INSIDE MONSTER. THE FUGITIVE.

CHAPTER 39: GOTTEN OUT OF HELL

There is Hell on Earth. SolHi convinced herself of that after that night when she'd been about to be unwillingly a victim again. „Or maybe not?" She told herself when she remembered that when she got off the ATV and headed toward the entrance to the building of the former sawmill, closely followed by Ha Rin, she knew very well what she was doing. She knew what kind of danger could have spied on her in that place of eternal night and terror, a place that so intensely smelled like gasoline and death. „A place that I understand now why it smelled like that: because it is really a place of death. It's a place Scar chose to get rid of his victims and those he dislikes. Even so, I don't understand one thing - how could he escape? Bear's people were everywhere around the sawmill, which they crossed several times on their ATVs. Yet, they couldn't find that bastard."

She winced eventually when Bunny pulled the wheel to avoid another car that suddenly decreased the speed right in front of them. Then, using the inner mirror, he looked at SolHi, who was in the back seat, saying, „I'm sorry, Detective Ian! I wasn't attentive and..."

„If you mean what has just happened, forget it! It's not a big deal. Yet, if you mean what has happened today, then... it's another story. Anyway, none of this was your fault."

„Even so, we allowed him to escape so easily. It's something I can't understand eventually: how he ran away when we were everywhere."

The boys had really been everywhere that night. SolHi clearly remembered that: after Ha Rin fired the gun twice when she snatched it out of her hand, the noise of the ATVs increased a lot, and this brought chaos to earth. An infernal noise was heard everywhere because the boys decided that it was the only way they could help SolHi and Ha Rin escape, intensely touching the honks and making a loud noise with the engines while trying to make that bastard pay attention to them and giving the two women a chance to escape.

„We had this chance eventually," she whispered, making the young man wince and stare at her in the mirror. SolHi didn't look at him though but frowned, looking through the window at the streets that the car left behind it and at the rest of the world that was still outside, a world SolHi didn't see at that moment. All she saw was the moment when, regardless of the noise made by the boys and the man's screams who followed them, although he knew they were armed, they kept snaking beside those piles of wood until they got to the main road. It's when Bear and Bunny saw and approached them, taking them as soon as possible out of there. Not only did they leave the place but all of their fellows because, after she climbed on the ATV behind Bear, SolHi told him about the murder, and the young man told everybody to vanish from there. „Yet, this was a one-to-a-million chance."

„Do you mean the crime inside the sawmill building?"

„Honestly, no. I mean... I'm not talking only about that unhappy woman who suffered the same thing as me but... about myself in particular. The reason? I've experienced this once."

The young man winced again. „Have you been that bastard's victim? When?"

SolHi looked in amazement at him. „Didn't you know that?" He shook his head. „Why?"

„I guess it wasn't the moment to find out about this. Or... they still don't trust me enough to tell me about this. Eventually, I joined the gang after Dja Iun's death."

„Did you know him?"

„Iun Dja Iun?" SolHi approvingly nodded. „Yes. Not very well, anyway, but I knew who he was. I saw him a couple of times at the Parkour competitions. Then... I found out about his death and that Scorpion had to do with the accident. Unlike Dja Iun, I knew Scorpion very well."

„Where from?" SolHi asked, frowning.

„We grew up together... on the streets. Yes, although it doesn't seem to be so, I've been on the streets since I was a child. Unlike Scorpion, who had a family that had always wanted him dead, I had none. Only my grandma, but she died when I was fifteen. Since then... I only had myself to care about."