2. The Chase Begins

Chrissy and Emily suddenly find themselves targets.

The road was paved and smooth. It was a fine day with a cloudless azure blue sky. The picturesque mid-west landscape was dotted here and there with farm houses next to giant red barns and white rail fences. The fields were planted mainly with corn, wheat and soy beans. Small wooded areas were interspersed between the farms. As they rode along they saw horses and cows grazing peacefully in meadows and ducks and geese swimming in ponds. It was wonderfully idyllic.

For Chrissy, winding out her motorcycle on a country road was the most freeing experience in the world. She enjoyed having the chance to share that joy with Emily.

It was day four of their trip. They didn't have a destination or itinerary in mind. They decided to let the road take them wherever it would. There were even a couple of times when they stopped at a cross-roads and flipped a coin to decide which way to go. They stopped at small parks for picnic lunches and road-side diners for dinner. They slept in country inns or bed-and-breakfasts. The weather had started off hot for the first couple of days, but then turned fair with slightly chilly nights. After the fourth day Chrissy decided that they should head back. They still had several hours of travel ahead of them before they got home.

They were about seven minutes from the general store when Chrissy saw a dark green SUV approaching from behind. It was traveling at a high rate of speed and was soon close behind them. Chrissy expected it to pass and began to feel a touch of disquiet when it continued to follow them closely. She began watching it carefully in her rear view mirrors. Without warning it suddenly accelerated right at them as if to ram them. There were deep ditches on both sides of the road that blocked any escape. Chrissy pulled her motorcycle onto the shoulder and almost into the ditch as the SUV flew past within inches of them. She nearly lost control and spilled the motorcycle when she pulled back onto the road and stopped.

“Holy hell!” she said angrily, “Is that idiot drunk or something?!” She grew alarmed when the SUV slowed to a stop and began to turn around in the road. “I don't think they're coming back here to see if we're okay,” she said to Emily, “Hang on!”

She spun the motorcycle around and sped off in the opposite direction. She looked in her rear view mirror and saw the SUV chasing after them. She immediately knew they were in big trouble. Her Yamaha was capable of some pretty decent speed, but she knew she wouldn't be able to outrun the SUV, especially with a passenger on the back. Up ahead she saw the foundation of what was once an old house on the right. In front of the house where the driveway used to be there was still a culvert that crossed the ditch.

“Hang on!” she yelled to Emily, “We're going off-road!” She felt Emily tighten her grip around her mid-section to the point where she almost couldn't breathe. She slammed on the brakes, turned sharply and crossed over the culvert just as the SUV sped past only inches away from them. It immediately slowed to a stop and started reversing. There was no mistake - the vehicle was after them!

Chrissy maneuvered around the house's foundation and started across the hay field behind it. The hay was about knee-high and she was afraid to drive too fast through it for fear of hitting a hidden rock or log or rabbit hole and taking a nasty spill. It was hard to see behind her with her mirrors shaking but she could see that the SUV was speeding across the field after them and quickly gaining on them. She saw a wooded area to the right and veered toward it. The SUV turned to try and cut them off and she could tell they weren't going to make it to the woods before the SUV got them. At the last second she clenched her teeth and accelerated to a perilously high speed. They got to the tree line just before the SUV did. The larger vehicle skidded to a stop before it crashed into the trees while Chrissy wove between the trunks as fast as she dared and made her way deeper into the woods.

The branches grabbed and scratched at them as she carefully picked her path among the trees, avoiding some of them by mere inches. Before long they came through to the other side of the woods into a corn field. She guided the motorcycle down one of the rows of corn to another road that she saw ahead of them. Once they reached that road she turned left and followed it for about half a mile until they came to a ditch that went across the field to their right. Both sides of the ditch were lined with trees and brush. Chrissy went off-road and followed along beside the ditch until they came to a small stand of trees about one hundred yards from the road. It was surrounded with brush that offered a good hiding place. She pulled the motorcycle into the trees and stopped. She cut the motor and both of them got off. The ground was too soft for the kickstand so she leaned the motorcycle against a tree. They took off their helmets and Chrissy crawled to the edge of the trees to peer out through the brush toward the road across the field. Within minutes she saw the SUV go speeding by. Unable to follow them through the woods, it had apparently taken another road to continue the chase. Emily crept up next to her and looked out, too.

“Are they trying to kill us?” she asked with a worried voice.

“It sure seems that way,” Chrissy answered as she stared at the road.

“Why?”

“I have no idea, Squirt,” she answered, “Maybe it's road-rage, though I can't imagine why. We haven't encountered anybody along the drive recently. Maybe it's mistaken identity.”

“Maybe it's just a crazy person,” Emily added.

Chrissy stiffened when she saw the SUV return from the other direction and slow down as it approached. It stopped on the road directly in front of their hiding place.

“Get down!” she whispered to Emily as two men got out of the vehicle. Emily flattened herself against the ground. Chrissy was sure that there was no way they could be seen from the road, but she drew back into the leaves a little further anyway. One of the men was tall and slender with a red t-shirt and bluejeans. He held what looked like a clipboard in his hand. As he fiddled with it Chrissy realized it was a tablet computer of some kind. The other man was slightly shorter with a muscular build. He was in bluejeans, too, with a blue polo shirt. He began scanning the field with a pair of binoculars.

How did they know to look for us here?! wondered Chrissy. The tall one pointed to his tablet and then looked across the field to their hiding place and pointed directly at them. The shorter one looked with the binoculars at where he was pointing and nodded. They both started to get back into the SUV.

“What the...?!” Chrissy exclaimed with alarm, “They're tracking us somehow! But how?!” The SUV turned and drove off the road and started across the field toward them. “Get your helmet on!” she ordered, “Time for us to go!!”

Chrissy jumped up and climbed on her motorcycle as Emily put her helmet on. She saw a pile of rocks next to them that was overgrown with vines and weeds. The rocks had probably been placed there over the years by some farmer that had encountered them as he plowed his fields. They varied in size from small boulders to fist size stones.

“Grab two rocks from that pile,” she pointed as she put on her own helmet, “About the size of a large potato.” Emily selected two stones and then climbed onto the motorcycle behind Chrissy. She put her arms around Chrissy's mid-section while holding a rock in each hand. “Hang on for dear life!” Chrissy ordered, “It's gonna be a crazy ride. When I reach for a rock, put it in my hand!”

“Okay,” Emily replied with a worried voice.

Chrissy had gotten into plenty of fights during her younger days and one of the most important tactics she had learned from the many altercations she had been in over the years was to catch your opponent off guard with unexpected moves. She drove the motorcycle out of the stand of brush, turned toward the approaching SUV...

and accelerated directly at it.

Author's Note

Suggestions and constructive criticisms are always welcome.

Reviews

[Meat of Dog]

I think it’s cool that Chrissy decided to take Emily on that trip; it’s good for kids to be socialized at a young age and taken to see many things (it makes them smarter). This adds to my feeling that she’s a good adopted mother, for sure. There’s good action and suspense here, I like it! I was very eager to keep reading and see what might happen if the SUV caught them (or even if it didn’t). I like how the beginning was so serene and comfortable and dropped right into action by chapter 2. This chapter ended with a good cliffhanger too. I’m excited to dig in further, this is a very good start.


Suggestions:

“thevehicle “ Needs a space.

[Craig2591]

Thank you very much. Chrissy is a good mother, but like many of us she has a lot of self doubts that continue to surface throughout the story.

[Megan Simpson]

This is so exciting! I'm moving onto the next chapter asap. Can't wait to find out what happens next!

[Craig2591]

Glad you like it. Thanks.

[Cody Williams]

Great descriptions Craig! Thanks for sharing it!

-CW

[Craig2591]

Thank you very much.

[Tina Kline]

What a frightful situation to be in, no even knowing what is going on. You did an excellent job describing the action, it was easy to follow.

[Craig2591]

Thank you so much.

[Barbara Walker]

This is great Craig. You had me on the edge of my seat!

[Craig2591]

Good, then I succeeded. Thanks.

[Nienor Niniel]

Good job of describing the chase -- and leaving a cliffhanger at the end. Poor Chrissy and Emily, though, they just can't catch a break.

[Craig2591]

Thank you very much.