Second Chance

Chapter 96

Wind rushes through my hair and whips around my clothes. Dust and dirt swarms around me like a hundred bees. The blaring sound of the motorcycle vibrates in my ears, and the tremors from the tires travel through my arms and into my body.

Last night, I drove on for a while, until I found this overhanging cliff thing. I made it to the bottom, and Maria and I camped out there for the night. The next morning, we found a road that led out into the middle of nowhere. Literally, there's nothing out here, except for an abandoned town that is very hot and dusty. In fact, I'm pretty sure we're in the desert or something.

We decided to stop in the nearly empty parking lot of a mall, mainly for me to practice driving, because according to Maria, I'm terrible at it. So here I am, driving in circles to impress my girlfriend.

Over the roaring engine, I can hear her cheering for me, which inflates my ego a bit. I glance over at her, and see that she's leaning on the hood of a red car. Luckily, a lot of the cars here have keys in them, so we could just take one of those, but this motorcycle is kind of growing on me. I feel like a badass when I'm riding it, so I think I might just keep it.

Once I'm done, I slow down and coast my way back to Maria. I then stop the bike and get off, messing with my hair a bit in attempt to make it less messy. "That's not going to work, Justin. Your hair is disastrous." She laughs.

"Well, yours isn't fantastic either." I shoot back, giving her a playful scowl.

"Let's go into the mall then." She suggests. "There's probably all sorts of wonderful products in there."

"Ughhh! I, hate, shopping." I groan, as she practically drags me forward. "Unless it's for alcohol, then I love it."

"Tell you what, we go pick out some new clothes, hair and skin products, and maybe some makeup, then we can get all the tequila you want." She bargains, sending me a sly smirk.

"Fine, whatever." I grumble. "But I am not wearing any makeup."

Maria laughs, but before she can say anything, the distant rumble of cars engines gets our attention. We turn around simultaneously, and see a biker gang coming into the deserted parking lot. Uh oh. This can't be good.

I tug Maria with me back to our own motorcycle, just as the five other bikes pull up a few feet away from us. The lead guy gets off his bike and walks towards us. I notice that all of these guys look to be at least forty, and they all have that stereotypical motorbike tuff guy aura about them.

"Hey, kid. Whatcha doin' out here all alone." He asks in a beer infused voice.

That is literally the creepiest thing you could ever say to anyone, regardless of your age or gender. I already hate this dude, and I really fucking wish we had a gun. Unfortunately, I might just have to talk myself out of this one.

"Uhhh....just passing through." I answer awkwardly, as this big fat hairy guy stands only about two feet away from us. He's staring me down in this really unsettling way, and he's not even acknowledging Maria, which is a relief but also quite concerning for me.

"That's a really nice bike you have there. Where'd you get it?" He asks, nodding down at it.

"Um, I uh, I stole it." I answer honestly, hoping that if he sees me as a threat, hopefully he will back off.

Apparently not though, as the guy lets out a wheezy laugh, like he's been smoking a pack a week since he was not fossilized. "Ha! That's great, son. You know, we need a sharp shooter like you in our gang."

I have no idea how to respond to that. I'm obviously not going to take his offer, I'd be cracked out of my mind if I did. Although, he doesn't seem like the type to take no as an answer. Still, I'll give it a try, since I don't really have any other option. "No thanks, that's a hard pass for us. We need to be somewhere very soon." I answer, and his smile immediately vanishes.

"Now, listen here boy." He says sternly in a gruff voice. "The apocalypse will eat you up in a matter of days. If you want to stay alive, join us."

"We've been doing just fine on our own." I insist, starting to get impatient. "Now if you'll excuse us, we should be going."

Maria and I get back on the motorcycle, and to my surprise, the guy lurches forward and tries to grab my arm, but I pull away out of his grasp. I start to ride away, but the four other motorcyclists cut off my escape route. I turn the other way, and realize the only way to get away from them is through the mall. I guess that's one way to go shopping.