Dance Moms - Chlobird

Chapter 44 : Rage

With Clay and half the gang in the hospital, Roy took head position, leading the Skull Rider gang on their nightly cruise, traveling down the highway in a parallel formation.

Something shot past between them, so fast the draft alone shook their balance, but up ahead they saw nothing - no tail light, no roaring engine, like it never happened.

Roy looked back, trying to confirm what he just experienced with his fellow bikers. They too were looking around, confused at what just passed them. Someone was pointing a thumb to the rear, Roy turned his head and counted one missing headlight.

"What is it?" he yelled under the strong wind.

"I think it's Lance!" his buddy yelled back.

Just as Roy was turning back to his track, his face was hit by another powerful blow. Whatever came back was fast as a speeding bullet, once again shook them with its powerful draft. He caught a glimpse of a shadow traveling back down the line, it carried no lights and no sound, like a ghost disappearing into the dark, and took out another headlight from his gang.

"I see it! Kill the engines! Kill the lights!" Roy instructed, signaling everyone to stop.

Everyone shut off their engines, leaving the surrounding area black. Roy stared into the darkness, listening carefully for any sound, then he shot his finger in a direction.

"There!!"

Far in the distance, a headlight was speeding away from the highway. Immediately, all engines came back alive, roaring towards the running light like a pack of hungry wolves.

The gang chased after the red tail light, and traveled down a curve where the concrete met rough earth, heading deep into the forest of Grity's Woods.

Cruisers weren't built to travel off-road, bouncing their riders over the uneven ground. Many of them struggled just to stay in balance, and one got his wheel stuck in a ditch, spitting mud trying to get out.

The trees grew denser by the distance, forcing the gang to break formation, each finding their own paths after the red tail light.

"I see it!"

One biker called out, twisting his throttle and shot into the woods. His cruiser was the lightest among the gang, easier to maneuver between obstacles. His eyes fixed on the red tail light, drawing closer and closer, almost enough to make out the model.

Suddenly he felt his air cut off, like his ribcage collapsed into his own lungs, then his bike shot out from under him, and the world turned upside down before his eyes.

Fifty yards away, Roy saw his crew throw head over heels, flip in the air and land on his back. He panicked and warned the others.

"TRAPS!!"

Roy squeezed the brakes so hard they froze the wheels, causing the bike to slip across the wet earth, trip over a root and slam him to the ground.

The impact knocked him into disorientation, but looking out where his headlight was pointing, he could make out the thin wire stretching between two trees. Should he not stopped in time, he would have been sliced in half.

Around him, headlights were disappearing one by one, followed by a series of gunfire. Men were shooting from his left and right, firing randomly into all directions, lighting the woods like firecrackers. And among those cracking lights he thought he saw a figure, or figures, because in no way could a single attacker be striking so many people at the same time.

He struggled to get up to save his crew, only to find his leg trapped under his heavy cruiser. The fall has caused the Harley to land on his right leg, with its boiling engine pressing into his skin. Enduring the pain, he yanked out his leg inch by inch, tearing flesh against burning sharp metal, until the last of his boot was out of the dead weight.

He rolled onto his left knee, pulled out his Colt 45 and aimed, but by now the flashing scenery was gone, the forest had turned dead silence.

"Ron? Sting?" he called to his crew, but could only hear faint grunting from the dark.

Then from darkness broke out a blinding light. He quickly turned to the source, and saw the headlight speeding towards him. Acting on instinct, he raised his gun and fired rapidly, while keeping the other hand to shield the light.

Between his fingers he made out the shape of a figure behind the headlight. He smirked in confidence, aiming his pistol at the head of the rider. A 45-caliber bullet can punch through any motorcycle helmet at this range.

He pulled on the trigger, but his finger froze, stunted by what he saw.

The figure behind the headlight spread out a pair of wings, kicked off the bike and flew up the night sky, like some dark creatures coming out of hell.

The creature flapped its wings like a giant bat, somersaulted in the air and slammed down its leg like an axe. The heel struck his face at the same time the headlight crashed into his body, sending him across the air and into a tree.

Roy got the air knocked out of his lungs, but worse, he couldn't feel his legs. Suddenly all the horrible stories he heard flooding his head, when people injured their spines in traffic accidents, and spent the rest of their lives paralyzed from the waist down.

Lying on his wet grave of leaves and earth, he watched the motorcycle travel through the woods, turning around and making its next collision. And to his horror, its seat was empty, like the machine was being driven by an invisible ghost.

He panicked, fighting hard to wake up the numbness in his body. His eyes locked on the headlight, which was now coming directly for his head.

A high-pitched hum blew past his, so close he felt his hair drag off his head. The spinning wheels missed him by an inch, rode into a distance and pulled to a stop. It didn't even lower its side-stand, it just stood still on two wheels.

Next he saw the wing-creature land next to the ghost bike. It folded its wings and began walking to him slowly.

"Who are you? WHAT are you??" Roy caught out blood, feeling a stabbing pain in his chest with every breath. For the first time he felt he was looking at fear.

The figure removed its helmet, and poured out a wave of long blonde hair. Its face looked familiar, like the girl they tried to attack on the highway, but she looked different here.

The left side of her face was white and pretty like he remembers, but her right side was smeared with black strips, like it belonged to some soldier of the night. And what's more horrifying, her right eye was nothing but a hollow socket.

"You!" he tried to crawl away, but his body was dead below the waist.

"You hurt my friend." her voice was as cold as her face.

"Please! I can't feel my legs! You need to take me to a hospital! NOW!!"

"Like you did at the park?"

Chloe put a foot to his chest, pressing his cracked ribs into his lungs.

"The park? No!" Roy choked out more blood. "That wasn't us! That's Terrance! Clay's big brother! You hurt his little brother! So he sent his people after you!"

"Where do I find him?" Chloe put her foot down harder.