beyondtheline | I sure like the feeling of an endless road

I sure like the feeling of an endless road

[A few hours of open road makes for easygoing fun. It's great to be traveling again, and the feeling of Chrissy leaning up against his back, holding on tight while he whips ahead on a wide-open freeway through the pitch black of night is like nothing else. The last time they were racing up and down this freeway, they were on the way to go burn a bunch of people's lives down - but now that's hours back, back with the rest of the city. They've left the lights and have nothing to look at but the pavement in Johnnie's headlight, the glimpses of stars shining weakly through hazy clouds, and occasionally an oncoming car.

Johnnie hasn't exactly been trying to tune in to his senses or abilities or whatever it is he has - he's just been cruising, letting the night go by, enjoying their plunge northward without a care or a thought. So it is deeply irritating when the pavement quickly fades to a well-worn dirt track that almost tosses him and Chrissy to the ground, and it takes all of his skills to get the front wheel under control and to slow down before they hit a rock that really might launch them into the nearest alfalfa field. Or whatever it is that's here, whenever they've found themselves. Somewhere pre-freeway. Boo.

But there are a few lights ahead, and he did need a stop to pee, so, fuck it.]

Well, shit. Y'know, I dunno exactly where we are. Last sign said San Jose was still fuckin' hours off. You good? That was kinda shaky.

[As long as this dirt road stays packed, they can drive it, but it's going to be slow. Good thing they're almost to somewhere.]

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Well, fuck!

[Johnnie laughs in pleased shock as Chrissy rips open the cases, then dives in to help scoop all the goodies up. As interesting as the fancy antiques are, they're way too hard to carry. But gold and pearls sell well in all eras, and so he aims for whatever looks the most expensive and stuffs his pockets.]

I really gotta fuck around more with that stuff I was startin' to get a feel for. You're so fuckin' good at this already, babe. Yeah, head on out an' keep an eye on those kids. I'll only be a minute.

[Pretty quickly he gets to a point where he can't hold more either - his pockets are full, his hands are full, it's all a little much. But what he can do is grab one of the fancy decorative pillows in the window display, rip it open with his knife, pull out a bunch of the stuffing, then fill that with bracelets and brooches and necklaces until his hands are free again.

And, okay, just because it's calling to him, he takes a look at a case that had some funny little artifacts from the past. Who knows what they're worth, but an engraved ivory smoking pipe might at least be an entertaining gift for someone. Dale would get a kick out of it. And a knife inlaid in the hilt with fancy stones? That's for Clicks. He grabs a few other curiosities, then jogs on out to the street.]

[She stands watch at the back door that leads into the alleyway to watch the boys, and turns to head back int to get him out when he comes jogging her way.]

Let's get this stuff put up.

[The taller boy is standing near the bike while the younger is standing on the corner of the street to watch for anyone. Chrissy smiles at the sight of them actually doing what they're supposed to, and hurries to get all the jewelry meant to pawn into her Mighty Mouse lunchbox so they can get the saddlebags done up. The kid standing close by is watching with wide eyes, and she gives him a smile as she grabs one of the twenties to hand over to him.]

Thanks for keeping an eye on things. Let your friend know he can come grab his twenty before we take off.

[But as soon as she says it, she realizes he's already running over. She waves him over and passes a twenty along to him too. Both boys grin and start taking excitedly in Spanish, in whispers so she can't tell what they're saying. But she's pretty sure she hears something about beer and girls so they must be planning to have themselves a little party tonight. The roll of her eyes is amused as she hops on the back of the bike and gives Johnnie a hand so he can get in place himself.]

[Put up? Up where?

Okay no he can make sense of that it just takes a second to work out what she meant. White people, man.

Stuffing the whole jewelry pillow into the saddlebag is the next step while Chrissy pays off the kids, and he grins as he assesses their haul. Yeah, they did real good tonight and it hasn't even been that long.

So he gives the boys a wave and a brief farewell, then hops up into his seat and pats Chrissy on the thigh before starting up the engine and backing out onto the street.]

Good kids. Shoulda got their names. All right, let's get the fuck outta here. I think we oughta stash all this shit somewhere safe before we go fuck up Dante an' his boys. But if the cops are out lookin' around an' if they get word we're stayin' in that motel they might go look there, so... Any ideas?

[Up a tree? That's usually a good one. Or down in a manhole. Somewhere it'll be hard to spot for a few hours until they come back for it all.]

Maybe somewhere by that bridge? What's it called again?

[She knows she's heard of it at one point or another, it's supposedly a famous tourist destination. But when she's primed on theft and is focused on causing trouble, details of non-crime related activities tend to slip away.]

There has to be somewhere near there that's a park or something we can hide stuff for a little while.

[But if it's filled with tourists, maybe even at night, that may not be the best choice. Her mind turns to try and rapidly think of anywhere else, but it's hard when she just doesn't know the city.]

We need to think of somewhere we can put these things inside something so no one else can get them. [She pauses, giving him a squeeze as she rests her chin on his shoulder and thinks.]

Hey, what about a church? We've gone by a few of them. No one goes into them this late at night. And I bet they'd never think to look for us there. We can stick them up under a pew or something.

Oh! Yeah, that's perfect. Church it is.

[Way better than the bridge idea in his opinion. Sure, late night mass definitely can be a thing, but he feels like the odds are probably in their favor.

The first one they come to isn't actually a church, per se, it's a Jewish temple. Are those open all night? It looks pretty fucking dead right now. He parks outside and eyes it speculatively, then hops off.]

Same thing, right?

[The lights are off, there's nobody here. He trots on over to the front door before getting anything out of the bike, and there's nothing obvious on the little paper schedule next to that front door suggesting anyone's likely to come do Jewish midnight things, so he tries the front door and finds it swings open easily.]

Hey, I think we're good!

[She's never been in a Jewish temple before, so she's pretty quiet at first in an attempt to be respectful. Just because they're hiding stolen goods inside this place doesn't mean they can't treat it with respect.]

I guess they don't need to lock up at night.

[Her voice is kept low, and as they head inside she's incredibly grateful that even though the lights aren't on there's some sub lighting that at least keeps it from being pitch black in here. They walk through a small foyer that leads to double doors that guide their way into the temple itself. It's definitely different from the church she grew up going to, but there's enough similarities that she smiles a little as she jogs on up ahead.]

There's a lot of seats all around this room, huh? Not exactly like a church where it's all benches straight in a row. And look, a stage!

[Is it a stage?

Probably not. But she dances her way up onto the platform as she looks for a place to hide their stuff. Everything up here looks too noticeable and obvious, so she makes her way back down and looks around the room as fast as she can.]

What about over here?

[There's a couple of wooden boxes that are on the floor against a wall, one that's latched closed with a padlock. The other is just latched without one, and she opens it up to reveal...

Candles.

A whole bunch of boxes of candles.]

Let's try putting everything in here. We'll be back in a few hours, way before sunrise.

Yeah, that should be fine.

[No chance anyone's going to come in here in the next couple hours looking for stolen jewelry. And if by chance someone does, at least it won't be easily traceable to the two of them.

He helps her trot their finds over from the bike into the box. It's a tight squeeze, but with some force and a little shoving, they manage to get it all contained and latched, and Johnnie grins at their success afterward.]

That box'd be fuckin' bulging at the sides if it could. All right, let's get the fuck outta here. Y'know, maybe we don't need spray paint, just gasoline.

[Though spray paint will still be a great find if they happen to spot a hardware supply. Mostly he just wants to burn Dante's shitty hangout to the ground, and if they have to burn their mark into the earth to show it was them, fine.]

Just help me remember which streets we took so we can get back here without losin' all that stuff.

[Once they're both seated, he's off again - time to find themselves the tools they need to give those Jawbreakers all the regrets they'll ever be able to handle.]

[Wait, he wants her to navigate? For real? Her eyes widen as she quickly takes in as many landmarks as possible to try and remember. She's so focused on that, she's not looking for hardware stores that might have spray paint. That will have to be on him.]

I think we need spray paint. Because I mean, we don't even know if Dante is still alive after what I did last night, right? But if he is, we want him to know it was us. And they won't unless we tag stuff around their clubhouse.

[It's one thing to set it all on fire, but she's in a particular sort of mood that demands vindictive destruction.]

Dante was so mean to you yesterday and he really hurt my arm when he grabbed me. So I want him and all his guys to pay for it. I wanna lock them in the clubhouse and make it hard for them to get out when it's on fire.

[Is that terrible?

She's losing the ability to tell what's unhinged and what's normal.]

Yeah, yeah, you're right. Spray paint. Okay, well - I guess we gotta get farther outta town. Nobody doing construction projects is gonna come look this way, right?

[The kinds of places that sell paint are usually close to where people need them. On the outskirts, near the suburbs. Near industrial centers and docks. And gasoline they can get anywhere. So he does his best to at least judge the general direction they need to go in to head back toward the harbor, and rockets down the street at speeds far exceeding whatever the supposed limit is.

Sirens, in the distance. Could be for them, could be something else. To the south. They're still in the clear for now, but he'll be keeping tabs.

Fifteen minutes or so dumps them into a stretch of factories lining the train tracks on their way to the harbor, and that's where he finds a hardware store easily enough. They have a tall metal fence and a heavy-looking lock on the gate.]

Guess they get fuckin' tired of people like us. C'mon, I'll boost you up.

What kind of store has a gate like this? It's not the Ritz Carlton, sheesh.

[She rolls her eyes as she stares up at the metal fence, but readily moves in closer so he can give her a boost. It won't be too hard for her to scale this thing and get to the other side, and sure enough she's climbing up and leaping over and landing on her feet. Getting the gate open isn't going to work with the lock, so she takes a second and stands back to figure out what to do.]

Hey, babe? I may try breaking in and getting what we need by myself. I'm not sure how to get you over here to this side. There's only the one gate, and that lock looks like a pain in the butt to deal with.

That's fine, you go on ahead. I'll keep an eye out for the pigs.

[And maybe see if he can work the lock open with his picks, though he's not expecting it. It's practice, though.]

You wind up with more'n you can hold, just roll stuff under to me an' I'll get it on the bike. Or throw it over, I dunno.

[Or break a fucking hole in it with her weird fucking powers. Cool ones, yeah, but damn. Maybe that's what he should be doing, practicing his own shit, but he can't figure out how to access it without that background cosmic hum - or the purr of his bike engine on a long open road where he can let go of everything else.

Oh well. Lockpicking, it is, while listening to those distant sirens. So far, so good.]

Edited (a head is one word omg) 2025-06-22 02:55 (UTC)

[Sadly, the thought of using what she can do to force the gate open doesn't even cross her mind. Her heels kick up as she jumps in excitement at Johnnie approving of her going in alone. A quick jog up to the front door has her trying to jiggle it open, but of course it's locked.

That's okay, the doors are glass. There's some garden things for sale off to the side, and she grabs one of the dog shaped little statues to slam against the door a few times until the glass shatters. The statue is set down at her feet and she pats it head before stepping through broken glass and through the jagged opening in the door to the inside.

There's signs hanging up near the ceiling, and she makes a beeline straight for the aisle labeled as paint. She finds a giant paint bucket and fills it with cans of spray paint, lots of black and red and yellow. There's a few cans of neon orange she grabs for good measure. On her way out she finds plastic gas canisters, but can't carry them along with the bucket. So she runs that out to the fence and starts rolling each can under to Johnnie one at a time.]

Are those sirens getting closer? I gotta run back in and get a couple of gas containers!

[It's hard to tell if the sirens are coming for them. Maybe she shouldn't chance it, but they really do need those containers.]

[Oh hell yeah, paint. One by one, he grabs those as she rolls them until his arms are full. That lock isn't opening tonight, he's abandoning it for now.]

I dunno, they're goin' in and out. Maybe when they go behind buildings or somethin'. I think we still got time, but you better hurry!

[He's excited, though. Racing the cops to burn some assholes' clubhouse to a crisp? Best kind of night there is. Any minute now the cops could turn down this way and catch them before they get out - so they just have to be faster, and he's good at fast.

Once the paint is all tucked away, he turns back toward the fence, and now those sirens are definitely louder. He takes one glance back toward the road, then shouts through the fence.]

Hey, you better hurry! If you don't have 'em just get out here, we'll get 'em somewhere else! Get some bolt cutters instead so you can get this lock off!

[Hopefully she can hear him yelling. With that, he runs and hops onto the bike. He can lead these assholes in circles all night if they get here before she gets out. He'll make sure they don't catch her trapped in there.]

[Oh, she hears that. She hears him calling to her and the sirens edging in closer, and she pushes herself to run as fast as she can. She grabs only one gas container and jogs the store until she finds tools. A bolt cutter is surprisingly easy to find, and she's panting for air as she makes it back to the gate and crouches down on her hands and knees to shove the bolt cutters beneath the fence.

Only they don't fit, so she curses and hops up to stand. They're not hard to use, she just isn't as strong as he is. Still, she's able to get the chain and lock broken on her third try, and tosses the bolt cutters aside so she can use both hands to pull them free and get the gate open.

He's not there though. Gosh, those sirens are awfully close. He's not being chased by cops right now, is he? If he had to leave her here because she was too slow, she's going to be so mad at herself.]

[While part of his mind hopes Chrissy is making her way out safely, most of his focus is on distracting the cop car that has found him. It's a pretty funny game, actually - driving just fast enough that they can't catch him, but just slow enough that he doesn't lose them. These cops are fucking nuts, though, reminds him of home - they're happy to speed right up to where they can almost ram him from behind if he's on a straightaway for too long. And unlike him, they know the city - all it takes is for one of their friends to catch up and cut him off and he might find himself trapped in some narrow alleyway with no way to escape but on foot. And he doesn't love those odds.

He leads them in a long chase before turning tightly and doubling back. They'll probably figure it out eventually, but for now he's clear, for a few minutes, leaving them far behind as he zigzags through tight corners and back alleys. The abrupt change of direction has him returning toward the hardware store - where Chrissy must be hiding, hopefully. Looks like she got the gate open at least.]

We got two minutes, c'mon!

[He shouts toward the gate as he approaches, then parks, but he keeps the engine running - and his fingers anxiously tap out a beat on the handlebars as he directs his gaze from the gate back toward the road behind him.]

Johnnie!

[She's so happy to see him that she comes running, bolt cutters in one hand and the gas container in the other. The bolt cutters get tucked into a saddlebag and secured, then she's hopping up and getting the gas can on her lap. She leans in closer against him, just enough that she can kiss the back of his neck with a relieved sigh.]

I was worried you had to ditch me or something! Let's get outta here, okay?

[There's not a single ounce of her that wants to end up arrested. At least not before they wind up setting Dante & his gang on fire.]

Were they chasing you?

[Her head turns to glance back behind them as she asks it, as she still hears the siren moving somewhere but vaguely getting closer. Johnnie's a good driver, he'll get them out of there and somewhere else really quickly and they can find a gas station to fill up at.]

[Boy, she doesn't have to tell him twice. The moment she's on and has the stuff secured, he guns it, throttle wide open to continue to scoot on down the road at a rapid clip to try and make more room between them and the cops.]

Yeah! Well, I was makin' 'em chase me 'cause I didn't want 'em to come by here with us sitting still! Figured I'd drag 'em away from you then come back. So far, so good, but these fuckers are relentless. Almost as bad as LAPD.

[But cops are cops so that's not surprising. They're all assholes, all out to stop people from having a good fun night doing whatever they want to do. Like robbing places and fucking with enemies. It's so unfair.]

We're gonna have to go pretty far outta our way before I can turn back around. But, babe, don't worry, shit like that happens again? I ain't leavin' you behind! They'd have to put me in fuckin' jail first.

That's so sweet, Johnnie.

[Not the most romantic thing he's ever said to her, but it's right up there. She never thought he'd willingly leave her behind, but hearing him reassure her puts a smile on her face and she gives him a little squeeze as best as she can with that silly gas canister pressed between them.]

I don't always need you to, but I still like it when you protect me.

[He's the only person in the whole world that ever does it the right way.]

But hey, let's drive for a little while then stop and fill this thing up. Maybe we can tie it onto the back of the seat somehow so I don't have to hold it!

[That way both of her arms will be free to be firmly around him and she can cuddle up while they're on their way to pay a destructive and violent visit to their new friend Dante.]

Yeah, we'll drive for a while. I bet any gas station around here's gonna have a bungee cord or somethin' we can swipe to hook that thing to the seat.

[It'd be a helpful investment in general anyway. Maybe a couple bungee cords so the bolt cutters can get strapped down under his leg. They're stable enough for now but there's got to be a more space-efficient way to carry them.

When the sirens have died down for at least ten minutes, Johnnie decides the cops must have given up - they've truly lost them with all the zig-zagging and the racing down straightaways. He circles back to the last gas station they passed, and pulls up to investigate.

This one is still staffed apparently, late into the night. There's an attendant at a register inside, and a car ahead of them just now pulling away, and he can't work out if that's helpful to them or not.]

Could drive around to a closed one maybe, there's gotta be somethin' that isn't 24 hours here, right?

[As he wonders, the attendant looks up at them sitting still on the pavement there, and pokes his head out the front door.]

Hey there! You need a hand?

[Of all the places for a guy to be super helpful...]

Huh? Oh yeah, I need to use the bathroom! Can you show me where yours is?

[The guy smiles and motions for her to come on in.]

Sure. The men's room is out back, but we got one inside for the ladies. You okay pumping gas, man?

[He's clearly only asking Johnnie to be polite and offer customer service, but he's already heading back inside to show Chrissy where to go to the bathroom. She's hoping that will give Johnnie time to get the gas in the can and find something to tie it to the bike with while she goes to the bathroom and then talks the guy's ear off for a while.]

[Oh perfect, Chrissy just took that and ran with it. She's so damn good at that.

Johnnie waves the guy off and fills up the gas can, then fills up the bike while he's at it, because damn, would sure be a shame to run out at the wrong time and he's getting low after all that running around earlier.

She's doing a great job keeping the attendant occupied while Johnnie wanders in to poke around the shelves. A couple bungee cords tuck into his jacket easy enough, along with a stick of jerky and a candy bar, he's feeling snacky. Make that two candy bars, since she'll want one too.

And then he slinks back out, hoping she's keeping an eye out for him doing just that so she can rejoin him without him ever having to deal with the attendant. He might wonder later about the payment for the gas but by then they'll be long gone.]

[She has to really chat the guy up, play flirt a little, make him think she's interested in what he has to say. It enables her to grab a lighter from right near the register when he's focused on her face and not her hands, and she pockets it to gift to Johnnie. When she glances out the big window and notices Johnnie back near the bike she excuses herself and waves goodbye, jogging out to join him.]

I got you a present in there!

[It comes out an excited song, and she struts a pretend guitar as she hops around until she settles at the back of the bike where he's securing the gas canister with a bungee cord.]

And it looks like you got what we needed, so we should be good to go, huh?

[She gives a little tug to the bungee, and gasps in amusement at the sound it makes as it slaps back down into place.]

Uh huh. Better scram before that guy notices what just happened right under his nose.

[He leans in to give her a quick kiss, then catches the surprised expression through the window on the cashier's face and gives him a cocky eyebrow raise before hopping on the bike.]

Time to fuckin' go, hold on tight!

[It's unnecessary, the speed at which the bike takes off and the engine noise that comes with it, but Johnnie howls with joy at his own stupid display as they tear off into the night.]

All right, now we just gotta remember the way to the stupid fuckin' clubhouse. Follow the tags, right? At least I remember kinda what part of town it was in, we'll find it.

[Her laughter is loud, but is quickly cut off by her howling along with him. They're not in their pack here, but they're lethal and effective together. They can be ruthless and efficient, and right now their prey drive is switching on as they make their way across town. Johnnie knows where he's going to get in the general area, and as he signals they've reached it she keeps her eyes peeled.

It only takes a few minutes to find the first sign of tagging, and it guides them the right way. It's not so late that the Jawbreakers are all hanging out in one place yet, and the streets are full of them on high alert. They're definitely noticed as they drive through, and Chrissy holds onto Johnnie a little tighter as she eyes a group of four guys that are so built that it looks like they could break her back over their knee if they wanted to.]

I was gonna ask how we're supposed to get them all into their clubhouse. But I think we've got guys following us.

[Actually, there's a lot of girls with them. Gangs sure do become a lot more girl oriented in the 80s. That's pretty progressive. It's too bad they'll have to die with everybody else.]

Oh hey, take a left up at this light. We definitely went that way to find Dante.

[Oh yeah, there's guys following them all right. Even though a lot of them are on foot and they easily speed past, a few minutes more and there are new headlights on the road, new cars tailing them. But they haven't been shot at yet. These guys are cautious after what happened last night - even as they clearly want to run the two of them out of their turf.

Johnnie takes the left with a nod, agreeing that it looks familiar. From here, it was pretty straightforward - if a few extremely brain-dead kids could get them there, then there wasn't anything difficult about it. Just a matter of following along until they see the lights of the Roadhouse down the next block.

So Johnnie slows a little, intentionally, making sure they're noticed and that people have time to catch up, before he zips on off to a side road.]

I want 'em in the building. If they come here lookin' for us an' lose us, they might all meet up to make sure everyone knows we're back. Kinda hoping they do, anyway.

I sure like the feeling of an endless road

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