We got to Hendrina and I woke her up. For a small town, the house we stopped at was huge. Lwazi made a phone call.

“Malume, yimi uLwazi. I’m standing outside your house.”

Seconds later the gate opened and a man six foot tall wearing a leather jacket, glasses, and carrying a gun, stood at the gate. I drove inside the yard shaking. The guy opened Lwazi’s door.

“Nolwazi, kwenzenjani?” he asked looking at her shoulder.

“Eish Malume, some guys just came out of nowhere and started shooting at us. Fancy Face is dead.” Lwazi said crying.

The guy ordered the guys in the yard to carry her inside the house while he called a doctor.

What had happened was so huge that it had even made the news. I called my mother as I knew that she was worried about me. I explained to her what had happened and assured her that I was fine. After talking to my mum, the “Malume” came to me.

“So ndoda, you are the Chris that helped Lwazi the last time?” he asked.

“Yebo!”

“Ngiyabonga ngalokho. Ngiphinde ngibonge nanamuhla. If anything happened to Lwazi, it would be the end of me,” he said looking at the sky. I just nodded my head as I didn’t know what else to say.

“I’m Zorro, Lwazi’s uncle,”

“Kuhle ukukwazi, Uncle,” I responded. “Mara labantu laba, what do they want from Lwazi?” I asked letting my curiosity get the better of me.

“This has got nothing to do with Lwazi, the shit just got personal!” he said leaving me with more question marks.

The next day we had to get back to Middelburg, with Zorro and his crew’s escort. Upon our arrival, General was waiting for us at the gate.

“Ufunani wena la?” General said, rather abruptly.

“Ungbuz’amasimba! Lobunja bakho almost got umntwana killed!” he said as he came to a halt before General.

Everyone could feel the tension between them as they looked at each other in silence. I was only glad I was in the car; should anything happen I was ready to drive away.

“Would you both stop?! I want to leave this country, I don’t want to die like my mother,” Lwazi said as she stormed into the house.

“You stupid ass! You are turning my daughter against me? Umuntu ngathi angakunukis’i-gun powder manje!” general lashed out pulling his gun and pointing it at Zorro.

“Satan’onoboya! You never take responsibility for your bloody mess. Yaz’yin’, as soon as I get the people who were shooting at my sister’s daughter…” Zorro paused and stepped closer to General’s face, “I. Am. Coming. For. You!” he said each word slowly and deliberately.

Zorro’s men had pointed their guns at General’s, and General’s men had theirs at Zorro’s. I had already put the car in reverse. People had gathered in the street watching everything as it unfolded.

General turned and told Zorro to follow him; as he had something to show him. As they made their way to the garage, I got out the car and followed them.

In the garage there were two guys hanging upside down naked, wet and bloody with their heads masked.

“I believe these are the idiots who shot at my daughter and killed my man,” he said, signaling one of his men to unmask them.

Zorro walked up to look at them. He kept on rotating around them and stopped in front of one of them. He took off his glasses and I saw that he didn’t have an eye. It looked like someone took it out and sewed the hole; it was scary.

“Hay man, I know this one!” Zorro said looking very closely at one of the guys. “Yeah man, lenja le ngiyayazi! He is the one that shot me in the eye!” Zorro said scanning the garage with his one eye.

He picked up a bat in the floor and without warning he just started swinging the bat at the guy’s face. My guess was he was trying to get his eyeballs, but because he was so angry, he was just hitting the guy. Screams of pain filled the garage but that didn’t stop Zorro from hurling him even more with the bat.

“Where are your other friends?” Zorro asked once he had stopped beating the guy. The guy couldn’t respond as he was drooling and screaming from the pain; I could just feel the pain as I stood there. He turned to the other guy. He didn’t have to ask him anything; the screamed at the top of his voice.

“Base Belfast!”

“Now that I know where they are there is no point for me to keep you here. Niya nukisa la kami man!” General said.

“Yeah, mara uyazi nawe an eye for an eye,” Zorro said looking at the guy.

He took out a knife and went straight for the guy’s eye. I couldn’t watch. I went to the house to check on Lwazi before I headed home. I went inside and found her looking at a picture and weeping.

“Hey Lwazi,” I said as I walked in the room.

She just got up and hugged me. After a while she let go.

“I am sorry. I just needed that,” she said.

“It’s fine, Lwazi, you have been through a lot lately,” I said as I took the picture from her hand. “Is this your mother?” I asked looking at it.

“Yeah… Monica. She was the best,” she said.

“What happened to her? I heard you saying you don’t want to die like her.”

She looked down and sobbed.

Tell us what you think: Could this mean that Chris is now part of a gang?