Tommy
Aloudbangsnapsme awake. My entire world shakes, then spins and screeches, then comes to a violent stop. Heart pounding, I shield my face and brace for whatever comes next, disoriented and confused and not remembering where I am.
“Shit. Fuck,” a familiar voice grunts beside me. A hand wraps around my arm a second later, squeezing firmly. “Thomas, are you okay?”
I slide my hands down to eye level and spread my fingers, peeking ahead. The windshield is cracked. Smoke escapes from the side of the SUV’s hood, and the thick trunk of a pine tree blocks the passenger’s side door.
Oh fuck.I suck in a sharp breath, inspecting myself for any new injuries. I find none, thank god, but my head is throbbing like crazy. “What happened? Did we crash?”
Next to me, Nikolas lets out another grunt as he undoes his seatbelt. “Yes… I don’t know how it happened.”
Inspecting the inside of the car to make sure nothing is an immediate danger, I unbuckle my seatbelt, too. A sudden bout of panic makes me check for the stone, which is thankfully in my pocket where I tucked it.Everything happened because of this little shiny thing, so it would be such a shame if I lost it.I try my door, but the tree won’t let it open enough so I can slip out.
“This way,” Nikolas beckons, stumbling out of the vehicle with the bag in hand. He puts it down on the ground nearby and kneels by the tire.
I haul myself over the console and slide out the driver’s side, my legs shaking and my head spinning. I feel like throwing up. I was dreaming about something, and remnants of that dream still linger at the edges of my consciousness—the tickling sensation of the sun on my cheeks, the blue sky, water splashing nearby, strawberry parfait.
“Oh, you gotta be kidding me…” Nikolas’ growl sounds both annoyed and desperate.
Curious, if still a little unstable, I trudge around the front of the SUV to where Nikolas is crouching down to inspect the damage. The front right tire is completely busted, the rubber ripped beyond repair.
“What the fuck did you hit?” And more importantly, “Do you have a spare?”
Nikolas stands and crosses his arms over his chest, mumbling what was probably another curse. “I do, but…” He rubs his eyes, then looks up at the still dark sky. “Where the fuck am I gonna find three more?”
Three more? My chest constricts, suddenly too tight for my galloping heart. Three more? Surely Nikolas couldn’t mean that we’ve busted all four tires, right?
Mind swimming with worst-case scenarios, I check for myself. The remaining three tires look just as bad as the one on the front passenger side.
“Uh, weird. How did you even manage this?”
Nikolas’ hard gaze makes me shudder. “How the fuck would I know? I didn’t see anything! I was just driving and suddenly everything went to hell.”
That makes zero sense. The chances of tires all going bust at the same time is very low… They don’t just randomly decide to shred themselves to pieces of useless rubber.
A lump forms in my throat as Nikolas paces back and forth and mumbles something in that foreign language. The uneasiness grows with every anxiety-inducing loop he completes, spreading to my stomach, which knots with nerves and the anticipation that something will jump at us any moment now.
“I’m going to go check the road.”
Nikolas answers with something that could be a nod or a shake, still pacing. Focusing on regulating my still elevated heartbeat, I follow the tracks the car left. There is nothing, at least at first, so I backtrack even more, all the way to where the skid marks from the heavy braking start. Even then, I almost miss it. That’s how well the spike strip is camouflaged.
Uh, why is one of these here?
Cautiously, I approach it, noticing a red blinking light only when I’ve circled it so I can inspect it from the other side.Is this thing…?
“Fuck me.” I break into a sprint, adrenaline flooding my system. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Nikolas is staring at the ruined vehicle with his hands on his hips when I almost crash into him. He looks so pale it seems like he might pass out. “So? Did I run over somethi—”
I grab him and the bag. “We need to go. There was a spike strip and I’m pretty sure we triggered its location ping.”
The frown on Nikolas’ face is more than understandable, but I don’t think we have time for this. “I… There’s no way I missed something like that!”
“It was very well hidden.” I pull harder, my heart trying to rip a hole out of my chest. “Please. We need to go. I don’t want to be here when whoever set it up arrives.” A horrifying thought crosses my mind.What if it’s the same people who’ve been chasing me? What if, somehow, they knew we’d be heading this way and laid a trap for us?Fuck, I really don’t want to find out. We should get away from here as quickly as possible.
Nikolas perks up, his entire focus shifting to the forest surrounding us. He’s on high alert and that gives me chills, forcing me into an elevated sense of alarm. The quietness around us grows heavy, foreboding. The sounds of the forest take center stage. I can hear the leaves sway at the hands of the wind high above us, the bark crackle, the grass settle, the insects move. Not far from us, a branch snaps, loud like an explosion in the relative stillness.
“What was that?” I press closer to Nikolas.
