City Limits: The Long Road Out (S) 18+

The drive to Vale City was to be long and tiring for both Eleanor and me, as we had been travelling all evening through a backlash of traffic that had put three hours onto our travel time. Alerting me to the sign that would take us into the Motorway Diner, I indicated and pulled off the busy road to enter the car park into an empty parking space. The Diner was old looking, derelict, even, with the windows dark and scarred with fuel emissions, weathering, and use; the main door worn of its metal shine, the creaks that screamed as the handle was pulled and the ripe smell of burning onions, meat and coffee hitting your senses as soon as you entered the premises.

Eleanor made her way inside to the counter while looking at what was on offer in the food section along the way – it was almost empty of everything, except for a couple of cakes, fly pies and biscuits. It somehow left cautious thoughts in my mind.

  ‘Pie…Apple by the looks of it, too!’ She yelped almost excitedly.

I nodded my head before making my way to an empty table at the window, there sat down to face the inside of the Diner, watching Eleanor as she walked swiftly down the line to pay for the food and order drinks. The woman at the till smiled before taking the credit card from her hand and swiping it through the register.

  ‘Where are you headed?’ The cashier asked suddenly waiting for the receipt to make its way through the 1970s WASP machine.

  ‘Seacliffe, we were on the 2205, then took the wrong turn on the 2208…’

The cashier was curious. ‘Where did you come from?’

  ‘Briarstone. I guess we got a little confused with the signs at the last turnoff. Do you know a quicker way?’ Eleanor asked the woman who was still thinking about her answer.

The road that we had used from Briarstone was the wrong road to use, and according to the cashier, we should have taken the second exit, not the first.

  ‘It’s getting late, the roads around here aren’t safe at night. If you want a quick route out of here, take the 105…Avoid the main highway that passes through the city. You don’t want to be near that road after dark.’ She warned rather than advised.

Eleanor thanked the woman and came over to the table with a radiant smile that had me aching for a kiss, a kiss that would cost me a hug. Without hesitation, I pulled her toward me and planted a big kiss on her lips, just before we heard the first plate of several being thrown down and smashed on the floor. Looking up we saw three men, they were young, but they weren’t without knowing that their actions were causing distress to the other customers.

  ‘What the hell! ’ I gasped, my body suddenly restrained by Eleanor, whose eyes told me not to do what I was thinking of doing to the young men. ‘It’s okay, I’ve got this. Besides, they’re just kids!’

Allowing me to pass by her I made my way up to the counter where the first young man turned and faced me.

  ‘Hey, Grandad, what the fuck are you…’

Before he could say another word I head-butted him, his face exploded with blood as he screamed out in pain. The two other men rushed to his aid, only to get a double dose of what the first had been given; together they attempted to blindside me into the path of a fist unprepared to be met with a size ten shoe that I snapped up in the air to meet. The bones cracked and split before shattering into several different pieces under the quick blackening skin.

  ‘Oh, you’re fucking dead, man! ’ The one I had kicked shouted before he took out a switchblade and pointed it into my face.

Eleanor was worried a little, but not enough to believe that the two men would get the better of me anyway. She knew that I could handle myself, especially against a set of amateurs like these three.

  ‘Yeah,’ said the third man taking out a knife that he, too, pointed at my face. ‘We’re gonna fuck you up!

The actual incident lasted three and a half minutes, as from the very beginning to the point that Eleanor and myself left the Diner. The cashier told us that the three men were Drevzil Pack Boys; Redstone City’s scourge of Outlaws, bikers and racers alike, and the top dogs of these were The Drevzil’s…Staxx’s Gang.

  ‘You don’t mess with these people, Son,’ she exclaimed looking down at the unconscious men on the ground.

Eleanor tried to reassure the woman that everything would be fine, but she nodded with a doubtful look that sent a shiver down my spine. Leaving the Diner we drove across to the filling station for petrol, it was a well-lit area with very few cars that were using the pumps. Inside the attendant asked if I was heading out of the city, something that normally I would have had a single-word answer ready as a reply. This night was different.

  ‘We’re heading to Seacliffe, is there any other roads out of here than the Main Highway? A back road, maybe?’ I asked with some amount of desperation building in my voice.

The attendant rubbed his chin. ‘There’s The Shire Road, the surface is a little shot, but it would get you past the city limits at least…or there’s The Drive: The 105; take a left at junction 90, stay on the road till you come to Old Mill Lane, turn right and you’ll be back on the road to Seacliffe. Will there be anything else I can do you for?’

I guess the directions were a little confusing, what with the turns and ahead only’s that made my head pound with aching pain.

  ‘No thank you, just the fuel and directions will do fine.’ I gave my reply before paying the bill and returning to Eleanor back at the car.

  ‘What did he say?’ She asked as soon as I got inside the car and buckled up my seat belt.

  ‘Quite a lot that I didn’t understand. Hey, did you know we were in Redstone?’

Eleanor nodded with a blank look. ‘Don’t do that to me, Connor, you know it freaks me out. You asked me for directions here…a shortcut or something you said!’

Shrugging off the unbelievable statement I gave a strained smile.

  ‘It’s this overnight driving, it makes you say some strange shit sometimes, right? We’ll be fine once we’re out of the city.’

Pulling out of the petrol station I drove in the direction of The Drive – the 105, which to be fair was difficult to find in between the low-cut hedge lines and buildup of trees that seemed to disappear onward and upward forever into the distance. Making the call on turning left, I had the strangest feeling that I needed to go right – but it was too late, I’d committed myself to a dirt road that was neither fit nor stable for my car. The road was crumbling in many parts as I looked out of the car door window and down onto sludge, gravel and wet grass that cradled a steep drop into pure blackness.

  ‘If I stop now we’ll get stuck…probably till morning.’ I teased Eleanor to the point she leaned over and jabbed me in the ribs.

  ‘You just want your wicked way, don’t you?’ She purred.

Yes, I did, she was right, I did want my wicked way, more now than any time before this moment. She was looking so beautiful that I was hard within seconds, the half-mast bulge pointing its way into the air and attracting Eleanor’s attention.

  ‘Wow! Maybe we should pull over and…’

At that very moment, there was a huge bang from Eleanor’s side of the car, the glass from the door cracked, shattered and imploded into the passenger seat and all over the both of us. My control over the steering wheel failed – I had no control. The car rolled at least four times down the steep 220 feet gauge that I remember until I was suddenly knocked unconscious by the final impact where we came to a stop – or paused before continuing to roll on into the darkness below us.

The Devil’s Mouth

The Police, Fire and Rescue Services arrived forty-five minutes after our initial impact which had set off plumes of dense black smoke high enough to catch the attention of someone, as well as the emergency lights flashing through the open area where the car had landed upside down in the red sand– The Devil’s Mouth. The scars made by the half-ton metal and alloy machine could be seen clearly as the morning light came across the opening blue sky, which by this time, there were more than fifty police officers and one hundred locals all volunteering to put in a hand to help. It was by far a bad accident, but certainly not the worst of crashes that Redstone had seen in its long history of illegal Street Races.

At the hospital, the nurses and doctors worked continually for more than sixteen hours to stabilize my body enough to prevent any fatal consequences from the crash. However, owing to the severity of the way in which the vehicle crumpled in on itself on the way down the two hundred and twenty-foot drop, the possibility of me dying on the operating table had not been ruled out.

Three months later, my awakening from my Self-Induced coma that my mind had taken the lucky option to do took many of the people by surprise, especially the police and the local authorities. Their investigation, however, had a lot to be desired. The case itself was nothing to do with the death of Eleanor, it was all to do with the statement which would clarify the whole incident was just a tragic accident – not murder!

Detective Sean Drummond was the lead officer on the case, though I never once remember liking him; his thick Geordie accent that came across all too boldly, the demanding tone that ordered rather than requested a reply or answer, and the way in which he conducted his questioning placed a question mark over his head – who the hell was this guy?

  ‘You and your wife, Mr Derby, you were driving from Briarstone to Vale City in Seacliffe. May I ask what it is that you do in Briarstone?’

I didn’t see the logic in his question. ‘My wife – !’

Immediately he had his pen and pad out readying it to write down my words that would somehow clarify that we were both in the car at the same time before the accident. But still, I was in need of the officer to tell me that they were looking into the murder of my wife-to-be Eleanor.

He shrugged. ‘Murder! Who says that it’s a murder?

His voice went straight through me, setting off both adrenaline and endorphins scattering around my brain. A momentary pause is all that I needed, I guess.

  ‘We were travelling from Briarstone to visit my family in Vale City, Officer Drummond, using a route that I have used many times in the past. We took the wrong turn…!’ I stopped with slight panic.

The pain of the sudden realization shot through my arm and into my chest. The condition making Drummond drop his pen and pad. ‘Holy shit! Are you having a heart attack, Kid?’

I was okay, it was just a little anxiety, but with a difference; my coma had given me back the use of my mind to think about many things: Past, Present, and Future. A true reflection that gave clarity as well as wisdom, too. As far as my limbs were concerned, however, they were still waking from the three-month slumber.

  ‘Mr. Derby, I know this is difficult for you, but we really do need to get this done…today!’ He exclaimed with a tone that had me in an inner rage of frustration.

  ‘Our car was hit by another car that killed my wife and…’

  ‘Technically, she wasn’t your wife at the time, was she? I mean, as far as we know, there could have been some little…you know?’

I didn’t quite like his tone. ‘Little what?’

Detective Drummond started to make strange facial expressions on account that he was actually miming the actions for me to pick up on. The only problem being, of course, he didn’t know shit about Charades, let alone Sign Language. He was making a whole mockery of the situation, one which he may have been oblivious to at the time, but of which certainly didn’t excuse him for the moment right now.

  ‘You and your fiancée, you were driving down 105. Did you know that it is a dangerous road to be on after nightfall, Mr Derby?’

The look in the officers’ eyes told me that he was hardly on the level and that maybe there was something here rather than the more normal-paced investigation.

Redstone Hospital had little staff to count the establishment as a fully functioning Emergency Service to the population of the city. The nurses were few and far between while some popped their heads into the room to check on how I was doing, one in particular who would make sure that I had fresh water, fresh flowers, and fresh bed sheets every morning before eleven. Eva was one of the youngest members of the hospital staff, but not the sort that you wouldn’t see going farther than some of the others who were less motivated.

  ‘Is everything alright in here?’ Eva called out walking into the room and heading straight for the window to open it.

Drummond was suddenly anxious to get the nurse out of the room.

  ‘This is a private police interview, Darling, you’re going to have to come back later.’ He informed the non-responsive nurse.

Eva opened the window and proceeded to check my blood pressure on the machine by the side of me, all the while diverting her eyes from both me and Drummond.

  ‘Hey! I said you can’t be in here!’ Drummond yelled.

Eva was now paying attention to the officer’s loud and obtuse behaviour toward her, something that I felt she would no doubt rectify and put to right.

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you sitting there with your big pen and professional attire,’ Eva began with a very calm and soothing voice. ‘Would you like to check the patient’s vitals for me, please?’

Drummond knew that he was beaten – by a woman, too.

  ‘I’ll be back. Mr Derby, I’ll leave you to your sponge bath and breakfast.’ He returned with what could only be described as an arrogant smile to both Eva and me.

Once he had gone I was pleased to see Eva sit down on the edge of the bed beside me, her body heat emanating waves of scented perfume that played with my senses, as well as the way in which she was sitting cross-legged while holding a thermometer.

  ‘Open up wide…Close…Don’t bite!’ She exclaimed, shaking the short glass tube before sticking its end in my mouth and making sure I’d closed it again before taking hold of her pendant watch.

Between looks at the time, the second hand I’m guessing, Eva made the occasional glance until the final one brought our eyes together. The final glance lasting more than ten seconds had her forcefully breaking eye contact and jumping up from the bed.

  ‘Alright, let’s see what your temperature is shall we?’ She croaked with hesitant intentions of saying anything, her long nimble fingers taking a hold of the thermometer and placing it up to her face.

The look she gave was of doubt; her effect on me was justified, as Eva was a beautiful woman who had the character and morals in which to make the perfect husband proud of her.

  ‘What’s the verdict Doc?’ I asked jokingly.

  ‘Well, you’re still alive, Mr Derby, that’s for sure. Blood pressure, however, I think you should have a cold shower to bring that hot temperature down a little. I’ll ask one of the other nurses…’

I raised a hand in the air. ‘Please, I won’t be any trouble. I swear.’

Eva thought for a moment before putting the clipboard down on the table in front of the bed, then she secured the room door by locking it and drawing the small curtains to shut out any unwelcome voyeurs.

  ‘Okay, Mr Derby, let’s get your blood pressure down.’

Helping me from my bed she supported me with one arm around my shoulder and another outstretched to guide us both into the bathroom and into the shower before I was rid of the all-in-one gown that dropped to the floor to leave me completely naked.

The young nurse was gentle with her brushes over my skin that were bruised in parts, while others were hidden under dressings that had been weeping with blood and other bodily liquids during my sleep to stain it.

  ‘You were very lucky to have survived your accident,’ she spoke up finally after a long silence that had my thoughts counting the shower droplets – if only.

  ‘It wasn’t an accident!’ I exclaimed to her surprise.

Shifting her stance to reach behind my waist her face came very close to my exposed crouch; the feel of both the water from the shower and the warm breath from her stimulated breathing, had me trying to think of something other than the sensual thoughts that started to make me twitch, harden and rise erect.

  ‘There are so many road incidents here in Redstone, I’ve lost count of how many deaths that have come from The Devil’s Road. I was on my shift when they brought you and your…When they brought you in, you’ve missed so much while you’ve been in that sleep of yours, I wouldn’t know where to begin.’

Eva had embarrassed herself, presumably, it was the reference to Eleanor, though the sudden hardening of my shaft in front of her eyes could have had something to do with it too, I guess.

  ‘I am so sorry,’ I gasped reaching for a towel and covering myself up. An action that seemed to arouse a slight objection in Eva’s eyes.

  ‘That’s Okay, Mr Derby, I assure you, I’m a qualified trained nurse. This happens all over the hospital.’ She desperately tried to condone the incident as a natural reaction of sorts.

  ‘I need to get out of here and find out who killed Eleanor!’ I sighed stepping out of the shower and standing to face the mirror. I was starting to look tired, exhausted, old, even.

  ‘The Consultant will be around later tomorrow to examine you if all goes well…’

  ‘I haven’t got until tomorrow! I need to discharge myself now…today.’

Eva was shocked that I would even think of doing such a thing in my condition; broken ribs, fractured leg, dislocated shoulder and a million other injuries that were put down to trauma fixed but not at all healed completely in just three months.

  ‘What is it exactly that you are hoping to achieve?’ She asked in a demanding tone.

  ‘Something that is probably against the law. How well do you know Redstone City?’ I answered with a question that lit her eyes up in a blaze that told me she knew the city well.

Eva told me of the Gangs, Groups, Leagues, Sponsors, Heads, and Soldiers that made up the Road Racing fraternity there in the city. Also, of how the local authority had no way of intervening or stopping the illegal racing, for fear they would be punished in order of making them an example to others. Hearing this made my whole stomach churn, as well as my temper flare.

  ‘So they walk free from causing us to crash…and as far as all the people in the city are concerned, it was just another accident!’

Eva said nothing. Her face answered the question for me.

The door of the room was knocked hard by Drummond, who in his wisdom had contacted the station for an update on the case. As he was ushered into the room by Eva and took a place by the side of me, he bowed his head to the ground.

  ‘Forensics have finished with your car, and it looks like the braking system was faulty before the accident.’ He announced.

Eva looked at me with a knowing, while Drummond, he didn’t – couldn’t – make any direct eye contact with me through his guilty conscience eating away at him in some form or another.

The feeling in the room was not one that anyone would have been wise entering and breaking the silence, especially as at this moment in time I was one step away from hitting out at someone – anyone.

  ‘Let’s get you out of here,’ Eva spoke up after a low sigh.

I didn’t object. I just nodded and got my things together.

Drummond gave me all the usual spiel of not leaving the city any time soon, as he’ll want to question me further on the case. But all that I wanted was for the people responsible for the death of my fiancé, and to see them all arrested.

It’s Who I Am…

I had nowhere to stay in Redstone, something that I realized after the silent talk with Drummond. Eva knew a place on the east side where they had some pretty good Hotels, but, if I was wanting to have a peaceful rest, then there was always a spare room at her place on the north side; the north was considered the lushest, it was where the wealthy people lived among all of those smart criminals who had made their fortunes.

  ‘This race…’

Eva hushed me with a light finger pressed against my lips.

  ‘Get some rest first, and then I will tell you everything that you need to know…I might throw in a car, too, if that’s what you really want?’ She whispered softly. ‘You do want a car, don’t you?’

I did, and that was the problem.

 ‘How did you know?’ I asked with a little dread as well as surprise in my tone. ‘It wasn’t Drummond!’

Eva waved me to follow her to a nearby parked car and handed me the keys. I was impressed – a Honda Civic.

  ‘Make sure she gets home safely, Okay?’ She insisted rather than ask me to return it in one piece.

  ‘Thank you, Eva,’ I replied with a strained smile.

After giving me her home address, as well as programming the Satnav to direct me, I set off on my way to her apartment in the north, a place I had never intended to return to again.

Kendal Avenue was busy with the Lurkers, the Dealers, the ones who will keep an eye out for the authorities, while others became known as the Seekers; they answered only to their top man – and there were hundreds of the little fuckers right here in Redstone. My business was across at Denton Street, one of several safe houses that I could go to without being bothered by nosey police.

  ‘Fuck me! Is that really you?’ Chris Nelson gasped in disbelief at seeing me turn up at his door. ‘You, my friend, are supposed to be dead, Man!’

The news was not too far from the truth, as Chris found out when I told him about the “Supposed Accident” killing Eleanor. It ripped him in half by the reaction I saw before me. Chris was a strong person in every meaning of the word, most notably his attack on a man who had beaten a dog half to death – Chris was just returning the favour. Of course, as his bestie, it was down to me to drag the crazy bastard off and put a final boot in for measure. Unfortunately, our grappling went south and I landed a loud tap on the man’s temple as Chris pulled me around and threw me through the air.

  ‘Don’t believe everything you hear on the radio, you already know what it’s like around here, Chris!’ I said making my way inside the house and making myself at home on his sofa.

  ‘How did it happen?’ Chris asked in a way that was obvious what he was thinking.

  ‘This is my ride, Bro, I just need some things and I’m out of here for good. I need to know who it was…’

  ‘Fuck me! You’re going up against The Jackal, aren’t you, you mad bastard?’ Chris yelped out, his thoughts on avenging Eleanor now pushed to the back of his mind. Now he was worried.

  ‘I need to know who was in that other car, Chris, for Eleanor, not me. It can’t go unpunished.’ I replied, not giving anything away in the sense of involving The Jackal, also known as Warren Jackson.

Conceding to the fact that I wasn’t going to tell him any time soon about my plans, he made us both a drink before slumping down on the sofa by the side of me.

  ‘What else do you need?’ He exclaimed suddenly.

This was the Chris that I knew, that I had always known. He was a man with few convictions when I was running with The Crew, a band of men who loved the open road and fast life. It all seemed a million years ago, but, the reality of it still brought me from my sleep every now and again with a sickening thought cast over my mind: Vengeance was quickly catching up to me.

  ‘I need a car…fast, too!’ I answered taking a piece of paper from my top pocket. ‘There’s the full list. My numbers on there, so ring me as soon as you have everything. I’ll be staying at The Villa’s in the north for a while.’

The Villa’s was almost as bad sounding as the football chant being chanted by someone who was not a big fan, so it was no surprise to actually see Chris kicking off when he did. First the face, then the theatrical gasps that brought the true essence of his hatred, until finally, he exploded with one profanity after the next. All this in the hope that I would accept his invitation of staying there with him and Docherty, his five-year-old Horse Dog from hell.

  ‘It’s a fucking Great Dane, you posh slag!’ He shouted reaching out for the dog’s ears and covering them over.

I didn’t care, to me, it was a dog looking for a meal, and the only reason it hadn’t eaten Chris yet, was because he was the only one who fed him when he was hungry. There was no way on the planet that I was going to share a night with Docherty hunting around the house. I was willing to take my chances with Eva.

  ‘I’m staying at Eva’s, mate, sorry.’

  ‘Eva Miller, the nurse from the hospital…that Eva?’

  ‘You know her?’ I responded with caution.

Chris gave a slight smile, but then as quickly as it had set, it fell from his face to be replaced with a strange look.

  ‘Everyone knows Eva, mate, I’m surprised you don’t!’

I didn’t understand. If I recognized her, then surely I would have known if I did or not.

According to Chris, Eva Miller was once with a small racing Crew that ran in Redstone five years ago, until she disappeared that is. She turned up less than two years ago as a nurse at the hospital. There was no real explanation given to the reasons for her disappearance, but it was a fact, wherever she had disappeared to, it was no pretty place like The Villas of Redstone.

  ‘Has it changed that much around here, Chris?’ I found myself asking him, amidst the thought of Eva, and how she had offered me the keys to her place along with the car. This done through empathy, if not because she knew as well as me that the accident was murder, surely!

Chris shrugged his shoulders. ‘This place went to shit a long time ago, man, it’s just that some people haven’t realized it yet. Are you going to call in on Brian?’

Brian was a different story, his and I’s paths had crossed only six months ago, and it wasn’t a good reunion.

  ‘When did you see him last?’

  ‘Yesterday at the Wind Sails down at the lake. Why, is there something I should know?’ he asked too deeply for my liking.

  ‘Cut the shit, man, I’m being serious!’ I barked.

Chris knew. He knew that I had committed the sin of any Crew, especially when it came to The Redstone Code; A Brother is for Life.

  ‘Do you mind telling me what happened…the truth, Connor, none of that made-up bullshit you’re always spouting off.’

The thought of getting to The Villas was making me edgy, a little unsettled by the fact that explaining everything to Chris would take a long time…too long for a quick visit.

  ‘The long and short of it is, we bumped into each other a few months back and it didn’t go as well as either of us expected, that’s all, nothing big.’ I edited it down a little – or maybe too much for the satisfaction of Chris, who decided he wasn’t going to buy the story that had left the vital details out.

  ‘Bullshit! Get the fuck out of my house, man, you obviously think I’m the last cunt you walked over. You give yourself a pat on the back and step off into a life of what…Briarstone!’ He shouted angrily at the top of his voice while throwing his hands up in the air erratically.

I told him that it was complicated. Again, he demanded that I leave. I told him that if I could turn back the clocks, I would do it in a single heartbeat. But as times were pretty messed up, the only thing I could do was work on building bridges with Brian. Maybe one day we could put all of the past behind us.

  ‘All of this business with Jackson, Connor, it’s not good man, you know that, right?’

Again, Chris was right. ‘I know, that’s why I need everyone on this Chris, not just you.’

What could I do on my own? The Sunset Strip and The Devil’s Crown had been taken from us five years ago, our Crew were either dead, dying or scattered, and we had so many loose ends covering the three decades of our lives, that I had yet to come up with a very quick or easy solution.

  ‘There’s no way the rest are going to saddle up and do any of the mad shit you’re going to do. Fuck, think about it for a minute? You’re going to go head to head with The Jackal AK-fucking-A Warren Jackson. This isn’t 1985 anymore, Connor, these are the Hardline Eighties, man, people die for real these days.’

I listened to Chris, sympathized with him, and even felt sorry for him at one point for becoming the man he had. So when I found the urge to cut in during his sounding off, I held back, gave a nod, and then waved a thumb at the door to get his attention.

  ‘I have to go, Chris…I’ll need that name by morning.’

  ‘Yeah, well fuck you, man! You and that fucking white horse you came riding in on. I’m done. You won’t bring her back by killing Jackson, you’ll only sign your own death wish, and all those around you, too.’ He yelled as I left the apartment and walked down to Eva’s car in the car park.

Taking out my mobile phone I searched my Contacts until coming to Brian Ashby’s number, and for the next three minutes stood staring at it; not to assist it in ringing any faster than it would have been to just press the Call button, but trying to give myself a reason to do it.

Glancing over to the small clump of houses near the corner of Bay View, I caught sight of a tall shadow that looked all the more suspicious for its frequent disappearing and reappearing in and out of cover; trees, alleyways, behind cars…someone was following me.

Pressing the Call button I listened to the ringing tone…a couple of seconds later it was answered – but there was no voice of welcome.

  ‘Brian…is that you?’ I whispered cautiously.

The phone was hung up. I tried again, only this time asking him to speak, or at least give me a sign that he was the one who’d picked up the phone. This time they didn’t hang up, which by my way of calculating made it clear that it had been Brian who answered, he just chose to hang up on me.

  ‘That night on The Devil’s Road, you told me that there would be nothing that could break or shatter our Crew, man and that it would go on forever. Do you remember that Brian?’ I asked, my voice shaking with the words that I wasn’t sure whether he was hearing – or listening to – on the other end of the phone.

  ‘Your dream died, Connor,’ he eventually spoke. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but then, I was expecting only silence – or another hang-up.

  ‘No, it was passed over to someone who should never have been given it in the first place…but I’m going to put a stop to all that. Tonight!’

This kind of woke Brian up, pretty much causing the same reaction as Chris, too, except with Brian, it was much more colourful words.

It was strange how he had the same stubbornness as Chris, but stranger that he mentioned the very same consequences, but actually came to a resolve all of his own. Crazy ideas had gotten The Redstone Crew pretty far through our first ten months of running The Devil’s Road, and others that had been blocked off or destroyed by the local authorities.

  ‘You’re going to do it anyway, aren’t you?’ He mumbled.

  ‘Yes. I have to do this…’

Brian’s next words gave me the knowledge that he had spoken to Chris, very recently, too. His condolences were met with respect.

  ‘Eleanor was a good woman, Brian, and you all know she deserves retribution.’

  ‘Tomorrow, 9 am, the Old Station.’ Saying this Brian hung up the phone. Did I have his support? I didn’t know until finally we would meet and know exactly where our friendship was going to go.

Jumping in the car and driving the remaining five miles to The Villas, I found Eva’s apartment, it was huge. Entering its large doorway I ventured inside, looking around each room in turn until finding the kitchen – food.

The modernized kitchen was something new to me, I’d never had the luxuries of the things that Eva had, and this had me thinking; who was she? How could she afford all of this stuff on just a Nurses salary? By 2 am, I was drained. The painkillers from the hospital were in a flux of relieving the pain and making it lick against the internal bruises, stitched-up injuries and broken bones. I needed something a little stronger to bore into the very cavities of the damage and heal it from within, which being a person of the world knew that the only thing that could do this was Whisky – and lots of it.

To purchase this Micro-Novel click on the following link: City Limits: The Long Road Out