Fork In The Road

Shortly after leaving the town limits, the only light left was from the headlights on the bikes. It didn't take long for The Riders to split off to the Northeast. Leaving us head to The Wall on our own. Shortly after splitting off Drake turned to me and asks

"How's Jack supposed to meet up with us? he didn't give us a spot to stop and meet,"

"I'm not sure, I'm sure we'll be fine on our own though. There aren't usually anything but a few rouge Rank less out this way anyway," I respond.

"I guess you're right," Drake says with a slight worried expression on his face.

Riding in silence gave me the chance to take in the sights of the wasteland again. It's dried mud cracking at the surface, old city rubble in the distance, surrounded by deep craters. There isn't any wildlife for miles the bombs saw to that.

"How long till we get to The Wall?" Drake asks.

"It should only take somewhere around four hours, we should've left earlier to be safe," I respond.

"Will we have to stop?" Drake couldn't hide his worried expression he never could with me.

Seeing as we have no UV tent to stay in we don't have a choice but to keep going and hope we get there in time before the sun comes up. That means we can't stop for anything.

"Without a tent, we don't really have the option to stop. But we should get there in time if we go at full speed,"

"Well, looks like we need to punch it then!" Drake yells, forcing his bike to go as fast as it can go, popping a small wheelie for a second.

Following his lead, I do the same. We ride in silence for around an hour, Though I don't mind the silence I know Drake has to be bored out of his mind. There's been a question that's been in the back of my mind for quite some time, so I ask

"Why haven't you ever asked why I'm not afraid of the High-Ranks like the rest of us D-Ranks?"

Looking at me confused, Drake responds, "Why would I, I've always thought that, like everyone else you had no idea how. Did you figure out why you're not?"

"Well no, I haven't figured out why I'm not. But I found it weird that you'd never asked,"

"I've never been bothered with the why, everyone has something they can just do. Like my heightened sense of smell. The thing I was interested in was how it felt like. To stand up to someone of a Higher-Rank, I mean,"

"I wouldn't really know how to explain it. It's something closer to faith than a feeling. It just feels like they can't hurt me, even though I know they're far stronger than me," I respond.

"Do you think I could stand up to them?" Drake asks.

"It's not like I'm special we're both the same Rank, so you should be able to," I couldn't explain it, but it felt like I was lying to Drake.

It seemed that our conversation was going to be cut short, I could feel someone approaching from our left. They seemed rather strong.

"Nick," Drake says, with a worried expression on his face.

"I know, he's coming up fast,"

"Do you think it's Jack?" Drake asks.

"No, he'd be coming from our right side,"

I don't know who this guy is, but we can't afford a fight right now. But if it comes down to it I'll have to have Drake go to Jack. He wouldn't be able to do anything against an opponent this strong. The person approaching us is at least a high C-Rank. While I'm racking my brain, I notice something in the corner of my eye. A long black spear flying right at us, there wasn't any time to get out of the way. It pierced right through the engine on my bike, causing it to explode, Launching me into the air, landing on the ground, rolling for a few seconds before coming to a stop.

Through my blurred vision, I could see all of my equipment was through in different directions around the smoldering remains of my bike. Drake suddenly came into view, shouting something while trying to pull me up.

"We need to leave he's too strong!"

After getting to my feet, Drake let go, continuing to insist that we leave. looking around I could see that Drake's bike had survived.

"Drake, you need to go find Jack he should be coming our way anyway. Get him and bring him back here," I say pushing him toward the bike.

"What about you? I can't just leave you here to fight that guy,"

"You can and you will!" I yell, shoving him again. Seeing his horrified expression I knew I needed to say something. "I took down The Manager remember. I've got this."

"O-okay," Drake stutters, running over to his bike.

Once he was a few feet away, I could see it coming again. It was too late. The second spear made contact with the bike, causing another explosion sending Drake flying backward several feet. Looking over where the spears had come from, the person throwing them started coming into view. He was wearing an all-black riding suit, riding an all-terrain bike. The all-terrain bikes had two wheels side by side on the back and the front for more stability on rough terrain. On the sides of the bike were holsters holding more of those black spears.

"Drake, stay behind me!" I yell, running over to where my sword had landed.

After picking it up, I slam a canister into the hilt, starting the motor. While I was doing that, the person on the bike got off and now had two spears floating over his shoulders. One aimed at both me and Drake, pushing Drake behind me getting ready to make a stand against our attacker. Holding my sword out in front of me, I flow blood into my arbiter and rev the motor to its limit igniting the blade.