Page 87 of Senseless
I pushed the bike hard, accelerating to the machine’s limit as I hunched over it and prayed I wouldn’t lose control at such high speed.
I’m going to die,I realized as black dots multiplied in my vision. My head hurt so fucking bad, I wanted to smash my forehead between the handlebars for some relief. I couldn’t feel my hands or feet, only pins and needles, like they’d fallen asleep.No, no. They have to know…have to…reach them.
AWW. ARE YOU DONE ALREADY?! HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!
“Get out.” I gritted my teeth with what little of my strength remained. The outskirts of the city were just a few hundred feet away. I could barely see the buildings but I had to keep going, had to get in sight of someone, anyone to call for help.
And do what?
Was it my own voice or the thing inside my head that asked the question so cynically? Did it even matter? I was moments away from death, and if this thing destroying my mind was what was coming for us, then we were all fucked.
Between the numbness and pain shooting off from my skull throughout my whole body, I felt the motorcycle lean dangerously to one side. And I knew I didn’t have the strength to pull it back up.
I’m so sorry, Mari. Sorry Shadow, about everything. I wish I got to make it right.
The road hit me with a force that could have turned my skeleton to Jello. And then I felt nothing. No ground, no pain. The laughter was gone, and I both hated and loved how peaceful it felt. I didn’t want to open my eyes and face the reality that I was dead.
Look, son.
The voice was masculine, warm and calming like my grandfather’s had been. I’d never heard it before, but recognition flooded through me as I dared to open my eyes.
Horus?
I did not abandon you. She just needed to see.
I looked, and the landscape below me was vast. A surge of wind carried me upward, floating northeast over the stretch of road that looked like a thin black stripe from this high up. Gone was the darkness that had fallen when I first heard the laughing—everything looked beautifully normal.
Is Mari okay? Is she coming back?My thoughts raced frantically once I realized that Horus had lent me his eyes again. I felt the tether to my human body like a lifeline—going back would be as easy as a simple pull.
Look and see,Horus instructed, sounding oddly amused.
I flew closer, my gaze following the length of the road cutting through the landscape. At first I only saw movement, dark specks like ants from far away, inching closer. They had to be at least five miles out, and Horus beat his wings to fly us closer, as if sensing my urgency.
Is it her? Is it them?
If I hadn’t already left my body, I would have once the details came into focus. A single motorcycle with two riders. A big hulk of a man driving, and a woman with long brown hair sitting behind him.
The laughter ringing through my head was my own now, elation and relief filling me up so completely, I didn’t care if I was dead. Mari was back, she was safe.
As intense as the euphoria was, the duration was brief. That thing laughing and taunting me in my head was gone for now, but would it come back?
I hovered over Shadow and Mari in Horus’s body, not wanting to take my eyes off of them for a single moment. As they got closer, I saw Mari wipe at her ear, blood trailing down her neck. She leaned forward in her seat, inspecting the side of Shadow’s head where he too was bleeding.
That was both comforting and completely unnerving.
I waited until they were less than a mile out from Four Corners before making the return back to my own body.
“Owww…”
My head pounded like a drum, but nothing was rattling inside anymore. I blinked several times, focusing my dulled human vision on the clear blue sky above me, where I’d just been a moment ago. After a quick extremities check and finding that my fingers and toes were still attached, I rolled painstakingly up to a seat.
“Fuck, nope. Too fast.” The world spun a circle around me and I promptly laid back down. Staying on my back, I gingerly tested bigger movements of my limbs. Ankles, wrists, knees, and elbows were all intact, albeit sore as hell.
A rumbling purr grew louder, that comforting sound spurring movement into my body again. But it was nothing compared to what I heard next.
“Gunner? Fuck, it’s Gunner! Stay there, I’m coming!”
The sound of her voice was so fucking sweet, I wanted to cry. It felt like I hadn’t spoken to her in years.
