"If you kidnap someone, just kill them from the start, so you don't have to take care of them. And when their family finally pays you, just take the money and leave." Kyle Summers, a former military with two life sentences, gave me this valuable lesson.
We were in the prison's dining hall, sitting in a circle with many other criminals, and we were all sharing some helpful advice.
"If you need someone to do your dirty work, hire minors; they can't be prosecuted as adults, at least on this country, and they can only get sentenced to five years max," said Jorge Rivera, a lawyer.
Who would have thought that you could learn that many things in prison?
"When you torture someone," now it was my turn to share some advice. "Do it in a hidden place, like a basement, where no one can hear all the screams, and play loud music 24/7, as loud as you can, so they can't sleep, and they're always stressed. Music also covers out all the screams."
Some of the inmates there wrote that down.
"But, Mr. Dark," some barely-18-year-old kid asked me. "But if they play music that loud, doesn't it affect you too?"
Good question.
"Well, yeah, you dumbass," I replied. "We also have ears, but that's a good thing 'cause music won't let you sleep either. Here's another piece of advice: if you are a part of a gang, if you sleep, you die. You always have to be on edge, both for allies and enemies. Enemies will find you, and allies will betray you. Any mistake can cost you your life and your family's and loved ones'. But hey, you gonna work for me? Maybe we'll even become friends."
The boy just looked at me nervously 'cause he didn't dare to tell me "no."
"I can pay you up to $10,000 a week," I told him. I told them all the same things to recruit them, but there was no way I'd pay them that much.
"Yes, boss. Just tell me what I'll do," my newest cannon fodder replied.
"And you two?" I asked both idiots sitting next to me. One was an accountant, and the other, according to him, was innocent. "You gonna work for me?"
"That's why I'm here for," said the accountant.
"I don't want any trouble," said that innocent dumbass. "I have a family, and no, no, no. I'd rather not mess with anyone."
I slapped him so hard he fell off his chair.
"I'll give you another piece of advice: never, NEVER, tell anyone your weakness 'cause they'll use it against you. Your family, your loved ones are your biggest weaknesses. That's why you need strong alliances. If you work for me, I'll protect your family," I wasn't gonna do that last part, to be honest.
"I don't want any trouble," that jackass insisted.
"Work for me then, or we gonna have a problem."
That innocent guy just nodded. I then put my arm around him so he wouldn't get away.
"Come to my cell; there my men will give you guns and tell you what to do."
I then took the boy, the accountant, and the innocent guy, but the inside of my cell was pitch black. Someone was supposed to be there at all times. Well, I'd later show my men what happened to those who didn't obey me, but first things first. I turned on the light, and there were a lot of people there, aiming their guns at us. They were several of my men and some form other gangs.
Seeing that they were aiming at us, the child, the accountant, and the innocent guy raised their hands and surrendered.
"Put your hand down, you idiots!" I yelled at them. "You don't think I can handle them all?!"
Someone shut the door behind us.
And some asshole hit me with in the face with his gun.
"You calm the fuck down, Dark," he told me. "Now you tell us if you want us to kill you fast or slowl—
I used a bit of magic to pierce this dumbass' chest so fast that no one reacted in time. As soon as they realized what had happened, the idiots surrounding us stopped smiling and shit their pants. Some started shooting at me, but I created a shield that bounced all their bullets.
"I'll give you some advice, 'cause I'm in a good mood," I told all those sons of bitches. "If you were going to betray me, you had to be sure that you could kill me first."
I took my shield off and began killing those traitors one by one. I casted a spell that ripped open one's stomach, I pummeled another's face, I pushed the hand of someone who was shooting at me until he ended up aiming at his head and I pulled the trigger, I knocked someone else to the ground and stomped on their neck several times.
The few survivors gave up really quickly. But there were still a few that weren't that smart.
"If you get closer, Dark, I'll kill him!" a traitor who took that innocent guy as a hostage yelled.
"I can't die; I have a family. Please, please, PLEASE!!" At that moment, for some reason, the innocent guy released a tiny bit of golden aura, just enough to push away that guy holding him hostage. He fell to the ground, and I killed him by casting a spell on him.
That innocent guy kept crying. Even with that power, he was still pretty weak, but as far as I could tell, he couldn't use magic before.
Well, maybe that desire to not leave his family alone made him unleash a little bit of the power of friendship, and if someone as weak as him could use that power, then it would be very easy for me to control it all.
"Tie up those fucking traitors," I told the accountant and the innocent man, pointing to a door. They opened it and took out several metal chairs and a roll of duct tape. Then, they sat one of the traitors in a chair, placed his hand on the armrest, and began wrapping it with tape.
"No, tie his arms to the back of the chair; otherwise, he'll get free pretty easily," I yelled at them, yanking off the tape. The traitor in the chair screamed. "I'd better talk to someone who knows how to do this."
I went outside; there were a bunch of cops there making sure no one came in. They saw me and shitted their pants, as if they were sure I was already dead.
"Boss, you're alive… We just found out what they wanted to do to you, boss, and well, we came as soon as we could to help you with everything. We would never betray you, boss. For real. We're loyal only to you, boss. But the good thing is that you've already taken care of everything, but we're here, boss, for whatever you need, 'cause we're very loyal only to you."
"That's nice," I let them in even though I knew they were lying, "'cause everyone who betrays me ends up like this." The cops saw all the blood on the floor and walls, all the mangled bodies, all the torn-off arms and legs, all the smashed heads, and all the traitors crying and silently begging me to let them live. "But you're loyal to me, aren't you?"
The cops were so fucking scared they didn't dare to answer.
"Ok, tie up those motherfuckers, and then you can clean up this mess," I told them, and they immediately put everyone in chairs and started wrapping them up with duct tape. It was clear they were very experienced at tying up hostages to torture them later.
Maybe even more experienced than me.
Anyway, meanwhile, I went to the kitchen, turned on the stove, grabbed a knife, and put it over the fire to warm it up a bit. When it turned red, I turned off the stove and went back to the traitors. They were already tied up tightly and ready for torture. The cops were now taking away the dead bodies. They grabbed them by the arms, legs, or wherever they could and pulled them out one by one. They took out several men and… that boy I had recruited that day.
I didn't notice when they killed him.
Or maybe I ended up killing him and didn't even realize.
Well, that stuff happens. When I'm having fun, sometimes I don't even notice who's in front of me.
Anyway, I headed towards the traitors.
"Please don't kill me," one guy begged.
"I have wife and kids," another one begged too.
"They made me do it. I didn't wanna," this other guy lied.
I shook my head.
"Look: even if I don't want to kill you all, I'm the leader of Death, and this is Death's territory, and that's why we have to make sure everyone else respects us. If I don't torture and kill you, everyone else will think we're weak, and we don't want that, do we?"
I approached one of them, the only one who wasn't shitting his pants like the others. He had his eyes closed and was breathing very slowly, as if he'd already accepted the fact that he was going to die that day.
I think we was one of my right-hand men, but I can't remember, to be honest.
"Hey, you. Who came up with all this? Why did you guys betray me?"
That smartass looked at me and smiled.
"What else did you expect?" he laughed. "What's all this friendship bullshit? You're making all our gang look like a bunch of fucking weak ass dumbasses. And also who would want someone like you as a boss, someone so soft and wea—
The only reason he suddenly shut up was 'cause I started pummeling his face.
"You think I'm weak, you asshole?! You think I'm weak?! Didn't you see how I single-handedly kicked the shit out of all of you?! You guys are the weak ones—you couldn't even touch me—, and why do I want pieces of shit like you in my gang?!" I grabbed him by the head, pulled it back really hard, and saw that he was already dead.
Well, I dropped himand went to the next guy. He was crying and begging me not to kill him.
"Don't worry," I told him in a better mood: "I'm gonna be nicer with you."
So I pulled his head back and put the red-hot knife over one eye and then over the other.
"Choose: left or right?"