Chapter 5: The Grand Escape

Stacy marched out of the Reaper’s clubhouse without a care, ignoring Chad’s calls from behind her. He had to jog to overtake her and block her way.

“Hold up! What’s the hurry?” He finally stood in front of her with his arms extended. Stacy stopped and turned around to study her surroundings. She almost rolled her eyes. ‘Acting hospitable? They are all the same. I’m the prisoner after all. If there are other members surrounding me, they must’ve hidden well,’ she thought. “What do you want?” She shot back.

“You’re new here, aren’t you? I’m serious when I tell you that it is dangerous at night, especially around here. Why don’t you stay for the night?” Chad said quickly. Stacy folded her arms in front of her and stared back, not bothered to hide her annoyance. “Who’s fault is it that I’m here now?” She threw the question at him, her voice accusing.

“Well, it was necessary at the moment. I’m sorry, alright?” Chad threw his hands up in defeat. Stacy scoffed and turned back to check the clubhouse and its surroundings again.

‘They are indeed different from the other gangs I encountered before. This leader, especially. Unlike the others, he seemed more.. approachable? At least he has basic manners. He even knows to apologize,’ Stacy thought, ‘they wouldn’t let me go this easily either. There must be something they are planning. I’ll just play along for now.’

“Alright, then. Thanks for the offer,” she said and turned to walk back to the clubhouse. Chad let go of the breath he had been holding. ‘She finally gave in. It’s true that it was our fault she was here. If everything she claimed were true, it would be our fault if something happened to her on her way back,’ he thought.

Reaching the entrance, Stacy turned to Chad, asking, “is it the same room I’d be staying in?” He nodded in affirmation. Stacy then continued to the guest room like she was in her own house, ignoring all the curious stares and the various expressions on the other members’ faces.

Chad followed her up and to the room. Stacy halted in front of the door. “I’ll leave in the morning,” she told Chad. “Alright,” he replied.

Stacy was waiting for Chad to leave. However, he stayed rooted there. “You’re staying here or what?” She didn’t bother to hide her sarcasm. ‘They’re all the same. No matter how gentlemanly they acted, they are still a beast inside. There’s no point in playing nice. In the end, when we all drop the act, we’ll be going back to square one, trying to kill each other,’ she thought.

Not bothered by her rudeness, he asked, “Do you need anything?”

Stacy squinted at him. Then she remembered that she was still wearing the redhead’s jacket. “Oh, do you have anything I can wear? I need to get rid of this. It’s disgusting,” she said.

Chad smirked. “I’ll see what I can do,” he said and turned to leave. “Please don’t get me anything that has your label on. I don’t want to walk out of here as the ‘Viper girl’ just for them to drag me back calling me the ‘Reaper girl’,” Stacy rolled her eyes in annoyance at the thought of it. The comment made Chad laugh. “It’s your luck you have to blame, then,” he said in between laughter and left. Stacy couldn’t insist on rolling her eyes before entering the room.

Once in the room, she walked around, trying to figure out the Reaper’s plan in keeping her there. Do they still believe that she is a Viper and wanted to use her against their common enemy? No, it shouldn’t be. They should know that women’s worth in the Viper is very low. She may not be of use as a bait or threat. If they use her against the Viper, they’d just burn everyone down, including her. No one in the Viper would care about anyone’s life, especially a woman’s.

Then, why would the Reapers keep her in the clubhouse? ‘Can I believe that it’s really out of goodwill?’ Some parts of Stacy still wanted to believe that there’s good in this world. ‘No, anything but that. They must want to use me for something. They don’t look like people who would have any use for a woman around. What exactly are they planning?’ Stacy was still debating internally when there’s a knock at the door.

Chad appeared with a plain gray t-shirt. “That's all I can get. Make use of it,” he shrugged. “Thanks. Night,” Stacy thanked him and closed the door. Immediately, she took off the jacket and threw it in the bin at the corner of the room. She then put on the shirt. It was a little oversized so she tied a knot at the end of the shirt. Compared to the jacket that reeked of cigarettes, the shirt smelled pleasant.

‘There doesn’t seem to be any hidden cameras in here,’ Stacy mused, ‘there must be guards outside.’ She quietly opened the door, just a crack for her to peek out. Exactly as she thought, a man was near her room. His back was to her and in his hand was a bottle of beer. His laid back demeanor might’ve fooled anyone else, but Stacy knew exactly why he was there. They were preventing her from running away.

Stacy snickered and turned to the window. ‘Only amateurs use the door! Do they take me for a fool?’

Stacy looked out. ‘It’s not that high. I could still escape,’ she thought. She looked around to see if there were any guards. “Perfect! Looks like they never consider the probability of me jumping out the window,” Stacy giggled.

She broke her heels and climbed out of the window. ‘It’s now or never!’ Stacy thought that she should take her chance while she had the cover of the night. Slowly, she eased herself down and when she was near the ground, she heard someone shout, “hey, the girl is escaping!”

With one leap, she landed on the ground and started sprinting away from the clubhouse. ‘I knew it! They were keeping me a prisoner in there and I’m not going to wait to find out what for,’ she thought as she was running with all her might.

Footsteps were heard from behind her. In the urgency of the situation, Stacy managed to smirk. She thought, ‘Now, handsome. Chad, whatever. It’s time I show you what I do. I’m Stacy. I’ve been escaping from numerous murderous psychos my whole life. If I don’t outrun you, I will change my name!’

She’s been running for some time, navigating through the woods like it’s her own front yard. ‘It’s time to get rid of them,’ she thought. She saw the chance when it was a split route ahead. She randomly chose one of the path which was densely packed with trees. While they were still far behind to figure out which route she took, with great agility, she scaled a tree.

Meanwhile, Chad and his men were still running after Stacy. She was smart to run into the trees as it would prevent the Reapers from chasing her with their motorcycles.’She definitely has something to hide if she runs away. I need to figure out what it is. It was hard to bring her back here and I’m not going to lose her now,’ Chad thought as he signaled for the other members to quicken their pace. ‘What’s she? A cheetah?’

They turned the corner and saw the two paths. Chad cursed under his breath. He started contemplating whether to split up or to randomly take a path. It could be a trap after all, since they hardly knew Stacy’s identity. For all they knew, she could be a spy sent by the Vipers.

“Turn around. We’re going back to the clubhouse,” Chad commanded. ‘If she is indeed a spy, then there are more precautions we should take.’ he thought and led the team back.

Stacy was high up on the tree as she watched them leave. She smirked. Mission accomplished, she successfully got rid of them. “Bye handsome, let’s not meet again,” she whispered.

Stacy waited for a while before descending the tree to head back to the hotel. ‘Ugh, such a waste of time. The sun rises in half an hour. I have to hurry up,’ she thought as she took a longer route through the trees to avoid the Reapers.

“There you are. Such a troublemaker,” a man’s voice sounded from behind her and she froze.