"Get back inside," he said.
I obeyed. Of course I did. I had no other choice. My body instinctively listened to him, no matter what was going through my head.
I sat back inside the car feeling the cold seep into my bones as Victor filled up the tank. When he was done, we set off again, back into the raging storm that had claimed my spirit and I covered half my face with the scarf, smelled my Dare, tried to gain some courage from it before I reeled into oblivion.
We rejoined the country road and continued north for a few minutes, but the longer we went on the more frustrated Victor got. He tapped his foot and drummed his hands and twistedhis face and I flinched with every spontaneous outburst until I couldn't take it anymore.
"Is...are you okay?" I asked.
"No, I'm not!" he shouted. "This detour is pissing me off. I want to get back to the city, back to our home. Not go deeper in this shithole."
I placed my hand over his on his knee and tried to give it a reassuring squeeze.
"I-I know, but the road was closed. There?—"
"I know the road was closed, Zach. I'm not an idiot." He slapped my hand away and returned his on the steering wheel.
"There must have been an accident. It's okay. We'll be back on route soon," I said and he grumbled, giving me an evil glare.
I bit my lip and sat back. Nothing had changed. All this time apart and he was still the same hot-tempered asshole he had always been. Though, what did I expect? I hadn't come back to him because he'd turned into an angel.
"What the—" Victor started and leaned in closer to the windscreen.
I turned my attention from him to the road ahead and saw nothing but dark gray smoke.
"What is that?" I asked.
"I don't know. Do I look like I know, idiot? For fuck's sake," Victor yelled and I hunched my shoulders.
As if that would protect me from his wrath.
Victor slowed down as we came head-to-head with the smoke and were swallowed whole by it. There was a car on the side of the road, its hazard lights were on, and it seemed to be the source of the fumes. Shadows appeared from behind it but before I could tell what they were Victor cursed and the car picked up speed making my guts twist inward.
When we broke through the fog, I heard a loud bang and Victor glanced at the rearview mirror.
"Fucker!" he spat.
I turned around, trying to understand what was going on when another bang went off and Victor’s car swerved off course.
The shadow behind us took shape as it emerged from the smoke. I only had time to register an imposing, large figure with a gun in his hands before the car came to a screeching halt.
"Damn it!" Victor growled.
I turned to look at him but the view out the windscreen made me hold my breath. Everything slowed down to a painful slog. Wasn't that what people said happened when you were about to die?
I braced myself as we went off the road and crashed into a tree.
I closed my eyes and waited. Waited for the darkness to envelope me. The cold to seep within. The numbness of death to overcome me.
"Come on. Move it!"
Victor wrapped his hand around my arm and yanked me. I opened my eyes and even as I was being pulled from the driver's side, I assessed the situation. My body was fine. No visibledamage. No blood. The car on the other hand? The airbags had deployed. The low whir that sounded like a discreet fart as they deflated almost made me chuckle but a second later I landed on my ass on something hard and wet.
My jeans were immediately soaked with the mud and rain coating the ground. A chill numbed my butt cheeks and thighs before it ran up my spine, turning my skin rough.
"Hold it right there!" someone shouted from afar.
I couldn't see them from my position, but their voice sounded familiar.
