Hunter
Eleven Years Ago...
I’m sitting on the floor, in my tiny attic bedroom with my baby sister. My baby sister that I’ve become responsible for since the day she was born - not that I mind. Our mother is a worthless piece of shit who whores herself out to the local Motorcycle Club. We don’t even know who my sister’s father is, not that it matters. So, as far as she’s concerned, it’s me.
I just turned nineteen-years-old a couple months ago. I’m her half-brother and can barely take care of myself, let alone be a father, especially to her. She even calls me daddy, instead of by my name, Hunter. Even though I’ve tried to teach her many times, she’s just too young to understand. I can’t blame her for not knowing, I’m the one who feeds her, bathes her, puts her to bed every night. You name it, and I do it. I do everything a parent should be doing with their child.
As for my father, he was worthless too. He passed away when I was thirteen. Drugs and alcohol took out his liver, and that was the end of him.
My parents were married when dear old Mom found out she was pregnant with me. Six months later, though, he left her sorry ass because she couldn’t keep her legs closed.
I saw him a few times when I was younger. He remarried when I was ten and had another family. His new wife wouldn’t let me around their kids because of my mom and where we lived. I didn’t blame her, I wouldn’t want my kids or myself around this shit if I had the choice.
I occasionally hear from my grandmother - his mother - but that’s the only contact with his family I have.
My mom’s side of the family is a different story. I’ve never met any of them. I know her mother is still alive, and she has two sisters and a brother. They disowned her after my father divorced her. They never stepped up to help out with me or take me from her, even after the many calls from child services when I was a baby. I guess a call about your baby grandson/nephew sitting in his playpen all day without food or milk and the same wet, dirty diaper wasn’t a concern for them.
So, that was the start of my life and how it’s supposed to be. I have to live with it and only have myself to depend on.
As for Mom and her many boyfriends - or whatever the fuck you want to call the club men she fucks - only come around when they want something. For the most part, they leave us alone these days, thank God.
We live in a house in the city, on the south side of Chicago, the not so good side, and the Club owns it. My room is in the attic, like I mentioned before, and I share it with my baby sister.
You ever heard of privacy, yeah, well, I don’t have any in this house or a life outside this room either. Not easy for a teenage boy, I’ll tell you that, if you know what I mean. My poor cock has only been inside a few pussies, and I’ve had a couple of blowjobs from the sluts at school. When I feel the need, I have to wait to jack off in the shower after she goes to bed.
I graduated from high school a couple of weeks ago, late, but at least I finished. If it wasn’t for our very nice and very nosey older neighbor, Mrs. Dawson, I might not have been able to at all. Not like dear old Mom cared. If it were up to her, I would have dropped out at sixteen and joined the Club. That’s not what I wanted; I wanted an education to better myself. To give Brooke a better life one day. So, Mrs. Dawson watched my sister for me, so I was able to make it to my classes. Up until last year when she started pre-school, that helped out tremendously.
I was supposed to graduate last May but was shy a couple of credits, I had to take a few more classes, and finally finished in March before spring break. I can walk in the graduation ceremony next month if I want to, but I’ve chosen not to. I’m hoping to have Brookie and me out of here before then.
Yeah, I’m gonna steal my little sister away from this hell hole we’ve called home.
“Daddy, color,” Brookie says in her cute little six-year-old talk. She just turned six before Halloween a few months ago, but some days, she acts as if she’s sixteen. She’s so smart, and the light in her blue eyes when she learns something new is incredible. She even reads; her favorite books are anything to do with werewolves. I help her, of course, - teen books with big words - but the more she practices with me, the better she becomes. She started reading fairytale books at three.
I shake my head out of my thoughts and take the yellow crayon from the box into my hand – the crayons I bought her from helping out the neighbors - and color the unicorn’s crown on the page. I see the bright smile light up her angelic face, little cherub cheeks pull up to her eyes, her blue eyes sparkling like the sky on a beautiful summer’s day. She’s an angel sent from Heaven with her blonde hair that’s almost white.
She hates when I space out and don’t pay her any attention. She doesn’t get much of it in her life, so I can’t begrudge her wanting all mine. Especially, when I’ve made her the center of my world since the day she came home from the hospital.
We color her unicorn and almost complete the picture. It’s a mess, but it’s a lovely mess because Brookie made it. And like all her masterpieces, I will hang it on our wall.
“Where the fuck are you, asshole?” I hear Slayer yell for me from downstairs.
“Get your sorry ass down here, boy. You fucking worthless piece of shit.”
Slayer, the Club’s Enforcer and one of Moms’ many men for her free for all cunt is just another piece of shit asshole that comes around here and thinks he owns us. I hate being around this Club and having Brookie around these horrible men. They take the phrase outlaw bikers to a whole other level.
That’s why I can’t leave Brookie with these wolves to raise her, so I have to deal with them, for now. All our mom and her slew of boy toys know how to do is drink, snort, shoot up, fight, and fuck. Not how to take care of a little girl. My baby sister doesn’t need to see any of that. That’s why I intend to get her away from here. I don’t have a fool-proof plan just yet, and if they were to find us when we go… I still have to try... I have to try for her, my beautiful, innocent, young, little angel who deserves so much more out of life than what she was handed.
My best friend Ryan - the closest person I have to a brother - is the only one that I can trust to help me. His father is the President of the Club, and he hates it as much as I do. He hates that Brookie is around all this shit too.
My life’s been shit since the day I was conceived, and I’ve made peace with the life I was given. I have no blood family worth shit, except for Brookie, and I will do anything for her. I want to give her a better life, the best life, that’s what my little angel deserves.
Getting her away from this life and our mother is the first step. Mom got involved with Satan’s Halo Motorcycle Club about fourteen years ago, and we’ve been stuck here ever since. They are one of America’s known notorious outlaw Motorcycle Clubs.
“Baby girl, stay here and color. I’m gonna run downstairs for a minute. I’ll be right back. Do not follow me! Okay,” I say in a calm, but stern tone, and she nods. I don’t want her to follow me and risk the chance of her seeing me fighting or me getting my ass handed to me. Just another thing I need to censor in her life, the thugs that enter our house through the revolving doors, hitting me.
I know how to fight, you have to in this life to protect yourself, and I do protect us. I fight back at these assholes, but I get my fair share of blows. They’re better fighters, more experience than I have, but I’ll get there. I keep practicing with Ryan, and soon I will lay them out on their asses.
Until then, I take my dues for my sister and myself to survive. Whatever I need to do, to keep her safe and happy, I will do.
So, I reluctantly head downstairs to my fate. I hurry so he doesn’t make his way up here. I keep the men away from Brookie as much as possible
The second I hit the last step and stand in front of Slayer, he slaps me on the back of the head. I recover fast, throw my right fist at him, connecting with his jaw. He grabs a hold of my wrist and swings me around, twisting my right arm behind my back. Spinning me in the process and smashes my face against the wall as he pins me to it.
“You little fuckin’ dickhead, you’re going to pay for that, and I know just how you can start. You start prospecting in a month, so figure your shit out with that little brat of yours so you can be my little bitch for the next year,” he says in my ear.
The men in the Club have been trying to get me to join since I turned sixteen, and I keep refusing. I’ve used school as my excuse for the last three years, now I’m out, it’s not gonna fly with them anymore. These men are outlaws and ruthless assholes, and I want no part of them. Not that I think being in a Motorcycle Club is bad, on the contrary, I would join one if they were decent men. These men are the most despicable men I have ever encountered, and I would never be their brother or a part of their world.
“Fuck you! I don’t want any part of your Club. I’ll figure out something else,” I spit in his face, and he hits me again. I get out of his grip, we go for another round, until mother dearest and Bulldog, the Club’s Vice President, break us up.
“Hunter James McNally, stop this fucking shit. Now!” mom yells at me, and I step back. I wipe the blood that’s dripping from my lip onto my shirt. I hate when she calls me by my full name, let alone her maiden name instead of my father’s. My full legal name should be Hunter James Brenner, but she refused to give me my father’s last name.
I always wanted to change it, but after Mom had Brookie and gave her our name, I changed my mind. It’s easier to have the same name as her.
“You have two choices here, boy. One, you start prospecting for the Club in a months’ time. Two, you leave and get the fuck out of this house. You have until the end of the month to decide,” Mom says snidely.
I don’t answer her, nor do I stay. I hightail it up to my room to Brookie. I have to come up with a full proof plan and fast to get us out of here. I will not prospect for them, and I won’t leave without her. I have money saved up and a car hidden at another friend’s that’s not affiliated with the Club. I’ll pack our bags, and contact Ryan to find out when the next run is, so we can leave then.
When the guys leave on runs, Mom stays at the Clubhouse, so it will make it easier for us to disappear. Hopefully.
I text Ryan when I get upstairs to ask him, and he tells me they will be leaving in two days. He’ll have everything ready for me by then, so we can leave. Ryan had his friend draw up a few documents for me. We’ll have new birth certificates, mine saying I’m twenty-five, and Brookie’s saying I’m her dad and her mom is deceased. He’s even having Passports done for us in case I want to enter Mexico to hide out for a while.
Now, with all that done, it’s time to lay low and stay out of everyone’s hair until I can sneak us out of here.
****
Two nights later, I get us out of the house and to my car. By the time I get Brookie settled in her seat, it’s after two in the morning, and she’s out cold, thankfully. I drive out of Chicago, heading south without looking back. We’re going to make our way to Texas, then from there, probably Mexico.
Ryan got me everything I needed and some extra cash. I disposed of my old cell phone and got a burner for emergencies.
I drive until around seven in the morning and stop for gas, in Marion. Brookie is still asleep, so I leave her to her peaceful rest and hightail it into the station to pay cash for my gas.
The second I walk out the doors, I hear the roar of a dozen or more motorcycles coming our way. I rush to my car, but the second I touch the door handle, all the bikes are surrounding my car.
“Hunter, Hunter, Hunter, I thought you were smarter than this shit, boy. You think the Club would let you leave with our property?” Bulldog says from behind me.
I stand frozen in my spot, and I don’t know what my next move should be.
I gather my strength and do the only thing I can think of. I turn and face him with my head held high and my spine stiff.
“I’m taking her away from here. I don’t want or need yours or the Club’s permission. She’s not your property, asshole. She’s mine. Now move!” I growl at him. I’m not letting him take her from me. We made it this far, and I will get us all the way out of here.
He laughs in my face, and the other men follow as they dismount their bikes. Without a word or warning, he throws a punch at my face. The men join in quickly, outnumbering me, they get me to the ground.
Their boots make contact with my face, ribs, stomach, back, arms, and legs. They hold back some not to break any bones, just hurting me enough to back down and not be able to move.
A couple of minutes later, they finally step away from me to head out, leaving me on the ground in a bloody mess. My eyes are swollen, and I’m having a hard time breathing. The pain radiating through my entire body is unbearable.
Bulldog bends down in front of me. “You will leave our state today for good. Never come back. If I see or hear from you again, I will kill you. If you come near her, I will kill her in front of you just to see your face when I do it. She’s Club property, don’t you ever fuckin’ forget that, boy. It’s time to forget about her and move on with your life.”
As he finishes, I see Slayer reach into the car and grab Brookie out of her car seat. He hands her off to Mom to secure in her car.
She screams and begs me to come to her, to take her away from Mom and the bad men, but I can’t move.
It breaks my heart to see the look on her face. The tears plummeting from her eyes and the pain and hope I see in them. I can’t do a damn thing to protect her from them now or they will kill us.
I fucked up, I fucked up big time, and I can’t do a damn thing to fix it this time. I’ve failed her and lost her forever.
They leave, taking her and my heart with them. After a few minutes, I pick my beaten ass up off the floor, fuel my car, and leave.
I change my mind and head to Georgia. When I arrive there, I have a plan.
My new plan is to join the Marines and get stronger and then go back for Brookie one day when I have back up and it’s safe. If it’s ever safe for me to go near her again.
I know those men, and they will be true to their word and have no qualms about hurting Brookie. Therefore, I have to stay away from her.
I fucked up and lost her being young and stupid.
Now, it’s time for me to better myself. It’s time to start a new chapter in my life and hope I’ll see her again one day.
Until then, I resolve myself to a loveless, dark existence. I deserve nothing more than a painful and ominous existence.