by Sara Crest
I heard a gunshot from my right side, I felt the air from the bullet whizz past my forehead before it hit a nearby wall.
My heart began racing as Hannah let out a scream, grabbing me tight as another bullet planted itself right in front of us on the pavement.
I pulled a sharp left turn to try and race for some nearby cover, I didn’t even have a damn gun on me, I gave it to the girls to make sure they had a way to defend themselves.
As I sped the bike towards cover I heard a familiar voice call out from behind us.
“Hold your goddamn fire! Do you now know what your own president looks like?”
I turned around to see Mason grabbing the rifle of of Vulture brother and throwing it on the ground, despite almost getting my brains blown out I had never felt so relieved.
I turned the bike and drove towards them, pulling up to Mason and the three Desert Vulture brothers he had with him.
“Some welcome” I said with a smile.
“Sorry about that” the one that shot at me said. “Just a little on edge, we’ve been waiting for these damn cops for hours.”
“Yeah some of us think it might have been a fluke” the other one said. “That they aren’t actually coming. We sent a few guys to hold them off, they all came back in one piece after a few hours with only a few cuts and bruises, they said they were coming right for us but now we’re just not sure.”
“They better be coming right for us” I said. “I sent some people to Los Angeles to get the feds and California State police to come here, if they show and there are no corrupt cops then we’re up shit creek without a paddle.”
“Jesus christ man, the feds? You know I would never question your decision but are you sure about this? Wyatt told all of us what you told him about the Scorched Satans, about how the cops were them the whole time, you sure bringing in the Feds is a good idea? What if they’re corrupt too and we just end up fighting twice the number of men?”
“Hell yeah I’m sure this is a good idea, and I know for a fact that California State police and the federal government have no idea this is going on. I don’t have it with me but Hannah and I found proof that it’s just Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico police. I’ll tell you everything once I see Wyatt and all the other brothers, where are they?”
“South side of town” one of the brothers said pointing down the street. “They were keeping us here to make sure that the Scorched Satans didn’t flank us and hit us all from behind.”
Well you all get on your bikes and lead me to Wyatt, I gotta tell everyone the plan. I know a lot of you aren’t gonna like it, but I’d like to think it’s what’s best for the club.
Mason walked up and put his hand on my shoulder.
“Axel, as long as you get us out of this thing alive and we get to put a few of those Scorched Satan bastards in the ground then I don’t think you can do any wrong.”
“Means a lot Mason, but a lot of things are about to change.”
43
(Hannah)
I had no idea there were this many people in Axel’s club.
We were at the south entrance of the town waiting for the corrupt police to finally show up and there must have been nearly 350 men there. Each and every one of them was armed. Pistols, hunting rifles, assault rifles, they all looked like they just walked out of a warzone. They had barricaded all the southern streets with cars, benches, old motorcycles, and whatever else they could find. Kind of made me feel how real all of this was.
In addition to all the men there were a couple dozen women, I recognized most of them from the bar when Clay had passed away. They were the women that the men either passed around for fun when they wanted some private company and the group of girls that just liked hanging around the club. I don’t think they would have ever been asked to stand and fight alongside the rest of the club but I guess desperate times calls for desperate measures.
We pulled up to the group and I got off of Axel’s bike, after so many hours of riding it was nice to finally get off that thing. I mean I loved riding on it with him, but at the speed we were going I felt like if I let go I would have flown through the air like a bird.
“About damn time you two showed up” Wyatt said to both me and Axel. I noticed that something about the way Axel’s brothers looked at me had changed, before they looked at me like I was just his distraction, that maybe I was just a gold digger who wanted to be draped around their president for superficial reasons. Now they looked at me like they accepted me, maybe they thought that I couldn’t handle the lifestyle? I couldn’t blame them, I didn’t think I could handle the lifestyle either, I mean I did try and run away. Now that they saw me standing here though, and just moments away before the attack on this town, they must have realized that not only did I care about Axel but I cared about this club just like all the other women who chose to stand alongside them.
“Sorry about that Wyatt” Axel said. “We ran into a… minor bump in our trip. Everything is sorted out now though.”
I looked at Axel and tried to contain my grin, what we did together back in the building of the gas station was one of the best moments of my life. I never thought I could feel so close to another person like that.
Just then we heard the sound of engines coming towards us, some of the men immediately took cover behind their barricade and aimed their guns straight towards the road.
“Relax everyone” Wyatt said. “That isn’t nearly loud enough to be them, sounds like search party I sent out an hour ago.”
The brothers lowered their weapons as the outline of 5 bikers appeared on the horizon, speeding right towards us. Axel held my hand and pulled me close to him as they got closer, protecting me with his body just in case they weren’t who we thought they were.
When the brothers finally made it to the barricade they practically fell off their bikes trying to get off and run over to us.
“They’re almost here!” one of them called out. “I wouldn’t give us more than 20 minutes, there’s fucking HUNDREDS of them!”
The whole club started to murmur amongst themselves as doubt set in on their faces.
I saw Axel looked around at his brothers, looking at the faces of each and every one.
I took his hand and whispered to him.
“Clay made you president for a reason, for years he knew that you were ready. I know you can lead all of them, show them that you’re the leader that they need.”
He leaned over and kissed me, it was only for a moment but it was just as deep as all the other loving and longing kisses that he gave me.
He let go of my hand and walked towards the barricade, climbing up on top of it so that he overlooked the entire club.
He waited for a few moments as the crowd slowly grew silent.
Everyone looked at Axel, waiting for him to speak, but while their eyes were on him his eyes were on me. I could see the fire in his gaze that I fell in love with, the desire for all of his club to be better off.
“I’ve known most of you, nearly all of you, for most of my life. I never asked to be president, and I know I could never fill the hole that Clay left behind, but when I see you all standing here with me I can’t help but think how far we’ve come… and where we’re going to go next.”
With his left arm he pointed straight out to the road. “Right now there are god knows how many Scorched Satan sons of bitches coming for us. They’re cops who have been masquerading around as a second rate motorcycle club, bullying us for years and all we could do was lay down and take it or else we would have put the whole club at risk. Today we’re standing up for ourselves and we’re gonna etch the name “Desert Vultures Motorcycle Club” so deep into the history of the southwest that nobody will ever forget us… and that’s the legacy we’re going to leave behind when we roll out of here forever.”
The whole club began murmuring again, I watched as Wyatt made his way through the crowd to get closer to Axel.
“What do you mean leave behind? We’re leaving Los Aves?” he
called out.
Axel raised both of his hands and settled the crowd down, I looked around at the faces of the men and women around me and saw that there wasn’t anger, only confusion and uncertainty.
“The Scorched Satan police fully intended on destroying this club, they planned on using this town as a new base of operations and they were prepared to slowly wipe us out to do it. They don’t know that we’re leading those bastards into a trap, I sent a group of people to give the Los Angeles Police Department all the evidence they need to come here and arrest the Satans. The California State Police and the feds will be here in a few hours to put every last one of them in chains. In the meantime we’ll do our damn best to put a Satan in the ground for every brother they took from us.”
He paused for a moment and looked out at his club before continuing.
“On Clay’s deathbed… he told me how he wanted us to leave Los Aves. Clay knew that we had ambitions far greater than this town and that’s why we need to move on. I know it’ll be hard to leave this town, it’s been our home for so long, but I promise you that if you follow me in fulfilling Clay’s dream that we’ll reach heights we never thought were possible. We’ll leave this town with a bang! A bang that shows that we as a brotherhood could not be contained.”
Axel’s brothers began cheering for him, clapping their hands as one by one they fully accepted the future that was laid out for them. As I looked around many even seemed to be excited, if they got through this then it would be a new start for everyone, it would be a change of scenery that we could all call home.
“So while you fight I want you to be ready” Axel continued, talking over the cheers. “Because when the feds come to arrest every Scorched Satan that’s in this town we’ll ride out to Wyoming and never look back. In the confusion we’ll disappear from this town, and I can guarantee you that no fed is going to even think about putting handcuffs on a Desert Vulture when he’s staring down whatever crooked cops we left for them to clean up.”
Axel stepped down from his applause and into the crowd of his brothers. I saw them hand him a rifle and a handgun as they all prepared for their final fight in Los Aves.
Axel walked over to me, pulling me into him as I held him by his face and kissed him.
“You’re going to be the best leader they have ever had” I whispered to him in between kisses. “Please just stay safe during all of this, if we come out of this we’ll get to start our new life together.”
“I’ll be safe, I promise” he replied. “But for now I need to get you into hiding, somewhere safe where I can come and get you once it’s time to leave.”
“What about the garage? They won’t expect anyone to be there” I said.
“Sounds like a good enough spot.”
He took the handgun his brothers gave him out of his pocket and handed it to me.
“I don’t want you to have to use this, but if it comes to it you need to have protection.”
I looked down at the gun in my hands, my finger grazing the trigger. I hoped I would never have to use it, but I understood why he gave it to me. Better safe than sorry.
As the club prepared for the Scorched Satans closing in on us Axel waived over Sharpe, the brother who had found him after his fight with Donnelly, and another brother I hadn’t met before.
“I have a very important job for both of you” Axel said putting his hand on Sharpe’s shoulder. “I’m taking Hannah to the garage to make sure that she’s safe during all of this, I want you both to keep an eye on her to make sure nobody hurts her.”
Sharpe nodded his head. “I was looking forward to shooting at some of those Satan bastards but for you Axel, I’ll do it.”
“Anything for the club” the other one responded. He eyed me up and down for a second, which made me a little uncomfortable but I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it.
“Come on, we don’t have much time. I should be back here for when the Satans first arrive” Axel said walking towards his bike.
I looked back at the hundreds of brothers who were taking the position along their barricades, on top of nearby buildings, and behind alleyways. I watched them say what could possibly be their final goodbyes to each other in the event that they didn’t make it.
As Axel and I got on his bike I just hoped that everyone I had seen would make it out alive, even though I knew that was a possibility. Yet as I looked at them I realized that not a single one was sad, to them even if they didn’t make it out of here they were with their brothers and avenging their fallen friends.
One day I would tell them about what the Satans did to me and to so many other girls. One day they would know the impact they were about to make.
44
(Axel)
I kissed her, feeling her delicate touch against me one last time before I had to go back to the south side of town.
Her touch helped me realize what I was fighting for, what I wanted for us. In just a few more hours not only would our lives really begin but Clay’s dreams of moving this club out of the town would be fulfilled. I couldn’t think of any better way to honor him.
“You’re coming back for me, right?” Hannah said looking deep into my eyes with worry.
“Of course baby” I whispered back to her. “I’ll be fine and protect myself, I promise. You make sure to stick by these brothers and I’ll come get you when it’s time to roll out of here.
I reached into my motorcycle bag and pulled out her blanket only to see her eyes light up. Just the way she looked at it reminded me of how innocent she really was inside.
“Take this, for protection” I said jokingly as I tried to hand it to her.
She looked at it for a moment and then shook her head. “No, I don’t need it to make me feel safe, I have you. As long as I know you’re coming back for me I’ll feel safe.”
I leaned over and kissed her one last time, running my hand down her ribs to her hips, remembering our intimate times together and smiling knowing how many more intimate moments we would share in the future.
I broke our kiss and got back on my bike, looking back at her and the two brothers I left to guard her.
“Don’t let anyone touch her” I said to them as my bike roared to life. “I’m trusting both of you.”
“We won’t let you down” Sharpe replied.
I revved my engine and sped off, taking one last look at Hannah as she waved to me.
* * *
I sped through the streets, closing back in on the south side of town where the barricade was set up. In the distance I could hear the faint sounds of sirens, the Satans weren’t here but they were damn close.
When I finally reached the barricade the sirens were blaring, I parked my bike in a hidden spot in a nearby alleyway and quickly ran over to the club to join them.
I had a rifle in my hands and I could already feel my palms begin to get sweaty as the sirens got closer and closer. My brothers turned to look at me as I rejoined everyone, yet as I looked in the eyes of the men and women that stood there I saw that not one of them had fear in their eyes.
Now it was my job to make sure that this stand wasn’t in vain.
I climbed up onto the barricade and in the distance I saw dozens of police cars, SUVs, and trucks coming straight for us all flashing the red and blue. These guys weren’t joking around.
I dropped back down onto the ground and spotted Wyatt, running over to him so that I could make last second preparations.
“It looks like they’re going to ram us” I said looking out over the barricade one last time and seeing 100 tons of car and truck coming straight for us. “We can’t keep our guys here, we have to spread them out, send more to the roofs.”
Wyatt turned to me and smiled “they aren’t touching this barricade Axel.”
Before I could respond he put two fingers in his mouth and whistled.
I watched as two brothers with backpacks hopped over the barricade and ran out onto the road, staring down the dozens of cars coming straight for
us.
They reached into their backpacks and pulled out an array of spike traps and began setting them up all over the road.
“Where the hell did you even get those things?” I asked with a smile.
“Property of the county police” Wyatt said smiling. “Let’s just say a little birdy told them what the state police did, putting the idea in their heads that once the state police loses their jobs there would be openings for them to move on up.”
“You think of everything, don’t you Wyatt” I said chuckling.
The two brothers finished setting up the traps and quickly ran back over, hopping the barricade and joining the rest of us.
I squeezed the gun in my hand and took a deep breath.
“Just get through this and she’ll be all yours” I muttered to myself. “Give her the life she deserves.”
The sirens just kept getting louder and louder as the Scorched Satans began to close in on us.
“I won’t let you take our future away.”
45
(Hannah)
“What the fuck are we even doing here man?” the brother said. As soon as Axel had left he started making a scene, we were hoping it would pass but it just seemed to be getting more and more intense.
“Just calm down Omar” Sharpe said. “We’re doing our part by protecting-”
“PROTECTING WHAT? This fucking broad?” Omar shouted back.
I moved a little closer to Sharpe, I was starting to feel uncomfortable with the way Omar was acting and the uncertainty was making me fearful.
“We should be fucking out there!” Omar continued. “I’ve been itching to put 20 of those pig fucks in the ground and instead of have to defend Axel’s fuck toy. Fuck this!”
“Just let him go” Sharpe whispered to me as Omar got on his bike and tried to start it.