The Sting - Chapter 5

It's been quite a week. Finally had the time to do some reading!

Chapter 5

Those words hit Bear hard. The Skulls don’t run but he realized he had to get out first. He got close to the guy in the dimly lit entrance and just we the Royal member looked back, he caught across the face with the butt of his gun. The guy dropped noiselessly to the floor.

Bear signaled to Sting and Wunmi to come and they were outside in seconds with Bear in front. Safe. He was wrong. There were two more outside; one was carrying a gun and the other a baseball bat. Immediately they saw Bear coming, the one with the gun raised it and fired.

He missed him.

Bear raised his and shot wildly at the one with the gun as he was the one posing the most danger. Three shots and he fell on the ground screaming in pains. The other one jumped towards Bear and wrestled him to the ground.

The gun was out of Bear’s hand now and they were rolling on the floor while the Royal members inside the hall ran towards the entrance to check what was happening.

Wunmi ran. She ran like she has never done, her shoes did not even hinder her and the thought that she might break her ankle did not occur to her, she just ran into the night and did not look back. She just wanted to get out of there, out of everything and she went screaming

Sting did not know what to do. He saw Bear shoot the guy but did not know if the guy was dead or not. But when he heard the screams, he knew the guy had been hit. When the other one jumped at bear and knocked the gun out of his hand, he thought about running back inside thinking there were more Royals outside but he saw that three Royals already coming his way. He thought of leaving Bear there but he could not bring himself to do that.

He then remembered the gun Bear gave him when they were coming into the hall to get Wunmi. He reached in to his jacket, pulled it out, stood at the entrance and started shooting at the Royals coming towards the entrance. He did not take aim as they were close, and they did not seem to see him.

 He squeezed the trigger about nine times as he could not control himself. He just shot wildly and randomly and before he knew it, the hall was filled with screams and gunshots. The sound of bullets hitting the door came from somewhere in the hall. Sting ducked and continued firing until the gun he held was empty.

Then he felt Bear pull him away and told him to run. He dropped the gun and did as commanded with Bear behind him.

At the car park where the remaining Skulls were gathered, waiting for Bear and Sting to return. They had heard the first three shots and moved to a spot closer to the hall waiting for Bear to give the signal. They knew he might be inside but trying to go save him would be dangerous and risky so they stood their grounds. The gunshots increased and they still waited patiently. But when they saw Wunmi’s insane run, they knew that had to act. They approached the hall, all 15 of them, guns drawn approaching the hall which seemed to have exploded into a barrage of gunshots. They increased their pace and when they saw the figures of Bear and Sting come towards them, they were relieved. But they also saw about 7 Royals after them. Those were easily taken care of as they did not know they were walking into a Skull Calvary.

Bear ran behind Sting not because he was slower but because he wanted to make sure Sting got to safety first. He looked up and saw an arrangement of people in front of him, instinctively his hand went to his waist and then he remembered that he had no gun on him, seeing as Sting slowed down he ran to catch up with him. A couple more meters ahead Bear recognized the people in front of him as his members, they had obviously heard the gunshots and decoded to come and save them. He heard them call to Sting who had run past them without the intention to stop. These are his people and Bear knew that with them all facing the Royals this would be easy.

He stopped when he got to them and the immediate superior threw a gun to him. In the darkness of the night, the desert eagle shone with a glistering darkness when it was thrown to him. His right hand reached out instinctively and caught it in mid-air; he turned and signaled to the others to spread out while he stood in the middle. The immediate superior was beside him as they marched towards the oncoming Royals who did not have a clue.

When they got close enough he did not have to give the order to shoot, they followed him now and they will do that to the death. That was their code and they lived and died by that code. He took his target in the dark and he fired. Not one but he kept firing. At the sound of the first shot from Bear, the others opened fire and did not spare their targets. Gunshots filled the air as the black night was lit up by sparks from the weapons they carried.

When the last of the Royals fell, the Skulls walked to where the bodies lay with their weapons drawn. Some of the victims were not dead yet and they were finished off. One of the Royals, obviously a leader, was arrogant about the situation and was demanding for his death. Bear gave him a swift death as he shot him twice in the head. Their weapons were picked and they turned around and headed towards the cars with Bear at the rear

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Sting did not wait to look back when he ran past his mates in front of him. Rather he ran faster. This was not just fear but by then, he had lost his thought and only one thing ruled his brain and mind and that was to keep running. He ran beyond them and was past caring what was going to happen when the two enemies met. He was almost getting to where the cars were parked when he stopped, more because of fatigue than a sense of safety, also because beyond the cars was a thick bush which a calmer part of his brain told him would be stupid to go into as he could get lost or run into another ambush.

He stopped and looked back as he could make out images of the Skulls separating and spreading out, he did not know the reason but he ducked behind a lone tree there. It might be fool hearted to stay in the open in case a stray bullet came flying his way. Some seconds later, he heard the night give up its silence to another barrage of gunshots and screams for help. The gunshots continued but lost its intensity and were reduced to single shots.

He heard voices beg for their lives and he heard one particular voice asking to be “finished off”. After the voice begged, another shot and then silence. He then heard silent whispers and footsteps in his direction he spied Skull members walking towards him and he felt relieved as it seemed like the worst is over.

They walked past where Sting was hiding and Bear saw him stand up from behind the tree as he joined them. Sting could not recognize their faces but one feeling came on him. He belongs to a group that will do anything for him, killing included. Bear walked up to Sting and patted his back. He tried. Someone else would have left him there and ran away and he is probably the reason a large population of them is leaving this party alive right now, he reasoned to himself.

They arrived to where the cars were parked and each of the guns they held and collected where hidden in the trunks of their cars. Sting found Wunmi and Tope hiding inside the bush not far from the park and he told them it was all right now and it was safe to go home. When Sting came back with the girls, Bear was in a conversation with another member but on seeing him they broke it up with a handshake and got into the driver’s seat of his car while Sting got in beside him and the still shaking girls got into the back seat. As Bear dropped Sting home last, he followed him to his door.

“Thanks Sunday, you saved me today and I will never forget it”.

Sting looked back at the older guy and shook his head.

“No bro, you saved me first, I was just returning the favor. I guess this is what happens when you are with the skulls, you watch out for one another. It’s Sting by the way, not Sunday.

With that, he entered his house and went to sleep.

(Mynd is a final year student of Mechanical Engineering at one of Nigeria's universities. When he's not busy being a nerd he spends his time writing, playing basketball, listening to music and laughing! You can reach him on mynd44@gmail.com)