Chapter 15: Escape; Mystery Solving
Lorrie burst into the Milton house, trying to find someone to share her findings with. She entered the living room and caught sight of Jim's sister reading a book on the couch. Before she could ask what her name was, she looked up.
"Molly." Jim's sister, Molly said, as if she had read Lorrie's mind.
"Yes..sorry Molly. I need to talk to you." Lorrie panted, twiddling her thumbs and sitting beside Molly on the couch.
"Sure. What's up?" Molly asked with a smile, setting her book aside.
Lorrie inhaled and explained everything, showing Molly the camera and the video's it contained. Molly's reaction was about the same. She looked horrified. When everything had been clarified, they looked at each other.
"In one of the clips, I can make out the path that my friends and I took to get here. Maybe we can figure out what happened to those people and see if whatever attacked them is a threat." Lorrie suggested, looking determined.
"That sounds good, but maybe they were just attacked by monsters..."
"No. It couldn't have been. Whatever was threatening them left when they were aware, then came back to attack. Monsters don't do that. Can you come with me to solve this?"
"I don't know Lorrie..." Molly hesitated and shuffled a little.
"Come on. If we do some investigating, we could see if there is a threat. You guys could be in danger and we won't know unless we check it out." Lorrie explained
This seemed to win Molly over, for she gave in and nodded.
"Alright...but if we're in possible danger, we gotta be careful."
"Got it. Get some things and let's go."
Molly nodded and left the room, leaving Lorrie to herself. She stood up and walked outside, staring up at the grey sky, which occasionally flickered with lightning. The storm was just about over them.
~o~
Night had fallen over the bikers' camp, and while some were asleep, most were at a campfire, eating and laughing. On the contrary, Max and Bron were a couple feet away, tied up and hungry. Although they were down in the dumps, the gurgling of their stomachs occasionally made the biker's jump and think monsters were attacking, which was amusing.
"Christ Bron...I'm so sorry.." Max sighed, leaning his head to look at the beautiful starry sky.
"Sorry for what..?" Bron asked, looking over.
"I keep messing up... first Mike, and now this... God, I'm so stupid."
"Max, are you actually upset with yourself right now?"
Max looked over, looking sad.
"Come on Max. You're not the kinda guy to be sad. You're the strongest out of all of us. People make mistakes but you manage to make up for it. Like now."
"By getting us captured?"
"By keeping us alive."
Max stared, and began to chuckle. Bron grinned and did the same. They both chuckled happily, and for that brief window of time, their worries had faded away. As they sighed and calmed down, they were approached by Barns who was holding two bowls. Max and Bron greeted him with a grunt.
"Heya Barns. You gonna taunt us with food?" Bron growled, trying to ignore the mouth-watering smell wafting from the two steaming bowls.
"W-What? Oh, no..this is for you guys.." Barns tried to smile, untieing only one of their hands so they could eat.
"What is it...?" Bron asked, looking so hungry he'd down the whole thing in an instant.
"Beef stew! Made by me..heh!" He grinned and handed them a spoon.
Max and Bron both started eating and were filled with bliss.
"This is delicious...thanks...Barns?"
"Oh, call me Jeremy." He sighed, sitting down and crossing his legs.
"What's this for? I mean, you're one of them. No offense." Bron asked with a mouthful of stew.
"None taken." Jeremy shook his head, turning to Max, "I feel like I owe it to you guys. Max saved my life."
"Anytime. I could lie and say I'd save anyone in that situation, but I'm not that good of a person. I save people who need saving, and evil, cruel people who have it coming aren't getting help from me. And I can tell you're not one of them. There's good in you." Max explained, smiling.
Jeremy looked flattered, and nodded his head.
"I had no choice really. My brother joined and since he was accountable for me I had to come with him. I hate this to be completely honest."
"I hate to interrupt, but uh..what's gonna happen to us..?" Bron interrupted, anxiety in his voice.
"I got wind of your fate a while ago. They're gonna hand you over to the East Division when they pass through, who'll most likely kill you."
"Fuck..." Bron groaned and leaned his head back sorrowfully.
"But that's not happening."
"Come again?" Bron asked expectantly, bringing his head back down.
"I'm sneaking you out. Once everyone is in snoozeville, you're home free."
"No way..." Bron gasped.
"Yes way. It's the least I can do."
"Jeremy..how can I thank you?" Max asked, feeling his heart squeeze.
"You don't need to. I'll be back once it's lights out. I hope you're good at being stealthy." Jeremy told them as he stood up and walked away.
"Stealth is my middle name." Bron boasted, grinning triumphantly.
"I thought it was Leslie?" Max replied.
~o~
"We should've left earlier Lorrie... I can barely see.." Molly whispered, squinting hard.
"I know, but this actually works. It'll be harder for the monsters to spot us in the dark." Lorrie replied, a shotgun in hand.
Lorrie and Molly walked on the path under the shroud of night, surrounded by greenery and wildlife noises. Crickets chirped and leaped through the grass, small critters scuttled through the towering trees, and monsters lurked in the shadows.
"Right, but how will you know if we're on the right track? It's too dark.." Molly sighed.
"My eyes are adjusting to the darkness, I can make out where we are. Don't worry." Lorrie assured her, turning and smiling at her.
The slightest sounds of the night made them jump. The scariest thing about the dark was not knowing what was in it. Their skin crawled as they heard a low growling slither throw the wind.
"Down!" Lorrie hissed through clenched teeth and stooped low, Molly followed.
"I can't see - " Molly began.
"Sh!"
They crouched and tried to locate where the monster was through sound, which wasn't strenuous on account of its continuous moaning. Eventually it faded away, meaning the coast was clear. They pressed on quickly and silently, Lorrie looking in all directions to try and make out the surroundings. She squinted and pointed somewhere off the path.
"There." She whispered and hobbled over to where she pointed.
"Now what?" Molly asked, walking up beside her and looking around.
"Look around for anything. Anything that could decipher this." Lorrie told her, beginning to feel around her.
They searched for what felt like an hour until Lorrie found what looked like a hole in the ground. It sloped down into what looked like a black hole. Molly begged to Lorrie, who gave in angrily and entered the depths, Molly on her tail. As they walked through the makeshift tunnel, claustrophobia set in halfway through their silent treck. All sound was cut out now, the only noises came from their shuffling and footsteps. Just when the thought of the tunnel never-ending burrowed into their brains, the tunnel opened into an underground room. Lorrie took one look and felt her heart drop. Blades and razors of all kinds were placed on a small table, covered in dried blood. What made her stomach churn was what she saw after Molly screamed. Lorrie turned to see what was wrong and saw the other part of the room was occupied by a pile of dead, chopped up bodies and limbs. Beside the horrifying heap of flesh was a pile of items that most likely belonged to those in the pile of the dead. Lorrie knew what to do, and began searching the pile. She knew she was right when she found the girl's hat. Now that her suspicions were correct, she dug deeper in the pile until finding her bag, and inside she found some basic things, along with a picture.
"What's in there...?" Molly shuddered, shaking in fear.
Lorrie turned it over. It was a picture of the girl and her family in front of the Milton ranch. The Milton's were nowhere to be found.
"Oh shit...Molly? What's this?" Lorrie asked, turning around.
Molly was gone. She was alone.
"Molly...?" She whispered.
In response, she was hit over the head with a hard object and fell over.
"You're a smart one Lorrie~" came Molly's sadistic voice before everything went black.
~o~
It was must have been midnight, Max didn't know for sure, when Jeremy had scuttled over. He quickly untied him and Bron and handed them their items, which had previously been confiscated.
"This way... we can't leave through the boundaries cause there are patrols. We'll head to the main entrance since that's the way you came. We'll take out the patrols there and you'll get out." Jeremy explained as they crouched silently past the tents. They almost blew their cover once or twice but had successfully reached one of the entrances. Max swung his cleaver over his head and brought it down on one of the patrols, Bron simply knocked out the other with his fist.
"Well. This is it." Jeremy sighed, looking at them both.
"Thank you, Jeremy. You're one of the good guys in my book." Max assured him, patting him on the shoulder.
In that instant, Bron wished he killed the patrol, for he was wide awake and shouting. Max, Bron, and Jeremy were frozen solid as if time stopped. Then, there was an explosion of noise as every biker in the camp was wide awake and scrambling for their weapons.
"Shit! Run!" Jeremy gave them a shove to get them sprinting and followed close behind as they fled into the forestry. It was a hunt now, patrols with flashlights swarmed the forest like insects in search of the escapees.
"This is pointless! We've lost our camp and it'll take us days to find our way back!" Bron hissed, smacking his forehead as they crouched in the bushes.
"You're right.." Max agreed, looking to Jeremy, "Even if we escape, we'll have to survive the elements again. We lost our camp."
"I saw a camp a couple days ago, but I didn't mention it to anyone in case it was yours. Do you wanna take a chance? I think I remember the way... I can give you directions." Jeremy offered.
"Yes please!" Bron nodded, looking around.
"Wait. Come with us." Max said suddenly.
"What?"
"Come with us! If you go back they'll kill you for helping us get away.
"He's right Jeremy, you'll get to experience the luxurious biker treatment just like us." Bron added, looking annoyed.
Jeremy placed his hand on his chin, thinking on it.
"If I leave, I'll be hunted. And I'll be alone.."
"No, you won't." Max replied with a serious expression, as more bikers began to move in...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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