Murderville Page 0,10

that silenced him instantly.

“Go get the wood,” Ezekiel demanded. He walked over to Liberty and placed a heavy hand on her shoulder and then led her back into the hut.

Liberty craned her neck as she watched A’shai kick a rock in frustration as he headed out to the woods. She wanted to call out to him or to even run after him, but the hold Ezekiel had on her fragile neck was so strong that she was afraid he might snap it if she disobeyed.

Ezekiel had waited long enough for Liberty to become accustomed to her new life. He hadn’t needed her to cook or to clean or to wash or to sweep. She was one of the spoils of war, a sexual conquest. She was too beautiful to kill like the others of her village. He wanted her, and as he closed the door, he unbuckled his army fatigue pants as his manhood grew in sickening anticipation. Ezekiel approached Liberty. Shirtless, his hairy chest trapped the scent of his funk as he grabbed her wrists and pulled her down onto the floor forcefully.

His hands roamed her body, and she pushed them off repeatedly. “No, stop,” she cried as his fingers penetrated her, hurting the space between her legs. “Stop!” she screamed.

A’shai got halfway into the woods when he realized that he had forgotten to take an axe. Knowing that this was going to set him back and keep him away from Liberty even longer he took off as his youthful speed brought him back to the village in less than ten minutes. A’shai trudged to the back of the hut to retrieve his axe when Liberty’s shrill screams cut through the air and pierced his young heart. A’shai ran into the house and when he saw his father struggling to subdue Liberty on the ground he snapped. He had seen his father do horrendous acts, but the sight before him made his stomach hollow in utter disappointment.

“Get off her!” A’shai barked as he lunged at his father’s back, swinging with all the might that he could muster. His fists did not faze Ezekiel, they only incited his anger. Ezekiel stood, sweating and heaving like a crazed bull.

Liberty’s eyes met A’shai’s as she wiped the blood from her nose. Like a deer in headlights, A’shai froze as Ezekiel approached him menacingly. A’shai stood his ground as he looked his father in the eyes. Inside he was fearful because he knew that the conflict to come was an unmatched and unfair bout, but he still stood tall, firm, his fists balled as he prepared to defend Liberty.

Ezekiel didn’t say one word as he loomed over A’shai. Without warning he issued a blow to A’shai’s chest that sent him flying backwards into the door. His twelve-year-old chest caved in, making it hard for him to breathe and causing stinging tears of shock to accumulate in his eyes.

“Shai!” Liberty called out.

“You want to be a man?! You want to barge in here like you are a man?!” Ezekiel shouted as he looked down on his son. “She is a whore! A Liberian whore! That is what she is here for!”

Ezekiel was enraged that his son had the gumption to go against the grain, and he was determined to beat him into submission. If A’shai was willing to buck against him over Liberty, he would eventually buck against the rebels in an attempt to have his own mind. Ezekiel was determined to teach A’shai a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget.

“Stand up!” Ezekiel demanded with fiery anger burning in his menacing eyes.

A’shai staggered to his feet while Liberty looked on fearfully. As soon as A’shai planted both feet on the ground, Ezekiel leveled him once again . . . hitting his son so hard that it felt as if A’shai’s chest cavity had been broken. Tears threatened to spill, but A’shai refused to cry, especially in front of Liberty.

“Stand up!” Ezekiel yelled.

Panting on the floor, A’shai knew that he could not take much more of this. He glanced at Liberty who was crying and staring at him with worry in her eyes. He couldn’t let his father hurt Liberty. It was in that moment that he knew he had to make a choice between his father, a man who he had admired all his life, or Liberty, a girl he barely knew.

“I’m sorry,” A’shai whispered. Ezekiel smiled wickedly as he watched his son concede defeat. He turned to finish what he had started with Liberty