Flash Fiction Friday: Ride or Die

Today's story takes up less than an hour after "Strategy on the Run" back in the Supers Universe. However, you don't have to have read the other stories in the universe for this story to make sense.

​Also, you can find the audio version here.

“Come on. When have my calculations ever been wrong?

“Well…”

“Shut up! That was one time.” Emma’s lips twisted in disgruntlement, and her eyes flicked between the road they were on and the ship heading for the bascule bridge up ahead.

“Yes, one time,” Cameron said, “but there are a lot of similarities between that one time and now.”

“I’ve gotten better at adjusting to low light,” Emma insisted. Jerking the wheel left, she swerved into the other lane to get around a driver just minding their own business, going the speed limit like some kind of sane person. “When in the past couple years?”

Cameron tried to think back, but he was rather busy trying to keep from losing his dinner as Emma wove in and out of traffic. The light ahead was yellow, and even he knew there was no way they’d make it through the intersection before it turned red. The engine revved as Emma hit the gas, pushing poor Monte harder. Cameron braced himself on the dash and hung onto the door handle like it was the last life preserver on the Titanic.

“I can’t think of one,” he said through clenched teeth. The light switched, and he squeezed his eyes closed. They zoomed through, swerving again as horns blared. “But there are too many variables!” he insisted. “If you’re off by even a fraction of a second…”

“Crash or splash. I’m well aware.” Emma’s tone crept from irritated to angry. “You wanna pull over and surrender? Throw ourselves at the mercy of the same people who’ve been keeping tabs on every super and their extended families for generations?”

Cameron opened his eyes to see Emma checking the progress of the ship again. The lights on the bascule bridge were flashing now, and he could see the lights of vehicles lining up at the edge of the leaves.

“I’m sure they’ll be pleased as punch a couple of supes for hire decrypted and destroyed the drive they were hired to swipe and deliver.” She shivered. Glancing into the rearview mirror, her expression hardened from worry back to grim determination. “I don’t know about you, but personally, I’d rather go out in a blaze of glory and crumpled metal than let them get their hands on that memory of yours, Cam.”

Emma hit the brakes and jerked the wheel left as the intersection for the bridge’s onramp cleared. Inertia pushed Cameron into the door as they skidded through, straight into the carpool lane.

As much as he didn’t want to die, Emma was right. His memory was a lockbox, but he had a laughable pain tolerance. If they were caught, all they’d done would be for nothing. He braced himself again as Emma went up onto the deserted pedestrian walkway to get around the few vehicles stopped in the carpool lane.

“Do it then,” he said.

Emma’s only response was to floor it as the rising bridge loomed in front of them.

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Each story in this series is 500 words or less and is prompted by a first line taken either from a random first line generator like this one or reader suggestions like "Don't Forget Me" and "Culture Shock." I much prefer working from reader suggestions over generators, but to do that, I need to hear from you.

If you have a prompt you'd like to see done, comment below, send it to my Tumblr asks, Tweet it at me, or leave a comment on any of the audio stories from this series. I'll screen shot it, write it, and post it for you.