The Rider

Promises

"Not everyone around you is out to get you." - My mom
••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Who are you?"

A woman with red hair walks in the room with a silver bowl in her hand and strips of white material in her other hand. She's wearing ripped black jeans and a black muscle top under her leather jacket. The sound of her heels coming closer to me is like a slow time bomb just waiting to explode.

She stops in front of me and puts the silver bowl on the small table next to me. She removes the blankets that are on me and sits at the edge of the bed near my wounded leg. She takes out a cloth from the silver bowl filled with water and dries it by twisting it.

I look at her movements closely and her rough features. She has a piercing on her left eyebrow and a tattoo on her collarbone. Her red hair is tied up in a messy pony tail and you can see that she's tired by the bags on her eyes which she tried to hide with the black makeup she has.

"Raise your leg." I look up to see her looking at me expectedly.

I quickly erase my thoughts and suck in a deep breath preparing for the pain that's to come. I wince painfully as I try to sit up and leans against the headboard, raising my leg so that my knee is up and my foot is flat against the sheets.

She looks down at my leg again and her fingers graze my skin smoothly untying the knot around my leg which was made by Luca.

"Where's Ford?" I ask her but she remains quiet.

She takes the wet cloth and gently rubs it against my wounded leg making me hiss in pain. After cleaning both of my wounds in silence she puts bandages around them.

She packs the equipment she used on me putting everything in a bag and zipping it. I notice how her brown skin compliments her light brown eyes that look troubled. Just by her appearance and harsh features you can tell that she's not just any normal girl.

She rises from the bed, taking everything she came with and leaves without another word.

Great...

I carefully get up from the bed removing the blankets from me and put my feet on the floor. The floor has never felt so foreign before. My small toes crunch from beneath the carpet from not moving for sometime. I cautiously try to stand limping on one leg and trying to steady my wounded leg. Fortunately I'm able to stand without falling and I carefully make my way towards the door.

I'm met by a long dark hallway but I soon find myself walking down the long stairs which are at the end of hallway.

"Jay wait-" I stop immediately as soon as I hear Ford's voice downstairs.

"What Ford!" It's the girl who I met earlier.

"You know we need her alive for our plan to work, come on just please try to understand." He says harshly trying to beckon her.

"By what putting our lives in danger?" She replies just as harshly.

"No-"

"She's a ticking time bomb Ford I saw the chip on her neck and those people who are after her why do you think they are?"

"You're not listening-"

"No Ford, You're not listening!" She says and I hear her walk away leaving him.

"Dammit!" I hear him curse and hit something, the wall?

Minutes or maybe hours pass with me standing there staring at thin air.

Whoever she is, she must be involved in Ford's plan.

But who is she?

"Taylor?" I hear someone's voice pulling me out of my thoughts.

I look down to be met by Ford's confused face.

"What are you doing here?"

I blink rapidly and clear my throat.

"I uhh... Where's Luca?" I say trying to keep my composure.

He looks at me for a moment in suspicion and finally answers me.

"He's outside." He says stiffly.

I want to get out of here, ASAP.

I nod my head and continue walking down the stairs never meeting his gaze again.

I make my way outside and I'm soon hit by the cold breeze. The sun is slowly setting making the sky a smooth red, orange colour. We're in the middle of a forest. Big trees surrounding us, hiding the house from the outside world.

"You're up." I turn to see Luca standing by the door with his hands in his pocket.

He slowly makes his way towards me, stopping in front of me.

I notice how messy his hair is and the tiredness of his eyes which is barely visible. He averts his eyes to my arm looking at the once bleeding wound. His eyes remain emotionless as he looks at me again.

"We're leaving." He says still looking at me.

"How?" I ask him confused.

He doesn't reply but by the look on his face I'm sure he also doesn't know. His jaw twitches and his eyebrows are creased.

"Not sure yet."

"Who were those people?" I suddenly hear myself ask.

"I don't know." Even he sounds frustrated by this.

At the sound of heels we both turn to see the girl I met earlier walking towards us.

"Food's ready." She says not even meeting my eyes and turns around walking back in.

"She doesn't like me." I say watching her walk away.

I let out a breath and turn around looking at the sunset.

"You know you could just kill me now cause cause I won't ever be able to give you the information that you need."

"Giving up already?" He says tauntingly.

"Maybe... Maybe I'm just tired of living." I say my voice barely a whisper.

He remains quiet, still standing closely behind me.

I turn around to be met by his hard gaze.

"We all need a little pain in our lives to wake us up.... but I need it to survive.."

His eyes gleam red and are fully focused on every feature on my face like his life depends on it.

Ever since my mother died everything just became numb, like it's all just an echo of what it used to be. I never knew how to feel. The only way I could survive was through pain, at least then I could feel.

"If I'm the only person who knows then I'd rather die than tell you what it is." I whisper, my voice distant.

"I underestimated you Mckenzie.."

"Fine I'll offer you a deal, consider it a bonus." He says shrugging his shoulders and walking around me.

"Give me what I need." He says stopping behind me, lowering his head towards my ear.

"And I'll kill Robert..."