Landon

 

I hate leaving Steel, but I know it’s the right thing to do. By the time I’m cruising out of the woods where the hideout is located, the ambulances have rushed past me in a blur of screaming sirens and white metal with flashing red lights that make the woods look like the center of a haunted Halloween attraction.

 

In any other time of need, I’d rally up the rest of the guys. I’d call all of them–Daub and Blondie and Slit–and say, look, assholes, we’ve got a job to do and we gotta take care of it as soon as possible.

 

But that’s not my current reality. Regardless of whether Steel lives or dies, he kicked me out of Blacktop Chaos. And just because the others don’t know what I’ve done doesn’t excuse what happened.

 

Right now, the only man I know who’s still got my back is Blade. And while I hate to ask him for more help, I know that if he came to me in a similar time of need, I’d be more than happy to go to war with him. So I climb on my bike and decide to pay him another visit.

 

Steel mentioned a train station. If these guys have Vivian, I’m gonna need more than just my gun and a couple of knives. I’m gonna need an army.

 

But since I don’t have an army, I’ll have to make do with Blade.

 

Blade and Robin are sitting on the couch, watching TV when I burst into their living room. Robin cries out in shock and Blade jumps up, ready to protect his old lady before he realizes who it is. There’s a sad moment where I realize that if this hadn’t gone south so fast, this could be me and Vivian. We could be cuddled up together, safe from the world, safe from evil.

 

“Brother!” Blade cries out. When he sees the blood all over my arms and chest, his jaw drops. “What the fuck happened to you?”

 

“It isn’t mine,” I say quickly. I shoot a nervous glance at Robin, not sure whether or not Blade would want her to hear this. But then I remember the time ticking by each second, and know that I can’t stay quiet about what’s going on.

 

“What happened?”

 

“Steel,” I say darkly. “When I got there, he was laid out on the floor, covered in blood. I called for an ambulance, but he kept telling me to leave. I patched him as best as I could, but…” I trail off, the weight of what happened sitting heavily on my shoulders. “It doesn’t look good.”

 

“Fuck,” Blade mutters under his breath. I can tell the news has shocked him as badly as it shocked me. “I’ll call the others,” he says quickly, running into the other room and grabbing his phone. I can only wait with Robin as Blade makes the necessary calls. Her face is bloodless—the scars from her old drug use really stand out against her pale cheeks. I know that she’s worried about Steel, and I also know that she won’t rest a second until this mess is over and Blade is back in her arms.

 

“I’m sorry,” I say quietly to Robin. “I’m sorry to have to drag your man into this. I’ll watch his back, I promise. Blade’s a brother to me, and brothers don’t turn on each other.”

 

Robin nods mechanically. For a moment, I’m almost grateful that Steel pulled me and Vivian apart. I’d never want to have Vivian worry about me like this. But then I remember where she is–kidnapped and possibly being tortured by that asshole with the birthmark–and it makes me worry just the same.

 

“I know,” Robin says after a moment. “Just take care of him, okay?”

 

I nod. Blade comes back in the room, his eyes wide with adrenaline. He takes out a cigarette and passes the pack to me.

 

“We gotta ride out,” I say. “We gotta find out where those assholes are trying to take her.” That’s when I tell Blade about the train station, and what Steel had to say. I half expect Blade to echo our president, but instead he shakes his head.

 

“We can’t go right there,” Blade says. “We gotta find out their whole plan. We can’t just show up. We’ll be ambushed or worse. They might have ten men on us, brother.”

 

“Fuck,” I mutter. I hadn’t even though of that, but Blade’s right. “Okay. So what do we do?”

 

Blade sighs. “You clean up, then we go to that Helldogs bar and sniff out our guy. Then we can attack. We gotta figure out their endgame first.”

 

I dart into the bathroom and start scrubbing away at the rest of Steel’s blood. It’s everywhere–my skin reeks of iron–and I’m lathered up to my shoulders by the time my skin starts to look clean again. Blade slips me a shirt through the open door. As I put it on, I can hear Blade and Robin whispering promises to each other.

 

I vow to make sure that Blade, Steel, and Vivian all make it out of this alive. I don’t even care about myself–I just need to make sure the people I love are taken care of. This is all my fault, and the least I can do is ensure that my family stays alive.

 

When Blade and I leave the house, the sky is pitch black. There are clouds racing across the vast expanse of inky darkness. I can’t even see the moon, much less any of the stars.

 

We glide through the night, sleek as stallions, on our shiny chrome-and-black bikes. The engine strums powerfully beneath my body as I hunch over the handlebars. Blade and I cruise out of Big Hill. At night, the town looks as quiet and picturesque as a town in a model train set. I can hardly believe that it’s home to so much violence and evil.

 

I’ve never once had second thoughts about spending my life in an MC. But I’ve never had a woman like Vivian before, either. And somehow, thinking about how to maintain the life I’ve always known and manage to be with the only woman I’ve ever loved seems like too big of a task. I can’t think of how I’ll spend my time once this mess is over. Vivian won’t be around all the time. She’ll be back in school, working like a good girl.

 

And I’ll just be fixing bikes and doing more bodyguard work, while she eventually marries some golden boy doctor she met in grad school.

 

As much as I want to say that it doesn’t bother me, it does. I’m older than Vivian, but she’s the one who’s going to outgrow me. No woman like her would be satisfied with a man like me for very long. Women like Vivian need stability. They need a real man who can step up, provide for them, and give them children and bring them flowers every Friday evening after work. Vivian’s not going to want some thug who has to ride out of town at a moment’s notice.

 

By the time Blade and I reach Starlight, I’m almost glad that I’ll have a distraction soon. I can’t stand thinking about Vivian anymore. Especially now that I’m certain that even if I do manage to save her, I’ll lose her.

 

Blade and I park our bikes outside, roll up our sleeves, and walk in.

 

This time, the evil eye is immediate. There’s no confusion about what kind of men we are. Blade’s wearing his Blacktop Chaos patch, and I’m standing beside him—an obvious brother in arms.

 

“I don’t think you boys thought things out real well,” a man sneers. He’s bald, with gigantic red sores all over his head. When he steps closer, I see the Helldogs symbol etched crudely on his arm in messy black ink. It’s an obvious prison tattoo. The man looks both stupid and violent, which is a dangerous combination in a rival MC.

 

“Fuck you,” I snarl. “Where the hell is he?”

 

“Who the fuck are you talking about?” The man steps closer, pushing his sleeves up over veiny arms covered with track marks.

 

“The man with the birthmark,” I say. I pull out my gun and keep my finger resting on the trigger as I point the barrel right at the bald man’s skull. “I’ve got a problem with him, and if you don’t tell me where he is, I’m gonna have a problem with you, too.”

 

The man throws his head back and laughs like I’ve just made the world’s funniest joke. I wait for him to reply, but instead he pulls out a knife and, quick as a wink, throws it into the air. From behind me, Blade cries out. I turn around just in time to see the knife pierce the arm of my best friend, buried to the hilt. Bright red blood is streaming down Blade’s arm and he’s glaring down at the knife like he can’t believe it had the nerve to stab him.

 

“You’re gonna fuckin’ pay for that,” I snarl. Before I can think twice about what I’m doing, I pull the trigger and my gun explodes with a bang. The bald man falls down to the floor.

 

That’s when the whole bar erupts. There are so many people shooting at me that my head is spinning. Starlight is suddenly filled with Helldogs–crowds of them, like evil spirits.

 

I’m too close for gun combat now. I pull out my knives and twist my arms through the air, throwing and stabbing wherever I can reach. Behind me, Blade’s whooping a war cry and I know that despite the wound in his arm, he’ll somehow make it through.

 

Together, Blade and I spin around, thrusting our weight and throwing knives as quickly as we can. I count three Helldogs dead on the floor before the fight starts to subside. There’s broken glass and spilled beer and blood everywhere. The bar looks like the site of a massacre. As I glance around, looking for the man with the red birthmark, I see Blade crumple to a pile on the floor.

 

Instantly, I run over to him. The knife handle is still sticking out of his muscular bicep, but I see another, graver wound on Blade’s neck. At first it just looks like a thin thread of scarlet, but after a few seconds, the wound seems to yawn and open. Blood pours down Blade’s neck with alarming speed. When I grab his hand, it’s already cold to the touch.

 

“You gotta go find her,” Blade says. His eyes are blinking rapidly and he’s panting for air. His dry lips are flecked with spittle and his tongue lolls around inside his mouth like a lazy dog. “You gotta go save Vivian.”

 

Despair floods my body and I shake him angrily, determined to bring him back to perfect health.

 

“You can’t fuckin’ leave me,” I growl into Blade’s face. “You gotta stay!”

 

“Brother, go,” Blade says. His voice is already fading to a quiet whisper. “Leave me here.”

 

As much as I want to stay with him until help comes, I know that Blade’s right. The thought of leaving him to bleed out on the floor of an enemy-controlled bar is worse than undergoing torture, but I don’t have a choice. Too much time has passed, and if I don’t go help Vivian, she’ll be gone forever.

 

I ride away from the bar alone, into the night. The sight of Blade’s bike propped against the wall of Starlight only fills me with sorrow and dread of what’s to come. A horrible thought bursts into my brain, cracking open like an egg. What’s going to happen if both Blade and Steel don’t survive this night? What will become of Blacktop Chaos?

 

Who will save Vivian?

 

Now I know I’m the only one who can do it.