by Rae B. Lake
Chapter 25
I looked in the rearview mirror; it was like a parade. Bike after bike, car after car, the entire Wings of Diablo family was on the road. Ripper was the only one to stay back. We always left one behind in case the unimaginable happened, and we were all killed. The patch had to live on, and Ripper would do it if need be.
I was driving one of the trucks, and Angel wanted to be with me. I agreed, but that was before I realized where Angel was, there was also Mikki and Loralie, and where there was Mikki, there was Vida. She was still upset about the night before, but she got in the passenger side of the truck without any fuss. Keeley stepped in and offered to ride with Jazmine, saying it would give them some time to get to know each other. It was a very uncomfortable situation, but now after being on the road for more than four hours, everyone was starting to ease up. There were three trucks, Cherry and Ryder’s, mine and the girls, then Keeley and Jazmine. Every once so often, I would look in the mirror and see the two of them laughing hard. I was a little jealous; I wanted to know what was so funny. I was happy Jazmine was having a good time, though. The rest of the club weaved through the three trucks on their bikes. It was a great ride.
“Inkpop?”
“Yeah, baby?” I asked, looking behind me for a second to Angel, who was sitting next to her baby sister.
“I gotta use the bathroom.”
I looked around the desolate road, for any signs of a bathroom, but I hadn’t seen one since our last stop. We were heading to Archer but decided to stay off the main highways with such a large convoy. It had very little traffic, but it was a very scenic route with cliffs, valleys, and wooded areas. “You’re gonna have to go on the side of the road, I don’t know when's the next time we’re going to get to a rest stop.”
“Whatever, just hurry.” She bobbed her leg, her feet bumping impatiently against my chair.
I pressed activated the Bluetooth that connected the cars and my brothers. “Pulling off for a second, we’ll catch up.”
Wire’s voice came back immediately, “You good, Ink?”
“Yeah, nature calling for some of the ladies back here.”
“Alright, step on it.”
I pulled over, Jazmine blew me a kiss as they passed us by.
“Thank god,” Vida said as all the women got out of the car and found a bush to pee in. I shook my head and walked to the cliff. I stood there thinking about why, when on long road trips, women need to take thirty-seven pee breaks. I’d never know the answer. The landscape was gorgeous. I know Jazmine would have had a great time painting something like this. After they’d all relived themselves, Mikki took a second to clean up Loralie. She’d been asleep for the majority of the trip but had just wet her diaper, so she woke up fussing a bit. Suddenly that quick stop had become a full rest.
“Ladies, you ready to go?”
“Yup, all set.” Mikki strapped the content baby back into her car seat, and we all got settled in.
I drove off, not concerned about losing the rest of them. There was only one road for a long while, and I knew I’d catch up to the guys eventually. The rumble of the car was relaxing.
“Inkpop?”
“Angel, you just went to the bathroom. You can’t have to go again.” I said. I wasn’t pulling over again. She would just have to hold it. I never understood how parents did this all the time.
“Didn’t Storm take his bike?” She asked, her voice shaking slightly.
“Yeah, he’s with Wire and Prez.”
“Oh, no.” She cried out, “Inkpop, Vale!”
My eyes darted everywhere, in that one second. I was trying to keep my vision on the dangerous road ahead of us and looking to the sides for a bike.
“What are you talking about?” Vida asked, turning around to look at Angel. I watched her eyes get wide before Angel could even answer. “Ink, he’s behind us. He’s in the car.”
I looked in my side mirror. It was Vale. Fuck.
“You think he knows it’s us?”Mikki asked her voice panicked now too.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I banged my head on the steering wheel and tried to keep the same pace. If he didn’t know it was us, me speeding up would just tip him off. I waited for a second to see what he’d do; it was all the time he needed.
I heard his car rev, and before I could move, he was ramming us hard.
The girls screamed, and Lorelie began to wail. The jolt of the crash startling her.
“Motherfucker!” I roared as I put my foot down, the heavy truck switching gears fast as I picked up speed. I hit the Bluetooth, but I didn’t hear anything but static. We were too fucking far away.
He rammed us again, the back wheels of the truck lifting off the pavement for a second before dropping back down to the road.
“Inkpop!” Angel screamed as she fell hard against the back of my seat.
“Put your fucking seatbelts on!” I yelled.
“Oh shit! What the fuck?” Vida cried from the front seat.
“Mikayla, make sure you know where the release is for the fucking seat.” If we had to get out of the truck fast, I didn’t want her to have to fiddle with the car seat. “Hold on guys, just fucking hold on!” The truck was already going upwards of seventy miles per hour, but Vale was tight on our tail. He was in a smaller car, and it didn’t take much to keep up with us.
I kept both my hands on the wheel and used every fucking bit of driving skills I owned to keep the heavy beast on all four wheels on the winding fucking road. He hit us again, and my back tires drifted just peeking over the edge, I felt the wheels shudder as they tried to gain traction again to pull us in the opposite direction.
“You piece of shit! Oh, you dead fuck. Motherfucker!” We righted on the road and continued to gain speed. I reached down again to press the Bluetooth.
“Inkpop, make him stop, please.” Angel cried to me.
“Shh, it’s okay, my baby. It’s okay, shhh.” Mikki cried as she leaned over a hysterical Loralie. “Lora, baby, momma’s here.”
“Ink….almost…for…” The intercom started to fade in and out; we were getting closer. I pressed it furiously, hoping they would hear the beeping and realize that something was wrong.
“Ink? Why are you leaning on the com like that? Let me guess you grew again, too big for the seat?” Clean spoke, his voice choppy but clear enough for me to hear. The rest of the convoy had to be close, just out of range.
I pressed it so they could hear me “Clean! Wire! Fuck, whoever, we need help! Get the fuck back here!” I bellowed into the mounted receiver just as Vale sped up to the passenger side and sideswiped us, the girls screaming filtering into the receiver as well.
I let go, hoping to get some type of response.
“Fuck. Hold tight!” Devin called through.
“Mikayla!”
“We’re coming, brother. Hold on!”
“Motherfucker!” I screamed, looking at Vale through Vida’s window as she bent over and held her head between her head.
He laughed and backed off as the road became too narrow for both of us to fit.
“Fuck.”
There was a curve right ahead, and I was going too fast. We were fucked. Vale hit us one good time; metal crunched, glass flew, and then it was lights out.
***
A high-pitched buzz was annoying the shit out of me. I lifted my hand, trying to get the sound out of my ear. It stopped for a second and then got higher, the buzz turning more into a cry.
A baby’s cry
My eyes popped open, the sight before me was both breathtaking and petrifying. My hands immediately shot out to stop myself from falling, but we weren’t falling we were stuck. The truck shook a little, but we didn’t move. We were stuck hanging off the side of a fucking mountain. The lush and full trees I’d once been admiring, looking like needle points waiting for the car to fall. I looked into the rearview mirror as best as I could. Everyone was unconscious, their hands hanging straight down because of the angle of the car, and the baby was
wailing, still strapped safely in her car seat.
“Ink! Oh please, fuck, Ink!” The intercom blared in the car. Clean was calling for me. I didn’t want to move forward and risk the truck tipping forward.
“Vida.” My voice croaked out. “Vida, can you hear me.” I reached over slowly and squeezed her leg.
She moaned and began to stir, a large cut above her eyebrow from where her head must have been hit by the airbag.
“Vida, please don’t move,” I said as calmly as I could. Inside, my heart was beating a million miles a minute.
She opened her eyes, and just like me a few seconds earlier, her hands shot out to keep from falling. When she realized she was stuck in the car, she began to panic, causing Mikki to wake up and Angel quickly right behind her.
I could hear the boys screaming for us above. We must be on a ledge or something. “Girls! Listen to me. We’re all going to get out, but I need you to do exactly what I say, okay. I need to go out through the back. I have the most weight, and the car will tip if you try to move too much with me still in it. I will hold on to it while you guys climb out okay. It has to be fast. Anyone hurt badly?”
“I’m fine,” Mikki answered.
“No,” Angel whispered.
“Vida?”
“My foot is stuck. Fuck. Fuck. It’s stuck!” She was panicking again, trying to pull her foot out.
“Stop! Stop it. Don’t move. Let me get to the back so I can hold the car a little more stable okay.”
“O..o..kay.” She stuttered. Her face was white as a sheet and hands shaking in fear.
“Ink! Mikki! Vida! Someone fucking answer!” Clean’s voice screamed again through the intercom.
“Okay, step by step, okay guys. Angel, I have to lean my seat back a bit. Mikki can you unhook the baby and hold her in your lap.”
She did so quickly, the baby settling a fraction when she saw Mikki’s face.
“Angel, baby, I need you to undo your seatbelt and move over gently to the middle.” I felt her moving behind me. The truck, moaning and groaning with every slight movement.
Carefully, I moved the seat back and climbed into the second-row seat. It was easy enough, and the truck seemed to be leaning back where I wanted it to be. Instead of looking straight down, I could almost see the horizon. I got to the rear window, and luckily it was already busted out.
“It’s moving. Do you see it? Someone is moving in there.” Ryder said from above us.
I climbed out, my stomach and arms scrapping against the uneven glass. I made it to the small flatbed in the back, and just my weight alone put the back tires on the ground. I just had to hold it down now. I couched down and held onto the edge of the bed, pushing down to keep the wheels on the ground.
“Ink! Where are the girls?” Prez screamed from the side. I turned my head toward the guys. They were climbing down, trying to find a way to us. Wire, Storm, and Ryder were above us about twenty feet, while Clean, Prez, Devin, and the prospects were climbing the long way around.
“Mikki put the baby seat out the window, and then Angel you climb out okay, Mikki will help you.”
I felt Mikki turn in the car, and the tires lifted. “Mikki! Easy!”
“Okay, here she comes.” Her voice, full of fear as she softly placed the baby seat on the metal truck bed.
“Angel baby, your turn.”
Her blond hair popped into view as she crawled out of the window and walked with her hands out to the truck bed.
“Drag the baby seat.”
“Be careful, okay, sweetheart, you’re doing so good. You’re so brave, Angel.” Mikki called from inside the car.
“Come on, baby. You got it!” Jazmine cried from above.
Angel carefully began to push the small car seat along the metal surface, and soon she was climbing down with the car seat in her hands. I shooed her back toward the face of the cliff. I wanted them as far away from the edge as possible.
“Are they okay? Is it okay?” Mikki asked, panicking.
“Yes, they’re fine.” My arms were beginning to shake from the exertion. “Mikki, it’s your turn, let’s go, now.”
The truck suddenly lurched forward as some of the rocks below broke away. Both Mikki and Vida screamed as I jumped and put all my weight back on the truck to get it stable again. It wouldn’t hold for long.
“Oh, god! Please. Mikayla!” Prez screamed, still rushing from where they were.
“Ink, hold the fuck on!” Wire yelled above me.
I growled loud in determination as Mikki began to make her way out the window quickly. She crawled out the cab and over the flatbed.
“Vida! Come on.” She screamed when her feet were firmly on the ground.
“Back up, go to the wall.”
She rushed over to the wall, bending down to embrace Angel and her baby, calling out to Prez and Vida.
“Vida, it’s just you and me now, love.”
“Ink,” she cried pitifully. “I’m still stuck. I can’t get free.”
“It’s okay. I want you to lean forward now, slowly. See what you’re stuck on. I got you.”
“I can’t. I’m too scared.”
“You don’t have to be; I’m here. I’m right here. I need you to get yourself free. Please. You can do it.” I groaned as the sweat began to pour down my face.
“Okay, I’ll try.”
I heard her grunting and cursing, pulling and jerking in the truck. More of the fragile ridge breaking off and causing the car to slide forward. It was going, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. “Vida, oh, Jesus! Vida, you gotta get out now! Please!”
“Oh shit, it's going.” Someone screamed from the side.
My feet dragged and lifted as the car began to pull me forward. “Vida!” The truck jerked back one time.
“Ha! I got it!” She screamed.
“Run, quick, quick.” The one jerk was enough for me to get the truck back on the ground for a second but only a second.
She crawled over the back seat and threw herself through the window, her hands and feet crawling uphill as the truck slid quickly down the edge.
“Vida!” Mikki screeched.
I held on until I felt my body hit the ground, and my shoulders, arms, and upper chest all hanging over the side, she was still racing up the back of the truck. The large body of the vehicle now almost entirely vertical when her foot touched the end of the bed.
“Vida, jump!” I cried, my hands outstretched as her body jumped up.
Her hands connected with mine as the truck fell down the long cliff face and hit the forest floor. My body jerked forward just from the momentum. I dug my boots into the dirt to keep from going over.
“Vida! Oh no, Vida!” I could hear footsteps.
“Mikki, stay back, I have her stay back.”
I roared. Vida was hanging from my hand, my fingertips holding onto her full body weight.
Vida screamed, her voice becoming hoarse, as she reached up with her other hand and gripped my wrists. “I’m going to fall, oh god, I’m going to fall. Ink, please. Please help me.” She cried her body, twisting and kicking, trying to get back up.
“You’re not going to fall. I got you, Vida. I got you!” I used all the strength I had, but I didn’t have a good enough grip on her.
“Ink, please!” She screamed in desperation.
“Vida!” I yelled to get her attention, “Love, I got you, I’m not going to fucking let you go. Look at me. I’m here.”
She settled slightly.
“You have to stop kicking.”
She did.
“Now, see if your foot can reach the rocks in front of you.”
She put one foot out a few times, finally able to get one foot lodged in one as she pulled herself up.
It was a slow process, but she was moving. "That's it, Vida, Just keep on coming. " She pulled herself up using my arm as a rope, once she was far enough over the ridge for me to get my hands under her arms, I grabbed on and pulled her up and over falling b
ackward onto the solid ground. She landed with a thump on my chest. Her breath coming in and out quickly.
I sucked in huge breaths, my hands shaking as the adrenalin made its way out of my body.
"You sure know how to show a girl a good time," Vida said as she clutched onto my chest.
I looked down at her red, tear-drenched, bloodied face, and laughed. That was the Vida I fell in love with all those years ago. She rolled off me and sat up slowly, leaning forward to rub the ankle that was caught. She stood up gingerly after that.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.” I crawled, my body too exhausted to stand up right away.
She stopped behind me, “What a nice ass.” She laughed happily.
I shook my head in jest as I raised my body from my hands and knees. I looked up to see Jazmine staring down at me. A big smile on her face as I walked toward her.
“Well, now what are we…”
*CRACK*
Vida gasped loudly, and right before our eyes, she disappeared. A massive chunk of the ledge we were on broke under her feet, and she went tumbling down, my name echoing in the air as she fell to her death.
“Vida!” I screamed, I stared at the space she was just standing in complete shock. No, this wasn’t supposed to happen. She wasn’t supposed to fall. She was okay.
Wails and crying erupted all around me as I fell to my knees in disbelief. She was right there. She was okay.
There was a rush around me, but I couldn’t comprehend what was going on. The only sound I could hear was Vida calling my name. I saw Mikki slam to the ground, her mouth opened like she was screaming, Prez on top of her holding her down as she tried to crawl to the edge. I couldn’t hear it, though.
Something grabbed onto my arms and pulled me. I didn’t fight. My upper body fell back, and I could see Clean’s crying face over mine. He was talking to me, but it was like the world was on mute.
He put me up against the wall and went back to help Prez. Something small and blond hit my chest.
Angel.
She sat up her wet face, distorted with the pain of losing her sister. She grabbed my face. Her mouth was moving.