A few opening words: Not much to say here. Enjoy!
"Alright, there's the street! Lets hurry!" Sakaki and Kagura rounded the corner at full speed. They had sprinted the entire distance from the station – no easy feat for anyone. Up ahead, their fears were confirmed. Parked in front of the house was a black sedan and a pair of motorbikes. Sakaki increased her pace, and beat Kagura to the house. Not wasting any time, she bolted through the open gate and stopped at the front door. It was open a crack, and she could hear shouts from inside, followed by what sounded like a struggle. Sakaki ripped open the bag and pulled out the shotgun. Cocking a round, she kicked the door open.
The first thing she saw was Ayumu huddled against the wall, and a Grey Men henchman pointing a gun at her head. Sakaki aimed the gun and fired without wasting any time. The shotgun bucked and the henchman dropped instantly, with a ring of small bullet holes on the wall behind him in the shape of his upper torso.
"Sakaki-san! They've got Chiyo-chan!" Sakaki nodded briefly, and ran off through the garage, the direction the other henchmen had taken, according to Ayumu. She bolted through the open doors, and was on the driveway when she saw the sedan speed off, followed by one of the motorbikes, Sakaki dropped the shotgun and sprinted at the opening. If she was right, then… there!
Sakaki spun and lashed out with a roundhouse kick, catching the second biker in the face as he passed by. He was sent flying off the bike, and the bike skidding on its side down the street, coming to a stop a few dozen feet away. The man struggled to his knees when Sakaki lifted him to his feet by his collar.
"Where are they taking her?"
"Fuck you, bitch."
"Where?!" Sakaki whipped out a pistol and pressed to the man's forehead. He simply stared back with angry eyes. Sakaki threw him down and turned away. Without even looking, she aimed the pistol at his head again and fired. Right now, Sakaki was beyond asking questions. This was war.
Sakaki picked up the shotgun and slung it over her shoulder. She returned the pistol to its holster, and went over to the bike. Apart from a few scratches and a cracked mirror, it was in working order. A Kawasaki Ninja ZR-10, according to the lettering on the dies. She threw her leg over the bike and revved the gas. The bike hummed beneath her. Whether it was instinct or not, Sakaki shifted into gear and rocketed off down the street in pursuit of the sedan, just as Kagura and Ayumu dashed out onto the street.
Catching up to the sedan – the same kind of car she had been using – wasn't all that hard. The car had taken the turns at high speed, leaving skid marks to show where it had gone. That, combined with the bikes much higher speed, allowed Sakaki to catch up much faster.
Sakaki leaned hard into the next turn, which opened onto a larger four lane road. Up ahead, she saw the black sedan and the other bike driving casually, trying not to attract attention. She gunned the engine, and much to her surprise, the front wheel popped up. Sakaki leaned forward almost all the way, and the bike stayed in a wheelie for a good few seconds, before she let off the throttle and it dropped back down. With that in mind, she increased the throttle slower, and this time, the bike rocketed forward.
Sakaki wove her way in between cars and trucks, but before she could get less than three cars back, they noticed her. The biker swerved off to the side and slowed down, whereas the car sped up and began overtaking traffic in an attempt to lose her. Sakaki let the car go for a moment, and watched for the biker. He slowed back until he was beside Sakaki, a lane over. The two passed by a bus, and when they saw each other again, and this time, one had a gun leveled at the other.
Sakaki slammed on the brakes just as the man fired. His bullets tore through the air where her head had been, and killed the driver of a blue van in the other lane. Sakaki chanced a look back and saw carnage. More than a dozen cars were piling up behind her. Sakaki sped up again, and drew her own pistol in her right hand. She swerved into the other lane, and found herself in the perfect shooting position. Unfortunately, the other biker saw this as well.
Sakaki wasn't able to shoot before the man aimed his pistol at the left front tire of the car beside him. Gunning the throttle, he fired. The car bucked and swerved to the left – right in front of Sakaki. She looked left, and found herself staring at the trailer of an 18-wheeler. With no more room to spare, Sakaki pressed herself as low as possible in the bike, and swerved under the trailer. It passed mere inches over her head, and just as she came out from under, the trucker slammed on the brakes as the back end of the trailer collided with the car, causing even more mayhem.
Sakaki let out a brief sigh of relief, and looked up. There, right in front of her again, was the other biker. He was looking back at her, with the pistol aimed straight at her. Sakaki could think of only one thing to do. She hit the throttle. Hard. The front end of her bike popped up into the air just as the man loosed what was left of his clip at her. The bike's undercarriage absorbed the bullets that hit, and when she heard him stop shooting, she let off and the front dropped back down.
As the front end came down, Sakaki leveled her own weapon and squeezed off three shots. The man slumped forward onto his bike's handlebars, causing it to veer into the oncoming lane. Another massive wreck ensued. Now, only the sedan was left. After a moment of searching, Sakaki spotted it not far ahead, attempting to weave through traffic. Unfortunately for them, the bike was much more suited to this task, and in almost no time flat, Sakaki was right on their bumper.
The men inside the car must've realized there was no outrunning Sakaki. The sunroof opened, and one of the men inside emerged. Sakaki took aim at him, but froze as she saw what he brought up with him. The man was holding Chiyo as a shield, one arm around her neck. The girl was struggling, but she was too small to make any difference. In the man's other hand, he held an Uzi. Sakaki quickly holstered her weapon; there was no way she was going to risk harming Chiyo. She swerved to the left – into the oncoming lanes – just as the man opened fire. Bullets pinged off the road, tracing a line leading straight to her.
Sakaki then found a new threat, one more dangerous than badly aimed bullets. She threw her weight left and right, barely missing each car. The henchman was still taking potshots at her from the other side of the road, but none were all that close. But then, he changed targets. After reloading, he fired a full clip into an oncoming car up ahead. He took out both wheels on the left side of the car, causing it to spin and flip almost completely over. The car was now sliding in Sakaki's direction on its side, bottom towards her.
Luckily, Sakaki was able to come up with a solution. Or at least, a partial one. She popped the front end up as she had many times already, and hit the car as if it were a ramp. Because of the angle, it worked as such, and launched the bike into the air. Sakaki took a second to glance down. Cars were slamming on their brakes in both lanes, trying to avoid the new wreck. Unfortunately, this was all happening below her, and maneuvering a bike in midair is next to impossible. Rather, right on impossible.
As luck would have it, there was a small gap where the bike chose to land. Sakaki hit the pavement in a shower of sparks. Whether because of damage inflicted by the landing, or another reasin, the bike began to wobble. Despite this, Sakaki managed to muscle the bike through the wreckage and back into the correct lane. Unfortunately, she could control the bike no more, and it veered off to the right, on a perpendicular course with traffic. Directly in her way was yet another 18-wheeler trailer, although this one was significantly lower to the ground.
Sakaki saw no other way to avoid the trailer, so at the last moment, she threw all her weight left, flipping the bike on its side. Sakaki was able to sort of climb onto the side of the bike and hang on, as she slid under the trailer. The out of control bike slid clear of traffic, and hit the curb at high speed. Sakaki was thrown clean off, and through the front window of the shop she happened to be careening towards. Pain lanced up her body, and she felt the glass cut into her skin in several places before she slammed into one of the displays.
Luck was on Sakaki's side yet again, as she realized the building was a clothing store. She had landed in a clearance bin, which created the perfect cushion for her landing. Sakaki pushed herself into a sitting position and gave her body a once-over. She felt pain pretty much everywhere, but it was worse in a few places. Her clothes were torn in several places, bloody cuts showing wherever fabric was torn. Sakaki removed a few larger pieces of glass from her right side, getting to her feet again. Sakaki forced the pain to the back of her mind, and ran back out onto the street.
It was from here on the sidewalk that she saw the carnage laid out before her. There must've been near a hundred cars wrecked throughout the street. Those uninjured scrambled about trying to help those that were. It was chaos, and somehow, it felt surreal, almost like a bad dream.
"Oh my God! Miss, are you alright? You're bleeding! You need to get to a-" Sakaki was brought back to reality by a frantic woman who witnessed her untimely lesson in flying – and landing. Sakaki shot her a look that said 'Don't ask.', and the woman seemed to get the point. That, and she noticed the shotgun hung over Sakaki's back.
Though, the woman did bring to Sakaki's attention how lucky she really was. She had flown a good 30 feet through the air, narrowly missing no less than three cement pillars in the store, before crash landing in the clearance bin. It was nothing short of a miracle. Clearly, luck was on her side. Let's hope it stays that way…
Sakaki dashed off down the street, and turned onto the nearest street. Much to her surprise, up ahead she saw the black sedan parked in front of a classy looking high-rise. She saw three men get out of the car, one of them dragging Chiyo along with him. They entered through the front doors, and the two bellboys followed. Sakaki waited for a break in traffic before darting across the street. She didn't break stride until she reached the front of the building.
Through the glass, she could see only the lobby, which looked empty. Sakaki reloaded one of her pistols – which was down to only two shots – then drew the other. Holding them casually, she pushed the door open and headed inside.
Author's notes: Stay tuned next time for the exciting finale of Memories Lost!