Shit! Shit-shit-shit!
Sarah didn't even have a leeway to look back. Just the rumbling sounds of the truck already told her she was within a grinding distance from it. She had run through a path too narrow and too uneven for a vehicle, yet the truck still found her when she exited the street.
Damn it--that was why people shouldn't fight on someone else's turf!
But how, oh, how did she come into this predicament? Well...it began with her grand entrance into her homeland, taking over the family car and swerving to her beloved bar--which had strangely turned into her comfort place.
"I'm here to see the Little Bird."
"So soon after coming back?" Lee Sol pursed his lips in disagreement. "Can't you loosen up and have some drinks first?"
"I quit drinking," Sarah muttered, before glancing at the manager sharply. "The Little Bird."
Lee Sol sighed and raised his palms in defeat. "Alright, alright--so impatient..."
The grumbling manager brought Sarah deeper into the hive of Helios, right beneath the golden dome. A whole floor had been dedicated to one person, filled with the smell of coolant and the buzzing of a running engine. At the center of it all, was a crouching figure surrounded by comfortable living space and cute animal plushies.
This was where Lee Sol got information about Helios's customers. More than that, however, it was the core and the nest of Song Yonghwa's global information network, managed by one little bird. Presently, the second generation.
"She's inside, as usual..." Lee Sol pursed his lips, staring at the screen near the 'gate' separating the living area and the server. There was a face with squinting eyes on the screen that told him he wasn't allowed to go further. "You can go by yourself, right?"
"Thanks," Sarah patted the grumbling manager and walked past the glass barrier.
When Sarah came closer, the crouching, hooded figure immediately perked up. "M-Miss Diamond!" a young-sounding voice, soft despite the exclaim, greeted her, followed by a pair of reaching arms. The hood slipped off and exposed short, messy hair that made her look even more like her namesake.
Sarah, despite being the first time meeting the Little Bird directly, crouched and hugged the small figure--even smaller than herself. It may be their first offline meeting, but they had been in constant correspondence for the past five years. What started from a mere information gathering for her action abroad became a heartfelt long distance friendship through trauma sharing and just mundane conversation.
Perhaps because both of them perform voluntary solitude, they clicked quite well.
"How are you, Birdie?"
"I-I'm f-fine, bu-but..." the little bird clutched the piece of paper in her small hands, hiding beneath her big sleeves. "I...I d-don't l-like thisss...Miss D-Diamond..."
No matter how close they were, however, little Birdie couldn't seem to call people with their names still. She didn't even allow people to call him anything other than Little Bird--or Birdie, for those she deemed friends. Sarah heard she also called Yonghwa 'Mister Flower'.
Sarah smiled and stroked her hunched back; it felt natural, seeing her young appearance. If her sister was successfully born, she would probably around Little Bird's age--a year or two younger than Sera.
"I know, Birdie--but I need it," Sarah stroked the hands clutching the piece of paper tightly.
With a sigh, the little clothed claws released the paper. "This is just the hideout of the one who messed with the car. B-but you know that they're just the middleman, right? I d-don't think you'll gain anything from them. T-they don't seem like someone who'll kek-keep transaction history or an-anything. S-so I don't th-think you'll get any p-proof..."
Despite speaking in a soft, stuttering voice, she talked fast like a train. With fingers peeking out of oversized sleeves, a piece of paper was being shoved into Sarah's hand.
Sarah took the paper, where a coordinate was written on it. She folded the paper with a rare smile and patted the little bird's head. "Good job, I'll make sure to give you a bonus."
"Y-you don't have to..." the little bird replied hastily, to Sarah's surprise. After all, the Little Bird of Helios was known for their covetous trait over money, just like how little birds liked shiny things in the myth and stories.
Sarah tilted his head, and asked with confusion. "Are you sure?"
The little bird nodded profusely. "I-i-instead..." she buried her head inside the blanket covering her upper body even more, beady eyes peeking out of her covering hand. "Instead, can you...p-p-pat me mmo-more?"
Sarah raised her brow, but lifted his hand and softly ruffled the mopped hair sticking out of the blanket and the hood. "Well, I don't mind," Sarah said with a shrug, and she could hear a soft giggling sound from beneath the mopped hair. "I'll give you more when something comes out of it," Sarah said with a chuckle before standing up, shaking her head from the bitter thought of her unborn sister.
The little bird looked startled, her mouth kept opening and closing without any sound. It was only after Sarah reached the door that the little bird managed to say something.
"Ah be—please be careful, Miss Diamond!"
Sarah looked back, and let out a little chuckle at the nickname. "You too, don't get eaten by the mischievous cats down there."
And that was how Sarah got the location of the people messing with the car she drove on the night she got into the accident that killed her mother and broke her legs--an injury she couldn't quite be healed from; still made her gait quite weird and would flare up when she was stressed. The doctor said it was more psychological than physical, but what was the difference, really?
She ditched the family car and borrowed one from Helios--or rather, from Yonghwa--and drove to the mountain where the den of the gangster tampering with her car five years ago. She knew it was risky; she knew she shouldn't be going there alone. But she never planned to face them--she just wanted to make sure they were there.
But what happened when she arrived near the mansion to park her car and tried to find a viewpoint? She listened to their conversation through the device provided by Lee Sol, and found out they were having a party.
A party. She loathed how they were able to have fun after causing someone's death. And from the information that Little Bird gave her, it didn't seem like those people stopped doing things based on someone's request. Be it drugs or trafficking, they had blood on their hands, even if it wasn't direct.
And who knew how many people they had killed? Who knew how far they would go?
But no--that wasn't why she decided to do something risky that got her chased by a damn truck. It was because someone was shouting about a 'farewell party, and how they would bid goodbye to this mountain hideout. It seemed like the group was fed up staying in seclusion like some mountain bandit from the ancient era, and wanted to move to a city.
And it didn't seem like they were moving to S-city where Sarah lived since they mentioned about it being far from the central action.
No. She couldn't afford to lose them. Most importantly, she couldn't afford to lose their data, which they seemed to plan on rid of before moving out.
Before she could think deeper about it, she was already skulked toward the villa, nimbly avoiding any gaze and slipped through their back gate--which wasn't guarded because it faced the forest.
Not like the security was tight in the first place. It was a secluded hideout, and they'd always know if a police would come since they had an accomplice over there. Not to mention, it was a party. The ones guarding were eager for a shift change so they could also enjoy the entertainment provided inside.
Thanks to that, Sarah could easily come through a window and access one of the computers in an empty room, take the data with Little Bird's help, and get out of there before anyone found her. It was as easy as sneaking into a frat party.
But Sarah should have known better than to think whatever she did would just go smoothly. Because her life had never been one.
Just as she was skulking out of the back gate, someone who seemed to go out to take a piss because the bathroom was full was sober enough to see her. Before she knew it, she was already running on the road being chased by the truck.
Sarah had always thought people who got chased in a straight path and continued to run straight were stupid. Well...she found out that it wasn't that easy to not run straight.
The road was flanked by a steep ledge and an earth wall. Not running straight meant hitting the hard dirt or jumping thirty feet to the ground--or, to be precise, thirty feet to an asphalt road beneath and, if she was lucky, bounced even further below, to a deep ravine.
Not very flexible options.
Between a rock and a high place, Sarah had no other choice but to run straight with her unhealthy legs. After running through uneven terrain while her body was still affected by jet lag, her bad leg gave away and she stumbled on a pebble, crashing into the hard road and rolled on the ground while the one driving the truck laughed manically behind her.
Again.
The memory of that winter night flashed again; running from a bunch of people, falling and crawling helplessly.
But just like that night, Sarah did not give up. She gritted her teeth and pushed herself up, running with sharp pain assaulting her lower body. Running with nothing but adrenaline and wit stitching her muscles together.
But still, no amount of wit could outrun a four-wheeler, and the truck came toward her with the sound of mirthful laughter.
Sarah bit her lips until blood flowing down her chin, cursing her stupidity. But while wit couldn't stop a running track, a flying motorcycle apparently could.
CRASH!
With parted lips and widened eyes, Sarah watched as a black motorcycle flew from somewhere and struck the driver's seat with enough inertia to swerve the truck and crashed it against the earthen wall.