Her blood surges with adrenaline as devil-eyed wolves close in, black phantoms unraveling into a whirlwind of shadows and smoke, multiplying from one into more and more within a blur of a moment.
Her arms tighten around him, clinging to his warmth as the wind whips through her hair and seeps into the tiny fissures of her knitted sweater.
The earth rumbles beneath the convoy of black SUVs raging at her back as her fiancé cuts through the blinding fog at a reckless speed.
She fears that at any second the ground will tear open. Ghastly, cadaverous hands will reach out. They'll grab her leg, pull her down, down, down until hundreds of jaws will skin and gnaw and destroy her.
Tires screech over the slick asphalt and snow as the motorbike swivels towards the bend, the
headlights fading in the rearview mirror, sparking a breathless hope, only to flare again like a cruel tease.
Her eyes squeeze shut as the Ducati roars, the speed knocking the breath from her as a prayer catches in her throat. Headlights blaze ahead.
He doesn't slow, and she holds her breath in a muddled daze, shadows swelling behind them.
Horns blare as a truck barrels towards them, followed by a deafening, sharp metallic whoosh tearing past her ears as he veers around it with deadly precision.
The pungent smell of diesel lingers in the fractured mist when she risks a glance at the rear-view mirror, a violent crash echoing along the road behind them.
Headlights pierce the darkness, shadows rising one after another, and her throat closes as she wonders why they are so adamant about ruining them.
A blinding wall of fog conceals whatever lies beyond, her mind flashing back to the moment all hell broke loose. Their cocoon of peace had been splintered beneath the low, distant growl of engines. Up at once and dressed, they rushed towards the parking lot.
When the bike roared to life and cut onto the two-lane asphalt road through the snow-draped, tall conifers, it was already too late to escape unnoticed.
A gunshot rips through the thinning forest, sparks and gravel erupting from the wet asphalt.
The bike launches forward, the force nearly ripping her off him if she weren't holding on so tightly.
He swerves through another bend, slowing as the insanity of it all rattles through her bones. A scream catches in her throat as another bullet tears past.
"Duck!"
Reacting instantly, she barely escapes being struck by a low, broken branch lashing past before the Ducati veers away,
the high-pitched roar of engines bellowing through heaven and earth in a wild cacophony.
A line of headlights emerges through the fog, their light muted as they draw nearer and nearer, when the motorbike rocks into a swivel, turning to face them.
A gun rests in his grip.
Her mind blanks as he fires, her eardrums nearly bursting at the crack of the shot. In the shrill silence that follows, her ears ring with a pounding whine, while the screaming tyres fade into a distant chasm.
The gun bucks in his hand, shot after shot ringing out.
An SUV swerves in violent recklessness before colliding with a tree. As the deafening
shrillness in her ears begins to clear, another
crash echoes along the road as the bike surges forward, the woodland giving way to a clearing.
Sun rises in the east, peeking through the clouded haze and over the snowy mountains, while the road narrows between a wooded hillside on one side and an open field descending towards a cliff on the other.
SUVs charge from ahead, swelling shadows ushering destruction and death in their wake.
Gunshots chase from behind them, the fog thinning as he veers off the road towards the snowy field. Tyres skid over the frozen ground, the bike fishtailing beneath them as he fights to keep it upright.
"Hold on."
Already clinging to him, she only holds on tighter while the field rolls beneath them in a sickening tide of slush. The SUVs burst through the misty
air, engines roaring across the open stretch.
Even through the clamor of engines and the whooshing wind,
the sound of the churning river reaches her.
The rear wheel fishtails again, throwing up a spray of snow as he wrestles the Ducati back under control.
She sinks into a daze at the sight: a treacherous cliff slope falling away before them, with their enemies closing in behind.
There remains nowhere to hide. No trees to shield them, no bends to break their pursuers' line of sight.
Eventually, her fear takes shape as the terrain forces the motorbike to a halt at the cliff's edge. The crash of waves against the foot of the rocky cliff grows louder, swallowing the pounding of her heart and mingling with the distorted growls of the predators behind them, growing louder as more vehicles close in.
An endless ritual of predator and prey, stripping away the curtain of illusion, revealing the sinful damnation, bringing forth a question that reaches upwards.
Why them? And why allow this?
Doors slam open, and voices cut through the air, warped and gnarled.
Something along: "Stop right there!" Oh, she could almost snap back, in a lost cause of terror
and maddening numbness, "Aren't we already?!"
And furthermore: "Drop your weapons!" "Step off the bike!"
Guns snap towards them, guards swarming around.
Her fiancé only stares at the grey, clouded sky.
The wind stirs her hair, and her gaze locks onto Ishmael.
A wraith in the deepest shade of night, set apart from the wolves that hunt in vain, ashening her soul with only a glance. He steps forward, ignoring one of his guard's warning.
A strange calmness settles within her, the warmth of her fiancé's back against her chest, the roar of water and the howl of wind melting into a feverish prayer.
For she and her fiancé are already bound in a chosen love, she realises the blessing of a secret language between two souls destined to become one flesh by the sacred song of God, for their hearts were long known to Him before they knew each other. Now, this gift comes into its own in a moment when she feels what he is about to say before he even whispers it.
"Step down!" a guard orders. "Hands where we can see them!"
A heartbeat passes. And another.
Rhett grips the throttle. "Hold tight, Angel."
Neva leans into him, her arms locking tightly around him.
The engine roars beneath them, giving way to a distinct sense of hereafter,
its vibrations reverberating through her thighs.
She isn't frightened, for their lives are already suspended between death and resurrection, as the Ducati surges ahead with a blistering growl.
A rush of adrenaline ebbs into nothing as gravity vanishes, her heart stopping for a strange
neverafter as a violent plunge rips through her soul.
Ishmael's frantic cry cuts through the air.
Then the world dissolves as wind spirals around them and green water surges up to swallow them.
A buried instinct has her holding her breath before water explodes around them,
and the sting of the impact burns through her.