Fury

by Cat Porter

  “Five hours. Five hours till we cross into South Dakota. Can you hold on till then?”

  I hated myself for not having a backup plan. I hated myself for leading her into a black hole of the unknown. I hated myself for not being worthy of her trust.

  She nodded, her hand squeezing my bicep tightly. I planted a quick kiss on her forehead, and we got back on my bike.

  An hour later, we stopped at a convenience store to get something to munch on, plus I wanted to give her a break. The store was closed, but luckily there were two vending machines to the side. Serena sat on the curb in the sun while I got us cereal bars and sodas.

  A guy on a dirty, dented bike with a beanie slouched down over his forehead pulled into the parking lot. Serena stiffened at my side. These small, almost abandoned towns in Nebraska were quiet, but a hotbed of minor criminal activity. She peeked up at him, her face a mask of get-the-fuck-away-from-me.

  “Hey, not open?” He gestured at the store, his ratty windbreaker hanging on him.

  “No.”

  “Shame. You got a smoke? Need one bad.”

  “Don’t have any,” I said, handing a cold soda can to Serena who remained still behind me.

  “Aw c’mon, man.” He sidled up next to us at the vending machine. “I’m low on cash, ya know?”

  “That’s too bad.”

  “Yeah, sucks.” He licked at his bottom lip eyeing his beat up Honda and my Harley. “Nice bike. Haven’t seen you two before.”

  “And you won’t be seeing us again.”

  “Not from around here, huh? If you two need something stronger than cola, I got it.”

  “Not interested.” I said through gritted teeth. “Step back, man.” With a hand on her arm, I guided Serena back to my bike.

  “You on a long trip, huh? From Kansas maybe?”

  Serena’s breath caught, a small, choking sound. I launched at him, my fist bashing into his side, his back, his face. A glare flashed in my vision. Serena’s yelp punched the hot air.

  A blade tore over my chest. “Shit!” The sting leapt through me.

  He grunted and slumped in my hold, his body suddenly heavy against mine. I let go, and he crumpled to the ground. Serena stood over us, his knife in her hand.

  “Serena—”

  “I’m not ever going back. Not ever.”

  My hand shot out toward her. “Okay, okay.”

  “This is the farthest I’ve ever gotten. And I’ve tried a time or two or three, and paid for it. Not this time. Not now, with you. And I won’t have you punished for trying.”

  Her arm shook as she wiped the blood on the guy’s jeans and slid the weapon in her boot. “They’ve been following us. Maybe they pushed us toward here. And if they don’t hear from him—”

  A beeper went off as she said the words.

  I kicked him over. He wore a dirty faded hoodie under his ratty windbreaker. I unzipped it. No colors. He could be a local contact of theirs, a dealer, a mover.

  I crushed the beeper with the heel of my boot and tossed it in the garbage dumpster behind us. I grunted, dragging his body to the dumpster and curling him up into a ball. Just another dealer having a bad day. We took his .380 and two knives. Serena piled cardboard boxes that poked out from the dumpster and put them to the side of the metal structure, hiding his body from view. I went over his bike and pushed it to the back of the store by where he lay.

  “Should give us some time.”

  “They know where we are.”

  “We don’t know that for sure. He could just be some local asshole.”

  “You know that’s not true.”

  “We gotta keep moving.”

  “They know.” Her body shook, her gaze shifting up and down the quiet road. She was exhausted, ravaged by a potent cocktail of hope, anxiety, and adrenaline.

  “Serena, you hear me? We gotta keep moving. Don’t quit on me now. We’re close. We’re almost in South Dakota.”

  “So what? So what?”

  “I’m never gonna let them take you back.”

  “So what?” she repeated.

  I gripped her jaw, and her blood shot eyes widened. “Listen to me,” I said. “We’re getting back on my bike and leaving.”

  “I’m always leaving and never getting anywhere. In my dreams or here, right now, it just doesn’t matter, does it? Look at us. We’re both bleeding, both exhausted.”

  “What did they do to you? You’re hurting.” I stretched out a hand to her and she smacked it away, turning her face from me, wiping at her eyes.

  I rubbed my hand across my chest and blood stained my skin. I swayed under the heat of the sun. Under the specter of them finding us.

  Don’t give up, Serena. Please, don’t give up.

  14

  We rode on, taking low traffic routes when we could, then I’d switch it up. Being in public might be a good thing. I needed to make up for the time lost with the stops we’d made. Plus, stops made it harder for her to get back on and ride. I grit my teeth every time I saw her squirming on the seat.

  Two bikes riding together appeared in my left rear view mirror, and my pulse picked up speed along with my throttle. I was suspicious of everyone and everything. They turned off on an exit after at the next town.

  We made it to South Dakota.

  I turned off for Route 50 to find a gas station and something to eat.

  A crooked sign hanging from a tall rusty pole blazed in the late afternoon sun over the entrance to the small lot. Tipson’s Gas Stop. A lone forest green SUV sat in front of the store. I parked in the back and lifted Serena off the bike. She gripped my neck, and I held her in my arms, savoring the feeling of her holding onto me, pressing into me, needing me. Everything would be okay. It fucking had to be.

  “Want a big steak dinner?” I laughed, knowing the only thing we’d find inside were chips, cookies, bad muffins, cardboard nachos, and candy if we were lucky.

  She only shook her head in the crook of my neck.

  I put her down and took her hand. “Let’s go inside. Come on.”

  Bike engines from out front cut through the heat in the air and Rena stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening.

  I squeezed her hand. “We don’t know who it is. There are plenty of riders out here.”

  “It’s over. It’s over. It’s over,” she chanted. Serena took out her gun, and I ripped it out of her strong grip.

  “No. No!” I pushed her against the back wall of the gas station. “Where’s the girl who wanted to live no matter what?”

  “I’d rather do it myself than give them back the opportunity!” Her voice was a snarl.

  “You’re scared. I am too. I am.” My pelvis pressed into hers. “Baby, come on. We’ll get through this. We will. Stay with me here. Just a little longer. Please.”

  Her muscles eased one by one, and she finally curled herself into me. I let out a heavy breath, holding onto her tight, sliding her gun down my jeans with the other.

  I pulled and pushed on the knob of the bathroom door to the left of us but it was locked. I yanked on my wallet chain, grabbed the mini knife I had hanging there and jammed it into the lock, jimmying the old piece of shit. The door opened, and I pushed Rena in there. “You stay here while I go into the store.”

  “I should go in. You’re a little memorable.”

  “And you’re either gonna pull a weapon on the cashier or collapse. You stay here.” She lowered herself onto the dirty tiled floor of the bathroom, her head in her hands, the door ajar.

  I hid my bike behind a row of tall recycling bins.

  I couldn’t get back on the road with Serena like this. I had to calm her down. See to my cuts, get her food. Something. Maybe we should get on a fucking bus?

  Keep your shit in check.

  A woman in her early twenties with shiny black hair, wearing
jeans and a tie-dyed blouse stood in the doorway of the bathroom, her body rigid. Large dark eyes swallowing us in.

  Fuck.

  “Hey. My girlfriend’s sick,” I muttered, crouching by Serena, my hand on her head, ready to pounce. If I had to kill someone else, I fucking would.

  Serena slumped over onto the floor.

  “Oh my God! Is she okay?” The girl squatted down next to me.

  I scooped Serena up in my arms. “Baby!”

  Nothing.

  Dark Eyes reached out and touched her face.

  “I got her. Don’t touch her! Don’t you touch her!” ripped out of my throat.

  The girl let out a gasp. “Oh my God, the bruises on her face—”

  “It wasn’t me.”

  The girl jumped to her feet, stepping back. “I should believe you? What, are you drug addicts or something?”

  “No, dammit. I got her away from her ex. He’s been beating on her, doing shit...” I hoisted Serena up in my arms and leaned her against the wall. “He’s after us now.”

  Serena’s head wobbled up, and her arm slid around my neck.

  “Are you okay?” the girl asked her.

  “Please. Please, help us,” Serena said, her voice small. “Help him.”

  Footsteps crunched on gravel. The girl glanced at me, and I put my hand over Serena’s mouth. Dark Eyes pulled the door closed behind us, but a hand planted on the door stopping her. A ringed, tattooed hand.

  “Hey, excuse me?” said Dark Eyes standing in the slit of the doorway, her tone full of vinegar.

  “Sorry, uh, thought this was free.”

  “Obviously not. Think you can wait?”

  “You alone in there?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  Go, girl.

  “Are you, honey?” The man’s shadow filled the doorway, his low chuckle rolling through the space.

  I pressed Serena’s gun against the hand Dark Eyes had on the knob. She took it and released the safety, making a show of it to the guy. “No, honey, I’m not alone. Now back the fuck off so a girl can pee without having to call 9-1-1.”

  “Yeah, yeah, easy there. All right.”

  “All right what, exactly?”

  “I’m leaving!”

  “That’s good.” Dark Eyes slammed the door shut and locked it. I motioned for her to come get Serena. She handed me the gun back and took Serena in her arms while I stood by the door and listened. Muffled voices. Gravel crunching.

  We waited in that grimy bathroom. The seconds ticked by in our drumming heartbeats, our tight breaths, the stifling stench of dried earth and piss.

  Was this it? They’d be back, they’d be circling. Two sets of pipes blared, popped, and raged off into the distance.

  My head dropped, the gun sticking to my sweaty hand.

  I turned back to the women, both of them clinging to each other, faces grim.

  “We got to get outta here,” I said barely above a scratched whisper.

  The girl held my gaze. “I’ll help you.”

  I eyed her. No screams, no freak outs, no crying. Just an offer to help.

  Thank fuck.

  “What’s your name?” I asked her.

  “Tania. What’s yours?”

  “You don’t need to know, Tania.”

  “Since you’re the one with the gun, I’ll go with that for now. But that’s going to have to change once I get you two in my car.”

  15

  Tania drove with Serena laying down in her backseat. She had a ton of shit in her car, like she was moving or something. We managed to squash some of it into the front seat and to the side to make room for Serena.

  I followed them on my bike.

  Three towns down, she pulled up at a motel. “I’ll go get us rooms. You stay here.”

  I got in the back with Serena, her head in my lap. Her tired gaze hung on mine as she slugged down water from a small bottle Tania had given her.

  “Why are you helping us?” I asked Tania.

  “Isn’t it a bit late to be asking that question?” Tania shot me a look as she took her wallet from her backpack.

  “I’m curious ‘cause you don’t seem the type to—”

  “That’s why, right there.” A grin grew on her lips. “By the looks of you I should’ve run the other way at top speed, but here I am. You obviously really needed help.”

  “Well, I appreciate it,” I replied.

  “This is about me as much as it is about you.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means I need to take risks, which I tried to do very recently and failed at pretty miserably. And today, what drops down in front of me? The two of you. Literally dropped down in front of me in a crap gas station bathroom outside of Tripp of all places. That’s a pretty huge opportunity for a second chance at risk-taking that the Universe just laid at my feet, I’d say.”

  “I had other plans, but they fucking fell though.”

  “Believe me, I get it. ‘Other plans’ usually do fall through,” Tania agreed. “I’m going to go in. You guys duck down or whatever. You know.”

  “You’re funny.”

  “Yeah, that’s me.” Her gaze lingered on us. She was concerned.

  “You go on ahead,” I murmured, my hand stroking Serena’s cool face.

  Her pale lips tipped up into a weak smile.

  Tania came back within ten minutes. “There was only one room. Two double beds though. I took it, but I’m sure you guys are going to want your privacy and I—”

  “And you’re afraid I’m going to assault you, slit your throat in the middle of the night, take your shit and run,” I said.

  “Maybe.”

  “Not gonna do that. First, you’re helping me out, and I respect that. Second, I’m no rapist. And third, I’m too fuckin’ tired for anything but sleep tonight.”

  “Well, all righty then.” Tania grabbed a small duffel bag out of the passenger side front seat. “Let’s go.”

  “Serena, we’re going to go inside this motel now. Gonna get cleaned up and into bed. Sounds good, right?”

  Serena only let out a small sound, and I slid my arm around her and lifted her out of the car. The three of us moved toward Room 110. Tania slid the key in the door, the click giving me a ping of hope for the first time in hours. We moved into the stuffy, dark space.

  “You wanna get clean?” I asked Serena as Tania turned on the bathroom light.

  “I can help, if you want,” said Tania. “If you need me to, that is. Sorry, I don’t mean to…Look, I’ve got some extra clothes that will probably fit her. She’s really thin, so they may be big.”

  “That’d be great.”

  “Sure. Let’s get her in the bathroom.”

  We both took Serena in the bathroom. I ripped off my gloves and undressed her, my fingers shaking.

  Tania glanced at my damaged hands and blinked. “You want me to do this? I mean, are you okay? You must be stressed out, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  Tania helped Serena take off her shirt.

  “Oh God.“ Tania’s face flared, her voice a rough whisper.

  Bruises and scars from cuts and cigarette burns mottled Serena’s pale skin.

  “That motherfucker,” I said on a hiss.

  We got her naked, her ribs and pelvic bones peeking through her bruised flesh. I ripped off my clothes and guided her into the shower stall. Tania turned on the water, and Serena shuddered in my arms, clinging to me, moaning.

  Tania’s face flushed, as if she’d now realized that I was naked too. She stepped out of the small bathroom. “I-I’ll be outside if you need anything.”

  “Don’t go anywhere. Wait for us to come out. My gun’s in my jacket if you need it.”

  “Goody.” She close
d the door.

  I held up Serena and washed every inch of her, my fingers smoothing over her white skin, the pink and blue veins visible at every curve. “I got you, baby. You’re with me now. I’ll send Tania out to get us something to eat. We’ll watch some TV and get sleep. Sounds good, right?”

  Her head knocked back against the white tile wall, and her lips tipped up in a smile. I kissed her and the world stopped spinning. My soapy hands slid down her back and stopped at her ass. She let out a cry and buried her face in my chest.

  If we walked out of this bathroom and that Tania chick blew us to bits, I wouldn’t give a fuck. I’d had this. Serena and me. Naked to each other, skin to skin under a stream of clean, hot water. No chains, no audience, no jeering, just us. Us together.

  No, there was nothing less and nothing more I wanted.

  I got Serena into bed and climbed in after her. She fell asleep right away in the crook of my arm.

  “I’m going to get you a T-shirt and some first aid stuff for your arm and chest. And food,” whispered Tania.

  “I got money in my wallet. Take whatever.”

  “No, I got this.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  “Thanks, Tania. Hey, a favor? No sliced white bread for me.”

  Her eyebrows lifted. “Okay, Mr. F,” she said gesturing to the scars on my cheek and the tattoos down my chest of a series of F’s in different styles I’d gotten recently. I was owning it.

  “You come back with good shit, I’ll tell you my name,” I said.

  “That’s a deal.” She closed the door gently behind her.

  Black darkness had fallen outside and the air was cooler. I heaved a sigh, sinking my head back against the pillow, Serena’s sweet body on mine, and let sleep overtake me.

  Gnawing hunger woke me, and my eyes unglued. The bathroom light was on. I sat up, pressing Serena’s body back into the bed. A form was in the other bed, the deep breathing telling me Tania was asleep.

  Plastic bags from a convenience store sat on the dresser, and I opened them. Apples, bananas, wrap sandwiches, crusty whole wheat roll sandwiches. I ripped open the thick roll and bit into it. Peanut butter and jelly. Nothing better. I slumped on the edge of the bed and ate.