“I don’t even know what street this is!” Darius screamed, slamming a palm off the steering wheel.
“Well, it’s not like we’re looking for a spot for dinner, right…” Two-feathers chimed. Her braids flying in the wind passing through the missing wind-shield.
“I should know this place… That’s what’s getting to me… None of this is right…” Darius' voice shook. The screaming from the backseat broke through the chatter as another hail of bullets took off the driver-side mirror. Darius wrenched the wheel right, taking the Buick through a red light and causing a domino effect of scattering cars. The black van followed; making it through unscathed.
“Am I…. Is he okay?” he asked.
Two-feathers climbed over the seat, sending a few rounds back at the van. Curled up in a ball in the back seat, a young teen in a ratty trench coat screamed in pain; he was holding his face in his hands, which were covered in blood.
“Oh…. No god… Darius, he’s hurt bad… “ Two-feathers reached a hand to Darius’ shoulder.
“How bad?!” More gunfire from behind chewed into the trunk as Two-Feathers lay over of the boy to protect him. Darius winced, and put a hand to his face. “This isn’t right at all…”
“It’s his eye… glass everywhere.“ Tears streamed down her face. More screams. More gunfire. The Buick screeched around a corner onto an empty street. Darius pushed the pedal even further to the floor as two sets of headlights rounded the bend coming straight for them….
They made it through the racers, but the van wasn’t so lucky. The tuner turned a pop can with a bone crushing smash, the van lurched over its own front end, but not before one of the Hunter team ejected through the window and out into the street. Darius slammed on the break. It hit him then, like the car wreck behind them.
“Why are you stopping? There could be more coming… There are always more coming!” Two-Feathers panicked, one hand holding the young man, the other waving around the hand cannon.
“I know.," Darius said slowly as he climbed out of the car. He opened the back door and leaned in over the pair, his hands emitting a soft glow. “And I think I know why.” The screaming had stopped, the boy passed out from the pain. Darius moved his hands away to check his wounds. “I can’t save the eye, but he won’t bleed out," he said placing his hands gently on the young man's face. When he took his hands away the glow was gone, but so were the wounds. Pock marks and scars remained.
“So we go now Darius? We go?” Two-Feathers still struggled with the language in tense moments. She shook visibly, the gun wobbling in her hand.
“Not all of us, my dear, No.” He frowned. Tears welling up in his eyes as he slid her braids aside and put a hand on her cheek. Tears ran across his hand.
“Why… we keep running. We always get away. Right? We find Max. I said I help you find Max!” Two-Feathers dropped the gun; it clattered off the young man’s skateboard next to the seat.
“They’re after me, love. Not you. Not him. This is what I have to do this time, you see.” He brushed some of the tears from her cheek and pulled a necklace from his neck.
“Darius… Two-Feathers doesn’t want to lose you again.” She sobbed.
“That’s just it, sweetheart… you aren’t losing me. This is not how you lose Me.” Taking his hand from her face he gently lifted the young man’s head and placed the necklace around his neck; the silver crucifix resting on his chest. He picked up a small battered bible from the floor of the car and put it into a pocket of the tattered long coat. Two-feathers watched this and, between sobs and wiping tears, a puzzled look replaced the pain in her eyes. “This is not losing me. This… Two-Feathers… is how we meet.”
He smiled and wiped his own tears away, before leaning in to gently kiss her forehead. Screeching tires killed the moment.
“Go. Now!” Darius said, stepping back out the door and slamming it. “Drive, and keep your eyes on him. Everything will work out, trust me. Just keep him safe. Look out for him, like you always did me.”
More tears, but in a rush of braids and feathers, she hopped into the front seat. “I love you, Darius…" she chimed in, with a sad smile from amidst the bullet-ridden Buick.
“Remind me later, love," he says with a smile and a nod, as the Buick tears away. She watched him turn towards the wreckage of the cars in the rear-view. The young man stirred in the backseat, the chain of the necklace rattled. The rear-view caught the reinforcements arriving, the dark streets lit up with a white glow. She pushed the car harder, and the view disappeared around a corner. Then the sound of gunfire echoed into the night, along with the tears, and the feathers on the wind.
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