ROGUE ANGEL - Book One: The Beginning

Chapter Five

I SLAMMED on the throttle and my Kawasaki squealed away, throwing grit and sending a wall of grey dust into the air. The six bikers screeched to a halt, unable to see beyond the haze. Butt hat only gave us a brief respite. As soon as the dust cleared, they were in pursuit again, like a pack of wolves chasing their prey.  

A storm was raging inside me, just like when I was in the woods yesterday. Why did I hate the guys from The Fellowship so much and crave to decimate all of them? Maybe they had harmed someone dear to me? I tried to remember but as usual, my mind remained stubbornly blank.

My hand clenched into a fist and I wanted to stop, turn around, and confront my enemy; I knew I had the power to protect myself. But the sight of Sirius held me back. He was an innocent bystander and I didn’t wish to see him get hurt because of me.

So I was left with no other option but to continue riding at break-neck speed. I went off the path and into a maze of trees, snaking through them.Left, right, left again, I was in complete control. Our pursuers had a difficult time getting a clear shot at us.

Before long we arrived at an abandoned oil palm mill. A dilapidated factory lot with a cracked asbestos roof and an open front was still there.Inside were a boiler and a couple of mechanical handling systems. The dirty concrete floor was littered with broken wooden pallets and other debris. After a quick survey of its surroundings, I spotted a small blacktopped road behind the mill and swung the bike towards it without any hesitation. It curved to the right and the light grew clearer as we went forward. Several kilometers later,we finally came out of the trees and found ourselves in a wide open space.There was the cloudless blue sky above us and the sun was shining down on the clearing.

I halted to take a breather. Sirius then looked back over his shoulder.

“Why … why are you stopping?” he asked at last, his voice trembling. I guessed he had been too stricken by fear to speak until now. “They’re still after us!”

“Yeah, I see them,” I frowned, glancing at the wing mirror. Looks like I had to burn rubber once more. As there was no path to follow this time, I just picked a way and took off. It proved to be a grave mistake. A short distance ahead, I saw, to my horror, an abyss before us with no bridge. We were trapped!

“Damn! Damn! Damn!” I cussed in frustration.

“What? What? What?” Sirius asked.

I jammed on the brakes. “Take a look in front!”

He leaned forward, gawked at the seemingly bottomless cavern, and covered his head with his hands in despair. “No! No! No!” he cried. “We’re really done for now!”

I gazed about anxiously for another way out and when I noticed a mound at the edge of the pit on my far left, I snapped my fingers. “Don’t worry, we can fly over!”

“What are you talking about?” asked Sirius, thinking I must have lost my mind. “The length from here to the other side is longer than an Olympic swimming pool!”

“Hey, just trust me,” I comforted him with a smile.  

Sirius stole a glance at the oncoming motorbikes then turned and gave a nod. “O… Okay, let’s do it,” he stammered. Even as he spoke, I could hear his teeth doing a rat-a-tat-tat tune. He shut his eyes tightly and held on to me for dear life.

One deep breath later, I backed the bike up and revved the engine to the maximum. It took off like a rocket and flew over the mound. Suddenly I sensed a loss of gravity; we were airborne!

Sirius had to choose this moment to open his eyes and look below him.When he saw the enormous black hole that looked like the open mouth of a serpent waiting to swallow us, he did what every ten-year-old kid would do; he screamed his head off. The screaming didn’t stop until we landed on the other side, the tires hitting the ground with a loud thud. We were okay but I dared not say the same for my poor eardrums; they nearly burst from his shriek.

Before us was the forest. As soon as we reached the hedge, we got down from my bike and removed our helmets. Sirius ran to some bushes and began throwing up. I guessed the excitement had freaked him out. I let him be and walked back to the edge of the chasm. As I expected, the six bikers halted at the other end, either too scared to follow my stunt or they knew their scrambler engines were not powerful enough to catapult them across. I stared at them, a smirk on my face. They dismounted and one of them walked forward, removing his helmet as he did; he must be their leader. He was exceptionally tall and his shoulder-length black hair was coiffed to perfection; the pencil-thin moustache he sported complemented his prominent cheekbones; and he had a Samson physique. But his protruding pitch-black eyes were cold and intimidating.

He stared back at me. “Hello Alison, it’s me, Drakev,” he said in his raspy voice. “We meet again.”

I answered him with a silence. He seemed to know me, but I had no idea who the hell he was.

“And thank you for helping me to dispose of Samy and Muthu,” he smiled,but it was more of a maniacal one. “I’ve always wanted to get rid of these two idiots. They were a disgrace to The Fellowship with their incompetence.”

My silence persisted.

“You aren’t much of a talker, are you?” he sighed.

I gave him the finger. He began laughing. That was odd; I didn’t find my gesture funny at all. Men … they are such strange creatures, I thought. 

Suddenly, a walking cane appeared in his hand. Now how did he do that?He never gave me a chance to find out. Aiming the black metallic-like rod at my direction, he flicked it. Bolts of glaring blue lightning came out of its tip and surged towards me. Thinking I was invulnerable I stood my ground and let them strike my heart. To my utter shock, I felt pain, excruciating pain,flaring all over my body, like I was being doused with a big pot of extremely hot water, and I fell screaming.    

Gasping and shuddering, I tried to gather whatever was left of my strength to crawl back to the forest where I would be out of harm’s way. But my legs and hands no longer worked. And my agony was so intense that the world began turning blurry. I heard Sirius calling out my name. Then a hand grabbed me and I felt I was being lifted up. After that I heard and saw no more.