Minnie is staring up at me in the darkness and I can tell from here that she is trying not to laugh.

"Do you want me to get that bike down for you?" She shouts up at me.

I wrinkle my nose at her and drive the bike down the grassy slope, all the while praying that the ghost of the train bridge doesn't haunt my bike and make it drown me.

Hey that's a very real possibility.

I should really stay off CreepyPasta.com.

I finally get to where the others are and Minnie jumps a little in her position, "Ahh I love the new plan! It feels so cool and shady!"

Who in the world says the last sentence so cheerfully? Is she on something?

Maybe Yuri lent the invisible Tagalog-speaking-crack to her as well.

Yuri just bursts out laughing and I narrow my eyes at her, "Sorry, sorry Alicia just looks so terrified, oh it's amazing."

Kai also laughs along, "Ten bucks says she was thinking about drowning."

Minnie turns her gaze from me to the train bridge above us, "I don't know, girl, that bridge looks super haunted as well."

How are they all reading me so well?

Yuri curls the two long strands of hair in front of her face, around her fingers, "I'm gonna throw it out there and say that both the things plus the fact that Kai is taking zero care of the statue and that the bike she is on might get damaged."

This is witchcraft! She takes her Tagalog crack from a witch-

Minnie turns her gaze back to me and then turns back to Yuri and Kai, "Okay guys, lets not do this, she looks like she's been violated."

Thank you, Minji, I say to her through my eyes. She just nods at me before walking over and sitting her ass down behind me on the bike. The bike shifts downwards because of her weight, but I hold it firmly upright.

"Why are you sitting behind me?" I ask. Minnie rolls her eyes at me.

"Look who finally decides to talk," she points to a stone archway that I did not see before, "Go in there, we have an even more haunted looking abandoned subway station to conquer."

Fucking perfect.

I look back at Yuri and Kai in front of us, Yuri has this confident smile on her face which seems to brighten all her features.

Look at the Harley she is sitting on at the moment. My heart swells a little in my chest. Look how far she has come from driving that beat up blue Prius to an olive green Harley Davidson.

***

"Alicia, baby, I know you are super efficient, really, but you can only do so much. We really need someone not only to memorise the streets, but to make a proper plan, to avoid any kind of authorities. Try to understand," Minnie had said to me, just as we had narrowly escaped the cops in Tanzania.

So there I was, after two red-eyes straight from Tanzania, Rey and Dhara flanking my sides as I walked towards the underworld of New Orleans, Louisiana. Who would've thought gangs held base in such a pretty and cheery city? How can you expect people cooking meth in a city with roses planted on every corner.

"Minnie says we're looking for a girl named Laurie. She has a stage name she uses for the races, Typhoon, I think," I inform my trusty Enforcers.

Rey giggled, "Damn, she must be some serious stuff to have a stage name."

I shook my head, "These driver people always have such an instinct for flashiness I swear."

We reached the dusty tracks, far away from the locals uptown, who were leading their regular lives, preparing for Mardi Gras in a few days.

"Do we know what this girl looks like?" Dhara asked, surveying the busy crowds with narrowed eyes.

"I just know she drives an Alpha Romeo Spider."

"Is that a good car?" My clueless sweetheart Rey asked.

I laugh, "Laurie is a former NASCAR driver, kicked out for poor sportsmanship. So yeah, the car is one of the best."

"Poor sportsmanship?" Dhara asked.

"Slashing tires, spitting on opponents and throwing a vodka bottle on the ref. The usual."

We spotted Laurie, a gorgeous brunette attracting a lot of attention, both good and bad as she pulled up in a jet black Alpha Romeo Spider.

The race was just about to begin, when another car pulled up to the starting line. I wrinkled my nose at it. It was a beat up Prius, with half the blue paint chipped off, and rusted in places it really shouldn't be rusted.

But the dark-haired girl driving it inside, her confidence was beginning to conquer the crowd.

"Hey look! Lily Wind!" Said a spectator girl in front of me.

Her companion dude blew a raspberry, "How could you like someone with that piece of junk for a car?"

"You have obviously never seen her drive," the girl said to her companion with an air of confidence. Interesting.

"I wish I had some popcorn this very moment," Dhara said, yawning slightly. I watched as dude in tight, ugh, very revealing leather pants was taking bets from the crowds. A good majority of them were for Typhoon, some for a racers named Blake and Rowan, and a tiny amount for the mysterious 'Lily Wind'.

A girl in a yellow bikini top and extremely short denim shorts from which her bikini bottoms were peaking out, there's not even a fucking beach around, came to stand in front of the cars. These people were really living their GTA fantasies here. 

She gave a seductive smile to the crowd first, which made me want to gag, then turned to the racers and held up two flags. I heard the engines roar to life, and then, in flash of movement, when Bikini Girl brought the flags down, the cars raced right past her.

As expected, Laurie was tearing through the tracks in her gorgeous Alpha Romeo, curving paths in and out of cars. But what actually caught my attention, was Lily Wind. She had installed nitro boosters in the car which were burning with bright blue flames, which I wouldn't have thought was possible to even install in a Prius. The whole car would have to be remodelled for that. 

I need to know who her mechanic is.

The girl was not speeding, but creating trouble for every car racing. She would unexpectedly switch tracks to send people crashing to the side, she would ram her own Prius into the other, much more expensive cars, and even shoot tires with a tiny pistol I didn't notice her holding before.

Though Laurie seemed unfazed as she carried on. The result was as expected. Laurie finished first, Blake second, Rowan third and Lily Wind fourth. I did not even expect that Prius to even reach the finish line though. Although, something about this girl's style, I don't really think she was going for the win in the first place.

"So we gonna go talk to Laurie now?" Rey asked, turning her bored eyes towards me.

"Wait, I need you two to come with me for something else."

We followed the dark haired girl, who went into a shady cabin with the leather pant dude. We stayed silent as we peaked in through the grimy window of the cabin. The girl was standing there, along with leather pant dude, a real life gangster version of Lord Farquaad, and two burly dudes who looked like bodyguards.

"I did as you told. Where's my share?" The dark haired girl said in a strong voice. 

"I told you to make the others lose. And yet Blake finished second."

"I almost got killed trying to get him," the girl defended herself. It was true, while they were in the intense shooting match, Blake dude shattered the girl's car window with his own bullets. She had to slow down and let him go in order to not get fucking hit.

"A deal is a deal. You did not meet the terms," the garage-sale Lord Farquaad said.

"I still got Typhoon in first place. Give me my share for that," she argued, and I cringed at the crack in her voice, "How the fuck did you expect me to hold against eight other people in the piece of junk you lent me?"

And that was when the short dude held her by the throat, "You get our protection, you get our car, and yet act like an ungrateful little bitch?"

"Rey, Dhara, take the guards. I'm going for Lord Farquaad," I said, and we burst into the cabin. My two enforcers got the guards down in seconds and I wretched the grimy hand of knock-off Lord Farquaad off the girl. The girl was looking at me with wide-eyes, tears streaking her face.

"Get your nose out of business that doesn't affect you, whore," the short dude sneered, while his eyes settled on his bodyguards and leather pants dude lying on the ground. The pants dude was knocked out in a single punch from my fist.

"Honor holds meaning in this world of crime as well, little dude. Try it sometime, " I said as I twisted his wrist backward until I heard a satisfying crunch. The dude was unable to scream out in pain as Rey knocked him out with a bone-cracking punch to the jaw.

I turned to the girl, "Did you remodel the Prius?"

She simply nodded.

"What's your name?"

"L-Lily" the girl said, still looking at us with wide eyes, "Which g-gang are you with?"

I took a step towards her but stopped when she flinched a little, "Tell me your actual name. And no, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Y-Yuri," she said, and there was no trace of hesitation in her voice to suggest that she was lying.

I picked up her necklace which had fallen to the floor. A bunch of driving licenses were attached to it. To my surprise she can pilot a helicopter and plane just fine.

I hand the necklace over and narrow my eyes at the girl, "I have a proposition for you. I can get you out of this stupid city full of these dumb thugs."

Without hesitation she nodded. I smiled inwardly, knowing I had hit the right nerve.

I smile, "Pack your bags and meet me at the French Quarter at five-thirty tomorrow morning. We have a flight to catch."

And with that I turned and walked straight out, without looking back at the girl to see if she was okay with the plan. Rey and Dhara quickly flanked my sides again.

"What about Laurie?" Rey asked.

"I don't want someone who needs assistance to win," I said, holding my leather jacket tightly around myself in the chilly air, the faint sound of sirens filling the air. About time that the cops arrived. The three of us were out of there before the cops busted down the races.

"But Laurie's fast, faster than this Yuri girl," Dhara defended Laurie.

 "I don't want flashy and fast. I want adaptive and resourceful. End of discussion."

***

Oh God Yuri has that dangerous gleam in her eyes, that I had seen in Kai's eyes when we were in the garage. At least one of them is definitely dying.

We are facing an open platform, smelling like a fucking sewer compared to the flowing creek outside. The subway tracks are on our left. At least, I think they are. Did I mention I can't see much out here? This station is under the road, and adjacent to the creek.

Who in their right mind would place subway tracks next to flowing water? What if rains too hard? The water will seep in and flood the track in a matter of hours.

Maybe that is why the station is not  inoperation. I'm a genius.

Anyways, the walls and tiles are grimy and the only source of light is Kai and Minji holding giant flashlights that Elara had bought in a yard sale in Massachusetts. Remind me to thank Ellie for her choice to buy these. They are unimaginably resourceful.

"Monique is waiting outside with the Jeep. We just have to get out of this hellhole," Minnie says, in yet a cheery tone. She really needs to learn the correct times to use that tone.

"How did you even find this hellhole?" I ask out of plain curiosity.

"Google Earth."

"Google Earth? How the fuck-"

"Hup hup hup, just go," she says tp shut me up. I have so many questions when we get back to the safehouse.

Yuri took that command way to seriously, because just then, the Harley's engine roars to life, louder than all the other times she has started the bike. Oh no.

Kai looks at us with fear dominant in her eyes, "I wanna change-"

She is cut off by her own screaming as the Harley's front wheel leaves the ground and reaches for the sky. Yuri is laughing loudly as the wheels hits back on the ground. That laugh was enough to tell me that the trouble has just begun. 

I bet Kai is regretting every life decision she's ever made. The bitch deserves it.

Oh I hope there's nothing in here Yuri can use as a ramp-

Oh well she didn't need a ramp, because just then, she somehow makes the bike do a backflip. If she had done that on the streets above, I would not have hesitated to kill her with my Swiss Army Knife.

I feel a sharp jab on my back. I'm about to hit Minnie back when I realise... I need to move as well. Godammit. 

Blame Yuri for the antics, not my distractible mind.

I start the engine too, and try to keep up with Yuri and Kai, as they zoom through the subway platform, zipping in between stands and seats, as if we were on a Fast and the Furious bike chase. There were times when one of the wheels of the Harley left the ground and Kai screamed for her life, but I'm not going to count those times for the sake of my own sanity,

Plus the limited sight in my case was terrifying, but Minnie kept reassuring me that there's nothing in the darkness that will kill us.

I'm more afraid we'll run into one of the benches and go airborne, or scratch the beautiful bike we're currently seated on, but now that I think of it, Minnie's reasons are also very concerning.

Riding through an abandoned subway station at night gave me the complete experience of all the horror escape games I've ever played. 

Curse you, Amnesia and Resident Evil.

We come close to the wall, a dead end, and Yuri in front of us hits the brake hard, and then places a foot on the ground, such that the bike skids in a circle, Yuri's leg being the pivotal point, and stops right in front of the wall.

I just hit the brakes like a fucking normal person would do and come to stop behind the show-off I made the mistake of recruiting. Should've gone with the Laurie chick, she seemed nice.

But then I don't think that girl could've found an abandoned subway station near a haunted creek at this hour of the night as a backup plan for our escape.

In front of us is a cemented wall. A few paces to the right are the subway tracks. And a few paces to the left is the demolished remains of a part of the cemented wall.

And leaning over the demolished part, which was previously in complete darkness, examining god-knows-what, is our dear friend Monique.

Finally, a stable-headed person such as myself. I swear, Yuri and Kai's company had begun to do bad things to my brain. Terrible things.

I grab the flashlight from Minnie's hand and survey the rubble in front of me, "How much TNT did you fucking use?"

Mon shrugged, "Had to make a wide enough hole."

Oh my dear Lord. I send a quick sorry prayer to the makers of this station.

"Did Rey, Elara and Cassandra reach?" I ask, making direct eye contact with Mon.

"Yep, all of them reached, fortunately in one piece. Ellie is getting impatient to get her hands on that goddess statue. And Blaise got bored so she began terrorizing children on Roblox."

Tell me something new.

"Plus, I'm a little sad my little compartment was of no use," Mon says with a pout, "You didn't face the freeway cops at all."

"We could always use it to hide all the coke Alicia snorts from the airport customs," Yuri suggests like the helpful angel she is and I fix her with yet another glare. She is the one who takes crack. So I assume.

Monique playfully shoves Yuri, "Get in the Jeep ya crackhead."

***

Hello my beautiful children, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the story of how my child recruited Yuri into the crew. All over the book, these stories will be scattered, and I've tried to make them as cool as possible.

Anyways, we are meeting the entire crew in the next chapter. Until then, toodles!