Rough Rider

by Harley Fox

  Aghast, we both look at each other and she slowly blinks her eyes. But then a bullet hits her in the back and she shudders for a moment, then her head falls forward and she stops moving. It’s an effort to tear my eyes away from her but I do it. I turn around and scramble to pick up my gun, then get to my feet and run around the side of the building.

  It’s as though the volume turns right down. Around here the fight sounds like it’s happening far away, and now that I’m in the clear it feels that way too. I press myself up against the wall and watch, waiting for anyone to come my way. I only wish I knew what happened to Jake. I have to go find him, but first I need to get my bearings. My breathing starts to slow down and I get a grip on myself. Just half a minute more, and then I’ll go back out there and find him.

  The hand clamps over my mouth so fast that by the time I scream it’s already muffled. A strong arm wraps around me and takes the gun from my grip. I try stomping the ground, getting at their toes, but all my feet hit is hard, dry dirt.

  “Calm down,” says a familiar voice in my ear and my heart stops in my chest.

  Craig.

  He’s got me. I’m all alone with Craig and now he’s got my gun.

  “Boy, this certainly escalated fast, didn’t it?” he says in a jeering voice. “But isn’t this fun? Seeing all those scum die? Almost poetic, in a way, don’t you think? Fighting for honor; dying for nothing.”

  I struggle against him again but Craig tightens his grip and I feel the barrel of the gun press into the side of my head.

  “I wouldn’t try to escape if I were you,” he snarls. “Besides, you have nothing left to fight for. That guy you were with? Jake? He’s dead.”

  The words hit me like a blow to my stomach. All thought goes out of my head. I would collapse if I weren’t being held up by Craig.

  “Now it’s just you and me, baby,” he goes on. “And it’s about time I got what I came here for: that tight little pussy.”

  All I can think of is Jake dying by Craig’s gun and my body begins to fill with anger and rage. A hardness in Craig’s pants presses against me and my blood begins to boil.

  “And after I fuck you,” he says, bringing his mouth right next to my ear, “I’m going to shoot you right in your stupid cunt face. Then the next time somebody sees you they’ll think it was—”

  I quickly open my mouth and get the top half of my jaw over his hand, then clamp down hard.

  Craig’s speech is cut short by a sharp yell of pain as the gun drops away from my head. He yanks his hand away and I spin around, seeing the bloody teeth-shaped wound that I left. Pulling my leg back, I drive it as hard as I can up between his legs, kicking him right in the balls.

  Craig’s face freezes and he lets out a choked sound as the gun falls out of his hand. I expect him to fall over but he doesn’t. I’m waiting for him to fall but instead he shudders and looks at me, the fires of pure hell filling his eyes. It startles me for a second and he rears back with his uninjured hand, then slaps me hard across my face.

  It’s like I’ve never felt any sort of pain before. My head snaps to the side and my vision blackens before being followed by blinking pinpoints of light. I feel a strong hand grab my throat and gasp, grabbing at it with both of mine. My vision clears and I see Craig, his face ruddy with color.

  “You bitch!” he screams, spraying spit in my face. His hand tightens on my throat and he’s killing me. “You cunt! I’m going to tear you fucking apart! I’ll take your—”

  A bright orange cable flings over Craig’s head and tightens around his neck, and for a moment I think I’m hallucinating. But then Craig’s grip on my throat released as he grabs at this new threat. I cough and gasp, and when I look up I see Jake standing behind Craig, holding an orange extension cord and choking the life out of my former boyfriend.

  Jake! He’s alive!

  My happiness cuts short, however, when Craig lifts an elbow and brings it back, hitting Jake hard in the side. I see Jake grimace but he still holds on strong. Craig does it again in the same spot, and then a third time, and now Jake bends over to the side, pulling that part of him back.

  Craig doesn’t lose the chance. He pushes himself back and forces Jake to stumble backwards. Dirt is kicked up in a spray, landing on Craig’s gun on the ground. I reach down and pick it up, giving it a shake to get the dirt off. Then I point it directly at Craig.

  But the two of them are spinning now, and I pull the gun back as Jake comes into view. Craig tries slamming his head back but Jake moves his to the side. He digs his foot into the ground and pushes, challenging Craig’s attempts. I try moving around, to get a better view of Craig, but they keep moving with me.

  Finally Jake pulls hard on the cord and I hear a choked sound come out of Craig. Jake spins them both around so Craig is facing me, and his eyes come up to mine.

  “Shoot him!” Jake shouts, the muscles in his arms shaking. “Do it!”

  Craig’s eyes meet mine inside that purple and bloated face. He looks scared as I stare back at him, but then I narrow my eyes and squeeze the trigger, the force of the shot causing my arm to fly back.

  There’s a heavy thchk at Craig’s stomach and he suddenly seizes. His hands go to the bullet wound and I stare, shocked at what I just did. Jake takes advantage and spins him toward the brick wall, slamming Craig’s body hard against the side.

  Another shot fires out behind me and Jake’s leather jacket tears at his side. He shudders, letting go of the extension cord and taking a step back. Craig collapses onto the ground.

  JAKE!!!

  I spin around, the gun already in front of me, and as soon as I see them I fire. My shot hits the member of the Bullets in the stomach, forcing him to lurch forward. I fire again and the second bullet hits his shoulder, blood spraying out and to the side. I fire a third time and this one hits him in the top of his head.

  The man drops to the ground and keep the gun pointed at him in case he gets back up. My throat is burning for some reason and it takes me a moment to realize that I’m screaming. So I close my mouth to stop and watch as blood pours out of the hole in the top of his head, making a pool on the ground.

  I killed someone. And inside my head I’m surprised to find that I don’t feel anything. I turn back around to find Jake holding his side, some blood on his hands. I run over to him. Craig is on his stomach and is still breathing. Just then police sirens fill the air and Jake looks at me. The sounds of fighting at the front of the building seem to falter.

  “We have to go,” Jake says.

  “You’re shot,” I say, like he doesn’t already know, but he shakes his head.

  “It just grazed me,” he tells me. “I’ll be fine.”

  I look down at Craig. His back is rising and falling.

  “What about him?” I ask, and Jake looks down.

  “Kill him if you want,” he tells me, and suddenly the gun in my hand feels so real and heavy. I could end his life right now. But Craig looks so pitiful, so I just shake my head.

  “Let him go to jail,” I say, and Jake nods. Then he takes my hand and we leave together, Jake moving with a limp. When we get to the front of the building people are already scattering.

  The sirens get louder but the police aren’t here yet. Bodies and blood and guns and bullets cover the ground. I feel vomit threaten to rise in my throat but I swallow it down as we leave the grounds and cross the street to the bikes. Other Chains are already leaving, and Jake calls out to Mandy, who is just kicking her bike back into life.

  “Mandy!” he says. She looks up at us. Her face is spattered with blood and she looks shocked, but not hurt. “Where’s Sal?”

  Her jaw clenches.

  “He’s dead,” she says. “Somebody shot him.”

  I feel Jake’s hand tense and he doesn’t say anything for a moment. Then he nods.

  “You two should move,” she says, and she revs her bike engine before roaring off down the street. I look up at Jake but his expression is stony, once again unreadabl
e.

  “Jake? Are you all right?” But Jake isn’t looking at me. The sirens are only getting louder.

  “Let’s go,” he finally says, climbing onto his bike. I climb on behind him and feel him kick it into life. I only just get my arms around him before we lurch forward, Jake turning down the street, away from the source of the sirens. I hold onto Jake as the wind whips in my ears and we leave everything behind.

  Jake

  I ride through the dark and wet streets, the morning sun just starting to come out and hit them. Cold wind hits my face and Merryn’s hands tighten around my belly.

  Where those hands are would have made me happy or horny only an hour before. Now all I feel is nothing.

  The layout of this town is etched like a map in my brain so I can think about what just happened. I can think about everything that just went down over at the Bullets’ warehouse.

  “What’s wrong, sweetheart? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  I can still hear that fucker’s cocky, taunting voice. I can still see the way he looked at Merryn, and the shocked recognition that was in her eyes.

  “Oh yeah, buddy,” he said. “She knows me. Better than most people do, if you catch my drift.”

  I did catch his drift, and I still do now. Merryn and this piece of shit … so she was the reason that guy was there? She was the one who brought this onto us. My shop almost getting burned down. And Sal getting killed.

  But she denied it. With her face, with her words. That guy kept taunting her and calling her stupid. It made me blind with rage, but whether in defense of Merryn or because of her I’m not sure.

  And then his last lines. The ones that made me decide how this was all going to end:

  “I honestly hoped you’d be dead by now. It would have taken care of a lot of problems.”

  I feel angry now just thinking about it.

  “But you know, maybe you not being dead is a good thing. After all, I still want you one last time, and I’m not so much into fucking corpses”

  That was it. Traitor or no traitor, nobody talks to Merryn that way.

  I narrow my eyes as the glowing road whips by in front of me.

  I squeezed the trigger and one of my shells blasted out fire, but it seemed like the guy was expecting it. He dodged the shot and some guy behind him took it in the belly instead. This Craig guy swung his gun at me and I ducked just as the shooting started. I grabbed Merryn and pulled her behind some oil drums with me. She seemed too scared to do anything, so I took charge. And when the fight got thicker I knew I had to get out there, and that she would be safe behind the drums.

  When I looked at her and saw her looking at me I felt that connection between us. It was in her eyes. I knew not everything that guy said could be true, but there was no time to think about it then. So I got up and ran right into the mouth of hell.

  I saved my bullets and took out whoever I could with my hands alone. I felt arms break before I even realized I was holding them. My fists collided with skulls and people fell down all around me. I saw someone cocking their gun, about to shoot one of my Chains in the back of the head, but I got to him first and threw him into a stack of wooden crates. The fighting bled into the building and I followed in.

  Several brawls took place and I joined one, knocking down Bullets and Slingers left, right, and center. But behind it all, in the back of my mind, I thought about Merryn. Part of me worried about her safety, but the other part told me to forget about her. After all, she was the one who brought all this onto us. Before I knew it the brawls were over and my Chains were running outside. I was about to join them when I heard that voice again off to the side. That voice of the man I’ve already come to hate.

  “Now it’s just you and me, baby,” he said. “And it’s about time I got what I came here for: that tight little pussy.”

  I looked around for him but then his talking cut off and it turned into a scuffle. I realized they were outside. On my way to the door I saw an orange extension cord on the ground and I picked it up, readying it between my hands. Then came Merryn’s cry of pain and my heart jumped a beat. I ran outside.

  This guy had Merryn by the throat and he was screaming in her face. I didn’t waste any time. I swept the extension cord over his head and around his neck and pulled hard. The choking sounds that he made were like music to my ears. He let go of Merryn but then started fighting back. And this guy was stronger than I’d anticipated.

  We grappled for a bit, and all the while I pulled on that cord as hard as I could. Merryn grabbed the gun but hesitated, so I swung him around for her. Still she held off and I yelled for her to shoot him, and then she did, right in the stomach.

  I blink, focusing back on the road. I shake my head to clear it. Jilted lover, of course she shot him. He was just threatening to rape her dead body.

  By then it was basically over. Somebody shot at me but the bullet only just grazed my side. We passed by his body on the way out and Merryn must’ve shot and killed that guy too. Then we left and now, here we are.

  Here we are. Merryn’s sitting behind me and nothing has been settled. Questions still hang in the air. And my shop, almost burned to the ground. And Sal … and all the rest of the Chains who died tonight …

  Was it all for nothing? Have these past two days just been a lie by this woman who’s got her arms wrapped around my stomach? An elaborate ruse just so PharmaChem could get their greedy hands on my fucking bike shop? People are dead now, and all because of a lease?

  But what about when Merryn … told me she loves me?

  My temples throb and my head spins and we finally pull off the main road and onto my street. The sun is halfway over the buildings now. The puddles reflect orange and red, and would look beautiful on any other day than today. I park the bike and feel Merryn’s hands linger on me. And for once it makes me sick to my stomach.

  “Get up,” I say to her as I put down the kickstand. Merryn lets go and I get off the bike, taking a few steps away from it, away from her. I’m breathing hard and heavy, and when I turn around I see Merryn standing next to my bike. In that stupid fucking skirt of hers and that idiotic blouse. And wearing Emily’s shoes. She’s wearing fucking Emily’s shoes!

  “What …” I begin but I don’t know what to say. What can I say? What is there left to say anymore?

  “Jake,” Merryn tries but I shake my head, stopping her. I have to pace around. Now that I’m not riding I can’t stand still. I keep breathing, in and out through my nose.

  “What the fuck was that?” I finally spit out. “Who was that fucking guy?”

  “Jake,” she says again, but now her voice sounds like poison to my ears.

  “No!” I shout. “Just tell me. Who the fuck was that guy to you?”

  She swallows.

  “He’s my ex-boyfriend,” she says.

  I stare at her, anger working its way around my brain. It’s in my mouth and it feels so thick I can chew it.

  “Your boyfriend,” I repeat.

  “No, not—”

  “Oh sorry, my mistake. Your ex-boyfriend.” I take a deep breath and let it out, shaking. “Why was he here? Huh? Why did he try torching my shop?”

  I look over and there are the burned-out remains. The smoke is clear now and the garage door is wide open. Luckily nothing’s been stolen.

  “I don’t know why he was here,” she says, and I see tears begin to well up in her eyes.

  “Yes you do, Merryn!” I yell. “He said that you told him something over the phone! He said you told him that I kidnapped you!”

  But Merryn shakes her head.

  “I … I had to call work! I had to tell him—”

  “Oh, you work with the guy?” I shout. “You mean he’s part of PharmaChem too?”

  “Yes!” she shouts. “And he had to know what was going on. I didn’t know that … I mean, he’s not part of any gang! At least … I don’t think he is.”

  “Well it certainly looked like it to me,” I say. I pace back and
forth, running a hand through my hair. Merryn is crying now. Tears are running down her cheeks.

  “Jake …” Merryn says, her voice shaking. I can’t stand to hear it now. It hurts me too much inside.

  “People are dead now,” I say. And again, wheeling on her, “People are dead now, Merryn. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED??”

  She gasps and I look in her eyes and remember looking in those eyes so many times. It feels like so long ago. Like forever. A lifetime has already passed.

  “HUH?!” I almost scream as fire and pain course through me. “This was all just a big lie to you, wasn’t it? You just fucked me so you could get to my shop!”

  “No, Jake, it wasn’t like that!”

  “Bullshit! You played me and I fell for it.” My chest hurts so much I want to die. But it’s all true. “You made me take you in. You made me have feelings for you.”

  “Jake, please,” she says between her tears. “I had no idea this was going to happen!”

  “How am I supposed to believe that?” My own throat is tight now. My eyes burn and I wish it would all go away.

  “I can’t … you just have to believe me, Jake. I didn’t know that Craig would—”

  “Fuck this bullshit,” I say. I finally look away from her and take in a breath, all shaky and full of pain.

  “Jake, Craig did this, okay? Not me. I would never—”

  “Just go,” I say, and the finality in my voice makes her stop. “You have to go. Right now.”

  I can feel Merryn staring at me and it hurts, but I can’t take it back. Part of me screams, You idiot! Stop this and go comfort her! But I can’t. I can’t make myself look at her anymore. So instead I head for the front door, unlock it, and step inside.

  I begin to climb the steps but stop when I see Emily at the top, looking like she’s about to come down.

  “Jake? I heard voices,” she says.

  “Go back to bed.” I hear Merryn begin to climb, her sobs and wet sniffs breaking my heart in two.