"GET AWAY FROM HER!!" Kangwoo shouted, charging forward.
The biker turned just as Kangwoo slammed into him.
THUD.
They hit the asphalt hard, gravel spraying like shards of glass. The biker groaned. Kangwoo scrambled, fingers closing around the crowbar in the man's hand, but the biker held fast.
The rider forced himself upright, crowbar in hand, and they locked into a brutal tug-of-war.
Kangwoo snapped a kick into the biker's legs, sending him to one knee. The biker surged forward anyway, he wrenched Kangwoo's injured arm and twisted hard, using the momentum to flip him awkwardly over his hip.
Pain exploded across his back. The crowbar tore free of his grip.
It rose instantly, the steel end aimed straight for Kangwoo's face.
Kangwoo twisted just in time. The metal slammed into asphalt beside his head with a skull-rattling crack. He lunged, caught it again, hands locking tight as the biker yanked back, dragging Kangwoo across gravel.
Kangwoo's boots scraped against the ground as he fought his way to his feet, still clinging to the weapon.They continued with the twisted game of tug-of-war.
The biker noticed Kangwoo's limp arm. He struck it with sharp side kicks, one after another. Kangwoo clenched his teeth, refusing to let go. The blows came harder, fueled by frustration.
With a raw scream, Kangwoo heaved the crowbar forward, pulling the biker off-balance. He drove his elbow into the rider's helmet.
WHAM! The impact staggered the biker, the crowbar slipped from the biker's grasp.
Kangwoo lunged for it,
But the biker had already recovered his footing, a brutal punch crashed into Kangwoo's jaw.
White pain burst across his vision as he hit the ground, breath tearing from his lungs.
The biker recovered the crowbar and advanced.
Kangwoo dragged himself backward on his heels and elbow.
Tap.
His shoulder struck something solid. He twisted,
It was a toppled motorcycle, and far beyond it was his bat.
Kangwoo forced himself up and sprinted past it.
The biker lunged, committing, vaulting the motorcycle, sure Kangwoo was going for the bat—
Kangwoo stopped short.
He launched himself upward, shoulder-first with his uninjured arm.
WHAM.
His shoulder smashed into the biker's chest mid-air. The man's breath burst out as he crashed backward onto the motorcycle in a clatter of metal and glass.
…
Kangwoo sank to his knees, shoulder flaring with a white-hot jolt of pain. For a whole second, he thought the fight was over.
…
Engines tore across the cracked road.
Headlights bloomed along the horizon. A swarm of bikers rolled toward them like a living wave.
Kangwoo pushed himself upright. Every step was jagged, his injured arm hanging useless at his side.
Darin's eyes fluttered open. She saw him from an upside-down angle — battered, limping, still moving toward her.
He sank beside her and lifted her head gently into his lap.
Dust spiraled in the air. Engines rumbled closer. Black jackets. The fractured wolf emblem. A tightening circle.
Her gaze flicked past him to the bat lying far behind them.
"Brother…" she whispered. "You can't fight without your bat."
He gave a small, crooked smile despite the blood at his lip.
"It's okay, Darin. I'm here."
The first line of bikers swept past them, wind snapping at his clothes. Then another. Then another.
They didn't stop.
They circled.
Darin memorized his face, the warmth in his eyes, the tilt of his head, the steady way he held her.
The roar of engines grew distant.
Then the circle closed.