On the Run

The bus shook, as it hit a large bump, causing Harry to lift in his seat. He was only in the air for a second, and he was back down in the same spot just as quickly.

The guards didn’t seem fazed by how rickety the bus was, so Harry didn’t think anything of it. He thought it shook far more wildly than it should have, but it was the first time he’d ever been on one. He didn’t know a shaky bus from a steady one.

Harry’s eyes flew to the window, taking in the Las Vegas scenery. It was the last time he’d ever see the city. He’d never see the bright neon lights or the dancing girls. He’d never again walk the strip that he had come to call home.

He had spent countless hours on that strip, or at least, in the biggest strip club on it. That strip club was basically his and he’d never get to set foot it in again. With him gone, Enzo would find some other shmuck to run it – someone who wouldn’t be half as good as Harry – and it would go to shit in a matter of months.

Even if, by some miracle, Harry got let out of prison early, the strip club he’d spent the last six months running would be in the toilet. He was new to the business, but no one could run it like he could. He had started from the bottom, working as a bouncer when he turned sixteen, and slowly worked his way up to heading the business, much to Enzo’s dismay. Harry knew that Enzo never really liked him, but he kept him around because no one could do the job like Harry.

“Eyes forward.”

The guard shouted at Harry, nearly startling him. He was quick to push his eyes back to the front of the bus, even though he didn’t have any cause for it. What harm could looking out the window possibly do? It wasn’t like he was ever going to see the sunlight again, anyway.

With his eyes locked on the windshield, Harry took to admiring the cars in front of them. In the left lane was a fancy sports car, just one of many that could be found on the strip. Directly in front of them was a trashy white van, similar to those seen in children’s safety videos.

The van turned a corner and was quickly replaced by another nice sports car, which Harry quickly daydreamed about driving.

Just as quickly as they’d entered the strip, they left it and were driving down a long desert road, to the next town over, where the prison was located. Harry wished the bus driver would drive slower, just so he could spend a few more minutes away from the cell that would soon be his home.

His eyes shut at the thought. He still wasn’t used to the idea that he’d be sharing a few feet of space with another man who was in prison for God knows what. Harry may have nearly robbed a bank, but he wasn’t like those men. He wasn’t a hardened criminal.

When his eyes opened, they moved back to the bus’s windshield, which he used to take one last look at the desert. The red dirt, which was unlike anything else on the planet, captured all of his attention. If he had to pick one thing to be the last he’d ever look at, he’d pick the Nevada desert. There really was nothing better.

Another bump in the road pulled Harry forward, forcing him to take his eyes away from the beautiful scenery. His head collided with the seat in front of him and the guard quickly stood up, as if Harry was about to make a move. It took every bit of Harry’s willpower for him to stop himself from glaring at the large man. It wasn’t his fault the asshole driving the death trap couldn’t steer properly.

Taking a deep breath, Harry moved his eyes back to the front, hoping to catch sight of the beautiful desert again, only this time when he looked up, he was met with the back of that rusty white van. He wasn’t sure if it was the same one he’d seen before. He only knew that the two looked similar.

Red lights shone in front of him, the sign of a car braking far too fast. It felt as if it happened in seconds, because it had. The van stopped dead in its tracks, not swerving or slowing, just stopping.

Even if the driver had been relatively good at his job, he couldn’t have stopped the chain of events that followed.

The bus swerved to the right, narrowly missing the van, but catching the ditch right next to it. The large dip caused the wheels to lift up, and the uneven balance forced the van on its side. Metal screeched as parts scraped together that had never touched before.

A cloud of dust surrounded the bus, and it was nearly impossible to see.

The dust was so thick that even if Harry had been conscious to see through it, he wouldn’t have seen what was coming.

He wouldn’t have seen that van pulling off the road and straight for them. He wouldn’t have been able to see the girls jumping out of the van carrying enough weapons to supply an infantry.

The smile on Louis’s face when he saw those girls would have been lost to Harry in the cloud of smoke.

If he’d been awake or had any consciousness at all, he would’ve been able to see those four brave girls coming to his rescue, but his eyes were sealed shut and his breathing was slow.

Lucky for him, even though the only connection he had to those girls was a small one through Louis, they would do anything to save him, because unlike The Viche, they didn’t leave a man behind.