Brothers in Blood: For the Children

First Impressions

One of Zay’s friends, a skinny white kid, his parents named Gered, slapped him on the back. “Going out tonight?” He winked, his reputation with the girls back home was infamous. Zay shoved him playfully. “Not what you thinkin’ brother.” He walked outside and hopped into his car. Cameron skipped out of the house and leapt into the back seat. The kid was still wearing the same clothes he had come in the day before. Zay waited until Cameron was buckled in, and then started his car.
He knew who had done it, even before he could react. The stereo was cranked to the max, playing a song that no kid should ever hear. Zay punched the volume down, and checked to make sure Cameron was okay. The boy shook his head and wiggled his ears. He was okay. Zay changed the CD as fast as he could at the first red light, putting in POD’s “Satellite.” Cameron seemed to enjoy it. They drove on, making some small talk until they pulled into Cameron’s driveway. They got out and went up to the door.
Cameron walked straight in the front door, while Zay waited on the front steps. Kenea came out a few minutes later, but he didn’t mind waiting. She had Cameron in tow, different clothes on, dressed a little nicer. She smiled at Zay when he opened the car door for her. Her hand brushed his. Cameron rolled his eyes and lay down in back. His eyes slammed shut and he was out. Nervousness devoured Zay, he didn’t know what to do now. “You look really nice this morning.” He saw her try to suppress a smile, and scrambled. “Not that you didn’t look nice last night, i’m just saying that...” He felt the blood rushing to his face and turned back to driving. She was laughing at him. Kenea reached out and put her hand on his, still smiling. “You’re funny, I like you.” His head twitched in her direction. “You do?” He could feel his palms sweating, leaking out all over the wheel. He wiped them hurriedly on his pants. “I uh, like you too.” She smiled at him, then went quiet. They rode the rest of the way to the mall, with just the CD providing any imput.
They got to the mall. Cameron latched on to Zay’s hand, and dragged him from store to store while Kenea followed, laughing at her brother’s instant attraction to Zay. Zay had his Catechumen sweatshirt on, and his shaved head made him stand out to all the wrong people. And he noticed them too. He pulled Cameron closer, and put his arm around Kenea’s shoulder, protectively when a group of gangstas walked past. One had a broken nose. They glared at him, beady, glazed eyes under side-ways hats and doo-rags. he glared right back. Zay wasn’t one to be intimidated. Kenea watched the silent exchange. “You know them?” “No.” “Then why hate them?”
He pulled Cameron around in front of him. “Because of what they do, Kenea, don’t hate them ‘cause they black, or anything like that, its what they do. Take kids like Cam and get ‘em hooked on drugs and kill them before they have a chance to live.” “But Cameron's white, they wouldn’t want him...” “Ever heard of wangstas?” She closed her mouth and looked away. “I guess you’re right.” Cameron pulled them into a Newbury Comics and disappeared into the aisles of X-Men and Justice Leaguers. Kenea kept her eye on him as he wandered, picking up one, glancing through it and putting it back.
When he found one he liked, he ran back to them and pressed it into her hands. “Please, can we buy it? Please, please, please?” Kenea started to explain that she didn’t have the money for it, but Zay put his hand on her shoulder. “I got it, let me see that real quick, bro.” Cameron handed it to him. “Superman, huh?” He flipped through the pages, colors and pictures all flowing together in a finely woven storyline. “Let me show you something, Cam.” He went over to where Cameron had picked up the comic. “See these numbers in the corner? They mean that this is part of a longer story.” Zay leafed through the racks and followed the arc back until he found its beginning and its end. “Now, you can read the whole story. okay?” He handed the boy a twenty and sent him off to pay. Kenea had her arms folded across her chest.
“How do you know there isn’t anything inappropriate in those books?” Zay gave her a dead stare. “Because I already read that arc.” “You read comic books?” He grinned like an idiot and followed Cameron to the front of the store. “Maybe.” She followed him. They walked out of the store, and Cameron was bouncing over to the movie posters. “Can we see that one? It looks soo cool!” Kenea glanced at the poster. “Sure, why not? I’ve wanted to see that one too, and the reviews said it was pretty good. Okay with you, Zay?” he wasn’t paying attention, his eyes locked on something beyond her. She turned and saw a group of young men dressed in gang colors, mixed races, staring at them. One made an obscene gesture at her, smiling when he saw her reaction. Zay flipped them off and ushered Kenea and Cameron into the theater.
The movie was okay, Cameron couldn’t stop talking about it as they walked to the car. “That was so cool when the guy flipped over the car and slid down the vent!” he looked up at Zay. “Can you flip over a car?” Without a second thought, Zay ran up and vaulted off the roof of his car and landed on the other side. “Like that?”
“How come people don’t have theme songs like all those people in movies do?” Cameron pulled open his door and buckled up. Zay opened Kenea’s door, then got in himself. “Real people just aren’t as cool as people in movies, bro.”
“You’re cooler than that guy was.”
Zay shook his head like a dog. Kenea laughed. “It’s true, what are you shaking your head for?” he shook his head again. She turned so her whole body was facing him. “What?”
Zay’s eyes widened at something over her shoulder and he dived forward. Grabbing her shoulder, he barely pushed her down before a baseball bat exploded the passenger side window. It grazed his back and broke against the seat. Scrambling, Zay reached into his glove box and pulled out a sheet of flash paper he kept around for emergencies. His fingers found his lighter and flicked it. It caught the paper and he tossed it outside. It flared up, temporarily blinding the attackers and hopefully sending them running. He felt Kenea underneath him and rolled off. “You okay?” He looked her over, she nodded silently. Cameron had four part tire-iron in his hands and was gesturing to Zay to take it.
The cold steel felt good in his hands, even though he would have preferred almost anything else. He slipped out of the car and crept around the back. peering over the hood, he stopped. The gangstas he had flipped off earlier were rubbing their eyes, still recovering from the flash paper. Leaving his keys in the car, he sprinted towards them. Coming around behind them, he swung hard at their wrists, hoping to end the fight quickly. The first one fell, the small bones cracking when the steel met his fingers. He screamed.
His cries of pain were joined by music booming out from Zay’s car. The other gangsta circled around him. Zay could hear songs changing, until Cameron found the one he wanted. “Everyday is a new day..” The familiar words of POD’s Alive pulsated across the lot, energizing Zay. The hoods all rushed him at once, he darted towards one, making him step back and stumble. The iron flew out of Zay’s hands and smashed into his face. Putting his hands on the trunk of the car behind him, Zay kicked out at the other two, knocking them flat on their backs. They tried to get up, but he was on top of them, using their own oversized tee-shirts to tie them up.
“Look out behind you!” The warning came too late as the gangster Zay had thrown the tire iron at was creeping up behind him. The iron came down on Zay’s shoulder, followed by a heavily blinged fist to the back of his neck. “..and I think I can fly..” Red flashed in his eyes, he crumpled to the pavement. Above him, the hood raised the iron high for a killing stroke. Then his knees bent backwards. Zay’s feet shot out and hyper-extended his knees, breaking them and possibly crippling him for life. Zay stood up and stumbled back over to his car. Sirens could be heard coming closer.
Cameron was standing up in the back seat. “See, Zay, you’ve got a theme song now too!” Zay smiled and opened Kenea’s door. She got out and let him brush the glass off her and her seat. “Sorry about playing rough with you, wasn’t thinking.” She was crying, but he didn’t understand why. “Wass wrong? You okay?” She nodded, choking. Cameron came and put his arms around his sister. Zay went put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, then collapsed from the pain shooting through his shoulder. He could feel the bones moving under the skin and felt his mind getting cloudy from shock, but he had to find out if Kenea was okay. “Whatcha crying for? You hurt?” She shook her head and threw up.
Flashing lights filled the area, and Zay felt his knees giving way. “Iss gonna be okay, Kenea, promise, you’ll be okay.” Then all he saw was black.
Kenea saw him fall, and the crooked angle of his demolished collar bone and knelt down. She checked his pulse, still strong, and his breathing. “Cam, get a blanket or something! Now! he’s in shock!” Out of the back seat, Cameron dragged a plaid checked blanket and they spread it over him. The cops were filing over to them when they were propping Zay’s feet up to keep the blood up near his head.
“What happened here, another Race Riot?” The cop was a boisterous, thick-necked man with a heavy mustache and goatee. He eyed Zay’s shaved head and the three black men on the ground. “What happened here?”
One of the gangstas rolled over and started yelling. “That f***in’ white shit juss started crackin all ova us, man, we didn’t do nuthin, nigga an all of a sudden, dis muthafuka come and start hittin us wid dat metal thang.”
“Then why is his car window shattered?” Kenea stood up from whispering to Zay, who was starting to regain consciousness. The officer in charge stopped her. “And what’s your story, ma’am?”
“Oh yea, listen tada white chick. She gonna lie, an you gonna believe her juss cuz she white, ain’t you? No use deny, we know how youse all works.”
“One more word like that, punk, and you’ll get hauled in for harassing a police officer.” He turned back to Kenea. “Now, what went on here, ma’am?” cameron, who had been sitting so nicely on the hood of the car now jumped up. “Those guys came and smashed in Zay’s window and-” The officer put up his hand. “I’m listening to your sister, bud, just give me a minute, then I’ll talk to you.” “Zay needs help! He needs an ambulance!” The officer took one look at Zay’s shoulder and agreed. His partner, who had not left the car, radioed for an ambulance to come, and for more cars and a tow-truck. “Can I have your story now, miss?”
Kenea told him all, starting when Zay and the thugs had exchanged greetings earlier in the mall. “Then we came out, and were getting ready to leave when he grabbed me and threw me down on the seat before the window exploded. He threw something out the window, then Cam handed him the tire iron and he got out of the car. We saw them all gang up on him and-”
“”Shut up, bitch, you lying so bad-” The cop snapped at the gangsta. “You shut up, your turn will come.”
“Zay fought them, and one hit him on the shoulder with the iron and broke it.” The siren could now be heard from across the parking lot. The cop cars all pulled in, and officers came out and dragged the gangstas to the cars. “Racist! hate crime! Profilin’!” The cars all pulled away and the paramedics lifted Zay onto the stretched and hauled him off to the hospital. He flashed Kenea a smile. “Could ya take the car back for me?” She nodded and waved. The doors shut and the lights disappeared. Cam was sitting back on the hood, talking with the officer. “Yeah, Zay’s pretty cool, and he’s not racist or anything like that, he kind of loves everybody, like Mister Jack does. He’s been staying with Mister Jack.” The officer nodded knowingly. “I know Mister Jack, a good guy. Fine guy. Is that where you two are headed now?” He looked at Kenea who was folding the blanket back up.
“Oh,” She started, “Yeah, we’re going back to Jack’s house, let them know what happened and then we’re going home. Cam needs to get some sleep before school tomorrow. Right, kid?” Cam nodded and started swinging his feet.
“Alright, I’ll call Jack when I get back to the station and let him know whats what. If I need any more information about what happened, he’ll let you know to come down. Sound good?” They both nodded. “Alright then, have a good night!” Kenea brushed the glass off the driver seat and turned the engine on. Cam crawled into the back seat and went to sleep. She reached back and brushed his hair back gently, with her fingers and then drove back to Jack’s house.
GD opened the door, his eyes gentle. “Come on in, we just heard ‘bout Zay.” He put his hand on her shoulder and ushered her in. Cameron clung to her hand, watching her with worried eyes. Kenea didn’t look well. “Is he gonna be alright? did they say?” Jack walked in to the living room from the kitchen, a glass of water in his hand. “Here, take a load off, K, he’s gonna be fine.” Scud excused himself and pushed all the Catachumen who were sneaking peaks at her back down to the basement. Gered fought his way past Scud and wolf whistled at her. Mista D grabbed the back of his shirt and propelled him down the hallway. “Betta gesome control ova yoself, punk, o you gonna end up hurtin.’ Gonna give us all a bad name, keep acting like that.”