Flower Petals and Flesh - A Violentine Story

A Slow Escape

A squadron of motorcycles zoomed through the empty, soulless desert. Clementine sat in the sidecar of one of the motorcycles, her breath was shaken and she could barely keep the darkness from consuming her vision. Her leg throbbed, it's freshly mangled structure was disgusting to look at.

"I'm sorry about you leg! Hopefully my friends can help you out!" The rider shouted over the engine rumble.

The man was large, he wore a long and torn duster which floated behind him in the speeding air. His face half covered by a bandanna and a pair of broken goggles failed to cover a large collection of scars which covered the right side of his face and his missing eye. Tied roughly behind his head a bundle of brown, blood splattered hair.

Clementine attempted to focus on his words as the last grips of consciousness weakened; her ears rang and her head fell heavy into her chest. The mixture of torment and heat had left her weak and now blacked out in the side car of a stranger.

Her eyes flickered and time seemed to pass in an instant, the sky was a deep red and there was not a cloud in sight. A ghost town sat burned and abandoned at the side of the road, it was clear that this place had been unused for years even before the end of the world.

When the small collection of bikes rolled slowly to a halt Clementine sat up and looked around. Louis sat on the back of a bike belonging to a blonde man who's head remained on a constant swivel. Louis himself clenched his bleeding and battered nose; Pete stood at his side explaining something vaguely medical related.

The man with the facial scars climbed slowly off his bike and retrieved a radio from one of his many pockets. He fiddled with the dials until he was satisfied with the frequency.

"Hope? This is H, I found your doctor and two injured people who need immediate help, I'm at the drop off point."
He spoke into the device and waited a few seconds before he repeated himself.
"Hope? Anybody pick up. I'm at the drop off point, I need someone here soon, it's dangerous to be out this late."

The radio remained silent, much to the dismay of the group.

"Fucking hell!" The man yelled throwing the radio to the floor.
"I swear this is the last time I ever go to that bar, every time it ends up the same way..." He rambled to himself.
The blonde rider who sat near Louis slowly approached the man know as H. He swept the radio up off of the floor and placed it back into the frustrated mans hands.
"Come on dude, we did owe it to Hope. It was our fault that Pete got taken."

The two men spoke for a while, during this time Pete wandered over to check on Clementine's condition.

"These people will make sure we all get to Oasis. It's safe there, we have doctors who can help your leg." Pete stated reassuringly.

Clementine seethed, her leg had begun to swell and sharp pangs of pain filled her leg every time she attempted to move it. However, no matter the pain that consumed her lower half she still felt guilty for fleeing without saving her friends, most importantly Violet.

"My friends! There still back there! We need to do something, they could be hurt."
Clementine felt useless, pleading with a complete stranger for aid whilst she sat broken and defeated, completely unable to walk and waiting for a surprised rescue.

"Hold up. Your sure that your friends are back there?"
H approached, clearly having overheard Clementine's distraught tone.
"Yes! Violet. I saw Violet! They had her locked in some sort of pit. I think they were forcing her to fight people!" Clementine recalled.

H tapped his foot nervously on the floor, "This Violet girl, she someone special to you or some stranger?" He asked.

Clementine nodded, "Yeah. She really special. Please you have to help them."

The man laughed sarcastically and took a deep breath, "She's really special? Well you shoulda said earlier, I'll do stupid things for love; believe me these guys know."

The group of riders nodded unanimously and prepared themselves for battle once again.

Suddenly the radio crackled, "We're about five minutes out, sorry for the delay."

Eventually a small convoy of an ambulance and two trucks found themselves in front of the gathered riders.

A young woman with bleached white hair stepped out of the ambulance and scanned the faces of the group. Spotting Pete, she ran towards him and pulled him into a warm hug.

"Don't you ever do that again! Mom has been so worried!"

Pete patted the woman on the back, "I'll try not to get captured by bloodthirsty bandits next time."  He chuckled sarcastically.

H coughed loudly, "Ahem! If you're done with your little brother-sister reunion, these wonderful people are really in need of some help." He said pointing at Clementine and Louis.

"Oh I'm so sorry! Guys get out here and help these people!" She shouted to her convoy.

A small team of people hurried out of the ambulance, first they took Louis and guided him to the backseat of one of the trucks where they attempted clean some of the blood from his face.

"Thanks for this, I'll go grab your bounty now unless you want to come back and collect it properly?" The woman smiled.

H shook his head dismissively, "Nah sorry Hope, we can't stick around. Her friends are still back there, can't let them suffer so we're going back to get them."

Hope looked at the man shocked, "You just attacked that place and now your going back! Are you crazy?"

"Me? Crazy? Definitely. Just do your job and help these people and I'll do mine by killing a bunch of people who deserve it." H responded with quick wit.

Begrudgingly, Hope accepted that she could do nothing to sway the bounty hunters mind.
"What about your reward? You haven't claimed anything for a while now."

The man shrugged, "I don't care, give it to these guys, I don't needed it."

The man climbed back onto his bike and the team from the ambulance collected Clementine from his side car, careful to not disturb her tender leg.

Slowly she was lowered into a bed at the back of the ambulance where a support was fixed to her shattered limb.

Hope, followed by Pete sat at Clementines side as the vehicles departed.

"Well it seems you already know my brother Pete, I'm Hope, and you are?" The woman asked politely.

"Clementine."

"Well that is a pretty name. Don't worry Clementine, the place where we live, Oasis. We can help you and your friends, your welcome to join us if you like." Hope explained excitedly.

Clementine lay back, trying to not focus on the pain in her leg. She was exhausted, hungry and thirsty. About an hour later the ambulance pulled to a complete stop, jolting Clementine from her dream like state.

Hope eagerly stood up and opened the two large doors at the back of the ambulance.

"Welcome to Oasis!"