“Punk-ass niggaz!” Spooky screamed, waving his gun. “Yo, you seen how fast them niggaz got outta here, son?” When Spooky didn’t get a response, he turned around looking for his homeboy, fearing the worst.

The front of Jah’s shirt and part of his face were spattered with blood. He was kneeling, breathing heavily as if he had been running. Beneath him, Crazy Eight lay on the ground twitching with two red dots in the middle of his shirt.

“Damn fool went and got himself hit,” Jah whispered.

“Man, we gotta go,” Spooky said. Seeing that Jah still hadn’t moved, he grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him to his feet. “Jah, that nigga is meat. We gotta get the fuck outta here before one-time shows up.”

Jah nodded but continued staring at Eight. When the shooting had started, Eight had tried to run with his bike and took one in the gut. Even shot, he was still trying to pull that raggedy-ass ten-speed to safety. The second shot hit him in the chest, flipping the young man backward. He was twenty-two years old when the lights in his eyes were dimmed forever.

“Yeah, kid. That’s how you lay a nigga down!” Rel boasted.

Groovy sucked his teeth. “You didn’t even hit Jah.”

“Yeah, but I hit his man.” He hoisted his still-warm pistol. “You seen the way that boy folded?” He tapped Slick.

Slick looked at Rel as if he’d woken him from a peaceful dream. “Shut up and put that hammer away.”

“Groove, turn this joint around so I can get another crack at him,” Rel said anxiously.

“What are you trying to do, get us knocked?” Slick asked. “Groovy, we’re dropping Ralph off and dumping this hot-ass car. Yo,” he turned to Ralph, “you straight?”

“I’m cool,” Ralph said nervously. His stomach was flopping so much that he thought he was going to shit himself.

“Ralph, you’re a part of this team and I protect my own.” Slick placed his arm around him. “Don’t worry about nothing. Stay the true cat that you are and leave Jah to us. We’re gonna handle this nigga,” Slick assured him.

Ralph nodded dumbly like he was digging everything Slick was saying, but his thoughts were already on where he was going to relocate. They had tried to hit Jah and missed, which changed the arrangement drastically. Paul’s baby brother was a relentless dog. He wouldn’t stop coming until he had killed all of them, or fallen to a bullet himself. Ralph didn’t intend on sticking around to find out how it played out.