Rust: A Bad Boy Romance (Courage MC) (15 page)

C
haos spread
through the region fast. Word got out about Don and his mad and devoted biker gang. The media, of course, went to town on the story. Headlines read:

“
HAVE THE MOTORCYCLE GANGS OF YESTERDAY TAKEN OVER OUR FUTURE?”
And
“GANG ON GANG VIOLENCE SPREADS PANIC OVER THE CITY
.”

Even before the police got involved, people knew to stay indoors. It wasn't a safe time to be a civilian. To me, this was a violation of all we stood for. Were we criminals? Hell yeah we were. But did that mean we should do whatever we wanted? Of course not. That's why rules were set in place. That's why we avoided war. It wasn't just the fact that we didn't want to put our men in danger. There was also the fact that cops were apt to ruin our fun when things got too heated.

Now that the word was out, we had to stay as invisible as we could. No doubt Don was doing the same. So we headed into the open desert, with only the clothes on our backs, and a duffle bag full of supplies, food, and weapons. To find them, we would have to first give up all traditional forms of comfort.

After riding and camping out for a couple of days, we came across an extinguished campfire. Crushed cans of beer, old glass pipes used to smoke methamphetamine, and classic playboys were littered across the scorching dirt. It was clear who had been here. “They’re close.” Rust said, looking around us. We were surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. “We better be careful. They could be anywhere at this point. Let's ditch the bikes and head out on foot.”

“Sounds good to me.” I said, arming my pistol just in case.

Carefully, we walked into the setting sun, bandanas over our faces. We were like a trio of bandits, on the hunt for freedom. Rust leaned over to me and whispered, “When all this settles, I'm going to give you everything I got. No more holding back.”

“Yeah? Is that an oath?” I asked him, feeling the core of myself grow hot and moist. He was the sexiest man on the planet to me. And now he was all mine. That is, if we managed to survive this shit.

“You're god damn right it is.” he said, squeezing my ass firmly.

We eventually reached a breach in the rocks. Sure as shit, there was a small abandoned house, complete with a well. “Well I'll be damned.” Bruce whispered.

“There it is.” Rust confirmed, looking ahead. “Shit, it looks like most of them are here.” Ahead of us were at least a hundred black motorcycles, all lined up in a row.

“Shit.” I said, feeling my stomach drop. We had bet on them splitting up, but now it seemed like they were all hiding out together. “We better get out of the way. There may be more of them coming.”

We ducked behind another set of boulders. I grabbed the bag of chemicals and held it in my hand. “I’m ready.” I said, breathing deeply.

“No. I can’t let you risk your life like that. I’ll do it. I’m going out there, whether you like it or not.” Rust offered.

I hesitated. On the one hand, it was probably better that he went out there. I felt more in control backing him up than going on the offensive. On the other hand, I never wanted to see him go out in harm’s way ever again. Ultimately, I had to acquiesce. “Fine.” I said, shielding my eyes. I didn’t want him to see how worried I was.

“Alright then. Let's hope this works.” he said, kissing me. “I love you, baby.”

“I love you too. Now go give them hell.” I said.

“
F
uck
, fuck, fuck!” Bruce muttered. “Why the hell would I listen to you two? They’re going to kill us all!

“They won’t if we play our cards right, brother.” I said, though I wasn’t sure there were any cards left to play.

“I’m getting sick of your optimism. You know that?” He shook his head. Beads of sweat rolled down from his hair onto his beard. He looked like a fucking wreck.

I had to shrug it off. There wasn’t anything to do but act. We couldn’t run. We couldn’t hide. We simply had to do the best we could. If we survived, then yippee. If not, they better bury me closed casket ‘cause this ain’t going to look pretty.

I ran out into the open desert, using the night sky as a shield.
Shit, shit, shit!
My thoughts were racing inside of my head. Truth was, I was terrified. Who knows what kind of guards they had watching over the place. Still, I made it over to the water system without any problems.

I grabbed the bag and held it in my eyes. The white powder shimmered against the moonlight. Power. True power. Only, it was an illusion. What the chemical really contained was the absolute opposite of power. You became dependent on the shit. Slavery is what it was. True slavery. It was the snake in the grass, ready to feed.

“Alright. This is it.” I whispered to myself. I opened the bag and closed my eyes. But just as I was about to pour it in, the lights at the compound turned on, shining brightly on the property. A loud siren went off and suddenly all of the bikers ran outside in formation, bandanas wrapped tightly around their heads. “Fuck!” I yelled.

Behind us, there was the sound of a rumbling engine. I quickly turned around and found myself face to face with three police cars. The siren roared. “Freeze!” a man in the intercom said. I dropped the bag in the dirt and threw my hands up. Wasted. The plan was fucking wasted.
Gotta think, Rust. How you going to get out of this one?

Out from behind the rocks came Bruce and Jackie, hands bound behind their backs. And right behind them was Don. He shoved them into the dirt and held a gun to Jackie’s head.

“It’s over.” he said. “I knew you’d try and track us down. Lucky for me, I’ve got the whole city in my hands.”

“You bastard!” Jackie screamed.

“Baby don’t. It’ll only make things worse. Don’t worry, he’ll get what’s coming to him.” I said, trying to come up with a good enough plan.

“
Baby
?” Don laughed. “How cute. Isn’t he sweet, little Jackie? I think he’s a bit mistaken though, don’t you think? I mean, the way I see it, you’re nothin’ but a stupid bitch. A goddamn stupid, whoring bitch.” Don compressed his fists and hit her in the back of the head. She fell to the floor, completely unconscious. He looked at me and smiled, knowing full well I couldn’t do anything with this many guns pointed at my head.

But he didn’t anticipate what I’d do. He didn’t understand how much I loved this woman. Well, if he didn’t get it now, he wasn’t ever going to get it. It was time to
make
him know. “Fuck it. You just made your grave.” I said aloud. I grabbed the bag and ran towards Don.

“What the—” He aimed his gun at me and fired. Boom, one bullet hit my shoulder. Another hit my leg. “Ah!” I screamed with rage. He wasn’t a very good aim. The pain went through my body but it didn’t phase me one bit. That was my woman he was talking about, not some slut we could laugh about at the club. I know what I had said when Johnny told me about her, but I wasn’t thinking clearly then.

I dove in the air, throwing the bag in front of me. The contents spread out in the air, landing directly on Don’s face. “No!” He screamed, collapsing next to me, holding his eyes. I could feel his whole body tense up into a seizure. He was screaming and writhing in pain and anguish. In that instant, we had both lost. He would perish and I would be taken away to an undisclosed location. I know what they did to people like me. I’d never see the light of day.

I jumped behind him and held him in front of me, grabbing onto his hair and whispering, “How do you like that,
bitch
?”

“Holy shit!” Bruce cried out in shock. He jumped up from the ground and grabbed Don’s gun, aiming it at the crowd ahead.

The police and his men swarmed in behind me and aimed their guns. “Let him go or we’ll be forced to shoot!” The intercom sounded in front of us.

“You shoot and he’s dead!” I yelled, backing up towards the rocks behind us. Jackie opened her eyes and looked around her in complete shock. “Run!” I said. She knew what to do. She turned around and headed towards the large boulder, also taking aim. It was useless, three against such a crowd. But fighting was all we could do. This whole thing had been so blown out of proportion. Thinking about it all didn’t make much sense. We were a biker gang, not a fucking army. But here we were, acting out the duties of an active militia group. Sometimes gang wars happened, and I suppose they weren’t pretty. But this was one that would go down in the history books forever.

Don wasn’t doin’ too hot. He was shaking and mumbling to himself, all the while a thick foam was seeping out of his mouth. If I knew any better, I’d say he was on the verge of being brain dead. That was probably a generous conclusion. Served him right.

At the same time, my shoulder was killing me. I looked down at my body. My leg was shattered to hell. Blood was everywhere. I was bleedin’ out.
God dammit, Rust. What have you done to yourself?

I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever be able to walk normal again. “Fuck.” I said to myself, tying a bandana around where the blood was seeping out. “Come on, you got this.” I whispered, working up the courage to continue fighting.

“Don is useless to us now!” A man at the compound screamed. “Kill them.”

I saw that same man aim directly at me and pull that fuckin’ trigger. The bullet released from the chamber, spiraling through the barrel, cutting through the cold air. I threw Don’s dying body in front of me and jumped into the dirt. The bullet hit him directly in the gut. If that didn’t kill him, time would. We couldn’t worry about him any more. He was done. And though these bastards didn’t know it, they were done too. I crawled quickly behind the rock with Jackie and Bruce as a whole army of assholes opened fire at us.

“Shit!” Bruce yelled, jumping up every now and then to fire his gun. “I’ll kill you all!”

It was like a swarm of bees as they unloaded all they had on us. The rocks were chipping away, casings fell down everywhere like rain, and our time was running out. “What’re we gonna do?” Jackie cried.

“Hell if I know.” Bruce squinted, pulling the trigger and grinding his teeth.

I held my gun and prayed for a second. Anything to keep us alive. And by God, we needed a fuckin’ miracle. “Only thing we can do is fight and try to keep them back.” I said.

“Maybe we can get them to run out of ammo.” she said, though I could tell she knew that wasn’t such a great plan.

“Yeah.” I assured everyone. “It’s not our time just yet.” But I knew the truth. This was the end for us.

We were fucked. God, we were so fucked.

“
W
hy did
I ever fuckin’ listen to you bastards?” Bruce was yelling in the face of danger. He grabbed a cigarette and lit it up.

“Think it’s a good time for that?” I asked him, feeling the knot on the back of my head swell up.

He grinned. “Sweet-cheeks, it ain’t time for anything except death. Might as well have one last smoke.”

“It isn’t over for us yet.” Rust said, gripping his gun tightly.

Bullets littered the dirt around us. All I could do was duck down and hope to God I didn’t get hit. “Jackie,” Rust began saying, grabbing my hand, “whatever happens, I love you more than life itself. If we die tonight, I hope you know you’ve changed my life for the better. Everything was worth it because I met you.” He kissed my cheeks and looked me directly in the eyes. I couldn’t help but cry. I didn’t want to lose what we had. I wanted a future with him, not just the past and present. I wanted children, dogs, a nice house, a family. I wanted everything with him and now I was going to get nothing. It wasn’t fair.

Bruce loaded his gun and said, “Enough with the sappy bullshit. I need you to fight, not whisper sweet nothings to each other!”

Rust kissed me one last time and nodded to both of us. He stood up, wielding two sub machine guns. “You want this?” he screamed. “You want a piece of me, mother fuckers?”

He began shooting wildly, dodging bullets and diving into the dirt. Blood was dripping from his shoulder and leg. He was pretty wounded already. “Rust no!” I screamed. I didn’t want him to be the hero anymore. Leave that for someone else. My love didn’t need to lose himself in order to be with me. But there was no other choice. It was either that or total peril.

“Fuck you!” he screamed at them, teeth clamped down together as bullet casings flew up in the air.

Their leader Don had been killed, yet they kept fighting. It made no sense. They were all drug-addled mad men. But within a minute or so, Rust had gunned down at least ten men. His aim was sharp. His determination was powerful and steadfast.

“Ah, shit!” Bruce yelled. “Fuck it all!”

He dove out into the open as well, shooting wildly. Ten more men dropped to their death. They may have had the numbers on their side, but they sure were a terrible aim. They underestimated our power.

I screamed and joined them, taking cover behind small boulders along the way. All three of us were gaining ground on them. Finally, we reached the well. It was good cover for the time being. Rust smiled and turned to me, “So far so good!” he yelled over the rumbling of machine guns.

He reached into his bag and grabbed two grenades. He handed one to Bruce and pulled the pin out. “I’ve got the cop cars. You got the men at the compound?”

“Sounds like a plan.” he said, pulling the pin out of his.

They both threw the grenades. Rust’s hit the dirt and rolled under one of the cop cars. It exploded almost immediately, causing all the cars to catch on fire. The corrupt police ran out of the car, screaming into the night sky. Their bodies were on fire, burning to a fucking crisp.

Bruce’s grenade ricocheted off a rock, causing it to spin off to the side. It exploded, but it was for nothing. No one got hit.

“Fuck!” he cried out.

There were at least sixty men left and they were rolling up on us pretty fast. “What’re we going to do?” I asked Rust.

“I don’t know. We keep shootin’!” he said.

Bullets were decimating the well we were hiding behind. It wouldn’t be long until they got us. “We have to move somewhere! We need to find another cover!” Only, there wasn’t anywhere else to hide behind. The rest of the space around us was open desert.

I didn’t know what to do. All I could do was pray. “Please God, get us through this. I know I haven’t lived my life up to your standards, but
please
get us through this. Give us something. Anything. We need a miracle.”

“Prayin’ ain’t gonna give you nothing!” Bruce yelled. “Only thing we can do is fight back.”

My stomach sank and my heart felt heavy with dread. This was it. Our love was a sham. It was built for death. I held onto Rust’s warm body. “I love you.” I said, feeling his head against mine.

But the shooting sounds around us was soon replaced by a new sound. It was a massive explosion, followed by layers of screaming. I peeked my head out and looked. “Holy shit!” I screamed.

Both Bruce and Rust looked immediately. “Johnny?!” They cried out.

“You guys need a little help?” he laughed. Sure enough, all of Courage was behind him.

“Holy shit! It’s a miracle!” I yelled, laughing like a crazy woman. All three of us jumped up, shooting at the rest of Don’s dwindling army.

We eventually reached the compound. There was only a few of them left and they were screaming to each other inside the building. “I’m hit! Fuck, I’m hit!” They knew their time was up.

“Don’t worry. I got ‘em.” Rust said, smashing through the wooden door. He rolled across the ground and shot one of them dead.

The other guy came running at him, wielding a knife in his hand. Rust threw his guns down and grabbed the guy’s arm, twisting it upside down. The bone cracked and the man let out a bellowing cry, dropping the blade. Rust grabbed the knife and put it through his throat. “Bastard.” he whispered to himself.

“Anyone else in there?” he yelled, taking a glance at the smoky hallway. “You’re completely surrounded! Come out and we’ll spare your life.”

Three more men threw their weapons in the hallway. “Don’t shoot!” They screamed.

“Then come out with your hands up!” Bruce yelled.

They slowly walked out into the hallway, hands above their heads. They were young, maybe in their late teen years. “Don’t shoot! We’ll comply.” They yelled, as all of us aimed our guns at them.

“Get the fuck outside.” Rust said, pushing them out into the dirt. They fell on their faces, mouths filled with dust. It was hilarious to watch.

All of Courage were present now and it looked like a fucking massacre. Thing was, it was our chance to shine now. What was left of Darkhorse was absolutely nothing. Sure, there may be supporters hiding out here and there. But they had no grounds to stand on any longer. It was us, the real bikers, the real deal, that were left. Once again, the bullshit had been pushed out. The wicked had been dealt with. And I had my man.

Just at that moment, Rust dropped his weapons in the dirt and came running towards me. “Come here, my honey pot.” he said, arms stretched wide open to catch me.

I dropped my weapons as well and jumped into his strong arms. We had been forced to be married in the beginning and boy did I hate his guts. But now that we had gotten to know each other, he had become the absolute center of my world. It was crazy, I know. But that’s how love is sometimes. Totally, utterly insane. And that was just the way I liked it.