<Episode 50>
Walking into the garage Rachel could feel a slight change in the air. Most of the people there kept looking over to one particular area. She was heading over there anyway so she really didn’t need to look. Walking up behind Jack she wrapped her arms around his waist and looked with him. He was there for who knows how long staring at the empty space his motorcycle used to occupy. After a while he said, “It was for the good of the cause. We had to do what we had to do to stop the truck.”
Squeezing him a little tighter she said, “You don’t believe a word of what you just said.”
“Nope,” he replied. “I know it was just a machine. Hell I’m mostly machine.”
“Let’s not go into this again.” She told him. “How many times do I have to tell you you’re the most human guy I know?” Looking at the empty space and sighing a bit she added, “But I’ll admit it’s weird not seeing it here. It seems like you had that thing forever. Even if you were driving like a mad man the first time you rode it.”
She looked up at him, like she hoped Jack started smiling a bit, “That never stopped you from riding with me again.”
“It was either ride with you or walk.”
“One coming in,” the guard at the door announced. In moments the door opened up to let in a rusted out old truck, affectionately known as Bessie. When it came to a stop Sparky stood up in the truck bed while Dusty and Arron came out of the cab.
“Hey there son, little lady,” Dusty greeted them as they walked up.
“Hi Dusty,” Rachel waved in return. “What’s going on?”
“Well I heard about what happened,” Dusty explained. “I came in earlier and picked up these two to show me where it happened. I had the damn fool notion we could salvage some of it.”
Sparky bent down and pulled up a burnt rubber and steel wheel that Arron took and put on the ground. Sparky looked at him saying, “We’re pretty sure that’s the back tire.” Looking back into the bed he added, “I think we found what was left of the exhaust pipe but… ah… it’s a little too mangled to be sure.”
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Dusty said.
“I tried to tell you it was a lost cause,” Arron told him.
“I didn’t think it was going to be that bad,” the old Drakan said.
“Explosive on the gas tank,” the youth said. “How bad did you think it was going to be?”
While they argued Jack walked up to the tire and stated rolling it back and forth slightly. He looked extremely sad for a moment. “Maybe we can turn it into a souvenir or something,” Sparky offered. “Maybe a table.”
“Junk it,” Jack told him. “It wasn’t even my bike, just something I stole from World Inc. when I went on the run.” He walked away from the group.
Rachel looked over to Dusty saying, “Hang on to that for the time being.” He nodded and motioned for Arron to put it back on the truck while she followed Jack out the door. Catching up and walking next to him she had to ask, “Did you believe anything that you just said?”
“Not a word,” he answered.
“Well start, I hate seeing you like this.”
“I’ll try,” he told her. She doubted it but didn’t say anything.
Instead Rachel said, “Maybe we can head over to Dusty’s one of these days. I’m sure he has a motorcycle or two in his auto yard you can rebuild. It’ll give you guys something to do.”
“You’re trying to talk me into getting another bike? I figured you’d try and convince me to stick with the van or something.”
“Well,” she said taking his hand, “I never told you this but I’ve always loved hanging on to you while I rode behind you.”
***
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