Chapter Forty
Blaze
I fell in love with riding all over again on that trip to Dwayne’s trailer. I didn’t think anything could be better than racing, but the feeling that came over me when I rode in that pack was life changing. All that iffy shit vanished. I knew in my bones this was where I belonged. The vibration of the bike soothed my racing heart, it made my thoughts clearer. The steady growl of those bikes spoke to my soul, it woke something up that I’d die before I let go of.
We turned off the highway and slowed the bikes along a patch of woods. Mackie pointed and May and Donnie veered off toward the ditch. I slowed it down and followed them across it, coming to a stop next to the trees.
“The road wasn’t good enough?” I asked once the engines were off.
“Yeah, if you want someone to see them.” May laughed.
“Angle them so anyone driving by doesn’t catch the lights and come for a closer look.” Mackie instructed, giving a look around the area with a squint. He popped the stash spot on his bike and took out a small flashlight.
“Are you trying to be seen?” I puffed up, not believing my eyes.
“Absolutely not.” Mackie sang back, while slowly shifting his light about, “Which is why I’m making sure there are no trail cams to catch our plates.”
“Fucking hell I forgot about those things,” I followed after him and strained my eyes.
We didn’t find any, but he shut it off several yards from the house, “I don’t know why anyone would put a trail cam up on the edge of the woods, but we’ll check on the way back to be sure.”
“What if we find one?”
“Cut it off and take it with us.” May answered for him.
“Pretty much,” Mackie confirmed, plucking the beretta from his waistband.
I drew the forty-five, double checked the safety, and started surveying the driveway and perimeter of the trailer as it came into view. It was an older model, with a large bay and a hitch that faced the forest. It was missing underpinning in places and was surrounded by what had likely been segregated junk piles at one time. There were so many now it had become a long wall of unnecessary bullshit.
“Fucking yard full of tetanus,” May whispered, his eyes wide and glistening in the moonlight.
“Just what you wanted for your birthday, right?” Donnie teased.
“Is it really your birthday?” I whispered.
“You mother fuckers come to gossip or–?” Mackie cut a look of warning at us.
May saluted me with his chin and nodded.
Nobody had even said anything.
Mackie jerked his head toward a busted-down truck to our right and we shot toward it and squatted down. I watched through the passenger window as he sauntered along the house, dragging his fingernails along the screen as he passed the window.
“How does he know which one dude is sleeping in?”
“He doesn’t,” Donnie confirmed.
“Jesus,” I mouthed.
The front door popped open, and Nikki tried to hand a child over, but Mackie shot a finger toward the truck. She glanced toward it, and I stepped out and waved. She nodded and jogged our way. When she got close, Donnie shot out from the other end of the truck.
“Get to the forest, follow the road to the bikes.” May told her, his voice barely more than a whisper as he scurried after Donnie. I watched her go and fell in line after him.
It sounded like someone let a bull into that single wide trailer. I could have sworn it even swayed a little as things crushed and smashed within. Mackie was screaming, his words unintelligible save for the occasional roar of a curse.
The distinct crunch of bone on bone sounded, and a very bloodied stranger flew face-first out of the hallway. Donnie mercilessly swung, landing a solid, nasty-sounding blow high on the man’s right jaw when he emerged. The momentum of his swing took the man sideways to the wall and he bounced off the paneling, half collapsed and fully bent. May helped him up with a football style kick to the chest that audibly knocked the wind out of what I assumed was Dwayne.
His arms flailed out like he’d been electrocuted, and he thumped back against the wall with a delayed howl. I chambered my round, and his eyes darted toward me and the sound. They widened and he started to blubber, his words distorted, but his meaning crystal clear.
“I don’t know what the fuck she told you, but we can work something out alright? Just tell me what you want, I’ll give it to you, I swear to God I will! You guys want her worn-out ass? Have her! Shit, you want the girl? She can be sweet for you, too.”
Mackie pistol whipped him, sending a tooth flying out of Dwayne’s mouth. It landed next to May, who of course, leaned down to pick the fucking thing up and shove it in his pocket like a souvenir.
I didn’t know if it was worse to be caught in possession of a dead person's tooth or to demand he leave it behind with his fingerprints on it. Could fingerprints even be left on a tooth?
I didn’t fucking know, but I was certain Dwayne had terrorized his last child.
If none of them would see to that, I would.
Mackie grabbed Dwayne by the back of his dirty-blond hair and shoved him face first at Donnie again, “Take that bitch outside I can’t listen to his nasty ass while I work. And don’t fuckin’ kill him!”
He bugged his eyes at me, so I knew that last part was for me.
Dwayne tried to dodge Donnie’s grab, but Donnie jabbed him in the eye and swooped him into a headlock that would have made Easy proud.
Donnie was tall, but Dwayne was, too. So, he didn’t dangle the way that Makaveli had for Easy, but Donnie was easily able to keep him off balance enough to instill panic and leave the man scrambling to free Donnie’s muscular forearm from his throat.
May stepped right up and slapped Dwayne in the face. He stayed close, trailing as Donnie dragged him so it looked like a dance. Dwayne was momentarily startled at the blow. When he locked eyes on May, that crazy bastard snatched both Dwayne’s ears and pulled him forward into what looked like a kiss.
“What the fuck–?” I blurted over a sudden pained shriek that came out of Dwayne.
May pulled back like a shark, twisting in a way that made it obvious he’d bit the bastard. If there was any doubt, the shock on Donnie’s big blue eyes said it all.
“My mistake, I thought you were saying something about taking what I wanted.” May spat blood and meat back at the man and his hand flew up, undercut style in a slap that made Dwayne’s teeth loudly click. “I want blood, bitch. That’s what I want tonight.”
Donnie snapped out of it and gave a glance over his shoulder before jerking Dwayne down the rickety wooden steps with him. There was blood dribbling down Dwayne’s face and covering his teeth. His head seemed to bobble and sway in what looked like a struggle to hold onto consciousness.
“Oh, no. No, you don’t want to miss the last few minutes of the show,” May slapped his cheek in repetitive, annoying-sounding pops, until Dwayne was wincing to get away from him.
“There! There you are. Donnie, he’s too comfortable,” May announced.
Donnie didn’t disappoint, he rolled his shoulder and arched his back. Dwayne realized what he was doing and tried to struggle, but it was too late, Donnie heaved, and Dwayne’s toes were finally lifted off the ground. He began to twist about and scrabble at Donnie’s arm, his face turning an angry shade of red as his efforts only seemed to strangle him further.
Spittle bubbled at his lip, and it looked like the white of his right eye was turning red. The distinct smell of gasoline permeated the air, and Mackie appeared on the steps a moment later.
Dwayne heaved and I glanced back to realize Donnie had loosened his grip and let him find the ground again.
“Be still or I’ll lift again,” he told Dwayne, who was hacking and sputtering blood still.
“Please,” Dwayne’s voice was scratchy and painful sounding.
“Oh, don’t beg yet. We’re just getting started, Sweetheart,” Mackie announced.
I heard an ancient sounding squeak and looked back to see him prying open the door of a very rusty dog cage.
Donnie shuffled forward a few steps and Dwayne started throwing elbows. Mackie grabbed the front of his hair and jerked him out of Donnie’s arms, bending him so that he was low enough to fit in the door of the pet kennel. He delivered a rough kick to Dwayne’s ass that sent him sprawling inside and slammed the door shut behind him.
“No. No, please!” Dwayne pleaded, while Mackie fought with the latch on the door. Dwayne tried to shove his fingers through the tiny holes and stop him, but Mackie sprang up and kicked at the door.
Dwayne howled, and it took him a few tries to get his fingers back inside due to the odd angle those last two were now jutting out in.
“You like to play with fire? You like to fuck with pregnant woman?” Mackie roared at him before grabbing the edges of the cage and sliding it and Dwayne toward the steps.
Donnie and May rushed forward, each of them grabbing a side.
“Stop, please. Please, I didn’t mean it.” Dwayne turned hysterical when he realized where he was headed.
For a split second, I froze when I noticed the dark smoke and realized he’d already lit the fire.
“Blaze, a little help,” Mackie grunted, as they struggled to right the cage in the air with Dwayne going batshit inside it.
“Fuck.” I ran forward and grabbed the middle hefting it up to the floor of the trailer.
We all dropped at once, causing Dwayne to catch his fingers again.
He screamed and thrashed, but it didn’t deter Mackie any, he grabbed the edges of the kennel and slung it like a merry go round. Dwayne bounced off either wall, his pitiful howls growing worse by the minute as the flames drew closer.
Mackie launched the cage into the inferno and started back toward the door without a second glance.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he huffed, clearly winded from the exercise and smoke.
I saw a blur of movement and sucked in a breath that I couldn’t seem to shove out fast enough, “Mack–”
He whirled, drawing the beretta as he did so. I drew, too. I saw a flash of knife high in the air coming at Mackie and I heard the faint noise of the beretta jamming.
I didn’t hesitate, I pulled the trigger.