She sat there, breathing. No blood. No fire. Just the ticking of hot metal and the vast, indifferent stars.
The first run was tentative—a shakedown, she told herself. 120 mph. The flats were empty, cracked earth blurring beneath her. But her heart rate didn’t spike. Her pulse stayed a metronome.
Ivy Wolfe had one rule for herself: never let the silence settle. Silence meant thinking, and thinking meant remembering the life she’d left behind—the one with the desk job, the beige cubicle, the clock that ticked louder than her dreams.
She climbed out, touched the crumpled door, and patted the roof like a horse that had thrown her but meant no harm.