Jeremy just stared at him.
“Now!” Shane screamed, glaring back as he yanked ferociously on the door handle.
“Dude…” Jeremy mumbled.
“Now! Goddamn it! Now!”
Jeremy fished the keys out of the front pocket of his jeans and tossed them to Shane, who immediately hopped into the car and revved the engine, just as the Escort finally began to move forward on the slick road.
The Maverick’s headlights burst to life, illuminating the front of the house in two large circles. The car soared backward, fishtailing from side to side before locking into drive and tearing down the icy road after the Escort.
“Are you all right?” Scott asked, focused intently on the thin lines of light that barely permeated the densely falling snow.
Matt just groaned. A swell of blood washed over his swollen lower lip, falling onto his already soaked shirt. The trees to either side of the road fell past like two darkened walls, racing straight at them as the road bent and twisted through the sloping hills. The Maverick soared up behind them, hanging right on their bumper moments after they passed though the field and into the forest.
“Jesus,” Scott whispered, his breath only barely able to slip from his tightening lungs. His heart pounded loudly inside his ears from his hammering temples, his fingers trembling on the wheel. He tried with all his might to see enough of the road in front of him to keep from sliding off into the trees.
There was nothing visible of the road other than the barely noticeable tracks from where they had driven in, now already filling in with fresh snow. Enormous flakes filled the lights, racing at them like stars in the night sky moving through hyperspace. All Scott could do was just watch the far reaches of the lights and hope he would be able to turn the car in time.
The lights from the Maverick filled the rear view mirrors, the brights shining painfully in Scott’s eyes as the car swerved from side to side behind them, hoping to gain the advantage on one of the curves.
Something leapt out into the road in front of them. A large, dark shape, nearly the size of the car, bounded into the middle of the road. It stood there, frozen, its circular eyes glowing gold, reflecting the headlights.
“Shit!” Scott gasped, his teeth clenching. He tapped the brakes repeatedly, hoping to gain enough traction to stop the car.
The front end kicked to the right with a jolt, the Maverick nailing the back left portion of the rear bumper.
A scream froze in Scott’s lungs; the air growing stagnant. He fought with the wheel, trying to turn into the skid which was gaining momentum with each passing second. The road disappeared in front of them, replaced by the line of trees that had once been to their side. His arms locked straight out in front of him and his clenched fists clung to the steering wheel for dear life. The tires began to skip off the road as they were now traveling sideways, bouncing toward the shoulder of the road.
Scott could see the Maverick now; sliding from side to side, racing directly at them, only a few feet from a head on collision. There was a flash of lights as the passenger side tires caught the lip of the shoulder, and the sudden feeling of weightlessness. The Escort went airborne, flipping, tires rising to the night sky.
Darkened bushes and snow-mounded grass filled their view, tumbling like a barrel, until they appeared to be falling straight down from the sky. Forcing his eyelids shut, Scott threw his arms up in front of his face just as the side of the car slammed into the wall of trees, tearing through the brittle, age-old trunks as though they were made of mere plywood. The sound of shattering wood and shredding metal filled the night, echoing within the shell of the car as it ripped through the first line of trees and into the second. The car windows imploded, showering Scott and Matt with tiny balls of glass, which bounced all over their bodies before being tossed from the rolling vehicle.
Their wheels landed on the ground once again, the rubber tires bouncing with the impact against the frozen earth, catapulting them back into their flip with even more momentum. The cloud-strangled sky flashed by, over and over, the car rolling through the underbrush as though it didn’t exist. Scrub oak and sage were ripped from the ground by the roots, catching in the warped undercarriage before being tossed straight up in the air.
The roof of the car crumpled visibly each time the car bounced upon it. The shrubbery opened into a large field, an enormous snow-filled circle right in the middle of the forest. A thin stream, frozen for the season, and buried beneath the even white mat of snow, grabbed at the tires, catching them. The car launched straight into the air one final time before coming to a halt on the roof, right in the middle of the field.
Scott opened his eyes, frantically scanning the area. He could barely see out of the car as the roof had been lowered nearly to the level of the bottom of the windows. The masses of snow rapidly melted away from the car as it vented heat in all directions, thick black smoke pouring from the engine, the hood buried beneath the snow some ten yards away.
Tugging at the buckle of his seat belt, Scott finally snapped it. The belt disengaged and he slumped down on his shoulders, trying to pull his legs down from beneath the crumpled dashboard. He began to hyperventilate, his eyeballs rolling back into his skull as he fought with everything that he could muster to keep them fixed on the shimmering snow outside the thin crack where the window had been.
From the corner of his eye, he could see Matt, dangling upside down from his restraining harness. The backs of his hands lay limply on the roof of the car, his mouth hanging slack. Blood flowed through his nostrils and over the tip of his rose, dripping like a leaking faucet between his hands. His eyes were closed, and his tongue was pressed out of his mouth just enough to give him the appearance of being dead, but his chest rose and fell just enough to give him away.
“Matt?” Scott sputtered, using the steering wheel as leverage to tug his legs from the pedals and roll into a ball. “Are you… ugh, all right?”
The only response was a thin, wheezing sound that bubbled up through his blood-lodged mouth.
“I’ll get you out of here,” Scott shouted, grabbing Matt by the chin and shaking it a little, trying to snap him back to consciousness.
Somehow, in those cramped quarters, Scott managed to turn himself around, lying flat on his stomach on the roof of the car. Turning his head sideways, he pressed it through the crumpled window, the tattered metal snagging at his jacket. He slipped his arms through, just past his head, trying to grab onto something out there, anything he could use for leverage to pull himself free of the wreckage.
There was a loud cracking sound. It emanated from right beneath him and seemed to spread in all directions like an earthquake. The roof of the car sunk into the ground a good half inch.
His breath caught in his chest, Scott tried to wriggle very slowly, the whole time staring at the carpet of snow at the edge of the meadow, watching as it moved a little bit with each exertion.
Footsteps tore through the underbrush to his left, but he couldn’t move his head to see who was coming. His shoulders were out of the vehicle now, and if he could just find something to grab onto, he could pull his entire body free.
“Stop struggling!” a voice shouted, a light crunching sound echoing through the field as the man raced across the snow-crusted field.
Cold, gloved hands grabbed Scott’s wrists, pinching tightly. The man, awash in darkness, pulled him from the wreckage. His shoes caught on the crumpled window, but the man gave him one final tug, sliding him out and into the snow.
“In the car…” Scott wheezed, “…my friend.”
The man, his black shadow silhouetted against the darkened sky, walked carefully around to the other side of the car, slowly approaching the passenger side door. Scott pushed himself up onto all fours and began to breathe heavily, fighting for the strength to clamber to his feet. Stumbling, he shook the cobwebs from his head, wandering around the hood of the car to where the man knelt by the crumpled window.
“Get back!” the man shouted, startled by Scott’s approach.
The ground beneath them gave with a loud crack, falling uneasily beneath their feet.
Scott fell to his knees, scrambling to the side of the car where the man worked desperately to pry Matt from within.
“You need to get away from here!” the man yelled, shoving Scott in the middle of his chest, knocking him onto his back atop the snow, which slid beneath the collar of his jacket, packing against the back of his neck. “The weight is too much… any change in pressure and the whole thing is going to give.”
