"He jumped the railing of the overpass
on that dirtbike of his."
"He did
what?"
Razell knew that it would be very bad
for his continued health if he said something snarky in response
to Lord Imakarum’s question, so he just answered with the bald
facts as he’d witnessed them. "He rode up over the hood of a
car, and he jumped off the edge of the overpass."
"So he would be dead now," His
Excellency said flatly, making it very clear that he wasn’t
really asking a question.
Razell took a deep breath and hoped that
he would still be breathing when he finished making his report
to Lord Imakarum. "I… I don’t think that’s true in this case,
Your Excellency. He wouldn’t have done something that drastic if
he wasn’t sure he would survive. At least, I don’t think he
would."
"Then follow him," Lord Imakarum ordered
calmly, cutting off contact from his end.
"Yes, Your Excellency," Razell said
belatedly.
"All right; we’re going to catch that
little bastard, and we’re going to drag him back to Chronos!"
Delcasse growled as he pressed down on the accelerator and
turned the truck around.
XxXxX
Sitting down on his dirtbike, sipping
from the bottle of water he’d bought for himself, Ryan looked
back to see how Sho was doing. He was eating the jerky that Ryan
had bought for him, so that was a good sign.
+How are you doing back there, Sho? I
know that water, crackers, and jerky don’t make for the best
lunch, but it was really all I could get us here.+
+I really don’t mind,+
Sho said, as he took another bite of his jerky.
+It was nice of you to get them for
me at all.+
+Hey, I was the one that dragged you out
here in the first place. The least I could do while we’re out
here is get you some food.+
+I- I was really the one that rescued
you, wasn’t I?+
+I’m still not too clear on what
happened back there,+ Ryan
said ruefully. +So I really
couldn’t say.+
+Yeah,+
Sho nodded.
+I can’t really remember what
happened then, either. I guess I was still kind of out of it.+
+I guess I was, too. I don’t remember
what happened during the time we made our breakout any better
than you. I just remember being chased by those goons and then
waking up next to you back in my home state.+
+That’s- that’s pretty much all I
remember, too.+
Looking back again, Ryan saw that Sho
was pretty downcast, staring at the pavement like it alone had
some sort of answer for what they were both going through right
now. Ryan decided that, besides being time for them to leave for
more practical reasons, getting back on the road would probably
help Sho forget about what was getting to him.
+Sho, we’re going to get moving again.
You might want to hold on.+
+What are we going to do now,
Ryan? And, what are we going to do with the food?+
Sho asked, even as he wrapped his arms around Ryan’s waist and
squeezed slightly.
+I’ll take care of that,+
Ryan said, removing the remains of the jerky stick and the
half-empty bottle of water and stuffing them into the bag he’d
attached to the side of his dirtbike for situations like this.
Okay well, maybe not situations exactly
like this, since no one in their right mind would ever be able
to predict a situation exactly like this. Being chased by some
nuts in a truck that were determined to turn the both of them
into roadkill wasn’t really something that the average person
was mentally equipped to handle, let alone suspect. Ryan gave
thanks again that he’d never quite been quite normal—it’d
probably saved his ass.
Once the food and water had been fully
stowed away, Ryan cranked up the engine of his dirtbike and
roared off again. He had a more concrete destination in mind
this time: his paternal uncle’s cabin up in the hills was a good
place to lose oneself, or anyone else that was trying to follow
him. The road to get up there was steep and lined with hairpin
turns that would be very bad news for the huge truck following
him, at least if the goons inside ever managed to catch up to
him again.
The only problem with that idea was that
his uncle’s cabin was pretty far outside the city, farther than
he could get on just this one tank of gas. The food hadn’t cost
that much, so money wasn’t so much of an issue at the moment,
but if the way Sho was acting was any indication, then those
Chronos guys weren’t done with him yet. He was going to have to
find a way to keep those guys off his back when he inevitably
had to fill his gas tank again.
+Where are we going, Ryan?+
+We’re heading out to my uncle’s
cabin up in the hills,+ Ryan
said, steering in that direction.
+It’s hard for most people to find,
which why my old uncle chose it—he’s not too fond of people
outside of the family. Course, that means I’m going to have to
convince him to let you stay with us until those goons give up
looking for ya, but he likes me. It shouldn’t be too difficult
to get him on our side.+
+Thank you, Ryan. I hope I’m not being
too much of a burden to you.+
+Nah,+
Ryan said, shrugging off Sho’s words
as he continued to keep a lookout for any suspicious trucks.
+If you were whining and
crying, then you’d be a burden. As it is, you’re less annoying
than most of the people I’ve met at school.+
+Oh.+
Sho didn’t really seem to have anything
else to say about that, so Ryan turned his attention back to the
road. Getting lost would just give those Chronos guys more of a
chance to catch him, something that Ryan wasn’t going to do.
Turning his head to look for the exit that would lead him up the
first leg of the trip. Spotting the first exit, Ryan turned to
the right and took it.
+How are you doing back there, Sho?+
+I’m fine, Ryan. Thanks for doing this
for me.+
+Well, you’re the one who knows more
about these Chronos guys than I do. So it makes sense that I’d
want to keep you with me. I guess that sounds a bit harsh of me,
eh?+
+I can understand that,+
Sho said, sounding a bit more subdued than Ryan had ever heard
him.
+It’s not that I don’t want you here,
Sho. I just don’t know you well enough to make any definite
decisions about whether I like you or not, you know?+
+I guess that does make sense,+
Sho said, sounding a bit less
down about himself than he had originally.
The guy really didn’t seem to have a
high opinion of himself—either that, or he just wasn’t so good
with people. Whichever it was, though, Ryan really didn’t have
time to think about it. He needed to keep his mind on finding
the next exit on the way to his uncle’s cabin. The sound of
revving truck motors prompted Ryan to take a look in his
left-side mirror. Sure enough, there was a large, nondescript
truck bearing down on him.
Checking his right side, Ryan
swore creatively when he saw that there was indeed another truck
coming up from that side. He was about to be boxed in, and then…
Well, Ryan wasn’t too clear about what was going to happen then,
but judging from the way Sho had reacted to even the
idea
of Chronos, he was fairly sure that it wasn’t going to be
anything good. One of Ryan’s frequent – at least today – bursts
of insane-genius-under-pressure made itself known then.
Keeping an eye on both trucks, switching
his gaze from one mirror to the other, Ryan waited until the two
trucks were right alongside him. Then he throttled down, dumping
speed fast enough that the trucks overshot him by one-and-a-half
car lengths. Laughing, Ryan turned his bike around and headed
for the next exit. There were still a few roads between him and
his uncle’s cabin, so that meant that he was going to have to
lose these chumps on the way there.
Still, with the way he knew these roads,
it’d be pretty easy to lose the losers without getting himself
lost.
When the road five feet in front of him
exploded, Ryan had to turn extremely quickly to keep from
running into the giant pothole that up until ten seconds ago had
been a flat part of the road in front of him. Dealing with the
trucks would be a hell of a lot easier than trying to drive
across a pothole that stretched across the entire road. Driving
head-on at the truck like he was setting up for some grossly
unfair game of "Chicken" freaked out the driver enough that he
didn’t react nearly fast enough when Ryan turned slightly and
blew by on his left side.
Of course, the move freaked Sho out
pretty thoroughly, too.
+I can’t believe he fell for that
a second time,+ Ryan said,
chuckling and trying to ease Sho’s obvious tension.
The death-grip that Sho had around his
waist was a pretty good indicator of just how freaked out the
other boy was.
+Ryan? Can we not do that again? Ever?+
+Can’t say for sure. There might come a
time when I need to use it to get us out of another tight spot.
It’s a hell of a lot better than letting them capture us,
right?+
+I- I guess so.+
+You "guess" so? You mean you’re not
sure about it?+
+Ryan, I-+
+You want me to turn around and ask this
guy for advice? I’m sure he’d have his fair share of ideas.+
+Ryan! No, don’t!+
+I was kidding, Sho. You really need to
lighten up some. You’re way too tense.+
Checking his mirrors, Ryan saw
that both of the trucks had turned and were tailing him again.
He really wished one of them had managed to crash into that big
damn pothole in the road, but these guys were obviously not as
stupid as your typical movie bad guys. There wasn’t really any
doubt in Ryan’s mind that these were the Bad Guys, they were
just really smart Bad Guys. That wasn’t a very good thing, but
it would
make it more fun to get away from them.
They wouldn’t be expecting it, Ryan was
sure.
When the road in front of him exploded
again, a fair amount closer than it had been last time, Ryan
nearly didn’t make it out of the way in time. He had to work to
rebalance his bike, though he did manage to right it with a bit
of help from Sho. But now there wasn’t really any place for him
to go. Even the two trucks didn’t have any way to get over those
giant potholes, at least not without tipping over and crashing.
+Well, I’d say we’re now officially
fucked. That is, unless you’ve got some ideas on how to get us
out of this fix. Got any, Sho?+
+I’m sorry, Ryan, but I-+
"Sho!"