Rush
While I am working on Tapestry of Time I figured I would share an excerpt from my other writing project, Heart of Fury for everyone to checkout. I hope you all enjoy and Keep an eye out for more excerpts:
Oh my fucking God! Karla exclaimed, after she watched Gator crumple to the ground like a load of wet laundry through the stranger’s eyes.
The Dark One watched the scene play out until he noticed the ‘Get going now’ pattern of gestures Jack was signing with his hands behind his back. He turned to get the vintage motorcycle going; only to find Lilly had borne witness to everything that transpired. She stood there wide eyed and mouth agape - ready to scream in lamentation over her father’s demise. But in a desperate effort to save the final vestiges of the young woman’s innocence, as well as her life, The Dark One quickly cupped his hand over Lilly’s mouth before she could utter a sound. He dragged her over to The Chief and swung her across his lap after he took a seat. In one swift motion he primed the motorcycle’s engine before he kicked life into it and throttled his metallic steed out of the concrete bastion. The stranger peeled off into the streets and headed north: creating some distance between Lily and the monstrous scene of her father’s throat being forcefully ejected from his grinning lips.
IV
With the Chief’s engine rumbling down the road with a surge of horsepower the dark stranger continued to ride along Pearl Street—throttle at full but in first gear—while Lilly sobbed uncontrollably as she sat sidesaddle across his lap. The stranger wanted to say something to console her, but what could he say? ‘Everything was going to be alright?!’ How could he make such a promise when he was not even sure of it himself? Such thoughts were short lived, however, when he heard the bloodcurdling cry of Videl emitted from behind them. The wall of billowing hellfire that raced after them filled the young vampire’s mind, as it heeded its master’s call to action.
His mind raced for a means of escape, and if memory served him right, the stranger would have to cut across a major highway about two and a half miles ahead of them in order to take Main Street - the most direct route into the harbor at Dante’s Bay. But the young vampire would have to hurry. Because he had a gut feeling the crew of the Mesopotamia could see the cloud from their vantage point and were not likely to wait patiently for a stranger who had all hell at his back in hot pursuit. So, The Dark One shifted the chief into second gear and throttled out another burst of speed from the Roadmaster’s, 74ci engine. After several minutes of traversing the cracked and warped terrain of the highway; the fleeing trio – Karla, The Stranger and a puffy eyed Lilly – encountered an abnormal scene when they made a left on to Main Street.
What are they doing? Karla wondered within the Dark One’s psyche. They were greeted with a line of onlookers who milled about on both sides of the street, like they were patiently awaiting a scheduled motorcade. They were the townspeople, and when he noticed the oddly contented looks on their faces, the stranger surmised that they had gathered to see their ‘princess fair' whisked away to safety.
This is not normal, Karla noted, anxiously. She watched the remaining citizenry of Jacksonton wave various forms of farewell in their direction. I know the mayor said everybody was prepared to die for this girl, but this is downright insane! Why would the entire town face extinction over Lilly? What’s so special about this spoiled bitch?
The Dark One caught a glimpse of the two drinking buddies from the night before while they raised their bottles in the fleeing couple’s direction. He turned his attention to the young woman in his lap and saw how she flinched at the hopeful yet eerie looks of approval from her friends: Nay…her family. As they awaited the swirling vortex of death bearing down on them. Finally the stranger took a peek into his rearview mirrors and saw the billowy wave of mist sweep over each person; engulfing the township into the bloodthirsty fugue of fury inside. Unable to stomach anymore, Lilly, turned her face and buried it into the stranger’s icy shoulder.
You might be right, he addressed Karla with his thoughts and then shot another glance at Lilly before he returned his eyes to the road. But those questions will have to wait until after we are on that boat and far away from here! The trio rushed past the last set of onlookers and kept going until the marina came into view.
“Damn cowards!” The vampire swore under his breath when he caught site of the Mesopotamia shoving off for its several hour journey across The Devil’s Tongue. Undaunted, the stranger astonished his mortal passenger with a display of strength when he took Lilly by the arm and swung her behind him. She landed smoothly on the section of seat exposed between the stranger and the miniature metal railing curled around the back of the saddle.
How…? Lilly wondered in awe and gripped his shoulders tightly after he shouted for her to hang on, and he popped the thundering Indian into third gear. The cycle lurched forward and began to accelerate at breakneck speeds: which made Lilly incredibly nervous because of the huge drop-off into the ravine ahead of them. The Dark One had aimed his metallic beast towards Main Street’s bridge - which had collapsed into the ravine during the quakes a decade prior - in an attempt to jump the motorcycle across the ravine and into the ferry about to sail between the gap in the bridge. The young woman clung tightly to the stranger’s jacket and closed her eyes. He yanked at the handlebars after the bike had hit the elevated section of broken concrete and soared into the sky like a tossed stone. Lilly chanced a peek and then completely opened her eyes to be greeted with a rush of air past her face, while they flew a hundred feet above the water below them, on a course headed towards the fleeing vessel.
Maybe it was the adrenaline that coursed through her veins. But for a brief moment, Lilly, felt at peace in the scarlet morning sky with her head pressed against the stranger’s back. The whole world seemed muted by his steady heartbeat as they climbed higher and further away; to where there was no death, turmoil, or Videl. It was simply Lilly and her stranger, in mid-leap, towards their destination for a final Bon Voyage. Unfortunately for her though, the smooth landing she envisioned was compromised as the stranger realized he had miscalculated, when the bike slumped forward and was about to make its descent a little short of the passing vessel. But after some quick thinking, however, The Dark One broke Lilly from her euphoric stupor when he reached into his pea coat and pulled out four buckshot cartridges. He slipped them into the puzzled woman’s hands. “Shove two of them into each exhaust pipe; metal part of the shell casing, first!” The stranger instructed while he killed the engine and motioned to the dual exhaust system which slanted upwards on both sides of the rear wheel’s fender. Lilly did not quite understand what was going on but followed his orders by sliding the shells into each of the pipes. Meanwhile, the stranger primed the engine as much he could.
“What now?” she shouted over the gusty winds.
“Now,” he said after the engine was primed to completion and he flicked the ignition on. “I get this baby to burp!” With an inhuman level of strength and dexterity, the vampire maneuvered Lilly back across his lap and gave the pedal a swift kick with the sole of his shoe, after gravity decided to take over their rapid descent into the ocean.
At first there was only a soft bang as the engine backfired and for a fraction of a second the stranger thought his planned had failed! Until there was another weak ‘pop’ followed by a thunderous boom that nearly threw the pair from their seat but exerted enough thrust to get the motorcycle to lurch forward with shredded exhaust pipes. As the back tire cleared the boat’s handrail with centimeters to spare over the bar. The bike landed and its passengers were thrown from it before the cycle flipped across the deck. The motorcycle sparked and slid some feet ahead of them between some empty cars and hit the metal partition separating the ship’s bow from the rest of the loading zone’s hangar. During the ordeal, the stranger held on to Lilly as they rolled across the deck and came to a stop beneath the metal canopy supporting the passenger levels above the loading bay area. A moment later Lilly rolled from the stranger’s arms scratched and bruised but otherwise unhurt, since the vampire took the brunt of the impact. She settled onto her back beside him and they both stared at the ash colored ceiling.
Sweat pouring from her skin while the last few seconds replayed in the young woman’s head, Lilly breathed heavily as the adrenaline rush made her body tingle in exhilaration. Happy to be alive the two began chuckling ecstatically, as they glanced at each other and thought of how absurd they would look to a passerby: all scraped up, sweaty, and out of breath. But the crewmen of the Mesopotamia did not seem to have a sense of humor. Otherwise, they would not have stood over Lilly and the stranger with their weapons drawn and pointed in their direction.
