Page 46 of Powerless
"You're bleeding a lot!"
"Up ahead, WATCH OUT!"
I looked behind me, my arm already extended with the pistol. This time I hit the rider coming at us right in the torso. He slumped over his bike, which careened into a cluster of sharp boulders. Bodies and abandoned bikes already began piling up.
Bodies, fuck!
I tried to scan the faces of men strewn out among the landscape, but we were moving too fast. Some Demons must have gotten hurt, though. We were far too outnumbered and I had to save who I could. Jandro's bullet wound bloodied half of shirt already but at least he was still riding.
"Jandro, I have to treat the wounded!"
"You're not getting off this bike," he growled, sweat beading on his forehead. "They'll steal you from us. You're too valuable."
"But your men could be dying!"Oh God, Reaper!
I hadn't seen him since he fired off that flare, which I could only assume was a distress signal to his men still inside Sheol. But with all the dust, the bikes, the noise and the chaos, I couldn't make out who was friend or foe.
"Reaper!" I yelled to Jandro. "We've got to find Reaper!"
If I was scared before, I was in a full-blown panicked meltdown now. The Steel Demons presidenthadto be alive. He didn't even seem worried about going to battle—if anything, he seemed excited despite the odds not looking good. But if Jandro was taking shots, surely the others were, too.
"I know babe, but we gotta live through this first—gah!"
Another bullet grazed his arm, creating a surface wound that quickly pooled blood on his skin. It was his shooting arm, too, which I knew was becoming fatigued.
Still he raised it again, spraying gunfire behind us to mow down the three closest riders on our tails.
"Jandro, I need to slow your bleeding," I pleaded. "And we need to find Reaper, and anyone else who's hurt."
His gaze was sharp, but his breathing was ragged and he could barely hold himself up. Adrenaline pushed him to keep going but he was losing blood quickly. Just when it looked like he'd give in to my request, something caught his eye up ahead of us.
"Hold onto me. We're gonna roll."
"My pack!" I cried just before he pulled me against his torso and lurched us to one side.
For the briefest moment, I felt nothing but air. Then the hard ground knocked the wind out of me and the world spun as we went rolling. My vision kept spinning even as we came to a stop and Jandro pulled us behind a couple of crashed bikes for cover.
"What...what?" was all I could say.
"They dug potholes," he panted, wincing at the pain. "To catch our front tires and send us flipping over our handlebars." He forced a grin and held up his rifle, which had the strap of my medic pack barely hanging onto the end of the barrel. "Got you this, though."
"You probably just saved your own life then." I grabbed it from him and quickly pulled out my gauze and tape. "I'll have to look at it later but you won't bleed out now."
"Shit, shit, hide!"
Jandro shoved me against the makeshift wall of twisted metal, but it was too late. A rider pulled up, coming to a stop in front of us.
"What's this? A Steel Demon hiding like a little bitch?" the rider taunted, pointing his weapon at us. "And with a woman," he added, his voice going higher with interest.
"Take me as a hostage if you want but leave her alone." Jandro raised his arms.
I stared at him. "Jandro, no!"
"Fucking dumbass. Unless you're hiding a pussy, I have no reason to take you over her. Besides," he grinned evilly. "We have strict orders to eliminate your whole club, and take no prisoners. A woman, however—“
"I'm the vice president," Jandro pointed to his patch. "I'm a valuable bargaining chip. She's just a used-up piece of ass. You won't get anything out of her."
"All that's tellin' me is I should shoot you both."
