Harrison came in the backyard to see Carrie already waiting for him. She was sitting on the four wheeler wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt.
"Nice shirt."
He actually looked down at his shirt. It was all white with the Panthers logo on the front. Except that it looked like Chewbacca.
"Thanks. The whole team got one in December when the new movie came out."
Harrison had on hand on the handlebar and was about to jump on behind her when he asked, "you sure you don't want your own. My other one is automatic."
Carrie shook her head. "You can do all the hard work."
He climbed on behind her and started his beloved four wheeler. "Where are we going?"
"You'll see."
Harrison shifted it into first gear and turned towards the woods. "I actually have a ton of trails that go through here. A few summers ago, Terrance and I made them."
"This is the first time I've ever been on one of these."
"You're going to love it."
They drove for a little bit. The trails were pretty nice. After deciding where the trails would go through, Harrison and Terrance put down some rocks to keep the vegetation from totally covering them. With the rocks laid down, there also wasn't as much mud.
As they went, Harrison was pointing out specific things in the woods such as the pond, the small creek they had to cross, and the small field where he saw plenty of deer in the last few years.
"Wanna know something you probably don't know about me?"
She looked over her shoulder. "Sure."
"Terrance and I were into racing four wheelers when we were younger. I won a few races before I fell off and dislocated my shoulder and ended up missing my entire sophomore football season in high school. That was the end of racing."
"Is that why your shoulder is messed up?"
"Yep."
They came to a four way junction. "Which way?"
"Let's go straight," she told him.
They continued straight for a little bit when Harrison suddenly stopped. "What?"
He pointed up ahead. "A bear and her two cubs."
The three bears were crossing the trail up ahead. "Definitely don't want to get too close to them. Mama bears get nasty when you get close to their cubs. Especially when they should be hibernating right now."
"Did you find that out the hard way too?"
"Actually no. You just don't want to mess with them."
After giving the bears a few minutes to venture deeper into the woods away from the trail, Harrison and Carrie continued on.
"Geez, how far are we going?"
"Far. This path we're on now circles back to the house."
Harrison sped up a little bit on the following straightaway. "This is fun, isn't it?"
"We should do this more often."
As he was about to take the next right, he brought the machine to a stop and looked to the left. Through the weeds was a new trail freshly matted down by tires. And he didn't make it.
"What's wrong?"
After turning the four wheeler off, he took a short walk down the path. It had been freshly traveled. After the rain last night, there was already fresh tracks through the mud.
He came back to Carrie. "What?"
"Somebody's been riding back here."
"And?"
"All of these trails we've been riding on are on our property. Somebody's been trespassing."
"Did you give anyone permission to ride back here?"
"No."
Harrison jumped back on behind her. "Wanna go on a little adventure?"
"Why not?"
He started the four wheeler and they started down the new path.
❺❾
Harrison wasn't liking this at all. They hadn't seen any other paths, meaning whoever was riding on their property, was doing so on purpose.
They were well off their own property now while following the path that led into a small clearing. In the clearing was a cabin he had no idea was back here. They lived in a very secluded area away from the city, but he never knew there was a camp this close.
"Maybe we should get out of here," Carrie suggested.
"Why?"
"There's a million no trespassing signs."
"Well whoever lives or rents here is trespassing on our property."
Just as he said that, the back door to the cabin opened, and out came a man holding a shotgun.
"F**K!"
He fired a shot in the air and Harrison quickly turned the four wheeler around and quickly sped back down the path they came. Then they heard the roar of another four wheeler behind them.
"Is he following us?"
"Yeah."
Carrie held on to the seat as they jumped plenty of bumps he avoided on the way here. "Duck!"
She did as told. Harrison sitting behind her nearly missed a pricker bush to the face. "He shouldn't be able to keep up with us!"
"I don't feel so reassured by that!"
"This is my racing quad! We're only in 3rd gear! Out of six!"
Carrie looked over her shoulder. "He's catching up!"
Harrison took a quick turn and skidded the back tires. They were on a straightaway. He quickly shifted up into sixth gear and she watched over his shoulder as they put some distance between themselves and the man.
"How's this for fast!?"
Then they heard another shot. Carrie felt Harrison tap her hip with something. She looked down to see him holding a small black pistol. "Only if you have to."
"Where the hell did you get this from!?"
"I bring it in case of bears!" He yelled back over the wind.
"I don't even know how to use it!"
"The safety is the small trigger! It's on right now!"
Luckily, she didn't have to use the gun. Harrison drove fast, getting them back to the house in only a few minutes. They thought they were safe until the man's four wheeler barraged out of the woods. Carrie immediately shoved the gun into Harrison's hands as he moved to stand in front of her.
She heard the safety of the gun click off as his four wheeler came to stop. "Why the hell were you on my property man!?"
"Tell me why you were on mine!"
"My buddies and I found those trails."
"They're part of private property that you don't have authority to be on."
Carrie didn't see the shotgun which was good. Meanwhile, Harrison was still holding his. Then the man stepped off his machine and took a few steps towards Harrison.
"For your sake, if I were you, I'd get my ass out of here before the authorities get involved."
"Like you're going to call the police."
Then the man pushed Harrison who responded with a hard punch to his jaw. "You wanna go? Let's go."
He didn't say anything as his eyes wandered to the gun Harrison had in his other hand. "Get out of here, stay off my property, and I'll forget this ever happened."
The man seemed intimidated by the gun, as he slowly back up towards his four wheeler. "Okay."
Together Harrison and Carrie watched him drive away. He holstered the gun and put an arm around her as they walked back to the house. "How was that for an adventure?"
"A little much."
Okay, I need your help. After what happened this weekend in the NFL, my mom ripped the Steelers license plate bracket off the back of the car that's been on there for like 5 years. It's probably on its way to the landfill right now. Anyway, I want to get another bracket because the plate is a little rusty from all the snow and salt that got up under there and she said I could get another one so here's the ones I was thinking of.
As soon as she said that, I was like STAR WARS! I'm torn between the three. I like all of them but I'm leaning towards the second one because I'm not sure how sliver would look on a metallic light blue. What do you guys think?