Chapter 16: A rat in our nest
Colorado, Fallen Eagle's clubhouse. 2 years ago.
"Full house." Ryan called. "Bullshit. That's four times in a row." I said. We were playing poker with a few other members. It was raining hard outside, so we decided to pack it in for the night. The bikes were kept in the garage just outside, so we didn't have to worry about them getting wet. "Yeah man, what the hell?" Cass said. "I can't help that I'm so lucky." Ryan said. "Or your cheating." Jason said. Jason had been with Eagles for a about a year, but he certainly has proved himself more useful than others. "Cheating? How dare you." Ryan said. "If anyone's cheating, you're cheating." He pointed towards Jason. I grabbed his arm and reached into his sleeve, there was an ace card hidden up his shirt. "I knew we had an extra card." I said. "I don't know how that got there." Ryan lied. "Oh that's a load of shit." Dallas said. The table up-roared into an argument and bickering between us all, you couldn't even make out what we were saying. "Whatever. Count me out, I'm getting a drink." I said as I threw my cards on the table and left. I entered the kitchen and saw Samantha and Melissa smoking. "In the kitchen? Really?" I said. "What? It's not like we can go outside." Samantha said in defense. "Yeah you can. Afraid of a little water?" I reached into the fridge and pulled out a beer. Melissa came and snatched it from my hands. "You're too young to drink." She said. "You're too old to smoke." I said. "Watch your tone, or Jacob will hear about this." She said. "Where is Jacob anyway?" I didn't know where he was, you would want to know where your leader is. "He said he was going out to check on the bikes with Grim." Samantha said. "With Grim?" I said. "Yeah. Why?" Samantha asked. "I don't trust him. I know he's been with us for awhile, but I have this strange feeling about him." I explained. "Grim's been the backbone to our reputation, without him we wouldn't have gotten out of a lot of messes." Melissa said. "Besides, Jacob can take care of himself." She put her cigarette out. "I don't know. I'd better go check on them. I don't want them scratching Lassie, I just got her repainted." I left the kitchen and grabbed a raincoat. I stepped onto the front porch of the clubhouse, I wouldn't really call this place a clubhouse, more of a homestead. There was a stretch of land with a fence around us, the main house was in the center and the garage was about 30 feet away from the house. There was an alarm system we set up, Melissa's idea, in case anything were to happen. The place was in the middle of nowhere, so no rival gangs could find where we lived. I liked it, but some others wanted to get back on the road.
It was dark out, but luckily I had my flashlight on me. I walked towards the garage and noticed that the shutter door was open and the lights inside were off. I walked inside and looked for the light switch. "Come on. Where is it?" I found the switch and flicked it on. Now illuminated, I could see the travesty that the darkness hid. My eyes shot open and my soul left my body in horror. Jacob was on the floor, covered in blood, unmoving. "Jacob!" I screamed as I rushed to his side. "Jacob come on. Jacob!" My words were falling out my mouth. "Leia..." He said in a breath. I opened his jacket to see a fresh bullet wound, the bullet had gone into his lung. I applied pressure to the wound and tried my best to stop the bleeding with my hands. "Leia.." He breathed. "Don't talk Jacob, save your air." I could feel fresh tears flowing down my face. "Leia..." He said again. I looked to his face and I froze. "...Grim has the eagle...Vegas..." He mustered. "Jacob come on man, I need your help here." He reached his hand out and softly grabbed my cheek. He didn't say anything, but I could tell he wanted to say so much. He smirked at me, but his body was slowly going limp. "No. Jacob. Jacob come on. Jacob stay with me! Jacob!" I grabbed his head and tried everything I could to bring him back, but nothing. There was nothing. He was gone. I sat there in silence, my mind blank. The world began to slow and everything around came to a grinding halt. I stared at Jacob's corpse and soon my mind began to be filled with something, something I haven't felt in a long time.
I could feel it rush through my veins and my arms shook as a result. My eyes were burning, but I didn't feel the pain. My fingers squeezed together and forced my hands into fists, despite my struggles. My face heated like a furnace and my muscles tensed. My mind was ran miles and had no end in sight, but then I remembered a name, one that would burn into my skull. "Grim." My mind was now completely turned and my thoughts were shrouded in this thick mist of blood soaked red, a fog of destruction, a cloud of death, a red mist has rolled in. I shot up to my feet and bolted towards the panel to the alarm system on the wall. The panel was locked, but I ripped it open and nearly broke the lever pulling it. The sound of an alarm screamed throughout the homestead and spotlights were activated all over the main areas. I heard someone running in the rain, it was Melissa. "Holy shit." She said. The other Eagle's followed behind her and were devastated at the sight of our fallen father. Ryan backup up to me and held onto my waist for comfort. "What the hell happened?" Melissa said slowly with venom in her voice. "Grim. I told you he shouldn't have been trusted." I answered. "He took the eagle." Everyone looked to Jacob's bike to see that the statement was true. Everyone was silent. "Before Jacob..passed..he mentioned Vegas, so I bet that's where he's going." I said. "And what? You wanna go there? To fight him?" Samantha said. "We don't even have weapons!" That wasn't exactly true. I opened my jacket and pulled out my dad's old revolver, I keep that thing by me at all times. Of course no one knew I had it. "Okay. We have a gun. What good is a dusty six shooter gonna do?" Samantha said. I didn't answer.
The next morning was a dark and morbid time. We dug Jacob's grave and no one said anything, nothing at all. I wandered off during the middle of it and I realized that we were about to cause some massive chaos and all evidence could be traced back to us. Jacob always told me to cover our trail, and that's what I intend to do. I went into the house and pulled clothes and personal belongings out of everyone's rooms, anything that could be carried on our bikes. "Leia?" Jason came by and saw what I was doing. "What're you doing?" He asked. "We're gonna storm Vegas, we can't come back here." I said. "Why not?" He said. "Police will be on our asses and we don't have the manpower or the firepower needed to fight back. Police will ransack this place and try to look for any evidence." I said. "I guess that makes sense, but this is our home." He tried to make an argument. "Not anymore." I pulled out a gallon of gasoline from below the porch and started pouring it on the floor of the house. "Woah woah woah. Leia, what the hell are you doing?" He said. "Planting corn. The fucks it look like?" I said. I started leaving a trail of gasoline up the stairs. "Leia, this is crazy." He stared. "Crazy? Yes. Borderline stupid? Also yes. Batshit insane? Abso-fucking-lutely." I said. I was running low of the gas, so I decided to go in the fridge and grab the alcohol. I started throwing the bottles and cans across the rooms and pouring more around the rest of the house. "We may wanna leave soon." I took out a box of matches and struck one on the bottom of my boot. "Fire doesn't agree with a boiler." I flicked the match and bolted for the front door with Jason right behind me. The fire spread quickly and soon the whole house was an inferno. "Leia! What the fuck?!" Jason screamed. The rest of the gang saw the flames and bolted to the house. The younger members were distraught by this, Melissa and Dallas were unfazed. They knew this had to be done, and so did I. "Alright people!" Dallas got everyone's attention. "We got about 2 minutes until the boiler explodes. Grab your shit and get on your bikes!" Everyone just grabbed clothes and belongings, regardless of whom they actually belonged to. We destroyed Jacob's bike, so we only had five bikes left. Ryan rode with Cass in that sidecar she had. As soon as everyone got on their bikes, the gang rolled out. We all hit the road as the house finally blew up like the 4th of July.
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Nevada
We've been riding for miles and hadn't stopped for awhile. We didn't exactly know where we were, Vegas was uncharted territory for us. We decided to stop in a small community town, Goodsprings they called it. There were people, but it certainly felt like a ghost town. We stopped at the only thing this town has for an attraction, The Pioneer Saloon. It was next to a general store, so at least there was that. "You sure you wanna stop here?" Cass said. "Better than in the middle of nowhere." Melissa said. I noticed a massive line of motorcycles parked outside, so I assumed there was a gang here. The only problem, it wasn't clear what gang it was.
We walked inside the saloon and, low and behold, there were bikers. Not just any biker gang, a multitude of biker gangs. The Bandidos, Vagos, Hell's Angels. We were in the lions den, one bad move and all hell could break loose. One of the bikers looked to us. "Fallen Eagles?" He said. "What're the Eagle's doing our this far?" Everyone in the bar looked to us in silence. Tension was extremely high. Dallas stepped forward. "We're looking for a man, goes by the name Grim. Anyone seen him?" I said. No one answered. "Grim?" One man from the other side of the bar called out. "What do you want with him?" He asked. The man was old, long silver hair and goatee, it was unclear what gang he belonged to. "He was one of us, but he took something." Dallas said. The man laughed in his raspy voice. "Was it your precious eagle?" He mocked. Grim has been here. "Where is he?" I said. Everyone looked to me. "How would I know, princess?" He said. I walked slowly towards him. "Because that eagle is a sacred treasure." I said. "Not many people know it's true significance. The only way a person can know is if an Eagle told them." I was standing right in front of him, analyzing him. "Old. About mid 50, pushing 60. Army jacket, thousand yard stare, dusty ass boots." I described his appearance. "You're a Rioter aren't you? A group of old Vietnam veterans destined to be the rebirth of America, or so that was the original plan." He stared at me. "You're one smart cookie, princess." He admitted. "Don't call me that." I said.
He stood up. "That Grim's been a problem for all of us." He said. "He converted a lot of members from the Bandidos, Vagos, and Hells Angels into joining him. We all want him gone." The saloon was filled with uproar from the other bikers. "It seems you lot have a personal grudge against him, so I guess we see eye to eye." He said. "Will you help us?" Jason said. He looked to him. "Fuck it. Why the hell not?" He agreed to help. "Anyone else wanna join on this death trap?" He called out and more joined in. This was good, we now had the manpower against Grim, but we still needed one more thing. "You guys got weapons? We need a lot of firepower." I said. He looked to me and cracked a smile.
We went next door to the general store and the old man went up to the guy at the counter. "Howdy Daryl." The man at the counter said. "Howdy Max. I need to buy from your more...personal selection." He said. He guided us around the back and there was a van parked outside. He unlocked the door and it was filled with guns, explosives, knives, you name it. "Whatcha looking for?" Max asked. "We're going after Grim, so can this be a more generous offer?" Daryl asked. "Usually I would say get the hell out, but that Grim has been a thorn in our weapon shipment." He said. "I'll let it pass, but just this once. Never again." Dallas went up first and picked out an M16. "Nice. Thing won't let you down." Daryl said from experience. Melissa went up next, she picked an M21 Sniper Rifle. Samantha chose an MP5, Jason chose an M79 fucking grenade launcher, Cass chose an AK47, and now it was my time to choose. Most of the big guns had been cleaned out already, but I noticed two identical looking guns. I picked them up and they felt good in my hands. "Dual 1887 Winchester Lever-Action Shotguns? Nice." Daryl said. As much as I liked the guns, I felt like I wanted something more personal. I looked around and saw something sticking out of a piece of wood. I walked over to it and saw it was a Stihl 045AV Super, an old chainsaw. "What're you doing with that old thing?" Dallas asked. "He's right. Thing don't work, cords stuck." Max said. Every other comment that was said by whoever was drowned out, my mind was fascinated with this tool. This is a weapon that says it's personal and I want you deader than dead. "You're wasting your time, Leia." Jason said. "It's useless." I grabbed the starter rope. It was stuck, but I pulled hard. I ripped the rope out of whatever was keeping it in and the chainsaw roared to life. It tore through the wood like butter. I grabbed the handle and ripped the chainsaw out of its resting place like it were excalibur. I started to laugh. I laughed because I knew what was coming and I knew no one could stop me.
"Guess it ain't broken after all." Daryl said. "Grim is in Vegas, he booked him and his members in a casino on the Strip, the Bellagio." We now knew where he was, we had weapons, we had an army, and I have a fucking chainsaw. We went back to the bikes and saw every other biker that joined as well, there were about 28 of them. I strapped my weapons to my bike and the chainsaw to the back. "Here." Daryl handed me something. "What's this?" I asked. "It's a parachute. A souvenir from my time in Vietnam." He explained. "Okay?" I said. "Hey, you guys are gonna need a way out. All options are put on the table." He said. I guess that's true. It's funny, at my christening, they played Heaven must be missing an Angel. Well, I came from Heaven, and I'm about to raise Hell.
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Las Vegas
We arrived on the Strip and it was cluttered with people and bright lights. The streets were covered in cars and drunken tourists and gamblers. This was the city of thieves and crooks, Las Vegas. How quaint. We left our bikes in a parking lot nearby, but kept our helmets on and walked towards the Bellagio casino. Here we were, a bunch of outlaws storming a casino on the Strip, shoulder to shoulder, loaded with weapons that could level a village. We may have been rejects of society, breakers of the law, outright degenerates, but were a family. And no one fucks with family.
We entered the casino's ground floor and the air was filled with noise of slot machines and gambling. "Let's try not to cause too much of a ruckus." Jason said. "You have a fucking grenade launcher." I pointed out. "You have a chainsaw." He said. "We need to find out where Grim is." Dallas commanded. "My guess is he's probably gambling. Blackjack is his favorite, so look at the blackjack tables." I said. "Melissa you try to get to a higher point, take Ryan with you." Dallas commanded. Melissa left the casino with Ryan to try and get to higher ground. "Leia, you and Cass scour the casino. Jason, Samantha, you guys are crowd control with the others. I'll search the rooms. Everyone ready?" Dallas asked. Everyone readied their weapons. "Good." Dallas fired the first shot in the air, which alerted everyone in the Casino. But it also gave the signal for the other bikers to storm in and control the crowd. Me and Cass went to the searches the casino for any sign of Grim. We separated for a bit to cover more ground. I saw hundreds of scared patrons around me. "No one be a hero." I called out. "We're not here to kill any of you or rob the place. We're here on official business." I tried to keep people in their place. I heard a scream from behind me and went to go see what it was. I turned a corner to see him, that raggedy old bastard and his stupid cowboy hat, Grim. He had Cass hostage and a gun pointed to her head. "Hi there, Leia." He said in his southern accent. "Let her go Grim." I demanded. "Now why would I do that?" He asked. "Shoot him Leia! Shoot him!" Cass said. "Put the gun down Leia. We can be civilized here." He demanded. "Shoot him!" Cass interrupted. "Put it down!" He put the gun closer to Cass's head. "Okay! Okay." I slowly put my gun on the floor and backed away from it. "Yeah. Yeah that's good." He said. He thought I had stood down, but I had one more trick. I pulled my revolver out of my side and shot at him with the speed of a true gunslinger. I shot off his hat. "Son of a bitch!" He screamed as he ran off with Cass. "Leia!" She screamed. "Cass!"
I picked up the shotgun I dropped and gave chase to the bastard. He ran into an elevator and the door shut just before I could run in. "Damn it!" I screamed. I didn't have time, so I ran up the fire escape to the other floor. Grim's men filled the hallways and as soon as they saw me, they opened fire. I covered behind a wall and returned fire. One of them got close and attacked me with a knife. He was able to lift my helmet a bit and slash at my jawline before I blasted him into a fine red pile. I felt blood coming from my jawline. "I better not get a damn scar from that." I said. I wasted everyone on that floor, but at the cost of most of my ammunition, and none of these guys had shotguns or revolvers. Luckily, I had an alternative. The time is now and the red mist demands it. My chainsaw hungers.
I reached the next floor and saw Grim and Cass at the end of the hallway. There were more of his men guarding him, but my anger did not care. The first man tried to lunge at me with a bat, but I brought the metal teeth down on his shoulder and sawed most of his neck. I used him as a human shield against the ones who were firing at me and they suffered the same fate as their friend. One of them feel to his knees and I sawed his jaw off. The hallway had 15 men in it, now the walls were repainted in blood and guts fell from the ceiling. I looked to Grim and he was running up the stairs. I bolted towards him and saw the other Eagle's down the hall. "What the hell happened?" Jason said. "No time, Grim has Cass. He's heading up the stairs." We all chased Grim to the roof.
Grim had nowhere to go, but he still had the advantage. "Not one more step." He said as he pointed the gun at Cass. "Or the redhead gets even more red." We all had our guns pointed at him. He got closer and closer to the edge. "You're outnumbered Grim." Dallas said. "Outnumbered? You're never outnumbered when you have a hostage." He said. "Everyone said Jacob was the leader, but he never put any work in. He always sent his little dogs out to fetch. I am the eagle!" Sick son of a bitch. "I will give rise to the Fallen Eagles! I will fly!" There was a loud bang from a gun, but none of us fired. I glanced behind Grim to see a sparkle in the distance. It was Melissa, she had found a vantage point and shot Grim in the back, right where his lung would be. Blood started to ooze from his mouth and the life from him was fading. "An eye for an eye, bitch." I said. He fell of the roof, but took Cass with him as well. Cass screams we're getting farther away. "Cass!" I threw my weapons down and jumped off the roof after her. "Leia!" I heard Dallas scream. I could see Cass falling toward the concrete, and fast. I positioned my body to face down, so I could fall faster. I stuck my arms out toward Cass. Her screams were getting louder as I got closer. I eventually got to her and wrapped my arms around her as tight as I could possibly do. Thank God for Daryl. I yanked the cord of the parachute and it shot open. I had Cass close to my chest as we descended. Cass eventually opened her eyes. "Huh? I'm not dead?" She said. "Not while I'm here." I said. "Leia? My hero!" She wrapped her arms around me and refused to let go. "You had a parachute?" She said. "Daryl gave it to me. I guess I owe him now." I answered. "Well, I guess I owe you." She said. "How about that date you wanted?" Was she serious? "Well I-but-uh-you.." I stumbled over my own words. She laughed at that. "I did agree when you first asked me. Didn't I? Just never found the time." She said. We landed next to the fountain in the front and looked over to Grim's corpse. He landed on a car and blood was pouring out of him. "I'm pretty sure he's dead." I said. "Yeah. Definitely dead." Cass confirmed. We heard police sirens in the distance. "I think that's our cue." We ran off toward the parking lot to get our bikes.
We reached the bikes and saw Melissa and Ryan running towards us. "That was awesome!" Ryan said. "You were James Bond or something." He seemed impressed. "I don't condone it, but that was pretty sweet." Melissa said. We saw Dallas, Jason and Samantha running up the ramp. "Christ! What was that?" Samantha said. "The power of God and not giving a fuck. Did you get the eagle?" I asked. "Right here." Jason showed us the eagle mantle. "That thing only causes us trouble." Cass said. "Trouble worth dying for." Dallas said. "Hey Leia, you dropped this junk." Samantha threw me my weapons. "It ain't junk, it's crap." I said. I picked up my weapons and strapped them to Lassie. "We'll vote who the leader is later, right now we need to get the hell out of Vegas." Dallas said. Everyone hopped on their bikes. "That shit was loco, Leia." Cass said. I looked to her. "What did you just say?" I asked. "Shit was loco." She repeated. "Loco? Loco." I tasted that word. "Loco. Loco Leia. I think I just found my new name." I said. "What's that?" Jason asked. "Call me Loco, Loco Leia." Our bikes roared in unison and we bolted out of Vegas into the Nevada night. We didn't know where we were going, but life holds many mysteries for the future.