Promised Land, page 13
I could have run, but I didn’t. After today, this was it for me. Whatever happened just happened. I kissed my grandbaby’s forehead, closed my eyes and prayed for God to forgive all my sins.
“Don’t you shoot her, Ben!” Maryann yelled. “Not with my baby in her arms, don’t you dare!”
“Then come get yo baby before she dies!”
“If you keep killing all of us,” Malcolm shouted. “There won’t be enough of us to work around here! Asia keeps the women in line. If you kill her, you may have to kill them all!”
The black Master moved closer, shouting too. “Calm down, Ben! You’re too trigger happy and he’s right. You got bodies down here dropping like flies and we got work that needs to be done.”
Maryann walked up to me and snatched the baby from my arms. “You’d better thank me for saving your life today.” She turned and touched the tip of Ben’s rifle that was aimed at me. “Down. Put it down and why don’t you boys start cleaning up this mess. I’ll get Asia to start digging some graves. I’s going inside to get cleant up and make some ice cold lemonade. Been too much action going on this morning, and I knows my Lizzy is tired.”
Maryann stomped up the steps, but she stopped when she heard the black Master speak to me. He rubbed his finger along the side of my face and moved my hair away from my narrowed eyes.
“You didn’t need him anyway,” he said, referring to Brian. “If you were my wife, I would’ve treated you much better than he did.”
I cocked my head back to avoid his touch. And before I spoke up, Maryann did.
“Don’t you dare touch her or come near her, ya hear me?” she snapped. “Go get you one of those other heathens out there, but don’t you put your filthy hands on my Asia.”
Behind the mask, The Master shot Maryann a stern gaze. “Let me be clear, Miss Maryann. I’m not one of your boys. You can’t order me around, and the last time I checked, it was my money that helped pay the bills around here. Therefore, I damn well can have anything or anyone I want on the Promised Land. That includes, Miss Asia.”
It wasn’t long before I realized who really had the upper hand around here. Within the hour, the black Master was on top of me, doing his thing. As the headboard slammed against the wall, I just stared at the ceiling, hoping that Malcolm would do as I’d asked. I intended to start a fire too. Hopefully, by tomorrow, this house, along with the Promised Land, would be no more.
Chapter Fifteen
The Plight of Malcolm Garvey
It was a long walk to the men’s quarters. I didn’t take pride in having to tell two young boys their father had been murdered, especially since I felt like it was somewhat my fault. It was tough being called on to be a leader. I had to do things that took something out of me at times. This was one of those times.
As soon as one of the guards at the door let me in—they didn’t say much to me since Mathias had made me his house boy. That shit hurt my soul to even think it— Drake and Demonte rushed over to me.
“What happened?” Drake asked.
“Yeah, where’s my dad?” Demonte demanded next.
I looked around at the men in the room. There were some who weren’t in on my plan, a few I didn’t trust not to rat us out to save their own behinds. Marcel got up and walked over to me, along with the guys I knew could be trusted. I looked at the twins with a heavy heart.
“They killed him,” I said.
“What?” both boys said at the same time.
“Naw. You lying,” Demonte said while shaking his head.
“What? But how? You said if he made it to the mountain top and over to the other side, shit would be gravy,” Drake spat at me.
The pain in their eyes was almost unbearable for me and I was a grown man. I couldn’t imagine how those boys actually felt.
“That was the way it was supposed to go, but apparently—”
“Apparently you were fucking wrong and got my pops killed,” Demonte yelled, getting in my face.
Any other time I wouldn’t stand for any male getting in my face, especially not a young one, but I put pride and ego to the side to understand the young man’s misguided anger for what it was; pain.
Out of both boys, Demonte was the quickest one to fight. The boy had guts and pride and didn’t take kindly to being treated second class. I admired that about him.
So I took a deep breath and stood face-to-face with him. “I understand that you’re angry. I get that your anger is righteous. Yes, I fucked up on thinking the other side of that mountain spelled freedom, but I am not the reason your father was killed. Keep in mind that we were stolen, all of us. We were taken and brought here to be slaves by white supremacy. That is what killed your father, Demonte.”
Drake said, “Yeah, but if you hadn’t gotten him in on your plan, he’d still be here. Yeah, it’s fucked up that we in here, but this was the first time in years we actually had our pops back with us, man. He was here with us, fighting with us, for us.” He slapped his chest. Tears rolled down his face and slobber stitched his lips together as he spoke. “For the first time, in a long time, it wasn’t Mama who had to watch out for us and protect us. Pops was here and he had our backs. Now he gone and we back at square one.”
“We ain’t got nobody now. They took our mama and our sister. Who we got? You niggas?” Demonte asked, one hand on his chest and the other waving around as he spoke. “Dad was finally here and they took him,” he yelled, shoving me. “They took him, killed him because you sold him a fucking dream.”
I looked around to make sure those who didn’t know what was going on couldn’t hear too much. By now, both boys were in my face. Marcel stepped in between.
With his back to me, he responded to Drake and Demonte in my defense. “Your emotions are raw right now. Why don’t y’all take a minute to chill? Brian volunteered to do this, remember? He knew the risk, but he took it because he wanted to help get y’all out of here.”
“Look,” I said, causing Marcel to step to the side again. “I’m sorry for your loss, but he didn’t die in vain. He brought me back informa—”
I got cut off as the guards yanked the doors open. In walked Ben and his sons, Brock and Mathias.
“Y’all come on out to the yard at the main house. Got something ya need to see,” Ben said.
I already knew what was about to happen.
“I thought it was agreed upon that his children didn’t need to see this,” I said.
“It was agreed on that they wouldn’t see him getting killed,” Brock said coolly. “Mathias, teach your house nigger how to curb his tongue.”
Mathias looked at me, but didn’t say anything. I knew he wouldn’t, but because I didn’t want to cause more trouble, I remained silent.
It didn’t take us long to get to the front of the main house. My soul burned cold.
Just for the hell of it, The Masters had Brian’s body strung up for all to see. I’d already broken the news to Drake and Demonte that their father had been killed. That still didn’t stop them from damn near losing their minds when they saw their father hanging from a tree, hands tied behind his back with a noose around his neck.
Shooting Brian in the back hadn’t been enough. The Masters wanted to send a clear message about what would happen if anyone tried to escape. Marcel and I had to hold each boy back as they tried to get to Mathias. Mathias had a toothy grin on his face, antagonism in his eyes as if he had been daring Drake or Demonte to get loose so he could do to them what had been done to their father.
Three days later, I slipped around the back of the house while Brock and Ben were in a heated debate about something. I was thankful that The Masters had left the morning after Brian had been killed. I had to get Mathias alone for my plan to work. It had been three days of pure hell. I hadn’t seen Aubrey since the day Brian had been killed. Last I saw of her was later that evening when Maryann stood guard as she dug graves for Brian and Jessica.
I slid my hands in my pockets and flipped the lighter between my fingers. The plan was now in motion. Shit had to be done and it had to be done with urgency. Even with that in mind, I still knew I was going to need more than a lighter to do it. I was also going to need to use my head. I looked at Mathias. He was the weakest link and he had access to guns.
Only half of my plan with Brian had worked. I wasn’t sure what Brian had found on the other side of that mountain, but it couldn’t have been what I’d assumed. Something was wrong . . . or maybe that wasn’t the mountain. I scratched my head in thought, confused. It had to have been though.
There was one good thing that Brian had managed to do. He’d told me that the train was there. So while he’d been caught, the fact that the train, one that not many people knew of, was running gave me hope. That meant my people were doing as they were supposed to, even though something was off about how Brian got caught on the other side of that mountain.
The heat beamed down on me as I watched Mathias head into the shed. I looked above my head at the clear blue sky. A few black birds flew around in a circle. Had no idea what kind they were. Machines going in the distance told me dusk was upon us. That was the only time they turned on generators for the outside lights so the field hands could keep working well into the dark.
I heard some of the guards laughing and talking with one another as they patrolled. The air was dry and it was hotter than Satan’s nut sack. Perfect weather for what I had in mind. I nodded to Marcel as I passed him. I’d talked Mathias into letting him work with me by helping me do housework; house nigga shit.
Marcel nodded his head in return, signaling he knew what time it was. He hurried to put the bag of corn feed he had in the corn harvester. I headed to the gray concrete gunshed where Mathias had gone. I glanced around and made sure no one saw me slip inside and locked the door behind me. Mathias stood in front of a wall of guns, admiring it like it was some kind of expensive art. Behind the wall was another open space where I could see a trap door in the floor.
There was nothing special about the décor of the shed. The walls inside matched the concrete outside. Knives of all shapes and sizes lined the far-right wall, while hand grenades and other explosives were on the far left. The floor had a thick type of brown wood that had been polished to the point I could see my reflection.
He whipped around as soon as he heard me behind him. The look of surprise turned into one of lust and, oddly, school boy shyness. It was unnerving.
He smiled, showing crooked discolored teeth. “Oh, it’s just you,” he said. “You, ah, know you ain’t ‘sposed ta be in here.”
There was no malice in his voice. The hard edge aggressiveness he had with all the others wasn’t there for me.
“I figured this was the only time we could get alone,” I said. “Wanted to talk to you privately about some things.”
He glanced around then back at me. Mathias’ eyes roamed all over my body before they settled back on my eyes.
“Like what?” he asked, almost seductively.
I pulled the plaid shirt he’d given me to wear over my head. His eyes widened. “How much time we got alone in here before someone else shows up?” I asked.
Mathias turned beet red. He stood his full height and licked his lips. “’Bout thirty minutes before Brock comes ‘round and tally the am’nition and guns and such,” he said.
I nodded, kicking off the beat-up loafers then yanking the khaki pants down. I stepped out of them and stood naked in front of him.
“Good. I figure we can get a lot done and discussed in that time,” I said.
I watched the man’s breathing hitch as his palms opened and closed like he was nervous. He took in my naked form with a hard swallow.
“I—can’t really—” he started.
I interrupted him. “We’re down to twenty-eight minutes and I’m trying to give you what I know you want and deserve,” I said.
Mathias started clumsily trying to take off his clothes. I stopped him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
The last thing I wanted to do was see him naked.
I looked down at my flaccid manhood then back up at him. “I need stimulation. I’m at my best when a warm mouth gets me going.”
Excitement laced the man’s eyes as he eagerly dropped to his knees. Behind him, where he couldn’t see that I’d opened the trap door in the floor behind the gun wall, I saw Marcel crawl up. The machete I’d stolen two days before in his hands. Mathias was so busy admiring my manhood that he never even heard Marcel creep up behind him.
Beyond the walls, just in the cornfields, a commotion broke out. I heard Ben and Bobby Lee yelling for other men to help them. Drake and Demonte had done everything as I’d told them. I was sure Ben and Bobby Lee were confused as to why the twins were trying to kill one another by fighting.
Mathias went to grab for my member, I backed up. His head snapped up at me then his eyes looked toward the window behind me. Just as he got ready to say something, the smooth Zing! of the machete took his head clean from his shoulders. With his face frozen in an unexplainable look, his head rolled and bopped across the room under a table filled with boxes of ammunition.
“We have to hurry,” I said as I dropped down and started to undress Mathias. “I may be able to pass for Mathias, if I’m wearing his cap and clothes. Plus, he and I have a similar build. You drag his body back down through the trap door. Leave it hinged between that small crawl space then get back to the corn harvester. Wait for the smoke from the cotton fields before you free the children. Understand?”
The children only had one or two guards at a time as it was easy to keep fearful children in line. I’d learned from Mathias that the guards weren’t as well trained as the ones who kept eye on the adults. He’d let that slip when one of the children got away from one of the guards and drowned themselves in the river. Marcel could easily take them out.
Marcel nodded. “I got you,” he said, sadness in his eyes as he knew what had happened to his kids.
I’d told him the truth, right after that incident in the church with his wife, Melody, whom he’d never actually divorced. After telling Marcel of that, he looked as if his world had been snatched from him. He hadn’t been a man of too many words since then.
After I stripped Mathias naked, Marcel got to work dragging his headless body down through the trap door. I quickly donned his clothes—black combat boots, black army fatigue pants and a black and gold shirt with the words Promised Land written across a backdrop of some mountains. I pulled his cap on my head and made sure it shielded most of my face and eyes.
I grabbed my clothes, took the lighter from my pants pockets, and then wrapped Mathias’ head in them. I walked to the trap door and dropped the head down to Marcel.
“See you on the other side,” I said to him.
He nodded then said, “If I don’t make it, tell Melody I’m sorry and if I had to do it all over again, I would, but I’d be a better man second time around.”
I didn’t get a chance to respond. He slipped out of view, no doubt going to position himself to set off the other part of our plan. I closed the trap door and locked it. I grabbed several handguns and I strapped Mathias’ signature long-handled, semi-automatic rifle to my back before heading outside.
I raced to the other side of the house, trying to get near the cotton fields. I waited and peeked around the house. Just as I was about to make a dash across the field, I heard someone call Mathias’ name. I ignored them and walked toward the fields with my head down.
“Mathias,” Maryann called again. “I know you ain’t gone deaf.”
I kept walking as she continued yelling his name. Maryann may have been evil, but she was smart. I knew she would figure something was wrong sooner rather than later. It was now or never, I thought as I took off into a full sprint.
“Bobby Lee and Ben, get over here,” I heard Maryann yelling behind me. “Summin’ ain’t right about Mathias.”
I wasn’t too much worried once I disappeared into the cotton stalks. Setting dry cotton on fire wasn’t genius work. I pulled the lighter from my pocket and some kindling I’d made of cotton I’d taken the day before. It was do or die. Some of us would do and some of us would die, but freedom was always worth dying for.
I set the kindling aflame then tossed it into the cotton field.
“He went that way,” I heard Maryann yelling.
I looked over my shoulder to see Maryann pointing toward me as Ben and Bobby Lee headed in my general direction. While they couldn’t see me because stalks of cotton did a good job of keeping me hidden, I could see them. I still had the advantage over them. They still thought I was Mathias.
I could hear the crackle of flames as they roared to life. I couldn’t stay where I was or I’d get burned alive, but if I lured them further into the cotton, that would give me an advantage. For as much as I wished I could have kept the rifle, it had to come off my back. I tossed it to the side and pulled one of the handguns from my hip.
“Is that smoke?” I heard Ben yell at Bobby Lee. “Mathias, you in here?”
“The cotton is on fire,” Bobby Lee roared. “Go get—”
Before he could finish, I raised the Glock and lodged a bullet dead center of his head. Bobby Lee’s head jerked back, his eyes went cold and flinty, before he fell backwards to the ground. Stalks of cotton were stuck haphazardly underneath him.
“Oh shit,” I heard Ben say before pulling his gun.
He aimed it and spun side-to-side, round-and-round, firing recklessly into the cotton field. I hit the ground and army crawled, trying to get away from spraying bullets and burning cotton. The smell of burning paper and dried leaves filled the air as white smoke plumed into the air.
From the women’s quarters, I heard screaming. I jerked my head in that direction. Fuck! They’d let the women go back in earlier than expected. From where I’d set the fire, it would spread to where they were in no time. I hadn’t planned on that, but there was no way I could get to them to help them out. Not now. The fire was spreading on one side of me and Ben was firing a gun on the other side. If I didn’t get out soon, I was going to burn to death or get shot.
