“Hey, is everything okay?” he asks.
“Actually, I think I have a problem,” Blair says, her voice tense. “There’s someone coming up behind me and something just doesn’t feel right about?—"
The sound of glass shattering and a scream comes from the other end of the line. The wretched sound of tires screeching and metal bending follows. Then everything goes silent. Both Santi and I tense, sitting straight up in our seats.
“Blair!?” Santi and I shout in unison.
I check my rearview mirror.
My heartbeat thunders in my ears. I slow the truck to a crawl. Her headlights aren’t there. We’ve rounded a bend, maybe it’s just taking her a second longer to come around?
“RHETT!” Santi shouts in horror.
I pull my gaze away from the mirror only to lock eyes with the bright LED lights that are now coming at us inourlane. My stomach drops at the same time my heart skips a beat. I jerk the wheel to the left and peel into the other lane only to find a second vehicle already driving there.
Santi yells in terror.
Bracing myself, I jerk the wheel again and our truck veers off the road and into the woods. Grimacing, my foot slams down onto the brake. The tires stop but the vehicle doesn’t as it slides over grass and mud. There’s no stopping our truck as it careens toward a tree. I whip the steering wheel and we spin.
The bed of the truck hits the tree, bending around it and taking us with it. My head cracks against the door’s window, making my vision blur. When we finally come to a complete stop, I stare straight ahead breathing like I’ve just run amarathon. My knuckles are white as I grip the steering wheel, my heart thundering loudly in my ears.
“Rhett! Rhett!”
I hear my name being called but it takes a second for it to register. Slowly, I turn my head to find Santi tugging at his seatbelt.
“We have to go help her!” Santi screams. “Shit, I can’t get the belt off!”
Right… Blair. Swallowing hard, I reach down and unfasten my seatbelt. I go to open my door but it’s stuck; pressed against the trunk of the tree. The glass in my window is gone too. I look down into my lap to find it all there.
“Rhett!” Santi bellows.
His terror snaps me out of my shock. I reach over and try to undo his seatbelt but it’s locked. He slaps my hands out of the way.
“Go, go, go! I’ll get out of this. Just save Blair! Get her beforetheydo!” he cries out frantically. “Please, for the love of god,go!”
“Alright, I’ll go!” I promise. “But I’ll be right back, okay?”
He shakes his head as tears spill down his cheeks. “Not without her! Don’t come back without Blair!”
I climb over him, opening his passenger door and literally falling out of the vehicle. My shoulder hits the ground and I grunt in pain but force myself to scramble to my feet. It takes a second for my legs to stop wobbling, so I use the edge of the bed of the truck for balance. As I get to the end, I see my axe. I reach for it and push away from the truck.
“Call Wes!” I yell at Santi over my shoulder. “Call him, Santi!”
“Save Blair! SaveBlair!”
The minute my feet touch pavement, I’m sprinting in the direction we’d been coming from. Panic and adrenaline have me running faster and harder than I ever have in my entire life.There can’t be too much distance between us. She was right behind me for most of the journey.
She wasright there.
And I couldn’t keep her safe; just like I hadn’t been there to save Abby.
I push the thought away, refusing to spiral into despair. Blair’s not gone, she can’t be.
Over the sound of my heavy breathing, I hear gunshots.Multiplegunshots. It sounds like a warzone. Screams pepper the night and they grow louder as I draw near. My grip on the axe tightens.
Great, I’m bringing an axe to a gunfight, smart.
But it’s all I got so an axe it is.
