Claiming Racheal

by Michelle Woods

  “Racheal, let’s go! We have to get to the club, the prospects will be back in thirty minutes to get us, and we still have to get Bone’s papers and his handheld computer for the club accounting from his office.” Molly called from the front room.

  “Alright, just a second. Gotta do one more check.” Racheal called back, checking the closet again. She didn’t find anything they would need, grabbing the bag off the bed, she headed to the living room to meet Molly.

  “Okay, I’m ready.” Racheal retorted entering the living room.

  Molly sighed and picked up the bag she’d set down on Tiny’s coffee table. “Damn, you’re slow. I still have to stop at the house, I forgot those guns and he’ll kill me if I don’t get them.”

  “Oh, shut up! You’re the one who forgot them at your place. We would have plenty of time if you hadn’t willfully forgotten his guns. I know you hate them, but really to leave them on purpose.” Racheal panted, shaking her head. They carried the last of the bags to the truck throwing them into the back.

  They’d been carrying stuff from both Molly’s and her houses all morning, and they were both wet and tired, despite the rain coats and galoshes they were wearing. Racheal would be glad when this infernal rain stopped. Six days of constant rain was annoying. Climbing into the cab, Molly started the truck, Racheal got in on the passenger side and leaned back resting her head against the head rest.

  “Shit, wait. I forgot Tiny’s hand held.” Racheal cried sitting up suddenly and grabbing the door handle. Molly stopped backing away from the cabin and Racheal opened the door hopping out.

  “See, I’m not the only one forgetting things!” Molly called after her as she shut the door. She turned offering her opinion of that comment with a single finger. Molly stuck her tongue out at her. She ran into the house and into the study grabbing Tiny’s computer off the desk and running back out.

  Getting into the truck she slammed the door and leaned back before saying.

  “Yes, but I didn’t do it on purpose, and then decide I wanted to live, so I’d better go back for it.” Racheal retorted.

  “Damn it, I don’t know what made me tell you that!” Molly grumbled pulling out of the drive with the windshield wipers on high. The visibility kept them at a snail’s pace all the way to Molly’s cabin. Molly looked at her when she shut off the engine and got out, standing with the door open she glared at Racheal.

  “Aren’t you going to help me with the bags?” She asked, still staring at Racheal sitting in the passenger seat.

  “Do I have to?” Racheal groaned, not wanting to move.

  “Yes, you have to!” Molly demanded.

  “Fine, don’t get your panties in a bunch!” Racheal groaned again and got out entering the house and grabbing a bag of guns from Bone’s study to lug it to the truck, all the while muttering under her breath about women who forget shit, which earned her a glare and another ‘Shut up, witch’ from Molly. Before they were back in the truck twenty minutes later driving towards the clubhouse. It took ten minutes to make a three minute drive because Molly could barely see.

  They finally made it to the clubhouse where they were supposed to meet the two prospects who were going to drive them up the mountain, because Bone didn’t want Molly driving in this rain. He’d actually expected them to go in the first trip, but Molly nor Racheal had been ready they were too busy helping everyone else get ready to leave to pack in the last few days.

  They had told the two prospects in charge of their move to come back in three hours. The men hadn’t been happy, but they had to get their own families up to the camp so they’d agreed. Getting out of the truck at the clubhouse, they heard Vivi calling out to them.

  “Hey, make sure they don’t leave without me I gotta run to the storage out back Tick put some of Max’s stuff out there and we might need it.” Vivi yelled.

  “Okay, we’ll wait on you, don’t worry. You can throw it in the truck when you’re ready!” Racheal yelled back.

  She and Molly went inside headed to Bone’s office entering Molly grabbed the hand held from his desk. Racheal wanted to see the prospects when they returned, but didn’t want to sit in the truck for twenty minutes. She sighed following Molly out the door.

  “Let wait on the balcony upstairs.” Molly suggested, as they walked out of the office.

  “Good idea.” Racheal replied, grateful she wouldn’t have to sit in the truck for so long.

  They headed upstairs to the game room where they could sit on the balcony to wait and still see when the two men returned. Sitting down in one of the rockers on the covered porch Racheal noticed some rope laying in a stack near the edge of the railing.

  “What the hell is all that rope for?” She asked Molly.

  “It’s to tie the chairs on the porches. That’s what the prospects will be doing tonight before they come up to the camp.” Molly replied as she sat back in her own rocker.

  “Huh, that’s smart. I wouldn’t have thought of that.” Racheal began rocking hearing a creaking sound as she did.

  “How often do you think floods like this happen?” She asked, Molly sighed leaning back.

  “Not often, Bone told me it’s been ten years since the last flood. And can you stop rocking in that creaky chair, it’s annoying.”

  “Damn, you’re cranky.” Racheal grumbled, but she stopped rocking.

  “Yes, and you are too!” Molly crowed.

  “Well, I have a right I haven’t seen my man in six days. What’s your excuse? You saw your man this morning!” Racheal stuck her tongue out at her friend, laughing.

  “Yeah, I saw him for five damned minutes and then he was leaving to go take care of whatever mysterious business the club has been taking care of all week.” Molly replied.

  “Huh, still bet he kissed you though. I miss Tiny’s kisses. His dick too.” Racheal laughed gleefully.

  “Nasty, I did get a kiss though it was just enough to heat me up then I had to go get you to help me pack everything up. So it was more a tease than anything!” Molly griped, as she looked over the railing.

  Racheal leaned over too, seeing Vivi coming towards them carrying a large bag.

  “Should we help her you think?” She asked, watching the woman struggling with the huge bag.

  “Nope. I’m too tired let’s pretend we didn’t notice.” Molly said

  “Oh-ho…Molly you’d let her struggle just cause you’re lazy!” Racheal stood looking towards the falls, planning to head downstairs to help Vivi. That was when she noticed that there was water headed there way. A lot of water, rushing towards them very fast. Panic sized her and her heart almost stopped. The dam must have broken early.

  “Shit, that’s a lot of water, Molly!” Racheal pointed, and then she began screaming at Vivi. “Vivi drop that and run. RUN.” She roared, watching as the woman looked around a bit confused.

  “VIVI RUN.” Molly screamed from beside her. Vivi didn’t seem to know what they were freaking out about, but she must have realized it didn’t matter because she threw the bag and began to run towards the clubhouse.

  Racheal looked again, and seeing that the water was actually covering the first buildings it hit completely. Crashing around them like waves breaking on the shore, but not nearly as pleasant. She looked at Molly.

  “I don’t think she’s going to make it and we need to get on the roof, now!” Racheal screamed, meeting her eyes.

  “Okay, let’s go, but she’ll make it. She has too. She has a son and an old man.” Molly said desperately, moving towards the railing.

  “You go first and then I’ll hand up the rope so we can tie ourselves to the chimney.” Racheal quickly directed.

  “Why are we tying ourselves to the roof?” Molly asked, as she stood at the railing.

  “Just do it, Molly! It will keep us from getting washed off if the waters high enough to cover it. Now, Climb!”

  Racheal held the rope while Molly climbed onto the railing. Hurry Molly, she thought watching the water get closer and cl
oser. If it hit before they were tied to the roof they were both likely dead. She could hear Vivi opening the door downstairs, and she was glad. Vivi might just make it, Racheal thought gratefully.

  Molly had finally made it to the roof and was holding her hand down for the rope, which Racheal held out to her hearing Vivi as she panted up the stairs. She was going to make it thank god!

  “Vivi hurry the waters coming fast!” She screamed even as she climbed up onto the railing to get on the roof. She made it up, seeing that Molly had already tied off and was tying some of the rope around her waist.

  She ran over grabbing the rope and tying herself off too. When she was tied off she ran to the edge looking over to see that Vivi was climbing the chair to get up onto the railing.

  “Give me your hand Vivi.” She demanded and Vivi reached up grasping her hand. She was almost on the roof when the water hit. Racheal held onto Vivi’s hand desperately as she was hit with what felt like a thousand tons of water.

  “Hold on, Vivi!” Racheal screamed, trying to hold Vivi with both hands wrapped around her arm with Vivi’s hand holding on to Racheal’s arm. Vivi was slipping away from her, Racheal realized. She wasn’t going to let that happen.

  “Molly, tie her off! Tie her off!” Racheal screeched.

  Molly was already at the edge of the roof trying to tie the rope around Vivi’s waist as she and Racheal fought to hold on.

  “Just don’t let go Vivi.” Racheal desperately begged. Vivi’s grip tightened helping Racheal get a better grip. They were going to make it, she almost sighed.

  Something rushed by them and Vivi’s head went under for a moment causing Racheal to panic, until she came up sputtering, but suddenly she felt Vivi’s whole body go limp and her grip on Racheal’s hand loosened. Racheal was desperately trying to hold on, but the water was too strong and without Vivi’s help she lost her grip on Vivi’s arm.

  “NO!” Racheal screamed, feeling Vivi’s slippery arm sliding from her grip. She watched Vivi sink beneath the rushing water, and be swept away. Molly began to cry.

  “I almost had it. I almost had it.” Over and over, Molly squawked.

  They sat on the edge of the roof looking at the water that crashed into the houses beyond them in a massively destructive wave. Both destroyed that they hadn’t prevented Vivi from being swept away. Finally after several moments of sitting there watching the water, Racheal gathered a still weeping Molly into her arms and helped her to the chimney where they were tied. Leaning back against the chimney.

  “It’s okay, Molly. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.” Even as she muttered these soothing words, brushing Molly’s wet hair from her face, she didn’t feel them in her heart.

  She should have been able to hold Vivi longer. She was the one who should be ashamed not Molly. Molly had said Vivi would make it. Racheal had been the one to give up on the other woman before she’d even known if the woman could make it.

  Max had lost his mother and Tick, his wife all in just a few short seconds and it was her fault. As she leaned back holding her friend, who she’d been laughing with only a short time before, she wished that she’d been able to hold on for just a few minutes more. Long enough that Molly could have tied her off.

  Just a few more seconds and she would have been safe, and they could have used the rope to pull her onto the roof. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way, they were supposed to be long gone before the dam broke, not stuck on a roof desperately trying to stay alive. With her heart aching from the loss of her friend, she held desperately to Molly hoping that the rain would stop soon. She was getting cold, and despite the rain coat she was already soaked.

  “It wasn’t your fault either, Racheal. Even if we’d gotten her onto the roof, she’d swallowed the water.” Molly finally whispered, and Racheal realized that Molly was probably right, but that they would never know if that was true or not.

  Racheal shivered, it was freezing. She and Molly had been here for over an hour leaning on the chimney waiting for the water to stop rushing by. The water rushing into the valley was showing no signs of slowing down, and she was tired and so very cold. Her teeth chattered as she spoke to Molly, her lips were blue and she shivered every few seconds from the cold.

  “It can’t keep this up for much longer, and then they’ll send somebody to look for us. It will be okay.” Racheal’s chattering teeth were drown out by the rushing of the water and the howling of the wind as the rain poured down on them. And she prayed she was right because both hers and Molly’s life may depend on Bone and Tiny coming to look for them.

  “I know, I’m just going to sleep for a bit.” Molly replied, shivering so hard she was shaking Racheal too. Or maybe she was shivering just as hard as Molly was. She just knew that she couldn’t let Molly go to sleep. She was too cold and that could be bad.

  “No, let’s sing that song we learned in Miss Kate’s class. You remember it don’t you. We can’t sleep, Moll’s. We can’t” Racheal desperately coaxed.

  “The one with the three little birds?” Molly asked seeming a little more alert.

  “Yes, how did it go again?” Racheal asked.

  “Umm…one little bird was sitting on my knee…” Molly let her voice trail off, but Racheal remembered the next line.

  “The next line was, it called out a coo and another came to me.” Racheal sang in a voice roughened by the weather.

  “Two little birds were sitting on my knee. Was next I think?” Molly questioned her eyes slipping closed again.

  “No, it was, that’s why two little birds are sitting on my knee.” Racheal corrected her own eyes drooping as she shivered, holding onto Molly. She knew that she was falling asleep, too.

  Chapter 20

  Tiny watched as Tick’s fist slammed into the man’s face again, breaking his jaw. Tiny had searched for four days before he found a solid lead to the man they were torturing at the moment. He was the one who’d left the bomb at the club. Bone had already worked him over yesterday trying to get more information from him. Tiny realized that they were almost to a point where they might as well kill him. He hadn’t talked. Bastard was tough.

  In any other circumstances he would have been impressed, but anyone willing to allow innocent people to die because he wanted to be in a club wasn’t worth a shit. Tiny leaned against the wall thinking about Racheal.

  Bone had said that Molly and Racheal would be taken to the camp first thing this morning to assure their safety and he was glad. The thought of never seeing her again made him a little crazy. He felt like they had hit a turning point in their relationship in the back room of Trick’s shop. He was going to the camp in an hour and he’d see her. He was almost giddy thinking about it.

  Fuck, he was a damned pussy! She made him soft, but he didn’t care he wasn’t giving her up. That had never really been an option for him. He wanted this job to be done so that he could get home to Racheal. He was tired of only being able to talk to her on the phone, and his fantasy’s where becoming unmanageable. He was hornier than he’d could ever remember being, even as a kid.

  “Tiny, he’s ready for the shock therapy now.” Tick grinned evilly at the man who whimpered.

  “Good.” Tiny moved towards the man pulling the cart with the paddles on it. They were covered with a small bit of rubber so they wouldn’t kill the man, but it would sure shock the shit out of him.

  “No, I’ll talk. I’ll talk.” The man finally cried out shocking both of them. They’d already tortured the man for two days and this had been their last resort. They’d dunked him in water, broken bones, beaten him, and choked him, but this was apparently where the man drew the line. He must think that electrocution when you were soaked would not be pleasant, and Tiny had to agree.

  “Who set it up?” Tiny asked, but the man clammed up again. Tiny began to ready the paddles.

  “Wait, okay,” His words where hard to understand since he was talking with a broken jaw. “Yellow Belly, set it up. He wants revenge. His brother was in that warehouse
you took down. The rest of the club didn’t know.” He was spitting blood everywhere and Tiny stepped back.

  “What do you mean the club didn’t know?” Tiny asked.

  “They don’t want to have you coming after us, not until we get our numbers back up. After what happened last year you took out over a quarter of the club. They want to grow our numbers before we poke at the bear, but Yellow and his friends are wanting to get revenge. There’s a club war going on internally. That’s all I’m saying so you might as well kill me. They’re going to anyway when they find out. Just make it quick, I talked. So, make it a quick death.” The man begged as Tiny stepped towards him with a deadly smile.

  “No.” He growled, his fist hitting the man’s stomach. Then he grabbed the paddles and lit the little son of a bitch up. They’d been lucky that no one had died, but this man was only concerned with his payday, not innocent lives. Tiny was going to make him suffer for a long, long time before he died.

  Two hours later, Tiny climbed off his bike at the camp heading to Bone’s cabin. He looked down at his knuckles damn they were sore, he thought looking at them in dismay. Huh, those were gonna hurt for a few days. Oh well, it had been worth it. Seeing Tank he stopped to talk to him.

  “Did we break him?” Tank asked

  “Yep, got something you might want to hear though, ‘bout the Jackals. Heading to let Bone know now.” Tiny replied.

  “Alright, help me get Tracy settled and then we’ll head over.” He lifted a box out of the truck bed and began walking towards a cabin nearby.

  Tiny grabbed two bags and headed into the house to help Tank, wondering who was helping Racheal. He entered the house and looked around seeing Tracy in the living room unpacking a box.

  “Where do these go?” He asked holding them up for her to see.

  “Oh, those are our clothes, I think, and if not they still need to go upstairs because they’re Dogs guns. Just put them on the bed up there.” Tracy said.