Page 1 of Needing More
Chapter 1
Somethingwaswrong.Viccould feel the cold twist in his gut and knew something was very wrong.
Looking at her text again he noted the time; it had been ten minutes. That was six minutes too long to spend at Booker's gas station just down the road. He was standing on the porch looking down the road expecting Finn's black scooter any moment now.
Invisible waves of heat warbled the air on the road in the distance—the empty road.
Taking the stairs down the porch, Vic hopped onto his bike. Within seconds the loud engine was starting, echoing off the house and rippling across the lonely farm around him. The sound no doubt woke his father from his restless nap and Vic was sure he would have to hear the man bitch about it when he got back but he didn’t care. That feeling in his stomach was twisting further with every second wasted.
Vic gunned the bike down the drive and onto the road.
He saw the other motorcycle take off from the gas station under a cloud of dust as he approached. Vic narrowed his gaze at the man's back. Was that…?
The door to the gas station flew open seconds later and Booker came out holding a double barrel shotgun in both hands. Vic skidded his bike to a halt nearly toppling the damn thing as the thunderclap from the shotgun rang out. Vaguely he heard Booker shout at the retreating biker. Booker's face was a mask of horror and anger.
Jumping from his bike near the edge of the road, Vic ran toward the station. His eyes darted all over the scene even as he heard the sirens in the distance: Finn's scooter sitting under the carport, the broken glass from the shattered window, and Booker's frantic face as he waved desperately for him to hurry inside.
God, no.
The two words repeated over and over again in Vic's head ricocheting like a stray bullet throughout his chest.
Nothing will be the same if anything happened to her. His friends—his brothers—would break. Even the odd unexplained pain in his own chest threatened to overtake him at the thought of her life taken.
Slowing his run as he reached the front of the gas station, he paused only for a second as he snatched open the front door. In that brief second, he could see through the shattered display window and through the mess of shattered glass and overturned products laying on the floor to where he saw her sprawled body.
"Sapphire!" he yelled, barreling through the store, his boots crunching over the littered glass.
With only her legs sticking out from behind the aisle he could see that she wasn't moving.
Coming around to where she was sprawled on the floor, Vic dropped to his knees. "Oh God, Sapphire," he whispered, reaching out to her.
Blood covered one side of her face. Glass covered her body like raindrops and he could see the various scratches the glass shower had caused. Beside her, Finn was blinking awake next to Booker who was kneeling next to her. He had the phone to his ear speaking presumably to the police.
An inexplicable pain bloomed in Vic's chest as he reached for Sapphire's neck, his hands surprisingly steady as he felt for her pulse.
"Sapphire?!" Finn screamed as she noticed her friend's unmoving body.
Vic ignored Finn and focused on the steady pulse underneath his fingers. He wanted to gather Sapphire in his arms, to look at the wound on her head and check for others but he heard the heavy crunch of gravel out front and knew the ambulance was here.
Vic only paused for a moment behind the retreating ambulance carrying Sapphire away and listened as Booker and Finn explained to the sheriff what happened. A moment later he was on the road, pausing once more further down and away from everyone else to pull out his phone.
He dialed Joel's number.
"Hey man what's up?" Joel's jovial tone made Vic wince.
"I need you to listen very carefully to what I'm about to tell you."
Chapter 2
Sapphireheardthenoisesfirst. So many sounds. All kinds of sounds. Talking at all different volumes. Deep thunderous voices, loud desperate ones, and slow resounding ones filled with authority all layered in a continuous beeping.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Over and over again.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Oh my fucking God, will someone turn that off.Frowning, Sapphire let her annoyance pull her from the darkness.
