*****
Mike had no problem following the beast. He weaved through traffic quickly. This was his city and he knew every last street.
The demon suddenly dove down to street level. Mike could guess why. It must have spotted the police car carrying Ann. Cutting hard, he took a right turn the wrong way down a one-way street. He nearly ran head first into a minivan, just barely missing it. He ended up on the sidewalk, forcing an old man to dive out of his way.
At the next corner he cut left, just in time to see the demon take a right. Mike gunned the throttle and charged after it. He heard a loud crash and a howl as the monster hit something big. As he rounded the next corner, leaning the bike far too low in order to make the turn at speed, he saw the beast shoot back up into the air, vanishing. Ahead, he made out the flashing lights of the police car.
He noticed a hot dog cart that had been launched into the storefront behind it. People were rushing out, pointing to the sky and helping others up. It must have been what the demon had hit. Demon Stopped by Hot-Dog Vendor. Now that was a headline.
Maintaining his breakneck pace, he reached the end of the street, taking yet another right. The police car was moving fast, but he had it in sight now. If he could catch up, he would…well, he would do something.
He followed the car through more turns, attempting to make up the distance. The demon seemed to fall out of the sky in front of him, throwing its wings out for a moment before hitting the ground and leaping forward at an awesome speed. The car weaved left and right but the demon sprang onto the roof, smashing the siren and rear window in the process. The suspension of the car bottomed out for a moment, throwing sparks and slowing the car down.
Mike had the bike going full out and finally started to catch up. He slid the shotgun out from the saddle bag. He would need to get very close and be particularly lucky for this to do any good. Luck wasn’t really his strong point.
Mike inched closer to the car, trying to avoid both the swinging tail of the demon and the weaving police car itself. The demon had smashed through the driver’s side window and was reaching inside. By some miracle, Mike managed to pull to its side. He raised the gun up to the demon’s head and said “Hey ugly, remember me?” He pulled the trigger. The left side of the demon’s face exploded into black pulp, taking the left eye and a good part of the jaw with it.
Of course, this was not a wise move. Unfortunately, unlike what the action movies Mike had always loved suggested, firing a shotgun one-handed while driving a motorcycle at high speed was not a safe or practical maneuver. The recoil from the gun was enough to jerk him hard to the left, which cut the wheel right, directing the motorcycle into the side of the police car.
This sent Mike forward over the handlebars, over the hood of the police car, and onto the very hard concrete. In the flash of time that the fall took, Mike only had time for one thought. A helmet!
Then, it was over.
Ancient Awakening (The Ancient) Page 31
