The heat is crushing.

The sun beats down on the cracked asphalt, and the air vibrates above the road like a living mirage. My Harley is nothing but a memory since I sold the parts to get food. My boots are covered in red dust, and my throat burns as if I'd swallowed sand.

For weeks I've been wandering aimlessly, without a plan.

Just me, the road, and that noise in my head that refuses to stop—the sound of gunfire in Chicago.

I pull into an old, abandoned roadside diner.

There's a broken vending machine, two rusty pumps, and… a shadow. A figure leaning against a chrome motorcycle, wearing sunglasses despite the light, a smirk on its face.

“Hey, you look like a guy who just fought the desert and lost.”

That’s how I met him—Brian.

He offered me a cigarette. And that simple gesture changed everything.

In that moment, I knew he wasn’t judging me. He had the same light in his eyes—the light of someone who’s burned everything in their wake.

And yet, there was something more. An unspoken promise. An invitation to no longer be alone on the road.

He offered me to stay at his house for some time — I looked like crap anyway.

Brian’s house is simple, a little run-down, but full of life.

Empty bottles on the table, an old, threadbare sofa, punk band posters plastered on the walls. The smell of stale tobacco and gasoline hangs in the air, familiar, almost comforting.

I enter without a word, the leather of my jacket creaking beneath my movements. Brian tosses me a towel and a smile.

“Go rinse off. You look like you’ve been under the road.”

I splash water on my face, look at my reflection in the cracked mirror. I see a lost kid. Dirty. Tired. And in my eyes, something broken.

Then I hear a softer voice behind me. Hesitant steps, lighter than Brian’s. I turn around.

Brian’s little sibling is there. Younger. Their gaze is different not that of a thug. Something more…pure, almost. And yet, they says nothing. Just this silence, heavy, attentive.

“My brother, Jax. He’s from Chicago.”

I nod, but I already sense that this kid sees more than he should.