Page 5 of Renegade

I’d gotten really good at climbing over the last few months. It was nice to get away from the chaos inside my house. I’d climb until I could see the entire neighborhood and I’d imagine what it might be like to grow up in one of those houses.

I could hear one of the bikers struggling to get up the trunk of the tree after me, so I climbed faster. It split off into three smaller branches and I made the last-second decision to stick with the middle one. The scream sounded again and I briefly lost my grip on the branch, sliding down a few feet before correcting it. As long as I remained still, the mountain lion would never know I was here.

I made it to the top and straddled the branch like a chair as I scanned the horizon. The adrenaline slowly faded away and my ankle gave me a painful reminder that I should’ve stayed on the ground. I was definitely going to need help getting out of this tree.

I’d just decided that it was too dark to see anything when I saw a small ball of light moving erratically in the distance. My first thought was that it was aliens invading—the product of watchingFire in the Skyat Riley’s house a few weeks ago, no doubt. I shuddered involuntarily before reassuring myself that there were no aliens down here in the canyon. It was just a cat.

A gunshot rang out, confirming that whoever held that light was indeed human. My brain tried to catch up with what was happening. Surely the person with the light knew that there was a mountain lion on the prowl down there.

Right?

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” the voice taunted and another shudder worked its way through my body. It was my father’s voice.

I strained my eyes, desperate to see the animal, when the scream sounded again. I jumped involuntarily and he let out a chuckle that was magnified by the canyon walls and took off in the same direction as the mountain lion.

“Mikey, get down!” Grey hissed up through the branches.

I lowered my head, searching for him. “Grey—it’s my dad. The gun—you gotta warn him!” My words came out in a breathless jumble. If that mountain lion got a hold of him, there’d be no way of stopping it. A bubble of guilt worked its way up in my chest at the relief I felt, thinking my father might die. It was wrong.

The scream sounded again and I knew then that, while mountain lions could sound like a woman screaming, they were not known for yelling the word ‘help.’ Several of the bikers tore across the desert ground after my father.

“Call it off, Comedian,” Grey’s voice carried throughout the entire canyon, raising the hairs on my arms.

My father chuckled again, but this time I couldn’t find him. The light was gone and the mesquite trees resembled shadow monsters. I hunkered down on the branch with my heart pounding painfully in my chest. My father was going to put the gun away and listen to Grey. Maybe he thought it was a big cat, but he had to know by now that it was another person.

The scream sounded again as the woman broke through the mesquite trees. There was just enough moonlight to see that she was naked and crying. She bolted from her hiding spot and ran toward Grey and the other bikers.

“Help! Please help!” She sobbed.

The light reappeared from behind her just as there was a loud pop. Her mouth fell open in surprise and a burst of red sprayed from her chest before she fell down into the dirt. I covered my eyes, but I couldn’t get her face out of my mind.

My father whistled to himself as he moved closer to the bikers, his light bouncing erratically again. The reason became obvious as soon as he reached the clearing. The light was attached to a body that he was dragging behind him.

He dropped the body near Grey’s feet and stood toe to toe with him. “You’re welcome,” he snarled.

One of the other bikers picked up the small lantern and held it near the body—it was Beast. Well, what used to be Beast.

My father turned and went back to where the woman lay, taking his time dragging her body over to Beast’s. The light illuminated her face; it was Beast’s ol’ lady, Jamie. The look of fear and horror was frozen permanently on her face and I knew that I would see that in my nightmares for years to come.

Grey cleared his throat, sounding almost nonchalant. “You wanna explain this to me, Comedian? Cause I gotta be honest with ya, I’m not seeing the humor here.”

My father shrugged. “I took care of a problem. According to Jamie, Beast was cozying up the cops, giving them all sorts of shit to use against us. She said it was only a matter of time before the cops raided the place and rescued her. She was so damn certain that she and Beast were gonna be reunited—all but planning to live out the American Dream, while our asses rotted in prison.

“Then she slipped up and said Beast was gonna be waiting for her. So, off we went, ready to find her knight in shiny black leather—well, after I tried her out. Told her the club was kicking her to the curb and the bitch led me right to him. So again, you’re welcome.”

Wolverine knelt down and pulled a wallet from Beast’s pocket, rifling through it until he found what he was looking for. “Bingo—looks like Comedian’s on top of it. One business card belonging to a fuckin’ fed. Anybody else need more proof?”

I shook my head from my perch high above them. They seemed to have forgotten about me for the moment and I was grateful to be invisible once again.

I didn’t know what to think—I’d only understood a little of what they were talking about. If what the bikers did was against the law, then it made sense that they wouldn’t want the cops to know about it.

Grey stared down at the bodies in disgust. “Get rid of them and any evidence that they were ever here.” He turned and walked back to the motel without another word, while my father stood with his chest puffed out in pride.

“You heard the Pres—you boys are in charge of clean up and I made one hell of a mess!” He kicked the woman’s body with the toe of his boot, forcing more blood out of the gaping hole in her chest.

It hit me then. I’d just watched my father murder two people in cold blood. He didn’t even seem bothered by it…like he’d done it before—I leaned over the side of the branch and threw up onto the ground below me.

“Mikey?” Grey’s voice was quiet; I think he was well aware of what my father would do to me if he found me up in a tree.

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