The Tracks

Switchback

Three days have passed, and Jay keeps going back to the eastern tunnel, back to their tree, waiting for Dei. Three days since he cooked casserole for her. Three days since they learned the truth from his uncle. Three days since the day he saw her pedaling away after kissing him. And for three days, he's been worried.

He has to do something.

"Dude, she'll show up. Maybe she got scolded by her parents for getting back late that night. Maybe she's just trying to cool off things back at their place."

"She's not a kid, and she'll never bow to any reprimand. You've talked to her Chip. She's not one to back down."

"Give it another day. Maybe she'll show up tomorrow."

"What if something happened to her on her way back that night? I know I should have just followed her."

"You saw how she could drive that bike of hers. She's even meaner on her wheels than Sol is."

"What if her brother held her hostage? What if she's being held against her will?"

"Whoa, slow down, Jay. That stuff is something for the movies."

"Well, this whole mess-up between our towns is something for the movies. Chip, I really have to go there. I need to know how she is, I need to see her."

Chip looked at his friend walk away towards his motorcycle. He shook his head and followed him, taking his and Jay's helmet. He handed it to him and went to his own motorcycle, much to Jay's surprise.

"What are you doing?"

"You think I'd let you go there alone? Dude, you're the best man at my wedding. I'm more afraid that Grace'll kill me if I lose a best man and can't find another one in time for the wedding."

Jay laughed and put his arm around Chip.

"Dude, you love me too much."

"Don't flatter yourself. I just need my best man alive. Come on, let's pick up Basti and Sol by the store. We might need additional muscle if we meet this brother of Dei's and his minions."

//

The road leading to the gasoline station was dusty and dry. The rays of the afternoon sun as it slowly descends in the horizon were dramatized by the play of colors in the sky, but as the four young men entered the town, a certain chill overcame them. It was a feeling of being unwelcome, like four outcast cowboys making their way into enemy territory. Only they were on motorcycles and not horses, and the whirring of their engines gave the eerie feeling that something was bound to happen.

They stopped at the gasoline station where Jay first brought Dei. His friends waited for him to go straight to the store and ask around, but he just kept sitting on Rhonda.

"What now, Jay?''

"Shouldn't we ask where Dei lives?"

"Don't worry. The old man in the store saw us already."

"And...?

"And now we wait."

It took only five minutes before they heard engines coming down the road. Jay looked up and saw Harry leading four more motorcycles. They looked like those very mean and tough-looking bikers, wearing black leather jackets, with one or two of them wearing a bandanna on their heads. And just like a scene from a movie, they circled around Jay and his friends before stopping in front of them. Harry parked his motorcycle and walked purposefully towards Jay. Chip, Basti and Sol all went down their motorcycles and stood behind Jay, who remained unmoved as Harry approached.