Chapter 28: The Mystery Incident

Chad and his team reached their destination at lightning speed. They caught up in time to see Zalen and Tom surrounded by the Vipers. Chad’s anger flared. If they were to arrive a second later, he wouldn’t dare to think what might have happened to both of them. “Cunning assholes,” he cursed under his breath.

Everyone was on standby. Guns were pulled out and pointed at the enemies. “Where’s my brother?” One of the men stepped out. “Where did you take him?” He demanded. “You have to sacrifice a bait in order to fish,” Zalen replied with the same tone. The man’s face contorted in anger. “We should’ve killed that bitch! I’ll ask again, where’s my brother?”

“You should worry about yourself,” Chad replied. “Damn it!” Enraged, the man pulled the trigger, shooting aimlessly at the Reapers. That signaled for the beginning of the fight. The sound of gunshots resonated in the open space. One shot echoes the other. It continued on in a string of deadly blasts.

While the fight dragged on, someone stayed hidden behind the scene and watched it happen. “Should we help?” One of them whispered. “No. Dad told us not to show ourselves. Let’s go!” The other person answered. They left quietly.

That night, the atmosphere in the Reaper’s clubhouse was full of tension. The injured were treating their wounds and the rest were on full alert. Words got out and were spread among the members. Everyone was anxious about the new unknown. Was the attack on the Vipers a way to lure them into a trap? Or did someone strong enough to take on the Vipers appear?

They couldn’t get any clue from the three men in the shed. Neither did they obtain any new information from the fight at Buzz. There were many injured members this time round and everyone was like ants in a frying pan.

Jack entered the clubhouse and walked past the common area. He observed the surroundings as he headed to the stairs and climbed to the second floor. He wasn’t there during the fight. He was on duty somewhere else.

At the meeting room, he knocked on the door and waited. “Come in,” someone answered from inside the room. He opened the door and entered. Chad, Zalen and Will were in the room.

“Are you discussing the sneak attack at Buzz this afternoon?” Jack asked. “Obviously, we are. Everyone’s talking about it. We are still trying to figure the situation out,” Zalen answered. Will nodded in agreement.

“I have something to report regarding the Buzz incident,” Jack said. His seriousness was quite contrary to his usual attitude. He immediately gained full attention from everyone in the room.

“It’s the inn,” he said, “we figured that the group was planning to attack the inn.” His audiences straightened. “They found out about the inn and were going to attack this afternoon,” Jack explained, “the group planned to attack those at the inn and kidnap Nelly but what happened at Buzz pulled them away. A man named Astor was a part of the group. His brother was one of those injured in Buzz. Upon receiving the news, he turned around and headed towards Buzz directly, ignoring their initial plan.”

“So the fire at Buzz really worked in our favor,” Zalen concluded. “True. We were planning to attack Buzz but someone went ahead and did it for us,” Chad echoed. “The attack even bought us time to evacuate the inn,” Jack said.

“The question now is, who did it?” Will raised the question. Everyone was quiet as they tried to come out with a name. Nobody did. “I don’t think the Vipers will go through all this trouble. They don’t have a reason to do so. What can they gain from it?” Will voiced his opinion. “Do you think that it’s just an accident?” Jack guessed.

“I think it’s an attack. The attack itself is a mystery,” Chad started going through the information he got from Gale that afternoon. “They brought three men back from Buzz. I visited them earlier. Other than burn marks, they were also shot.”

“They were shot?” The new information shocked them. “Tom didn’t mention hearing gunshots,” Zalen stated, his face full of doubt. “Exactly. That was when I realized that something was wrong,” Chad replied.

“How’s that possible?” Will tried to find a logical answer to the mystery but came up blank. Jack shook his head. “I’ve heard from Sammy about a type of modifier. It can mute the sound of gunshot. According to her, there won’t be any sound. It will alert no one even if someone died.”

“Who’s Sammy?” Will was confused. It’s the first time for him to hear the name. “There was a girl who stayed in the clubhouse for a period of time. She left a few days before you came,” Zalen updated him. The explanation confused him even more. “A girl? Talking about guns?” He couldn’t believe his ears. Were there any misunderstandings?

“She was injured in a Viper attack,” Chad added, “we made a deal to let her stay for the time being while she provided us with weapons.” Jack showed Will his gun. “Sammy modified this for me,” he stated proudly. Chad and Zalen almost rolled their eyes.

Will accepted the gun with care, acting like it was a precious, invaluable artifact. He observed the gun closely, showing great interest. “You’re telling me that a girl did this?” He looked to Jack for confirmation. Jack nodded eagerly. “She’s cool. She can even..” Jack started to brag about her. “Alright! Back to the topic,” Zalen suggested for the discussion to come back on track. Once cued, Jack would go on and on about his gun and the cool girl who gave it to him.

“But, wait. I’m still curious. I have a question,” Will said quickly. “You said she left a few days before I came here. Where’s she now?”

The question hung in the air. Chad shook his head. Zalen shrugged. “She disappeared. There's been no news about her since. I think she sneaked out of town,” Jack made a guess.

“Interesting..,” Will said slowly. They could almost see the wheels turn in his head. “Are you sure she really left?” He raised the question without missing a beat.

“What are you trying to imply?” Zalen asked.

“Could it be that she’s the one behind the attack?”