Big Smoke: A Short Story

It was a dark quiet night in the streets of Compton. There was a slight breeze along with shattering glass under the heavy boots of Big Smoke, who was being pursued by a gang he betrayed. He's been hiding for the past 2 weeks and now he's cornered. He will never forget the things he did to be hunted down like a wild animal.
It all started when Big Smoke was playing basketball in downtown with his crew Jose, Nick, and Jayden. Smoke owed a top class drug dealer, Tre baker, thousands of dollars.
So while they were shooting hoops Jayden turned and said, “Hey smoke, aren't you scared about Tre catching you up in these parts of the streets?”
Big Smoke said nothing and just kept shooting around.
Jayden spoke again,”alright man I’m

just saying that i’d be watching my back if i was you.”
The silence crept up on the crew as cool breeze blew and leaves scurried across the ground. Nick and Jose were having a brief conversation on what they should while Jayden and Smoke were playing a one on one match. Out of nowhere there was a terrifying sound, not a death chilling scream, or the sound of the police, but a gun. It seemed like it all happened in slow motion, Smoke turned and saw nick and Jose laying in a pool of there own blood. Smoke and Jayden jerked around and jolted the other way as another bullet was shot. Two feet away from smoke, grass and dirt flew up from the shot. The two made it to an area where they would be safe but only for about an hour.
Smoke whispered silently to Jayden, “there was only one bullet fired, ONE BULLET, there's only one person that i know that is that good of a shot.”
The silence came upon Jayden and he became impatient.
Jayden eventually asked in a terrified voice, “Who is it?”
Smoke said, “ Keisha Shark.”
Keisha Shark was one of Tre Baker’s assistants. She was an extremely smart hit man that could track you down just by knowing your name. She was said to have killed over 80 people and developed a liking for killing for money. Everybody in Compton knew her and they all knew to be scared of her. She didn't need anybody to watch her back therefor she was a lone wolf. She didn't have anybody, Tre offered to join his gang but she refused, she was a loner and only took contracts that involved a lot of money and killing someone. She had no heart and did not care for nobody cared for her when she was younger. She grew up in the streets, hungry, cold, and scared. The fear in during the nights taught her that being scared gets you nowhere and could have you killed. She met a man, a very wise man, who taught her how to shoot and defend herself. After about two years he died in a shoot out at a local grocery store. Before minuets of knowing about his death she found herself destined to find and kill the man that killed the man that helped when she was young. Keisha never forgot and she never will.
Big Smoke and Jayden were roaming the sewers looking for a safe way to go out when out of the blue they heard, “come out come out wherever you are, i know you’re here smoke and I will find you.” The voice went silent and whistling began to fill the sewers.
Smoke whispered to Jayden, “we might be screwed here but we might find a way.”
Jayden just stared at him in the darkness. They were walking light on their feet trying to make no sound at all when the reached a dead end. They were all the way at the end before they realized it. They turned around and as they did the man turned the corner and was walking their way. It was far to dark for him to see but three feet in front of him so they had time to think.
The man spoke again, “Smoke, don't be afraid of me,” as he laughed out loud.
He was about six feet in front of them. They held their breath. It felt like an eternity. All of a sudden there was a loud drop of rocks about 50 yards back, the man turned and sprinted while screaming, “I'll get you,” at the top of his lungs.
Smoke and Jayden felt a great relief of the thought that they were just about to be shot and killed in a sewer where no one would find them. They lucky, but now they needed to find a way out of the state.
Big smoke and Jayden were creeping around silently in the dark midnight allies trying to find someone they knew to help.

They heard a scurry of voices in front of them so they jumped to conclusion that it was someone looking for them. They hid in the shadows of a dark green dumpster surrounded in filth that would make you want to vomit. They sat there shaking as the voices grew and grew, coming nearer and nearer. It sounded as a classroom full of kids one second then dropped to the silence of a funeral. The silence was eerie, there happen to be a faint noise of police sirens in the distance. They all sprinted down the dark devilish corridor considered an ally for the thought that they were going to jail. Jayden stood up to see if they were gone, they were, as Smoke stood up the disgusting moldy trash ripped a little bit. They thought that it was just their weight crushing the bags at first when all of a sudden the ripping turned to shredding and tiny furry creatures bursted out, squeaks and all. It was rats. 27 of them came through, they had Smoke and Jayden jumping and kicking until they ran

away.
As they continued down the hellish alleys, they ran into Tyrone Johnson. A man who bought from Tre and knew his plans. Luckily over the years Tyrone came to a liking of Smoke and decided to help him out, on one condition. Smoke had to help him get out a deal with a man. Big Smoke knew nothing about this man and was a little suspicious but he decided to help him so that his chances of being killed went down.
Big Smoke asked, “So what are the details, what do i need to do to help you out?”
Tyrone replied, “I don't have a lot of details but i need you to come with me to talk to him as backup in case something goes down.”
“Alright man but if anything happens to me or Jayden, you're going to have more than just one man going after you,” replied Smoke.
Big Smoke, Jayden, and Tyrone Johnson mad there way down the alleys of Compton, crushing glass, stepping in small puddles of water, walking through the filth that caked the long corridors of the streets. While they were walking Tyrone stopped for a minute and said, “ Alright guys, we’re almost here, just down this alley.”
Big Smoke replied, “ shut up man, lets just get this over with.”
They continued walking down the alley, the smell of flaming rotten trash in a barrel swarmed the alley. As they made their way Tyrone walked to rusted down steel door that looked like it belonged in a horror movie. Tyrone gave it three hard knocks, a little sliding part towards the top slid open and a pair of heavenly bright eyes looked down at the three.
He spoke in a deep husky voice, “What's the phrase?”
Tyrone replied in a faint whisper, “Gang gang.”
The man spoke again, “Those two with you.”
Tyrone said quickly, “Yeah.

Moments later the heavy steel door opened, ripping at the concrete on the inside. The man who stood at the door was dark skinned, ripped to the bone, and carried an assault rifle. He led them downstairs through tunnels that contain more Heavy steel doors that contained blood gurgling screams. The four continued down the tunnels, no words were said. The whole time it was just the darkness, the extremely foul smell, and the complete quietness. And the whole time Big Smoke didn't know who he was meeting and what might happen.
“We’re here,” the huge man said
A door opened very slowly. A faint glow of a midnight satanic red shown through the crevasses as the door slowly glided open. A tall, well dressed man wearing one diamond earring on his left ear turned slowly. As he did, he spoke in a deep, stern voice.
“We meet again….. Smoke,” he spoke.
Big smoke yelled at Jayden, “It was a

trap.”
They sprinted toward the door. Jayden ripped the gun out of the arms of the man that led them there punching him in the face. He aimed the gun and shot at Tyrone. The room lit up like the Fourth of July as Tyrone was filled with holes. He fell down in a pool of his own blood with no movement. Seconds later a bullet from behind them was shot and Jayden was dead. Another loud bullet hit Smoke in the back of his leg going through his knee. He down to one knee. Then his other knee was blown out by another bullet. He fell backwards only to see Keisha standing behind him with her rifle. Tre walked over to him, pulled out his gun, aimed it at his head, then, poof, all was over. Tre went over to his safe, grabbed twenty thousand dollars and threw it over to Keisha. She just nodded her head and left.
What felt like hours later, Smoke instantly shot up out of his hospital bed. He had been put into a coma for 4 months from the bullet. His heart rate shot up and in seconds he was surrounded by doctors and nurses. After they calmed him down the doctor explained to him how if the bullet went just a few centimeters to the left he would be dead. Big Smoke spent 3 months in physical therapy relearning how to walk. After everything, he left the hospital. He walked into the streets and took a deep breath of fresh air. He walked a few more steps when it hit him. It was a city bus. Smoke broke half the bones in his body and died almost instantly. Just when he thought he was free.