Ticking Time Bomb

I stepped into the shower, toes flinching as they touched the chilled ceramic floor. My mind was in shreds; I would never get Raiden’s words out of my mind. I turned the dial, old and metallic, releasing thousands of lukewarm drops, darkening my hair and trickled down my back. My eyes fell closed over and over, each time showing me the images like photographs of Andy being one step ahead.

My jaw clenched. Raiden was right. We were thinking with our rage instead of thinking of Andy as someone who not only had a lot of connections but was smart as hell.

My muscles tensed every time Raiden spoke about Andy. I hated the fact that he knew him so well, and I was fucking useless. I wanted to protect him, but at this point I didn’t know if I was going to succeed or not.

A slight knock on the door snapped me from my thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“Jonas said they are ready to head out to the cemetery,” Raiden’s sweet and low voice pronounced.

He was my priority, and all I did was for him. Things between us were not as I expected. We were falling apart each day. Not wanting to think of Raiden not being part of my life, I turned the shower knob off.

“I’m coming,” I replied, getting out of the shower. I grabbed a towel and dried myself as best as I could. I placed the item around my waist and opened the door.

As soon as I did, I noticed Raiden standing in the middle of the room. A small hint of blush touched his sweet cheeks, and I smiled at the thought that Raiden felt about me the same way I did about him.

I thought about embracing him and kissing him softly, so he knew I was doing all of this for him, so we could have a future together, but remembering everything he went through, I didn’t pursue the notion.

As I got dressed I told Raiden how was this outing going to play out.

“I want you to be by my side always. Jonas will be with us, while Mike, Poe and Doc scattered around the area. Jonas thought it was best not to take all of the MC since, as of right now we don’t know who to really trust. I don’t want to put you in any danger, but we all agree that it’s best you be there, since you know Andy better than us. You might anticipate his next move.”

Speaking the last sentence gave me a sourly taste in the mouth, because the way I felt about Andy and Raiden’s relationship was evident. I simply hated it!

“I understand,” he responded, walking out of the room. I followed him and soon we were on our way to the cemetery.



A couple of hours past, and we finally arrived. The whole place looked eerie, and the smell of rotten corpses were so strong, that we had to wear face masks to endure the aroma.

Doc, Jonas and Poe went inside first. After 20 minutes later, they came back to get Mike, Raiden and me.

“There’s no sign of anyone here, so we are going in to find Micah, while Poe stays out here, making sure no one shows up,” Jonas said.

We followed Jonas. We were all armed, except Raiden. His hands clutch to my back as a child hugs its mother for fearly support. We walked to the desolate cemetery. It was different the the normal ones. Instead of observing beautiful flowers around the graves, dust and fungus covered every inch of the place.

“If you want to find Micah’s body, we have to start digging the fresh areas. I’ve seen only three so far,” Raiden expressed, making Jonas and I nod.

Jonas whistled a signal to the rest of the guys, and soon they met us in the location Raiden spoke of. Shoveling as fast as we could, I kept keeping an eye on Raiden who stood next to Jonas and Doc. They were looking out for us while Mike and I dug.

The first hole we dug, we found a very fresh body. It looked like it only had been a day or so since it was buried.

“That’s Andy’s uncle,” Raiden retorted, backing away, not wanting to see the vision in front of him.

When we were were in the middle of digging the second hole, I noticed a small wallet on the surface. I grabbed it and opened it slowly. It showed Micah’s identification. My heart sank.

I observed how tense Jonas was when I handed it to him.

“Fuck!” he shouted, knowing that his little brother was buried in that particular ground.

“It’s time to take him home. Keep digging,” he ordered.

We dug into we came in contact with Micah’s corpse. I noticed there was a wire wrapped around his waist.

“What the fuck?” I asked myself. I looked at Raiden to see if he had any answers, but he was as confused as I was.

Mike pull the rest of it and handed it to me. It was connected to something, but it wasn’t clear.

“Look, when we keep pulling it, it appears on that side. Should we follow it?” Mike said, pointing towards another grave.

“I wouldn’t if I were you. Andy knew your every move. What if this is a trap or something? What if he knew we would be here getting Micah’s body?” Raiden spoke with an obvious trembling in his voice.

“Raiden is right. We need to be careful,” Jonas responded.

Then, a very distinctive noise started to appear. “What’s that ticking noise?” Mike asked, looking around for it.

We were all quiet for a moment, until I realized the noise was coming from underneath Micah’s body. I slowly pulled it a little bit and my eyes opened up widely.

“Run! Run! Raiden Run!” I screamed, making everyone stare at me as if I was out of my mind.

Raiden’s head started to shake from side to side.

“No! Chris! No!” he shouted.

“It’s a bomb!” Mike screamed trying to get out of the hole.

Jonas grabbed Raiden and started to run to where the SUVs were parked. Raiden kept screaming my name the entire time. I pulled myself up. When Mike and I started to run, the first bomb exploded. It was in the grave the wires were connected to.

I had a feeling we were not going to recover Micah’s body.
Running away as fast as I could, I heard bombs were going off everywhere in the cemetery.

Suddenly, one went off so close that it pulled Mike and I forward in a crash. I laid down on the floor for what felt like ages. Raiden’s voice calling my name was so far, and disappearing with each intent. I tried to stand up, but my whole body hurt. My heart kept beating fast, which let me know I was still alive. I looked around and saw Mike walking towards me. He helped me get up and together we tried to make it outside.

I was put in the van.

I tried to open my eyes slowly, and all I saw was Raiden’s beautiful face in front of mine. His lips kept moving but no sound was coming out. Confused, I touched the back of my head which hurt like hell.

When I looked at my hand, it was completely covered with blood. Raiden’s eyes and mine met. In his I saw fear. When I was about to say something, blackness surrounded me, not letting me know what was going to happen next.