Icafia

Chapter by Catt.
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The group quickly made their way down the deserted road, the brilliant twilight sky growing dimmer with each passing moment. Snores began to emanate from the cargo area of the truck, but the person from whom the noises came was unknown, as both Leo and Bebe were asleep. Akane closed the rear window, annoyed at the increasing volume of the offending sounds. She looked over at Sean, who seemed to be bored out of his mind. She then glanced out of her window, feeling just as bored as Sean felt. Just then, Sean spoke.

“Hey, I betcha 20 bucks I can jump over that car in front of us,” he said smugly, lighting the cigarette that sat between his lips. Akane looked ahead. Seeing the slow car just ahead of them and the steep hill yards off into the distance, she knew that Sean couldn’t pull it off.

“Go for it,” she replied, returning Sean’s smug smirk and buckling her seatbelt. Sean eased off the gas a bit, allowing for more distance between them and the Dodge Omni. As soon as the car went over the hill, Sean floored the gas pedal, throwing both himself and Akane deeper into their seats. The crates, motorcycle, other occupants were tossed about in the back of the large vehicle. The truck began to quickly ascend the hill.

“What the hell is going on up there!?” a startled male voice from the rear of the truck shouted. Both of the occupants of the front cab ignored Leo as the truck went airborne. Sean flashed Akane a quick smile, already knowing what he was going to do with that $20 that she owed him.

However, the driver of the car below them saw the airborne truck in their rearview mirror and panicked, speeding up in order to get away. Instead, the driver had unknowingly moved the car right where the truck was going to land. The poor Dodge Omni was crushed by the immense weight of the large military vehicle as its front wheels made contact with the hood of the little car. Immediately, the truck began to flip forward as it rended the Omni in two. Both Sean’s and Akane’s eyes went wide as the truck flipped upside down at an angle and both closed their eyes as the windshield shattered and showered them with miniscule shards of glass. The truck began to roll several times before finally coming to a stop on its roof.

Akane looked over at Sean, who was crumpled in a heap on the roof. “Where’s my 20 bucks?” she coughed out, wiping away blood that had come from somewhere on her face.

“Fuck you,” Sean sputtered, picking himself up from the roof of the truck. A moan was heard from the cargo area. Sean crawled out of the driver’s window. Akane undid her seatbelt, falling onto the roof. She too crawled out of the car to investigate.

Sean and Akane stared into the back of the truck. Crates were all over the truck in disarray. Akane’s beloved bike was buried under the crates of guns and ammunition. To one side lay Bebe, partially submerged in the sea of crates that lined the roof of the vehicle. Leo was nowhere to be found.

“Shit… We got to get em out of there…” Akane said, stepping into the rear to the truck. Sean nodded and followed, moving crated out of the way in a desperate attempt to find the hidden Leo.

When they finally got to Bebe, they pulled her barely conscious form out of the truck and set her on the side of the road. Strangely, it didn’t look like she had sustained any additional injuries in the accident, aside from her reopened wounds, which were apparent from the from the fresh blood that coated her bandages. Akane and Sean went back into the vehicle to somehow locate the missing Leo. After about 5 minutes of searching and moving crates, they spotted Leo’s arm. They quickly moved the crates off of him, his unconscious body complying to their tugs. The pulled him out ant laid him next to Bebe, who murmured something incoherent and was quiet again.

“So, what do we do now?” Akane asked with a clueless expression.

“Well, we could either stay here and make camp or go into town and get help or another truck or something,” Sean replied.

“Go into town on what?” Akane stated, pointing to her bike, which had sustained a punctures front tire from the accident.

“Well, we could walk…” Sean said

“And leave these two here alone and unconscious? I think not.”

“We stay her then,” Sean said, sitting down beside Leo and lighting up a new cigarette. “Oh and about that twenty bucks I owe ya,” he said while discretely reaching into Leo’s wallet and pulling out an twenty. “Here ya go,” he said handing it to her. When she turned away, he took another for himself.

“So we camp here…” Akane said, sitting up against the side of the overturned truck.

“Damn right,” Sean said, stretching out on the grass and slowly exhaling a long, silky strand of smoke.

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Leo awoke to the burning sensation of road rash. Upon the truck's impact with the ground, he was thrown from the vehicle. As he writhed in pain, he saw the floating appearance of Bebe's spirit.

"You took off my jacket, and now I am dead"

"What?"

"You will be haunted by the ghosts of a thousand..."

"That's nice, can you point me in the direction of town?"

"Oh. it's that way."

"Thanks."

Leo sprinted off in the direction of town.

"Hey, come back. I'm not done haunting you yet."

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Leo awoke with a start. He found himself sitting by a roaring fire. Bebe, also awake, was fussing with a smiling Sean. Akane was sitting against the overturned truck, laughing. Wait. Overturned truck? Leo took a second look at the truck. It was certainly turned over. Puzzled and a bit stunned, he looked to the others.

“What happened here?” Leo asked, the shock evident in the odd tone of his voice.

“Jackass here decided to play Dukes of Hazzard and Jump over cars,” Bebe said, cocking her thumb at Sean.

“She bet me to do it,” Sean countered, pointing at Akane.

“No, I didn’t. You made the bet. I just followed along,” she said, crossing her arms in indifference.

“Same damn thing. See, it wasn’t my fault!”

“You were the one who was driving!” Bebe answered.

“So! She made a bet. How am I supposed to turn down an easy twenty bucks? You should be yelling at her!”

“You made the bet, I just agreed to it!”

The three continued to argue, much to Leo’s chagrin, his throbbing headache made worse by the crescendo of their voices.

“Everyone, please be quiet,” Leo said in a quiet but stern voice. He rubbed the knot on his head, which was apparently where he was hit by one of the crates that was previously filled with uzis.

“All this bickering will get us nowhere. We need to get back on track and devise a plan to take down Ncoleski and The Crystal Method. First, we need to find a safe place to stay for the night.”

“Where exactly are we going to go?” Bebe inquired. It’s impossible to drive this thing and I won’t be able to walk that far,” she said, motioning towards her bloodied legs.

“Besides, we’ve got a perfectly good fire going right here,” Sean added,Poking at the flames with a stick.

The camp got silent. Leo looked at Akane. She just looked back.

“What?”

“Well, everyone was adding their two cents. I just thought that you wanted to add yours too.”

“Both of their points were good and I agree with them,” she said.

“So, it’s settled then. I guess we stay here,” Leo conceded.

“Like we were going to leave anyways…” Sean muttered.

Everyone made themselves comfortable for the night. Bebe Snuggled herself closer to the fire, after making sure there were no explosives in her pockets, of course. Sean stretched out on his back ad gazed at the stars. Akane curled herself up against the side of the truck, using her jacket as a blanket.

Leo too took a spot close to the flames, but before he could get comfortable, he realized that a vehicle was coming towards them from a distance. It was slow moving and had only one head light. As it neared, the uneasy whine of the motor made it apparent what it was.

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