The evening sky hung heavy with clouds, casting a dim glow over the deserted industrial street. The two corrupt police officers, Detectives Klah and Abah, walked side by side, their boots scuffing against the cracked pavement.
Klah, the taller of the two, held a phone to his ear, his smug grin visible while Abah, the stockier of the men, adjusted his jacket, his eyes scanning the empty road.
“Yeah, big man, it’s done,” Klah spoke into the phone, his voice low but smug. “We nabbed those stupid 7Katz small boys this morning, just like you wanted. They’re in the Viper Gulag now, and I’m sure you’ve been told how they’re showing them premium shege.” He chuckled, glancing at Abah, who smirked back. “You’ll send the payment soon? Lookin’ forward to that debit alert.”
The Viper Squad leader’s voice crackled through the line, cold and clipped. “Absolutely, Klah. You’ll get your money within the next hour. Now 7Katz will learn what happens when you disrespect us. Keep your heads down, okay?”
“Sure thing, bossu. And thanks a lot. We’ll talk later.”
Klah ended the call, slipping the phone into his pocket while turning to his partner, glee written all over his face. “Easy cash ooo, Abah. The Viper Squad’s gonna make us rich for this little task.”
Abah nodded, rubbing his hands together. “Hehehe, can’t wait to see that deposit. Who would’ve thought that hanging around their area and keeping tabs on their movements would work out for us? Chale, we hit the jackpot waa with those boys. Weak little fools.”
“Aswear! Useless boys paaa! So these are the ones that 7Katz squad is using for deliveries? Herh, they fell off!”
Their laughter echoed in the quiet as they approached their unmarked cruiser, ready to head back to their station.
Before they could reach the doors, though, a black SUV appeared out of nowhere and screeched to a halt in front of them, tires smoking.
Before they could process this sudden appearance, the doors flew open, and two men in all-black tactical gear stepped out, moving with lethal precision. Before Klah or Abah could react, they were grabbed and slammed against the hood of their cruiser with bone-rattling force.
The taller of the two assailants, wiry and quick, pinned Klah with a grip like iron. “Name’s Onca,” he murmured, his voice sharp as a blade, his eyes glinting with malice. The other, broader and silent, held Abah in a chokehold, his face unreadable. “And I’m Uncia,” he rumbled, his voice low and cold.
Klah’s bravado faltered, his hands trembling as he tried to push back. “What the fuck–?”
“Shut the fuck up!” Onca snapped, pulling a sleek pistol from his belt and pressing it hard against Klah’s crotch. Uncia mirrored him, his own gun jammed against Abah’s groin.
The officers froze, their faces paling as the cold metal dug in. They barely had the chance to keep their heads down, and suddenly 7Katz men had them cornered.
“We know you’re Viper Squad’s little errand dogs,” Onca continued, his grin feral and creepy. “We know you took our boys and our stash. Where are they? Talk. Now.”
Abah stammered, sweat beading on his forehead. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about–”
“Don’t you fucking lie to us!” Uncia growled, pressing the gun harder, making Abah wince. “Get to talking, or you’re gonna experience a lot of pain.”
Trembling with trepidation, Klah’s resolve crumbled, his voice shaking. “Okay, okay, okay! Please, we’ll talk. They’re at the Viper Gulag, old warehouse on the Kojo Crane Avenue. Basement level. They’re… they’re alive, but Viper’s got ‘em locked up tight. Please, just let us go.”
Onca’s eyes narrowed as he glared at Klah for a few moments. Klah trembled, hoping for mercy as he squeezed his eyes shut.
Onca then pulled the gun back slightly. “Good. That wasn’t so hard.”
He exchanged a glance with Uncia, who gave a curt nod, and they slowly holstered their pistols.
Klah and Abah let out sighs of relief. “Oh than–“
They were silenced, as in a flash, Onca and Uncia drew out massive, gleaming knives.
Klah’s eyes widened. “Wait! But-but we told you–”
“Fuck around and find out!”
The plea died in his throat as Onca’s knife slashed across it, swift and precise.
Uncia’s blade moved just as fast, piercing Abah in the gut before he could scream. Five or six more savage stabs, and the stocky officer was silenced for good.
The officers slumped to the ground, blood pooling beneath them, their bodies still against the cruiser.
“Clean this up,” Uncia said to an unseen figure in the SUV, who nodded and stepped out, ready to get to work.
Onca dropped his knife on Klah’s jacket, his expression cold. “Viper Squad’s gonna learn not to touch what’s ours.”
Uncia did likewise, and gestured at his partner as he moved back to the SUV.
“Let’s get to that warehouse. The boys are waiting.”
The SUV’s engine roared as they sped off, leaving the officers’ bodies in the darkening street, and the 7Katz servant assigned to discard them.
***
“Ante up! Yap that fool! Ante up! Kidnap that fool!”
As the SUV sped through the city, weaving through the industrial district’s maze of streets toward the Viper Gulag warehouse, the bass-heavy beat of M.O.P.’s “Ante Up” blasted from the speakers. Onca’s voice boomed as he rapped along to the chorus with an unrestrained passion, his head bobbing with energy as he gripped the wheel.
Uncia, in the passenger seat, shook his head, a smirk tugging at his lips. “The way you’re addicted to this song, eh. Every time it’s time to hurt someone, I know you’re putting this shit on blast.”
“All day, every day, bro,” Onca grinned, his eyes glinting with adrenaline. “It’s fucking perfect. Gets the blood pumpin’ for the job.”
“No lies there. We need it to off these sons of bitches, anyway.”
“Absolutely. Those dumbass niggas won’t know what hit them when we pull up.”
The music continued to blare, rattling the SUV’s windows while they rapped along, getting their fill of adrenaline.
A few minutes later, they pulled up to a dilapidated warehouse, its faded sign barely legible in the moonlight: Viper Gulag.
Parking at a safe spot, they killed the music and strapped up in silence, slinging semi-automatic rifles over their shoulders and checking their sidearms.
Onca’s movements were quick, precise; Uncia’s were methodical, his broad frame moving with quiet menace. They stepped out, and slowly approached the warehouse’s rusted door. With a shared nod, Onca kicked it open, the metal screeching as it gave way a little too easily.
They stormed in, rifles raised, and unleashed hell, the air erupting with rapid gunfire.
The Viper Squad guards, totally caught off guard by this surprise attack, scrambled for their weapons, but Onca and Uncia were way ahead of them. Bullets tore through the air, bodies dropping in a cacophony of gunfire and screams. What would have been a battlefield on any other day was a massacre field, with the 7Katz duo ruthlessly downing every single soul in sight.
Within moments, the main floor was a graveyard of Viper Squad’s men.
Onca and Uncia moved quickly, clearing a path to the basement stairs. They descended, their rifles still hot from the action, and burst into a concrete room where Santos and Bricky were caged like animals.
The boys were bloodied and bruised, their clothes torn, faces swollen from Viper Squad’s torment. Two guards stood watch, smirking cruelly at their weakened prisoners…
…until Onca and Uncia opened fire, splitting their heads open.
The guards fell, blood pooling beneath them, and the room fell silent save for the boys’ ragged and panicked breathing.
Onca lowered his rifle, nodding in satisfaction. “Clean work,” he muttered. “Just as I said it. Those dickheads never saw it coming.”
Uncia grunted in agreement, already moving to the cage. He shot the lock off with a single round. As the metal gate swung open, he beckoned to the boys to come out.
Santos and Bricky shakily staggered out, their eyes wide with a mix of relief and dread. “You… you came for us,” Santos croaked, wincing as he clutched his side.
Uncia’s face remained stone-cold. “Yeah, we did. But don’t get it twisted, you boys are fucked! Totally fucked,” he snapped at them. “You failed your first mission. Stoppin’ for a fucking piss? Letting these Viper Squad bitches take you?” He shook his head, his voice low and menacing. “You niggas better get ready to meet your maker.”
Onca leaned in, his grin gone and his eyes hard. “Tell them, bro. You’re in deep shit, boys. Enjoy the ride home, coz it’s gonna be your last one ever.”
Santos’s legs buckled, and Bricky’s face drained of color.
They knew this was coming. The moment they woke up in this prison, they knew the torment they’d face would be a drizzle compared to what the 7Katz hierarchy would do to them once they found them.
Dear Lord, Tigris was going to put the hurting on them for sure!
They really should have just allowed that Izar fool to piss in the car…
“Herh, hurry up and move! You fool or what?”
“Kwasia, you think moving slow will change your fate? Move! Fast!”
Onca and Uncia’s ruthlessness, they knew, was a foreshadowing of what awaited them in a couple of hours.
***
Those couple of hours came way faster than they would have liked.
Santos and Bricky found themselves kneeling on the cold stone floor of the 7Katz’s meeting room, a cavernous chamber buried deep within the warehouse. The walls of this chamber were adorned with emblems of the seven leaders: a lion, a tiger, a snow leopard, a jaguar, a panther, a cheetah, and a leopard. The leaders themselves sat in a semicircle of high-backed chairs, their presence suffocating.
Leo, the main leader, stood at the center, his tailored suit pristine but his eyes burning with rage. Tigris, second-in-command, loomed to his right, his muscular frame taut with barely restrained violence. Uncia and Onca flanked them, their faces grim. Panthera, lean and calculating, sat with his fingers steepled, while Jabatus, wiry and restless, tapped his foot like a cheetah pacing for a hunt. Pardus, lean and silent, watched with cold, predatory eyes.
Leo’s voice cut through the silence like a whip. “You fucking idiots had one job. One! Deliver the stash, no stops, no excuses. And you let Viper Squad take it because you stopped for a dumb piss?” He leaned forward, his face inches from Santos and Bricky, who trembled on their knees. “You cost us two kilos and valuable clients. You’ve embarrassed the 7Katz!”
Santos’s voice shook as he pleaded, “It wasn’t our fault, sir, we swear! Izar– he-he forced us to stop. He said he’d piss in the car if we didn’t!”
Bricky nodded frantically, his swollen face wincing. “Yeah, it was Izar’s fault! We told him no, but he wouldn’t shut up!”
Leo’s laugh was cold and devoid of humor as he glared at them. “Do you think I give a flying fuck about that? Listen, Izar could’ve been having a fucking heart attack for all I care, you little shits still should’ve followed orders. No pitstops means no pitstops!”
He straightened, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. “You failed. You’ve cost us more than your pathetic little lives are worth.”
Tigris’s low rumble echoed through the room. “I told you motherfuckers there’s no second chances. But clearly you thought I was bluffing.”
Panthera’s voice was calm but cutting. “The clients are furious. They’re questioning our reliability. Nobody puts the reliability of 7Katz into question and gets away with it. Nobody.”
Jabatus snarled, his foot still tapping. “You let these Viper Squad nonentities make fools of us. That’s blood owed.”
Pardus’ leopard-like stare bored into the boys. “You’re liabilities. And 7Katz doesn’t deal with liabilities.”
This was as low as it could get for the two boys; having the entire leadership rip them apart.
Leo leaned back, his face a mask of controlled rage. “Well, gentlemen, I don’t think this calls for any kind of vote whatsoever. We all agree that they deserve to be punished.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely!”
“Of course, Leo!”
“No two ways about it!”
“They must pay for their carelessness!”
The boys’ hearts sank.
This was it. The death knell for them.
Leo turned to Tigris, and nodded.
“Teach them why orders exist.”
Tigris slowly rose to his feet, his massive frame casting a shadow over the boys.
He pulled a pair of brass knuckles from his pocket, shaped like tiger claws, the metal gleaming under the dim lights as he fitted them on.
Santos and Bricky whimpered pitifully as Tigris descended on them.
“Please, we beg you…”
“Sir, please…”
Those fruitless pleas were drowned out as Tigris’ fists moved.
With brutal precision.
It was a gruesome sight, with the brass claws tearing into flesh and leaving blood splattering across the stone floor. The other leaders watched in silence, their faces impassive as Tigris ripped them apart with the savagery of an angry tiger.
The boys’ cries faded into gurgles with each bloody punch…
… and eventual silence.
Once he was done, Tigris stepped back, wiping the bloodied knuckles on his pants, nodding in satisfaction as he observed the lifeless bodies crumpled before him.
“That’s for disobeying 7Katz, you stupid little vermin,” he sneered before returning to his seat.
“Good work, Tigris.” Leo’s voice was ice-cold as he turned to the others. “But we’re not done. These foolish insects have caused us major trouble, and it’s time to set things right. So Tigris, Pardus, take some of our best men and head to Kumasi. Find the Viper leadership and end them. No mercy whatsoever. They need to know they can’t fuck with us and walk away scot free.”
Tigris nodded, his eyes still burning, while Pardus gave a curt dip of his head.
“Onca, Uncia,” Leo continued, “pick up from where you left off tonight, and wipe out every single member of Viper Squad. Leave absolutely no one standing. Man. Woman. Child. Pet. Exterminate them all.”
Onca’s grin returned, sharp and eager, while Uncia’s stoic nod confirmed his readiness.
“And Panthera and Jabatus,” Leo completed, his gaze shifting to them, “track down that Izar boy. He’s still out there, and he’s the root of this mess. Find him. Bring him back. He’s gonna pay for what he started.”
The leaders rose, their orders clear, the air heavy with the promise of retribution.
And completing the punishment for the boys who failed to do their job in the first place.
That was mad brutal. Tigris is one heartless dude, that’s for sure. And if they find Izar, it’s gonna be ugly for the young man…
