Glass exploded, spraying into the snow. Tiny shards rained over my hair and clothes. I squeezed my eyes shut as fragments stung my skin.
I shoved my arm through the broken window and dragged myself through.
Cold air hit me and snow pelted my face, but I blinked through it and was halfway out when a hand clamped around my ankle.
“Get back here!” Dr. Pike growled.
I screamed and kicked wildly, slamming my heel into whatever part of him I could hit. His grip loosened a bit and I kicked again.
His hand finally slipped off and I made it out of the car.
I stumbled through the snow that was almost to my waist. It swallowed me whole, but I forced my legs to move.
Move, Hope. Move.
My breath came in ragged gasps as I trudged and clawed my way through the snowbank back to the road.
I finally made it to asphalt and reached into my pockets to search for my phone but I couldn’t feel it anywhere. It must’ve fallen in the snow or got lost somewhere in the car when we crashed.
I didn’t have time to keep looking for it, so I decided to just start running.
As my legs started pumping, my lungs burned in the cold air, and I tasted the undeniable metallic taste of blood on my tongue.
I ran for what felt like hours.
I slipped constantly. And every time I fell, my hands slammed against the frozen asphalt. The flesh on my palms tore a few times but I ignored it and just kept going.
I thought I was imagining it when I finally saw something in the distance. It took me a few moments to accept that what I was seeing wasn’t a dream.
There were neon lights, and they grew brighter as I got closer.
A gas station.
A sob tore out of me, and I pushed myself faster, stumbling down the road until I reached the door into the little store. I grabbed the handle and tried to turn it, but it was locked.
The pumps were on but the storefront was dark.
“No,” I whispered.
My knees buckled and I dropped to the ground, my forehead falling against the door. I grabbed the handle and shook it.
“No, please,” I begged, tears rolling down my frozen cheeks. “Let me in. Please.”
I could see a phone inside. And the agony of being so close yet so far made me sob harder.
My hands were bleeding. My forehead and hair were sticky with dried blood from earlier. My fingers were turning blue. My whole body felt bruised and achy from the impact of the crash and I didn’t know if I had the strength left to break into the store.
But I didn’t have much choice.
Just as I straightened up and started to look around for something that could help me get in—I heard the crunch of gravel behind me.
Headlights cut across the trees and snow and my entire body snapped back into terror.
He found me.
I spun around, preparing to run again when I heard someone say my name. And it wasn’t Pike’s voice.
“Hope! Is that you?”
