Page 22

Hellfire MC, Magic,and Devil’s Damned Disciples MC.

Hellfire = Chance, Bear, Sunny, Big Al, Rooster, Tiny, Banshee, Chatter, Pyro, Levi, Shotgun, Celt, Smokey, Bone, Fanatic, Slaughter, Wraith.

Devil’s Damned Disciples = Jailbait, Wrench, Data, Zoom, Zippy, Judgement, Grease, Joker, Cascade, Inferno, Bass, Rebel, Fist, Menace, Breaker, Cutlass, Bandit, Bender, Wheels, Toffee and Capa.

Magic !

Chance

H e wasn’t sure what he’d done to piss Howser off, but it had to be big. Chance had barely interacted with the RC Chief of police, but he had annoyed him somehow. That was the only reason Hellfire had been stuck with the lunatics that made up Devil’s Damned Disciple—and Magic. Fuckin’ Magic.

Was he really meant to rope him in? No chance and no pun intended.

“Chance checking in on Zone two. Hellfire and Devil’s Damned Disciples accounted for,” Chance said over his radio.

“And Magic?” Frank Hawthorne inquired.

Chance scowled as the youngest of the three Hawthorne elders, Dylan’s father, sounded amused.

“He’s here,” Chance confirmed grumpily.

“Happy hunting,” Frank replied and cut the call.

They were defending a road that led into RC that had houses and shit either side. Great cover usually, not so good when you had idiots like this bunch. He and Bear swapped a glance and then shot Jailbait one.

The Devil’s Damned Disciples president looked resigned.

“Put that fuckin’ grenade down, Zippy!” he ordered. “You nearly blew us up once already!”

Zippy tossed the grenade back and forth between his hands. “Lighten up, dude, we’re heading to war, heroes of Rapid City, we might not return, we need to be brave and courageous—”

“Shut the fuck up!” Jailbait, Wrench, and Data all yelled.

“I’m gonna shoot him!” Chatter threatened, and Chance snorted.

“Zippy’s been shot at more times than we’ve had hot dinners, and the fucker is still going strong,” Chance murmured.

“We gotta put up with the lunatics?” Bear demanded.

Jailbait sent them a dirty look. “I have to suffer these fuckers daily. Suck it up, buttercup. Be grateful you get one afternoon with their craziness, I have a lifetime of it.” Zoom and Zippy cackled as they heard his words as Jailbait pulled out a flask and took a deep swallow.

“Stay off the road!” Magic bellowed, making them jump.

Shotgun and Celt froze.

“Back up slowly, that’s it, good boys,” Magic boomed again.

Chance spun around and narrowed his eyes. He suddenly saw what he hadn’t before.

“You mined the fuckin’ road!” Chance exclaimed. His eyes were picking out where ‘repairs’ had been done and potholes filled in.

Magic glowered. “Ain’t incriminating myself. I just got a bad gut feeling nobody should walk out there!”

“You can’t mine a state highway!” Chance yelled, aware he sounded high-pitched .

“Says who?” Magic demanded.

“Dude, drop your balls,” Bass chortled from somewhere close by.

Chance closed his eyes. Fuck him, this was going to be chaos.

“Yeah, any plan you had, throw right out the window,” Jailbait nodded sagely.

“They’re your club brothers! Can’t you get them under control?” Chance spat.

“After twenty years? No. But you’re welcome to try,” Jailbait said with a chuckle. “Hey, let me see that!” Zoom shouted, grabbing something off Zippy.

“Watch out, that’s primed!” Magic bellowed as Zippy spun around.

Everyone dropped to the floor, knowing what was coming. Zippy’s finger hit the trigger, and a rocket launched from the tube. It flew away from the residential area they were in, hit a ditch, and exploded.

It must also have hit a mine, as several other explosions accompanied it.

“I’m going home, Fangs can have the fuckin’ city,” Bear complained.

Chance snorted.

“That was mental!” Zippy exclaimed, his face alight with mischief.

“I wanna try,” Zoom declared and grabbed at the rocket launcher.

“Get your dirty, thieving hands off!” Zippy retorted.

“Get your own damn toys,” Magic bellowed and yanked the rocket launcher upwards.

Chance’s eyes widened as Magic held it above his head and Zippy hung on with his feet dangling in the air. Zippy wasn’t a small man, yet Magic held him like a kid.

“Thieving bastard,” Magic complained as he shook Zippy loose.

Jailbait took a huge swallow of his flask and offered it to Chance, who accepted gratefully.

“This is gonna be a shitshow,” Bear stated.

“Yup,” Chance agreed.

◆◆◆

Shitshow was being polite, Chance decided two hours later. Zoom, Zippy, Magic, Bass, Breaker, and Bender needed committing. They weren’t alone in their insanity, but they were the worst. Fist, Menace and Grease encouraged them. As soon as the Fangs appeared, a fight began over who detonated the mines.

Magic had several remotes, which he refused to share. Zoom, Zippy, Bass, and Fist tackled the big man and stole two. Magic roared to his feet, swearing and cursing.

“Fuckin’ blow that shit up!” Chance ordered as the Fangs come closer. If Magic’s freaking mines took half of the Fangs out, well, every little helped!

“I’m gonna kill you!” Magic threatened Zippy, who skipped off with a remote after stealing it from Fist.

Zippy poked his tongue out and pressed the button. A row of mines detonated, making the Fangs wobble. Zoom hit his one, and a second row went off.

“Sayonara, Motherfuckers!” Magic boomed and hit his boxes.

Everyone ducked and then peered up at Magic. He frowned and clicked his two buttons again. Nothing happened.

Magic shook them as Chance shook his head in disbelief.

“They didn’t work?” Chance asked, peering over the car he was behind.

Magic growled. “They broke them when fighting me.” In temper, he threw one to the floor and stamped on it. A mass of explosions sounded on the road, and everyone crouched low. With a grin, Magic repeated his actions, and a second round went off.

“Yee-haw motherfuckers. You don’t come to my city and start shit!” Magic boomed, pounding his chest.

“Shoot me now,” Chatter moaned, and Jailbait offered him his flask. Chatter took a healthy swallow and handed it back.

“Boom, Boom, shake da room!” Zippy yelled, opening fire on the Fangs still standing.

“Christ,” Sunny complained.

Jailbait handed him the flask, and Sunny downed a mouthful.

“Get down!” Rooster screamed.

They hit the ground hard as they were sprayed with bullets from a machine gun mounted on a jeep.

“That’s not playing fair!” Magic bitched as there was an explosion close by .

Chance twisted his head and noticed several bodies nearby. His heart leapt into his mouth as he saw Tiny and Banshee lying amongst them.

Tiny groaned and moved and shoved Banshee off him, who also moaned.

“No!” Jailbait hissed as he scrambled across to his fallen men.

“Fire back, shoot!” Chance yelled even as his ears rang. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Jailbait as he checked Judgement, Joker, Inferno, and Rebel.

“Rebel’s alive,” Jailbait called.

Tiny sat up with blood pouring from his head.

“Get Banshee and Rebel to the ambo point,” Chance ordered Tiny. Tiny looked like he was having trouble focusing, but he nodded. Grief was etched deep in Jailbait’s face as he closed the eyes of his three fallen brothers.

Shit had just got real.

Bullets flew back and forth, and Chance heard a gurgled cry and saw Breaker hit the floor with a bullet through his chest. Breaker grinned once, shut his eyes, and stopped breathing.

They were being slaughtered. Despite having taken out over half the attacking force with the mines, the Venomous Fangs were holding their own. And there were still more of them.

Magic leapt to his feet with a rocket launcher and fired two, one after another, before hitting the ground again. To Chance’s surprise, Magic pulled a remote from his cut and began playing with it.

“Magic, this ain’t the fuckin’ time!” Chance hissed, disturbed.

“Brother, it’s the perfect time,” Magic said, pointing upwards. Chance spotted four drones flying over head carrying a basket. He watched as they headed towards the Fangs and hovered over them.

The baskets they were holding opened, and mini rockets fell from them. Half the Fangs scrambled away, but the rest died as they exploded on impact.

Chance heard a yell and saw Fanatic leap to his feet. He fired several rounds and ducked back down, and grinned at Chance.

“Scattershot, Magic has rounds with it in,” Fanatic announced.

“Keep your fuckin’ head down!” Chance ordered.

Fanatic shrugged, popped his head up, and started shooting.

Did nobody follow instructions? Chance wondered as he tackled his nephew. “Keep your head down.”

Fanatic began to glower, and then his eyes widened as glass shattered above him. “Point made, Uncle.”

“Incoming!” Levi screamed, and Chance threw himself over Fanatic. An explosion boomed close to his head, and hot metal hit Chance’s back. He kept cover over Fanatic until he was sure it was safe and raised his head.

A massive hole appeared where two cars had been stood. Lying on the ground was Celt, with Smokey dragging him out of the way. Celt was out cold. Smokey’s right side was riddled with shrapnel, but he wasn’t leaving Celt.

“Medic station!” Chance snapped at the prospect. Smokey took on a mulish look but nodded as he winced in pain.

Chance’s gaze widened as he saw who else lay there. Bender was gone, his legs blown off and his sightless eyes staring at Wheels. Wheels had a massive hole in his chest where something had gone through him.

A yell ripped through the air as Zoom scrambled over to Zippy, who lay bleeding from so many wounds Chance couldn’t tell which to work on first. Jailbait crawled over to him and cradled his head.

Zippy spat up blood and grinned. “That fucker got me.”

“He did, but hang on. We’re gonna help you,” Zoom insisted, taking Zippy from Jailbait.

“Brother, the bastard got me good. I am broken inside. Listen up. Kill every single one of those cunts. They don’t get no more of us. Make my death the last,” Zippy said, stutteringly. He coughed up blood, and Chance winced.

“Zippy. Medics are coming,” Jailbait said. “I am ordering you to fight and stay alive.”

“Dude, I’m gonna find me a plump assed, big titty woman and wait for ya’s up there. You fuckin’ honor my cut,” Zippy muttered and closed his eyes.

Zoom bellowed a wordless cry of pain as he hugged Zippy to him. Jailbait dragged in a deep breath.

“Brother, we ain’t out of this yet, we still got a fight,” Chance murmured, feeling shit for reminding them .

“You’re right. We’ll grieve later,” Jailbait replied, straightening his shoulders.

A roar came from the front as Magic heaved up a machine gun onto his shoulder and began firing. Zoom rose behind him with another semi- automatic and hit them hard, too. Men rose to their feet and took the fight to the Fangs. They pushed forward, and suddenly, a series of explosions hit them all. They smashed into the floor and looked up at the sky, dazed. Only Magic remained standing.

“Forgot about that row, must have been a delayed reaction,” Magic said as body parts, flesh, and unrecognisable gloopy shit rained down on them.

“What the fuck?” Chance complained.

Jailbait laughed bitterly and held out his flask. It was dented and battered, but still whole. Chance sat up and took a swallow.

“Yeah, they were the improved ones,” Magic explained, looking at the crater where the last of the Fangs had holed up.

“There were about fifty men there,” Chance muttered, staring in shock.

“Not now,” Magic exclaimed with a shrug.

“Improved version? I ain’t seen no IED that can take fifty guys out!” Bear snapped.

“I tampered with it. Added some oomph,” Magic admitted.

“Jesus, we’re lucky to be alive,” Wraith grumbled and then paled as he glanced at the Devil’s Damned Disciples. “Sorry, that was thoughtless. ”

“Those who died wouldn’t begrudge you that sentiment, Wraith,” Jailbait said and gave him his flask. Wraith took a gulp and handed it back.

“Got wounded here. Wrench, Fist, Capa, and Shotgun are down. Alive but down,” Cutlass called.

He was wrapping strips from a tee around Wrench’s leg.

“I’m going to check these fuckers are dead. And if they ain’t, they’re gonna be. Bass, Zoom, let’s kill some fuckin’ snakes,” Magic said and lumbered off. Zoom and Bass followed him.

Jailbait and Chance exchanged looks. “I haven’t got words…”

“Don’t, brother. We anticipated losses. They died proud and defending innocents. Ain’t nobody gonna take that from them. They’re heroes,” Jailbait said, holding a hand up.

Gunshots echoed as Magic, Zoom, and Bass found some alive still.

“I’ll call it in. Gather your brothers. We are gonna hold here until we’re freed up,” Chance said, pulling the radio.

When Jailbait walked away, Chance called in the dead and injured.

Frank was shocked at how many they’d lost but was grateful so many were alive. He informed Chance that Hawthorne’s had been heavily hit, too. Chance signed off and stared at the blue sky.

So many gone, and for what? One asshole who thought he was better than everyone else. Was the cost of life worth it to Fury? Chance wondered. Did he even give a shit men were dying by the hundreds? And just so Fury could claim something he’d no right to? Somehow, Chance doubted it. Fury had lost his marbles a long time ago, and this was evidence of it. The senseless loss of life.