Lucy tried to keep her eyes open, after what seemed like days locked up down here with no way out it became one of the only things that she could do. It quickly turned into a game, where open eyes meant that you were alive and closed ones meant that you were dead.

She was winning for now but she didn’t know how much longer she could keep this up. Black spots were already filling her vision as she lay there on the concrete floor.

They had left her down here a long time ago, never bothering to untie her and barely feeding her, leaving her to rot here all be herself.

Pain coursed through every part of her body, starting from the back of her neck and working its way through the rest of her body. Lucy didn't know what was causing all this pain. All she knew was that one second she was fine pacing back and forth, bored out of her mind, and then the next second she was on the ground screaming her lungs out.

Her taste of hell only lasted for a moment, but in that moment Lucy lost all control of her body. She couldn’t see hear or feel anything around her. There was only one thing on her mind, and it was pain.

When she finally woke up again the first thing that she noticed was the pounding in her skull, as if someone had been slamming a sledgehammer right behind her eyeballs. Her nerves fried, it felt as if her whole body was on fire. Her body felt heavy and she could barely breathe, at times she wished that she could just close her eyes and dream of her room.

The pain though refused to let her, the pain wouldn’t go away, it stayed with her. There would be times when it would subside but then it would come back just as fierce leaving her twitching and moaning on the floor.

Her clothes were soaked with sweat as she lay in a puddle of water. Thankfully the water cooled her burning body, soothing her pain if only a little bit. So, to keep her pain to a minimum she just stayed there, lying in a puddle of her sweat.

It was only later that she found out that it wasn't just sweat that she was bathing in. From the smell, she was able to figure out that when her body was going into shock she must have also lost control over her bladder drenching herself in piss.

Down in this basement, she could hear explosions and gunfire blasting through the street. People were shouting, their voices barely making it through the reinforced metal door and concrete basement. And through it all she just laid there, waiting.

She waited, hoping that somebody, anybody would come through that door, pick her up, and take her away from the pain. But as the seconds turned into minutes and the minutes then into hours Lucy realized that nobody was coming for her.

She wished that she was back in her room back at the Motel.

She never should have left.

* * *

A day after Issac had left Lucy had gotten bored. Issac had told her not to go out anymore and to just stay in the Motel but she decided that a little bit of fresh air wouldn’t hurt.

Truthfully she felt that she deserved at least some praise for how long she stayed. After the orphanage, Lucy had made it a point to never stay in one place for too long. There were too many chances that she would be found out if people were constantly noticing a homeless child in their neighborhood.

Especially if she was stealing from them.

When she was by herself Lucy kept herself constantly on the move, always working for her next meal, always searching for the next place to sleep.

In those days it had felt like nothing could affect her, that she was free to do anything. Time had felt like it was rushing past her with how fast she was moving.

But then after she met Issac and everything crawled to a stop. There was no more running, no more stealing, she didn't even have to look for a new place to sleep every night. Before, she would find herself cold and hungry in an alley most nights, and now she was warm, full, and had a relatively stable roof over her head.

And she was bored.

So, desperate for something to do Lucy decided that she was going to go back out and scout. She knew it was safer to wait for Issac to come back but she was only going to be doing this to pass the time. And hey, who knows, she might discover something that could be useful.

She wasn't gonna be reckless and make any mistakes.

So after getting her shoes on and filling a backpack that Issac had given her with snacks she set off towards the Hole.

The Hole was a bar that many Angels frequented that was built down the mountain where Amazon Lumber was situated. It was a medium-sized wooden-styled western saloon, complete with tacky swinging doors.

The bar was always surrounded by bikes, cars, and drunken idiots. It wasn't a place that regular people would go to but, as it was open to the public you would sometimes see teens and down on their luck adults trying to see if they had a chance to be a part of the famous Southern Angels.

By the time she had gotten over there, it was already time for the lunch rush. The front of the bar was crowded as bikers stood outside with beers in hand. Sometimes with a woman in hand other times talking big games to whoever would listen.

Young teens fresh out of school stood alongside them trying to make good impressions as they listened to the general boasting of the already drunken idiots. Across the street was a tattoo parlor where, on the roof, Lucy watched as everyone had a good time.

This became a regular spot for her over the past few nights. Being one of the few places where large numbers of Angels could be found outside made it the perfect spot to do reconnaissance without the risk of being trapped in an enclosed space.

The last couple of days Lucy had spent a considerable amount of time scoping and watching many places like the Hole. From group houses to abandoned gas stations, the Hole was the only place that had this many drunk people, making it the best place to listen for any loose lips.

What Lucy didn't know, was that her face had already become common knowledge to the Angels. Two days ago a picture of Lucy was spread throughout the gang's network along with a warning to be on the lookout if she showed up again. And to make things worse due to Lucy’s impatience she had forgotten to wait for when it was dark out, when she would be able to blend into the shadows more easily.

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So in the bright afternoon sun, it didn't take long before someone was able to notice a small black-haired child constantly peeking over the edge of a roof from across the street.

Though they tried to discredit it wasn’t hard for Lucy to notice that more and more people kept looking over at the roof that she was one. ‘They couldn't have seen me could they?’ She thought to herself. But even as she tried to reassure herself that she was safe she could already see as members pulled out their phones while a few tried to slowly make their way across the street. Knowing that she was seen, Lucy made the smart decision to quickly bail, hoping that they wouldn't decide to follow her.

She was barely across the roof when she heard the engines roaring to life behind her.

There was no way that she could outrun their bikes. This wasn't like the favela where the roofs were so close together that they were almost touching. At least there Lucy could run for miles across roofs and even go up and down the Rio Mountains just by hopping across the roofs.

Here, near the central part of town, she barely had enough momentum to make it across to the next roof. With the distance between her and the highway closing there wouldn't be enough time for her to lose them. With Issac she had been trying to lose one person, now she was going to be trying to outmaneuver an entire gang, a gang that would have every single one of their members hunting her down.

Her only chance was to make it across the highway before they did. There the crowds and traffic would at least slow them down enough for her to make her getaway.

All she had to do was get their eyes off of her for just a second and then she would be gone, free to make her way black to the Motel. As long as she was there she could whole herself up until Issac showed up.

She could only hope he would come fast because she didn't know how long she could stay locked inside that small room.

***

For the next few blocks, Lucy tried to shake off the Angels as best as possible. Leaping from roof to roof, clearing gaps of 10 feet or more, running as fast as she could. She tried every method that she learned, every trick that she had honed, but no matter what she did they were never too far behind.

She tried doubling back, taking weird turns, and even trying to wait out on a roof trying to see if they would drive off. She had even ditched her bag of snacks, throwing it over the roof in a blind attempt to at least knock someone off of the bike.

But nothing she did worked.

She could hear them slowly gaining on her. Their engines roared behind her, staying on her the entire way. First, they started just out of earshot, like a distant thunderstorm warning you of danger, then they got closer and closer, and with each inch that they gained, she lost a little bit of hope. Soon the realization of the situation settled on her.

That no matter what she did she couldn’t lose the Angels.

But she never gave up.

If she was going to get caught either way then she would prefer to get caught only after she had done everything that she could.

And so the chase continued. She ran for over half an hour before she finally ran out of roofs to run on. Lucy couldn’t believe it. They had chased her to the highway and now, with six lanes of open air between her and the next roof she had no choice but to take her chances on the ground.

Climbing down as fast as she could Lucy looked behind her, trying to gauge how much time she had before their motorcycles caught up to her. She could see them just rounding the corner behind her. Car and trucks swerving out of the way as the gang of Angels cut through the traffic, some of them even driving against the flow of traffic, to get to her.

It would be close, but, if she could get across that highway then she had a chance.

As soon as her foot touched the ground Lucy was already racing down the street, slipping by anyone in front of her. It was still the lunch rush so many people were crowding the sidewalks, and that number just seemed to increase as she got closer to the intersection.

All of these people, all of them, standing there waiting for the light. Nobody else would have been able to get through this mob but thankfully her small size let her squeeze through people's legs as she pushed past them.

“Hey!” and “Watch it!” Annoyed shouts rang out behind but that didn't stop her, she just kept pushing towards the front. And when she didn't stop their shouts changed from annoyed to frightened.

“ Hey Stop!”

“Someone Grab Her!”

" That's the street!"

But it was no use, she was already in open traffic by the time they noticed her.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as cars zoomed around her. She could barely believe it herself. Running into open traffic with cars going at least 65! She must have been crazy.

Well she wasn’t, but she was desperate.

She was so desperate she didn’t even stop after almost getting hit by a car. Luckily she was able to stop herself before the car ran her over, but it felt as if a solid chunk of her life had been shaved away.

But her desperation paid off because, by the time she was jumping over the halfway barricades, the Angels had just shown up. Looking back she saw that right at the intersection were ten Angels that were forced to stop due to the mass of cars blocking them from her.

With the ongoing wave of cars right in front of them they had no way of continuing forward without getting seriously injured. Knowing that this was her only chance Lucy raced across the remaining lanes, again narrowly avoiding getting hit a few times for her troubles.

Only after she made it to the sidewalk on the other side did she stop and catch her breath. As she tried to inhale as much air as her lungs could hold Lucy looked back across the six lanes of cars zooming past, looking for any sign of the Angels.

There, right where she left them, they sat on their bikes, watching her. After a few seconds of both sides staring at each other, the Angels broke eye contact. Turning around they started leaving, heading back the way that they came.

Lucy couldn't believe it, she had done it. Somehow she, a nobody orphan from the street, was able to outrun the most feared gang in the city. It didn’t matter if they knew what she looked like. As long as she made it back to the Motel everything would be fine.

After collecting her breaths Lucy’s face went serious. Now wasn't the time for her to be celebrating, they knew what she looked like so it wouldn’t be long until every runner in the city started a mass-wide hunt to find her. It wouldn't surprise her if pictures of her were already circulating their networks spreading her image far and wide.

Looking around at the people walking around her Lucy began to wonder ‘ Was anyone here an Angel, were they already watching her.’ Shivering at the thought of hundreds of eyes following her around Lucy began to miss being around Issac.

Sure he was annoying and loud and his head seemed to be leaning towards the crazy side, but for some reason when he was around people ignored him. He could walk into a crowded street and no one would pay him any mind. And right now being ignored was the thing she wanted most right now.

Checking again to make sure that no one was watching her Lucy fixed her hair so that it covered her face and then with her head down she calmly walked down the sidewalk. Hoping that nobody stopped and gave her a second thought.

Even though she wasn't as dirty as she used to be she was still a lonely, sad-looking child alone on the streets. Concerned people were bound to notice her and draw attention and that was the last thing she wanted right now.

As long as she didn't try to draw attention to herself then maybe she would be able to walk straight back to the Motel without anybody being the wiser. People could mind their own business right, they did that before when she was living on the streets.

All she had to do was make sure that nobody traced her back to the Motel, that was her only place to hide. Anywhere else and the Angels were sure to find her. But Lucy trusted Issac, surely his place would be the perfect place to hide for a few days, maybe even weeks.

But if they followed her back to the Motel then she would have nowhere else to go. Issac’s room was the last place that she could go to.

She had to get back.