Sean didn't like it when his sister Karen broke-up with a guy. Karen wasn't known for picking great guys to begin with and she was the type who always had to be attached to someone. When she wasn't she was known for making bad decisions and being, well, flighty. So when she called Sean on a cloudy Saturday and told him that she was going on a mountain bike ride in a local National Forest by herself, he tried to talk her out of it. Karen and Sean were the last two members of their family to reside in the hill country of Arizona. Everyone else in their family now lived in Colorado and Utah, so much of the time it landed on Sean to look-after his younger (by five years) sister whenever she had some sort of crisis.
But Sean was growing tired of being his Sister's keeper. Especially today, after a long week at work he was looking forward to a lazy Saturday working in his garage. With rain predicted for later in the day the last thing he wanted to do was venture-out into the forest so he told Karen to be careful and to call him when she got back. She told him she would and would talk to him in a couple of hours.
A short time later Karen drove her SUV up a narrow canyon road and parked near a trailhead. Typically the parking lot for this particular trail would be crowded with vehicles, this being a Saturday but on this cloudy day with rain forecast for later in the day, the lot was nearly empty. Karen was looking forward to a long bike ride to clear her mind of her most recent break-up and the rest of the mess of her life.
Sean and Karen had lots of similarities, however preparedness was not one trait which they shared. Sean was generally the prepared one in the family while Karen tended to fly by the seat of her pants. Karen struggled for a few minutes with putting the front wheel of her mountain bike on (this seemed easier when someone else did it for her) then started riding down the trail. She carried a small fanny pack which held her wallet, phone and keys in it. She was dressed like a mountain biker with skin-tight Lycra pants (which prevented her from wearing panties) a skin-tight Lycra top hugged her 36C tits which were cradled in a sports bra. Although instead of stopping to pick a map of the area up at a Kiosk near the trail head she stopped, and clicked the remote on her keychain to make sure her car was locked. Then she rode-off, choosing a steep trail where she could maybe work-out of her bad mood.
Sean worked on his dual-sport motorcycle in his garage for a few hours, making some repairs and getting it caught-up on maintenance. An avid adventure motorcycle rider Sean spent much of his free time either on his bike or in his truck touring different parts of the country, even venturing as far as the northern tip of Alaska on one trip. However he couldn't get his mind off of Karen. It wasn't long before he grabbed a backpack he kept loaded with basic provisions and rode-off towards the trails he knew Karen liked to ride. He rationalized that he wanted to test-out some of the repairs he'd made earlier in the day to his motorcycle but deep-down he knew it was because he was concerned for Karen.
A short while later Sean rode-up to the trailhead and saw Karen's Honda SUV parked near by. There were very few other cars around which meant the trails would be almost empty. Sean had ridden this area for years and knew it better than he knew the streets in the sub-division where he lived. He also knew what route his sister generally liked to ride; she seemed to prefer riding over the ridges and through a small forest. It was a loop-route which meant she would end-up back at the trailhead. Sean decided to ride it backwards from the way it was normally traveled so he'd have a better chance of meeting-up with his sister. With that he dropped his motorcycle into gear and sped-off down the trail.
Despite what common sense might say Sean actually loved riding on days like this. Mid-winter in the hill country of Arizona is cool, almost cold. The leaves on the trees had changed colors and many had fallen. The air was brisk, the rain which fell a few days earlier had packed the trail-down so there was almost no dust and the knobby tires on his motorcycle had no problem finding traction, even though it was on a challenging trail which ran a long the tops of the ridges the only time he really had to concentrate on what he was doing was when descending some of the steeper hills; the air was thick with the moisture of a coming storm although he was relishing having the trail to himself. He hoped to find Karen soon so he'd know she was safe. Then he could lecture her for being stupid and continue on with his ride and hopefully make it back home before the rain came.
Karen looked around as she ascended yet another large hill. She knew she was at about the half-way point, though with light rain starting to fall she was beginning to think her Brother was right; a bike ride in the forest on a day like this might have been a bad idea. However she had come this far so she reasoned she may as well press-on.
Karen pointed her mountain bike over the crest of the hill and began picking-up speed when she felt the front end of her bike start shaking. She looked down to see her front brake swinging free and the bikes front wheel shaking from side-to-side violently. She was in trouble!
Sean took a minute to stop and look around at the tall trees he was now surrounded by. The favorable trail conditions had allowed him to make it a lot farther than he normally would be able to in a relatively short amount of time. He'd last been in this area a couple of months back and he regretted for a minute not bringing any camping gear so he could spend the night. He wondered if the cabins farther up the trail were still in good shape.
In what felt like a second Karen watched the front wheel of her bike brake free of its axle and wedge tight against the front forks of the bike. Before she knew what happened she was thrown over the bars of the bike, her left-foot tangled in the frame of the bike as now she and the bike were tumbling, rolling down the hill. She could feel the sharp rocks of the trail tearing through her Lycra clothing. Finally she and the bike separated as she went tumbling head-over-heels into some brush. Karen laid there on her stomach. Her left ankle was on fire with pain. She ran her hands down her sides and saw her hands covered in blood. She had taken a hard spill. She dropped her head down and passed-out.
There was a light rain falling now and it was almost dark. The headlight on his motorcycle was illuminating a small swath of ground. Sean was worried that he hadn't come across Karen yet. A couple of hikers he'd passed a while ago said a girl matching Karen's description had passed by them on this trail earlier. Being on a motorcycle Sean reasoned he should have caught-up to his bicycle-riding sister before now. Just then his headlight swept past a mangled bike frame laying in the middle of the trail.
Karen woke-up when the sound of an engine approaching filled her ears. 'Help' she meekly cried. She tried to lift herself out of the under-brush then dragged herself by her arms near the edge of the trail.
Sean bailed off of his motorcycle and looked around in the fleeting daylight. He saw a scrapped-up arm coming from some bushes. He jumped into the bushes, his back pack already off his shoulders as he rummaged for a first-aid kit he carried. He moved some branches aside
"Please don't be dead" he said under his breath. He heard a whimper in response.
Now he breathed a sigh of relief. His eyes adjusted quickly to the dim daylight. He could see it was Karen. Her clothes were ripped but she was awake. He sat her up against a tree. Karen lifted her head and looked at the owner of the strong hands which now kept her from falling back into the under-brush. She couldn't think of what to say so she just gave a meek smile.
"Where does it hurt" Sean asked.
"All over" Karen replied "But my left ankle is the worst".
Sean looked at it, immediately he could tell it was broken from the way it sat. "We need to get you out of here" he told her.
