Eighteen year old Ashley Chester was nervously smoothing her white shirt. So this was the biker's spring festival? Freddy had dreamed of coming here? It was horrible! All the noise and the smell of beer and exhaust fumes!
Ashley put a strand of her short mouse-brown hair behind her ear. Freddy Mason, her longtime boyfriend, had been so excited. He had finally talked his rich father into buying him a Harley Davidson. He had been so cute, like a boy opening a long awaited Christmas present. And now he wanted to show off his newest plaything. And maybe he had wanted to show off his girlfriend too, Ashley added to herself, sobering quickly. As if there was anything to be shown off with a girl as plain as she was!
Now here she was, in this terrible clearing in the remote forest. There were about seventy men and women around a large fire. They had started consuming beer, and worse, long before the sun even started to set. Massive speakers on top of a bike were pumping out loud rock music and about twenty people were dancing to the hard rhythms. Two bikes were cruising around the dancers, and to Ashley's shock they both had half naked girls on the back. What had she gotten herself into?
Freddy had no clue what to do either, it seemed, he just sat on his shiny new toy grinning and obviously hoping that the admirers would crowd around him. Which no one was doing. Ashley got off of the back of the Harley and took a step back before someone noticed her. She wished her brother was here with her, but he ended up having a wedding to go to, so he had had to cancel this trip -- and leave her alone at the noisy biker's festival. Ashley wished she could hide under the earth like a seedling did. She straightened her blue jeans and white shirt yet again and put her hair behind her ears in a nervous gesture. She really should be studying for the Spanish exam in two days and not here where girls went around half naked! Ashley pointedly looked away from those shameless people -- and right at one of the approaching bikers.
His skin was white, but except for that, the only color she saw was black -- black hair, black eyes, black moustache and black biker clothes just partly hiding his bulging muscles. Only his whiteteethed grin was a sharp contrast to all the black, shiny, even predatory, and directed at her. She gulped, and his grin widened even more. The biker suddenly turned toward Freddy, and Ashley noticed that five of his friends had followed their leader, all dressed in the same garb, down to the silver lined black wolf on the shoulder of their jackets. They had their black helmets, all embossed with the same black wolf, under their arms and turned to her boyfriend, after grinning in Ashley's direction. Ashley felt as if they had a secret she wasn't in on, and it made her uncomfortable. Freddy didn't seem notice the smiles directed toward his girlfriend; he was just happy that someone was finally paying attention to him. He was oblivious to the feigned friendliness in the leader's voice as the man finally turned toward him and shoved a clear bottle with a lightning bolt on its side into his hand.
"I'm Brett, and this is my Wolfpack." The leader of the bikers had an oily voice that grated on Ashley's nerves, but didn't seem to bother Freddy. "Have a drink. You're new, right? A hog, huh? How fast is she?"
Freddy answered the questions enthusiastically, embellishing whatever he thought he could get away with and making up answers to questions he didn't know. Ashley sighed at having to hear him once again repeat how great the bike was and managed to only slightly roll her eyes as she listened to him bump the numbers up from what he had told her before. But Brett simply nodded and clapped Freddy's shoulder in congratulations. He took the bottle back, drank a slug himself and then passed the bottle on -- to Ashley. She took the glass bottle in surprise, wishing she had gone farther away, but she hadn't wanted to leave the side of the only man she knew in this crowd.
Reluctantly Ashley sniffed at the bottle, which drew a laugh from the gang, and then looked toward Freddy. He frowned slightly and gave her a sign to drink, not wanting her to make the wrong impression on his newfound "friends". Ashley sighed and took a sip, then coughed. God, what was that? It burned all the way down her throat and made her eyes water. She had had very little alcohol in her life, the last on her eighteenth birthday a few months ago, but never anything as potent as that. The gang laughed again, and Freddy's face turned red. Embarrassed herself and not wanting her boyfriend to look like a fool Ashley took another sip, and this time she was able to avoid coughing, if barely. How had anyone managed to bottle liquid fire? What could possibly be in this killer stuff? She considered emptying the bottle on the ground, but of course didn't. What kind of seedling would grow if watered by this?
Brett took the unlabeled jug again, clapped Ashley's shoulder, and smiled at her. But she could barely see him through the tears in her eyes. Quickly she blinked them away and smiled back at the gang leader. Her throat felt rough, so she didn't dare to say anything, and luckily it wasn't necessary. Brett smiled at her once more, passed the bottle toward one of his gang, then turned back toward Freddy and resumed talking about the speed of the Harley. Freddy was happy to be the center of attention again and readily started to brag even more. Ashley took a deep breath and tried to gulp the fire in her throat away. Just as she thought she would be able to breathe freely again, she was handed the bottle once more. Apparently it had completed its round through the pack already and it was her turn again. Or was it a fresh bottle? It still had roughly the same level as when she had gotten rid of it. Ashley sighed inwardly, but feeling everyone watching her she closed her eyes and took another sip. This time she could stomach it a bit better. You can get used to anything in time, she thought, quickly getting rid of the stuff by passing it on. Even after just three sips she felt a bit lightheaded. Devilish stuff!
The talk between Freddy and the pack had turned toward a test drive of the new Harley. Of course her boyfriend had agreed to it, grinning like a happy schoolboy. Ashley loved it when Freddy was in this mood; he looked so cute when his eyes were sparkling. And she was relieved that this test drive would get her out of the clearing full of vulgar women, even if it meant being with Brett's Wolfpack. At least six bikers were better then seventy. So she settled herself on the back of the Harley behind an excited Freddy while the gang went to fetch their own motorcycles. If they managed to make this just a quick ride, Ashley mused, she might even get home early enough to review her last three lessons for the Spanish exam.
Her thoughts were drowned out in a roar of noise when the wolves returned with their motorcycles. Ashley couldn't hear anything until Brett turned off his foreign model and the pack followed his lead. She sighed in relief as her ears stopped ringing from the terrible noise from the engines. However, her relief suddenly turned to shock as she listened to what the leader had to say.
"You takin' your girl behind you?" Brett asked Freddy. "Don't you want to show us what this hog can really do? Come on, I'll take her behind me, so you can show us what you can do. Come on girl, hop over here, we want to see him really let loose!"
Ashley was speechless, and even more so when Freddy readily agreed. What was he thinking? How could he leave her alone with this animal?
"Freddy!" she started in on him angrily, but Brett interrupted immediately.
"Don't worry, baby, we'll stay together, and Freddy can show us what this hog can really do. Besides, I'm a more experienced biker, so you'll be safer with me."
