the bike. The engine immediately growled. A squeal ripped from her as she sped down the hall, and he followed, leaning low, clinging to the handlebars, feeling the exhilarating rush. From behind, he heard a bellow.
Right on cue. But they were gone.
This part of the tunnel proved wide enough for them to ride side by side. A glance to the side showed Casey gripping the handlebars, expression intent. Knowing it would annoy her, he passed her and then waved as he pulled ahead.
The noise of the engine meant he couldn’t hear her, but he felt it. An amused feeling that she let seep past her shields. He didn’t probe further. He barely had any juice left inside him. His recovery was normal but still taking too long. He needed to recharge his internal battery, but he wasn’t in the right place to do that yet.
Casey zipped past him with a rude gesture, and it was on. They rode and raced for hours, taking turns passing each other, until he called a stop. He wanted to ensure they were refreshed before the next stint of their journey.
A ball of light illuminated yet another strategically placed lantern. He got off the bike and stretched.
She joined him with a smirk. “You don’t ride too badly for a city boy.”
At the half-compliment, he snorted. “Isn’t that the equivalent of me saying you’re pretty good for a girl?”
“I am better, actually. Most of the women I know aren’t interested in the things I’ve learned to do.”
“It’s said the ancient humans before the Fall were quite intent on ensuring men and women were equal in all ways.”
“Did they succeed?”
“I don’t know. The Fall hit, and things changed, but my theory is, in the long run, the experiment would have failed. No one is equal because everyone is different.”
“On that we can agree. I like fighting and things that make my adrenaline rush. But others, like Benny and Sally, prefer to take on a nurturing role. It’s not what’s between our legs that defines us, but what’s up here.”
He regarded her, the feeling inside him more than just admiration. “You’re a smart lady.”
She grimaced. “Ugh. You just had to ruin the moment.”
At that, he laughed.
The sleek bikes needed only water to run their engines. The rock basin fed by a trickle that rolled down the wall gave them enough to fill both their tanks. The canisters in their packs would only be used in an emergency.
Once refueling was done, she took off without waiting for him, leaning low and gunning the machine.
A warrior with no fear.
A mind he couldn’t read.
A woman he desired.
Was he doomed to make the same mistakes again?
Chapter 15
Casey gunned the machine, reveling in the strong purr of the engine. The initial need for speed had waned, and they now both rode in tandem, the darkness a deep unrelenting gloom broken only by the beams of light coming from their bikes. Given the light didn’t give them much advance visual notice, she could only hope there weren’t too many things to avoid. More than once she’d caught the glint of eyes and the scurry of a body as something hid.
At one point, she realized the tunnel had lightened. A gradually growing illumination, which turned out to be a vast chamber ringed in a narrow walkway that only allowed them to ride one at a time. He rode ahead of her, waggling the rear of his bike. Since she couldn’t pass, she slowed a touch and glanced across the open space.
The waterfall, true to its name, poured but not in the way gravity usually worked. It flowed upwards, splashing into the ceiling before falling down.
Not what she expected, especially since she saw wriggling bodies in that watery mass. She paused the bike, holding herself upright with one foot on the perforated flooring and looked more closely. Blinked.
She thought she saw…surely not. The shape in the torrent of water arched before it slammed into the ceiling. Visible for a moment was a lithe figure. Something impossible with the upper body of a female— breasts, pendulous and tipped with dark nipples—the lower of a fish. The scales were a glittering blue and matched the hair that whirled and revealed a face of horror. No nose, just two holes, wide staring eyes, and jagged teeth.
Another kind of Deviant, the truly changed kind, that reminded her of a ghoul. It ululated as it plummeted through the water, and she watched, wondering what lay at the bottom. Would the fall