The tall plants whipped her cheeks as Elle ran past them but she didn’t even notice. The only thing she could focus on was the shouts and yelling that drew closer and closer. She had to find them, she had to try and help her friends. It was all her fault that this had even happened.
Guilt, cold and greasy and slick settled uneasily in the pit of her stomach, urging her on. She’d made a promise to Carla, to do everything she could to help the farm. She’d made a promise, and she always kept her word, no matter what. That thought had her charging forward at a reckless speed and Elle gasped when she ran out into a small clearing. She had to windmill to stop herself from falling flat on her face, or running smack dab into Carla’s back.
She gasped in dismay to see Carl and Hot Wheels surrounded by four of the Nomads, and what was even worse, one of them was their leader, Damaris. Elle shuddered at the look in his eyes, pure malice, and underneath that, joy. He was reveling in the fear he was causing. Even his men looked a little uncomfortable but they held their post, making sure that neither women could run while their leader confronted Joel.
“Carla!” Elle hissed, still hiding behind her friend. Carla turned to give her a shocked look that turned quickly to dismay.
“Elle, what the hell are you doing! Get out of here. Run while you still can. Before they see you. Please!” Carla pleaded but Elle just shook her head.
“No, I got you into this mess. I’m not going to just leave you guys alone.”
“Then you’re a damn fool,” Hot Wheels added quietly, careful not to draw too much attention, “But a loyal one.”
“Honey is right behind me. He said he was calling the cops–.”
“Well, thank god there’s at least one functioning brain between the two of you.” Hot Wheels said but Elle could hear the relief in her voice. They were genuinely terrified of what the Nomads would do. That thought had her looking over just in time to see Damaris strike out, hitting Joel across the face.
“No! Stop it!” Carla shouted, but the leader of the Nomads didn’t even look over.
“What the hell do they want?” Elle muttered.
“Control of the farm,” Carla finally answered, “One way or another. Just like he threatened before.”
“But they can’t just come here and take it like that. It’s not legal!” Elle protested, horrified.
“Hah,” Hot wheels snorted, “You really think they give a damn about legal, sugar?”
“Well, no, I guess not–.” Elle bit off her words as the rustling of the plants gave way to a new, familiar face. And not the face she’d been hoping to see.
“What the hell is he doing here?” Hot Wheels spat out the words as Viper pushed through, shooting a gloating grin at Joel as he stepped up beside him. He was all condescending arrogance with the leader of the Nomads and the other bikers there holding Joel back.
“Viper, I should have known you would be here,” Joel growled out, his words slightly muffled by a bloody lip, “Like a mangy dog scavenging for scraps.”
Viper growled and lunged forward but Carla interrupted, distracting him.
“What are you- How are you– What are you even doing here?” Carla stuttered out the shaky words and Viper just smirked.
“You didn’t think I was gonna let the Nomads have all the fun, did you? Besides, this is my farm now. I have to protect what’s mine.” Viper sneered the last words towards Damaris and the smaller man nearly growled at the not so hidden threat.
“Yours, Viper? My crew is here. Where are your men? Hmm? Where are the rest of big, scary Dirty Cruisers? And how, exactly, do you think you’re going to stop me from taking this nice juicy plum for myself. I should just pluck it up. It would be so easy.” Damaris smiled his snake like smile at Viper then, “I’m just kidding, of course.”
“Of course,” Viper hissed back, and there was a new malice in his beady eyes. Greed had gotten the best of him and he already had a tenuous hold on the Cruisers. He couldn’t afford to look weak in front of the other crew’s leader, but at the moment, he had no choice.
Elle had been hidden behind Carla and Hot Wheels up till then but she felt the exact moment that Damaris saw her, recognized her.
“You!”
The look on his face had Elle stumbling back as fear, potent and raw filled her. She’d never been looked at with such pure hatred before, but there was also a twisted lust in his gaze that had nausea rolling alongside the terror.
Carla tried to block his path as Damaris lunged after Elle but she was knocked away with an almost casual blow that had her toppling to ground.
“You should have taken my offer before,” he growled out as he stalked even closer to her, “things would have gone a lot easier for you. But not now. Oh no. Now, I’m going to make it hurt.”
Elle tried to get away and she screamed as she felt the brush of his outstretched hand against the back of her shirt but then it was gone and instead of falling into his clutches, he was just…gone.
She looked back in shock to see Damaris being pulled rapidly away from her and for a moment she didn’t understand what was happening until she saw the man directly behind him. Sparkplug! Hot Wheels lurched, recognizing him at the same time, tracing his obvious black eye and what looked to be evidence of a bloody nose with a look so full of love that Elle had to look away for a moment.
Wait a minute, how had he gotten away from Scorpion? They knew he must have been tipped off somehow and had feared the worse for the other man. But before she could ask the question out loud, Sparkplug was already answering it.
“Your thug Scorpion throws a mean right hook, but I’m tougher than I look.” Sparkplug sneered as he drew Damaris out into the middle of the opening. “A punch doesn’t keep me down for long. You should have had him kill me.”
“I’ll remember that for next time,” Damaris spat back, his cool composure long gone as the feral animal underneath was revealed.
“There won’t be a next time. Consider this an official challenge.” Sparkplug said, the only warning before he pulled back his own fist and let it fly, landing a hard blow. Elle flinched away from the fight, waiting for the other Nomads to step in and was surprised when no one did.
“Sparkplug challenged Damaris for leadership,” Hot Wheels explained quietly, “The other’s won’t do anything. And honestly, by the looks on their faces, they don’t want Damaris to win.”
Elle just shook her head in confusion as the fight continued. Although it wasn’t much of one. After a few hits, Damaris was on the ground, growling in wild anger as he held a hand over his nose.
“You broke my fucking nose!” He shouted, but it came out more of a gurgle before he turned to the three bikers that stood around them now, “Do something you imbeciles! Kill him! Rip him to pieces!”
But they didn’t move. They didn’t even blink and Damaris made a wordless noise of rage before charging Sparkplug again. One more blow had the leader of the Nomads falling back to the ground, unconscious. Well, the old leader of the Nomads.
As Sparkplug looked at the other three, bloodied and battered but still standing he raised up one clenched fist.
“I won. I claim the right to take over as the new president of the Nomads. Any objections?” He asked wearily. Slowly, they all shook their heads, not even sparing a glance for the man who was still lying unmoving on the ground. “Good.”
He held out a hand for Hot Wheels and she was by his side in an instant.
“We’re leaving.” Sparkplug said. One of the men stepped forward but the new leader just held up a hand to stop him, “I said we’re leaving. We are done here. Had no business here in the first place.”
The fight seemed to have taken forever to Elle when in reality it had only been a handful of minutes. Soon Carla was helping Joel to his feet, holding a piece of fabric she’d torn from her own shirt to his face where Damaris had hit him. They were all turning, the tension depleting, oddly anticlimactic when Elle noticed it. Faint at first, barely detectable but in just a few seconds, filling the air with its acrid scent. It was smoke! Someone had set the fields on fire.
Joel cursed as the air was suddenly thick with dense black smoke, at least Elle was pretty sure it was Joel. Suddenly, the smoke obscured even the small clearing, cutting her off from everybody else.
She peered through the hazy smoke and could just make out a figure coming towards her. She sighed in relief but it was short lived as the person cleared the fog and his features drew into awful clarity.
“Viper!” Elle said in shock, almost forgetting his presence after the surprise of the fight between Sparkplug and Damaris, and the even more surprising declaration that he was the Nomad’s new leader. She had thought this was all over when the smoke started. It clicked for her then.
“The fire,” Elle gasped. “You started it!” It wasn’t really a question but the arrogant jerk answered anyways, his expression all superior condescension as he drew closer.
“Of course it was me. If I can’t have this farm, then nobody can have it!” His answer was that of a petulant child and she told him so, hoping that she could keep him talking long enough to find a distraction, or to try and find Carla or Joel, Hot Wheels or Sparkplug, anyone! And where the hell was Honey!
But instead of distracting him, her plan backfired and he snarled at her as he leapt forward.
“Petulant child?” He stumbled over the first unfamiliar word, but he understood the last one just fine, and he looked completely outraged as he reached out, grabbing for her arm. “I’ll show you who’s a child. I’ll show you, and Honey and Joel and all those other stuck up people who think they’re so much better than me.”
“No–No I never said that they were.” Elle stuttered, afraid of the deranged light suddenly flared in Viper’s beady eyes.
“Come on,” He growled the words as he shoved her forward, further and further away from her friends, “I may have lost the farm, but I sure as hell am not going back empty handed