this."

While Kamari and the first two Tags snaked left, I quickly went in the opposite direction. This gained their attention, and I stopped at the door, finally laying eyes on King. I breathed a sigh of relief into the black bandana Kamari had given me.

I heard the four men behind me mumbling to one another, and I turned to see them counting bullets, "what are you planning?"

Once again, Kamari was the speaker, "Just keep your hood and bandana up. Keep your gun ready and go straight to King, alright?"

I furrowed my brow, "what about you?"

Kamari loaded his rounds back into the gun and sent me a stern look as he pushed passed me, "I'm getting my fucking revenge, Gi."

•••

Tired of standing and watching King grow furious, I pulled against Kamari's hold one final time. He released me and I barely heard his voice as I rushed towards King. His dark eyes met mine and widened as shots fired from behind me, causing bodies from above to drop— bodies I hadn't even realized were watching Red and King from the warehouse's makeshift wings.

King took his gun from his jeans quickly and rushed to me after firing a shot at Red, effectively knocking him down.

He ran and cupped my face, yanking down the bandana, "I told you to go home."

"I told you to stay," I shot back before looking him over. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Don't worry about me," he shook his head and stepped back to look me over. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I nodded, assuring him.

He turned his back to me and shot multiple rounds into Red, who I hadn't even seen coming.

I watched his body heave with every deep breath he took. King's left hand reached behind him and I didn't hesitate before taking it.

He approached Red's fallen yet still live body and sneered, "I told you to leave my family alone."

Red smiled as he turned onto his side, spitting out blood before turning his eyes to King again, "We all bleed red in the end anyway.. just ask your brother."

My eyes widened and I searched the warehouse floor for Kamari. I watched the Tags surround him as he crumbled to the floor, but King only buried my face in his chest. A single shot rang out as I began sobbing, and King led me away from Red's now silent body.

When his hands moved from my eyes, Kamari was all I saw. He was on his back, his hand laying flat over his stomach as he struggled to do anything other than look at me.

He shakily raised his hand to me, and I dropped to my knees before taking it. I held his hand to my chest and I cried, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry—"

"Kadeem," he choked out.

I furrowed my brow but saw that he was trying to reach his chest with his other hand. I rushed to pat down the area before feeling a bulge beneath it. I checked around his neck and pulled a chain from beneath his black sweatshirt. The dog tag had a picture of a smiling baby boy engraved on it, Kadeem written in cursive below it.

"Is this your son, Kamari?" I whispered, sniffling.

He barely nodded before weakly pointing to him, "Got him?"

I smiled sadly and nodded, "I've got him, I promise."

He began coughing, Kamari's head turning to the side as he added more blood to the puddle he'd already created. His body was jerking for a few seconds as I hysterically called his name, willing him to look at me and keep talking.

His eyes stayed open as they pointed aimlessly to his puddle of blood, the last way Kamari deserved to die.

I turned to one of the Tags, "He can't be dead, right? He's okay, right?"

He stood and put his face in his hands, already mourning. I turned to the other men around me as they took similar stances, their mouths moving as if.. to say a silent prayer over Kamari.

The Tags returned to his body after finishing their prayers. One broke off the chain and gave it to me, while the others closed Kamari's eyes and moved to pick him up together.

King wrapped his arms around my body and pulled me to my feet, as the Tags went in the opposite direction and back to the vehicles.

I wanted to follow and see where they were taking Kamari, but King kept me in his grasp until I'd run out of tears to cry.

"Come on, ma," he whispered, leading me towards the exit the Tags had taken earlier, "Let's go home."

"What's going to happen to Kamari?" I asked almost numbly, and King gently removed the bandana off of my face completely.

"We gotta bury him, like we do all our boys," King said simply. "He'll be buried beside the rest—"

"He's being buried on Kingsley Hill," I refused.

"He's one of my brothers," King argued as I sat down in my seat.

I looked up at him, "He's one of mine too."

King's eyes hardened before I revealed the chain to him, "He's going to Kingsley Hill, end of the story."