There was nowhere to turn off. On one side a sliding mountain, on the other a steep grade interrupted by thickly clustered pines.
Gideon stomped on the gas. Outrunning it was their only hope.
The liquified ground rolled toward the Jeep with sickening speed.
They weren’t going to make it.
Grimly, he kept going as the rush swallowed them, inch by inch.
****
Mackenzie felt a scream bubbling up, but the onslaught impacted the Jeep like a detonating bomb.
Stunned, she held tight to avoid having her head slammed against the door. Through a curtain of brown debris she was able to discern the Jeep was being swept sideways off the road. Gideon still held the wheel in a vain attempt to control it, his arms iron taut, jaw clenched.
In a whoosh of movement the slide picked up the vehicle and sent it tumbling sideways over and over as they were pushed into the trees.
Leaves, branches, mud, and sky whirled. Her vision blurred and she lost all sense of equilibrium. Gideon reached for her hand and she clutched at his, the torrent raging around them until her ears rang.
They’d be buried alive. How long before their bodies would be discovered?
Her mother’s face appeared in her scattered thoughts. Another child to mourn. Or maybe one who would simply disappear. An even greater anguish for her parents to live with. Questions that would never be answered added to the ones they already had about Aaron’s death.
A great smash to the front slapped her hard against the seat. The airbags deployed with a pop.
Without warning, all motion stopped. The sound continued, growing fainter and fainter until it tapered off.
Mackenzie found herself staring into the sky, the Jeep having come to rest on the driver’s side.
She struggled for breath, and when she had the strength, she turned her face and whispered.
“Gideon?” Her sight was fuzzy from the violent shaking, the deflating airbag filling her view.
Was his hand in hers? For a moment, she couldn’t be sure. His squeeze to her palm left her giddy with relief. “Gid, are you ...”
“Present,” he croaked. “Status report, Zee?”
“Give me a minute.”
“Yeah. I need one too.”
They held hands and breathed, taking stock as theirfaculties returned. Gideon’s window was shattered, the needles of the pine they’d impacted poking through the fractures, cold air numbing her cheeks. If she craned her neck, her sideways view framed a canopy of overhead branches and a patch of steely sky.
“I don’t think I’m injured much,” she said finally. “Just put through the blender. You?”
“Fit for duty, ma’am.” He let go of her hand and unbuckled his seat belt. With a lot of squirming and batting at the airbags, he positioned himself to unbuckle her and help her into an awkward crouch on the passenger seat. No unusual pain to any body part, she noted. Yet.
Gideon peered through his broken glass. “My door is crushed flat to the ground. We’re going to have to exit via yours.”
She tried the handle and shoved with her shoulder. Gideon helped but it was a wasted effort. The door was immovable, having been smashed and bent out of shape.
“Window?”
He confirmed with a nod. Reaching around her, he used the hand crank to lower the glass.
“Perks of an old-school car,” he said.
When it was opened, she stuck her head out like a gopher scenting the air. The oozing ground had settled all around the Jeep, filling the space and cementing the vehicle in place as if it were a brick mortared into a wall. She swallowed, feeling suddenly very small in the upheaval, and very grateful not to be dead.
