SWNOVELS Fear The Reapers: Chapter 5
The sound of a high-pitched scream jolted my body awake. Still groggy with sleep, it took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the scene happening before me. It was like something out of a movie.
On the floor below me laid Alex trembling with fear. Her eyes were welling with tears and her body convulsed as she pressed her hand against her flushed cheek. Looming above her stood Malcolm, red-faced with bulging eyes.
The cash he got this morning should’ve made it so Malcolm wouldn’t be bothering us for at least a few days. What the hell was he doing here?
“Get up and let’s go!” He spat, grabbing for Alex and causing the fresh cuts on his face to rip open.
“What’s going on?” I asked, scrambling up from the bed and stepping between the two of them.
“That little bitch is going to pay back a debt for me.” He hissed, pointing a finger at her.
“The hell I am!” Alex spat back, crawling away from his reach.
I bent down to help her up. Malcolm had caught us off guard, but if we both attacked him we had a good chance of holding him off. At the very least, it’d give us time to make a run for it.
After making sure Alex was okay, I turned back around to face the asshole that had just crossed several lines. My eyes refocused on him just in time to see the barrel of a .45 aiming for the center of my forehead. On the other end of it stood Malcolm, trying to still his quivering hands.
“What did you do?” I whispered, feeling the icy tip of his gun press into my skin.
He had never been this desperate before and by the state of his battered face; he was in some serious trouble.
“I owe The Reapers a little money. Alexandra here is going to work for them to pay it off. Now move the fuck out of the way. I don’t want to have to kill you, but I will.”
I should’ve moved, but it was as if my mind couldn’t wrap around the words he was saying. He had sold my sister. My baby sister. “Paying off a debt” meant different things to different people, but messing with The Reapers was begging for trouble.
God, why did it have to be the fucking Reapers? No one in town would speak of them out loud, but their reputation preceded them. Those cold assholes could do whatever they wanted to her, and there would be no one to stop them. They had all the Caspian Hills cops and judges in their filthy pockets. I knew that whatever “work” they had in mind for her wouldn’t be good. No way in hell was I ever going to let them get their hands on her.
“Okay.” I said, pushing Alex behind me and slowly backing away. “We’ll do whatever you say. Please, just put the gun down and let me help her pack her things and say goodbye.” I asked, trying my best to show the signs of defeat that the sick fuck wanted to see.
“Stevie, what the hell? I’m not going-” Her words died at the sight of my icy glare.
“Yes, you are.” I hissed, staring deeply into her emerald eyes. “It’s the only way, Al. Don’t be stupid. Your dad is right. No one needs to die tonight.”
I needed her to trust me, and I prayed that referring to Malcolm as her dad would cue her in on what I was doing. No way in hell would I ever call him that. A plan was forming, she just needed to play along.
“Finally, you little whores start doing as I ask.” He gloated, lifting his dirty shirt to holster his gun. As the material slid up, it revealed a pristine white card hanging out of his pant pocket. The item looked so out of place on Malcolm’s dirty and disheveled body that it had to have been a recent acquisition. Maybe it could give us some clues as to what the fuck was happening. I needed to get my hands on it.
“Malcolm?” I asked, calling for his attention while offering him my fakest smile, “thank you for letting me say goodbye to Alex.” I said, pulling him in for an unexpected hug.
If the man had any brain cells left at all, he would’ve questioned why I, the girl that showed no emotion, would hug his repulsive ass. But his brain cells were long gone, and I used his ignorance to my advantage.
Swiping the card from his pocket with ease, I quickly slipped it into my own without him noticing. All of that practice pick-pocketing to survive in my teens had come in handy.
“Sure, whatever.” He replied, pushing me off of him. “I’ll be outside. We leave in ten. Don’t try nothing stupid. If she doesn’t show, they’ll kill us all.”
He was right. They’d stop at nothing until they found us. Everyone knew The Reapers always collected on their debts. I just never imagined that my baby sister would become one of them.
I knew what I needed to do. It was stupid and reckless, but it was our only chance. Even if what I was planning on doing meant I lost everything, Alex’s safety was worth it.
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“Tell me you have a plan and aren’t actually going to send me to those assholes.” Alex glared at me with her hands firmly planted on her hips.
“I do; well, sort of. Right now we need to pack as much as possible and get the hell out of here.” I replied, tossing her a duffle bag before grabbing for my own.
Without another word, we got to work. We gathered the little belongings we had in complete silence and crept towards our bedroom window. I grabbed the emergency rope ladder we had bought years ago and tossed it over the window’s edge. Thank god living with an erratic addict had taught us it was always smart to have alternate escape routes.
My heart slammed in my chest as we descended the flimsy ladder. Escaping on the side of the house left us exposed for anyone to see. Malcolm could catch us running at any moment.
He was desperate and in trouble, and for the first time, I truly didn’t know what he was capable of. He had never threatened us with a gun before, but he also had never been beaten so savagely. The Reapers were dangerous, and Malcolm’s fear of their wrath outweighed any logic he may have had.
Landing on the grass with a soft thud, we snuck towards the driveway. My white Ford Focus stood less than thirty feet away from us, shining in the soft moonlight like a beacon of hope. We just needed to get there before Malcolm spotted us.
“Hey!” Malcolm screamed into the night air, “get the fuck back here!”
The sound of his hoarse voice echoing across the lawn cut terrified me. Dread inched its way up my throat. He caught us. He fucking caught us. I glanced up at my sister, who was already a few steps ahead of me.
“Alex… run.”
That was all she needed to hear before bolting for the driver’s side. I did the same, letting my legs carry my body as fast as they could go. Malcolm was still upstairs. If we could just get to the car, we’d be in the clear.
A loud pop sounded in the distance, but I ignored it, focusing all my attention on that passenger door. My arms pumped as my feet pounded against the dirt road. We were so close to freedom, I could almost taste it.
Another pop went off, and a powerful force propelled the right side of my body forward. I ignored the sharp pain in my arm, and kept moving as adrenaline poured into me.
It was clear Malcolm was trying to kill me, and I knew that if he caught us, he wouldn’t hesitate to finish what he started. I picked up speed I didn’t know I had, bolted for the car. My fingers grasped the door handle as I threw myself into the passenger seat and screamed at Alex to floor it.
Alex threw the car into drive and slammed on the gas. The violent movement combined with the sudden sprint caused a wave of nausea to hit me. My body tried to empty my stomach’s contents, but I forced it back down, and tried to breath through it.
“Are you okay?” Alex asked, her hands trembling as we barrelled down the road.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” I replied. And I was, for now.
Luckily, the bullet barely grazed my skin. My nerve endings were on fire and I could already feel the warm blood pooling. But I was familiar with injuries and knew it wasn’t life threatening. I needed to get it cleaned up, but that could wait.
“What are we going to do now?” She asked, glancing over at me.
“Head north on I-5. I have a plan.”