Elle just shook her head in confusion as the fight continued. Although it wasn't much of one. After a few hits, Damaris was on the ground, growling in wild anger as he held a hand over his nose.
"You broke my fucking nose!" He shouted, but it came out more of a gurgle before he turned to the three bikers that stood around them now, "Do something you imbeciles! Kill him! Rip him to pieces!"
But they didn't move. They didn't even blink and Damaris made a wordless noise of rage before charging Sparkplug again. One more blow had the leader of the Nomads falling back to the ground, unconscious. Well, the old leader of the Nomads.
As Sparkplug looked at the other three, bloodied and battered but still standing he raised up one clenched fist.
"I won. I claim the right to take over as the new president of the Nomads. Any objections?" He asked wearily. Slowly, they all shook their heads, not even sparing a glance for the man who was still lying unmoving on the ground. "Good."
He held out a hand for Hot Wheels and she was by his side in an instant.
"We're leaving." Sparkplug said. One of the men stepped forward but the new leader just held up a hand to stop him, "I said we're leaving. We are done here. Had no business here in the first place."
The fight seemed to have taken forever to Elle when in reality it had only been a handful of minutes. Soon Carla was helping Joel to his feet, holding a piece of fabric she'd torn from her own shirt to his face where Damaris had hit him. They were all turning, the tension depleting, oddly anticlimactic when Elle noticed it. Faint at first, barely detectable but in just a few seconds, filling the air with its acrid scent. It was smoke! Someone had set the fields on fire.
Joel cursed as the air was suddenly thick with dense black smoke, at least Elle was pretty sure it was Joel. Suddenly, the smoke obscured even the small clearing, cutting her off from everybody else.
She peered through the hazy smoke and could just make out a figure coming towards her. She sighed in relief but it was short lived as the person cleared the fog and his features drew into awful clarity.
"Viper!" Elle said in shock, almost forgetting his presence after the surprise of the fight between Sparkplug and Damaris, and the even more surprising declaration that he was the Nomad's new leader. She had thought this was all over when the smoke started. It clicked for her then.
"The fire," Elle gasped. "You started it!" It wasn't really a question but the arrogant jerk answered anyways, his expression all superior condescension as he drew closer.
"Of course it was me. If I can't have this farm, then nobody can have it!" His answer was that of a petulant child and she told him so, hoping that she could keep him talking long enough to find a distraction, or to try and find Carla or Joel, Hot Wheels or Sparkplug, anyone! And where the hell was Honey!
But instead of distracting him, her plan backfired and he snarled at her as he leapt forward.
"Petulant child?" He stumbled over the first unfamiliar word, but he understood the last one just fine, and he looked completely outraged as he reached out, grabbing for her arm. "I'll show you who's a child. I'll show you, and Honey and Joel and all those other stuck up people who think they're so much better than me."
"No – No I never said that they were." Elle stuttered, afraid of the deranged light suddenly flared in Viper's beady eyes.
"Come on," He growled the words as he shoved her forward, further and further away from her friends, "I may have lost the farm, but I sure as hell am not going back empty handed
Chapter 32
Elle ran, partly because of the man at her side, his grip on her arm bruising and painful as he dragged her along behind him. She had tugged and yanked until she thought her shoulder was going to pop out of its socket but still, Viper's hold didn't loosen. But the other thing that kept her legs moving even though her lungs were burning and she was starting to feel lightheaded was the roiling black smoke that seemed to be following them like a malevolent shadow. It was so close that she could feel the raging heat of the fire itself as it spread. And it was closing in on them.
As her legs moved, almost of their own accord, her mind wandered, surprisingly calm, disconnected from what was actually happening to her. She wondered if it was shock again, but it felt different this time. More like a choice, than something that her body and mind simply reacting to a traumatic situation.
Just keep running. You can do this. You can survive, you are stronger than you ever realized. And you deserve love. Elle marveled at the inner voice as it spoke, and mentally thought that it was really Electra speaking instead of plain old Elle. She had to wonder at that last though. Of course she deserved love. Everyone did. She truly believed that.
But did you mean it. Really mean it? Damn you, Electra, Elle thought, realizing how ridiculous it was to be arguing with herself while she ran for her life from a raging fire being dragged along by a greasy scumbag.
Of course I meant it, she tried to convince herself. Of course everyone deserves love. Including you? Yes, of course! She thought, answering in her primmest, most proper teacher voice as Honey would have called it. And then the truth of it hit her. Because for the longest time, especially after her parents had died, she'd truly felt like no one could ever love her.
And as Elle had grown older, her anxiety driving her further and further away from other people until she was totally alone, she had believed that that was what she'd deserved. But Honey had given her a gift more rare and more beautiful than he could have ever imagined when he'd given her his love. He'd given her back her belief in herself. For the first time in nearly fifteen years, she felt whole again. And she knew it was because of Honey.
Elle glanced sideways at Viper who was looking panicked now and made a decision. She had just found love, she wasn't about to let anyone take it away from her. Especially not this sneaky, sniveling, rotten, greedy piece of … of shit! She was so shocked at the profane thought that she nearly tripped over an uneven mound of dirt as she ran and an idea exploded in her head.
That was it. That was how she would get away from him! Get him off balance long enough to let her go and then she'd bolt for it. Elle just prayed that she would be bolting in the right direction, towards the office and the greenhouse and not straight into the waiting arms of the fiery inferno that was turning the air hot and unbearable around her.
On the next uneven spot of ground she intentionally threw herself forward, scrabbling with her one free arm to catch herself before impact. She wanted to free herself, not seriously injure herself in the process. It still hurt, a lot, when she landed but a few bruises were more than worth it as she felt the pressure around her wrist lessen. But it wasn't enough.
Even as she tried to tug free, Viper's fingers still stayed clamped like a vice around her wrist. He pulled her almost back up to her feet but she was still unsteady after the fall, even if it was self inflicted.
"Come on! Get up, you worthless bitch!" Viper snarled the words at her as he shoved her still stumbling form and she toppled to the ground again. It took every ounce of strength she had but her anger and the adrenaline flowing through her gave her the little extra that she needed to push herself back to her feet.
"I am not worthless," Elle said back to him, her voice disconcertingly calm, surprising even herself, "And I am not a bitch." She threw her shoulders back, pointed her chin in the air and stared at him as if she could see right through him, as if he was completely meaningless. And in a way, he was.
Here they were, stuck in a field that was on fire and he was throwing a fit like a spoiled child. She certainly didn't have time for that. She had to get back to the man that she loved. She just prayed the Honey wouldn't be to mad about the risk she'd taken, but he would realize one way or the other, she would do anything and everything for the people she loved, and that included him.
"Wh – What are you doing?" Viper suddenly asked, sounding a little more uncertain than he had before.
"I am getting the hell out of here, that's what I'm doing." On the last word, she jerked her arm back as hard as she could, dislodging his grip on her wrist and without waiting another second turned on her heel and dove into the surrounding plants. She ran until she found a row, and the open ground next to it and kept on running. Elle didn't look back but she could hear Viper's frantic footsteps crashing through the field behind her, and it spurred her on even faster.
Elle stumbled to a frantic stop as a sudden rolling wave of heat and fire slashed across the path in front of her, blown by the breeze. She was barely aware of Viper coming to crashing halt a few feet behind her but as she turned to face him, surrounded now by the voracious flames, and knew there was no way out.