THE GHOST RIDER
622 Words
The rain refused to let up.
Ava's hands trembled as she gripped the steering wheel. The windshield wipers struggled to clear the water, but it wasn't the storm that blurred her vision.
It was the memory of the gunshot.
Victor's cold eyes.
The lifeless body collapsing onto the marble floor.
She swallowed hard.
"I have to keep driving," she whispered to herself.
Behind her, twin headlights suddenly pierced the darkness.
Her heartbeat skipped.
One of Victor's SUVs?
She pressed harder on the accelerator.
The speedometer climbed.
80...
90...
100 kilometers per hour.
The headlights didn't fall back.
Instead, they drew closer.
"No... no, no..."
Tears burned her eyes.
She couldn't let Victor's men catch her.
Not with the flash drive hidden inside her jacket.
The narrow mountain road curved sharply ahead.
Ava turned the wheel too quickly.
Her tires lost their grip on the rain-soaked asphalt.
The car spun.
Everything happened at once.
Metal screamed.
Glass shattered.
The vehicle slammed into a roadside ditch before crashing against a massive pine tree.
Silence.
Then pain.
Ava blinked.
Blood trickled from a cut above her eyebrow.
Smoke drifted from beneath the hood.
"Oh, God..."
She fumbled for her seatbelt.
It wouldn't release.
She pulled again.
Nothing.
A faint orange glow flickered beneath the dashboard.
Fire.
Panic flooded her chest.
She kicked at the door.
It refused to open.
"Help!"
Her voice was swallowed by the storm.
Then...
The roar of a motorcycle echoed through the forest.
It stopped beside the wreck.
Heavy boots splashed through the mud.
A shadow appeared outside the cracked window.
The man wore a black leather jacket with a silver wolf stitched across the back.
Rain dripped from his dark hair.
His face was partly hidden beneath the brim of his helmet.
Without saying a word, he struck the side window with a rescue hammer.
The glass exploded outward.
"Can you move?" His deep voice cut through the storm.
Ava nodded weakly.
"My... my seatbelt..."
He sliced through it with a knife.
Strong arms pulled her free just as flames burst from the engine.
A second later—
BOOM!
The car exploded.
The force knocked them both to the muddy ground.
The stranger rolled over, shielding Ava with his body from the flying debris.
For a long moment, neither of them moved.
The rain hissed against the burning wreckage.
Ava looked up.
Even in the flashing firelight, his eyes stood out.
Steel gray.
Calm.
Watching everything.
"Are you hurt?" he asked.
She stared at him.
"You... you saved me."
He stood and offered her his hand.
"Can you walk?"
She accepted it.
The moment their hands touched, something strange passed between them.
Not comfort.
Not fear.
Recognition.
As though fate had quietly introduced two strangers whose lives had just become tangled forever.
Before Ava could speak again...
Bright headlights appeared farther down the road.
Several black SUVs.
Her face turned pale.
"They found me."
The stranger looked toward the approaching vehicles.
His expression hardened instantly.
"They're not police," he muttered.
"No," Ava whispered.
"They're here to kill me."
The biker looked back at her.
"What did you get yourself into?"
"I don't have time to explain."
The SUVs were only seconds away.
The stranger removed his helmet.
His sharp features were illuminated by lightning.
"I'm Ryder Kane."
He climbed onto his motorcycle and started the engine.
Then he looked at Ava.
"If you want to live..."
He extended his hand.
"Get on."
Ava stared at the roaring motorcycle, then at the men closing in behind them.
She had never met Ryder Kane.
She didn't know if she could trust him.
But she knew one thing.
If she stayed...
She would die.
With a deep breath, she reached for his hand.
- Writer
