Fuck!
At least he was a good stretch back. Though I wasn’t exactly in good shape for a four hundred metre cross country race. I sped up, my body responded cantankerously with a ‘what the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Soon I was carefully edging down another slope, past the geysers, trying to keep my pace up. My lungs felt like two dried up slices of fruit. Everywhere hurt, but my adrenalin and reserves must have had a chance to build up a little. Sitting beside a volcano, waiting to be chucked in, will do that to a girl.
I chanced a look back again. He was gaining on me, but still had a fair way to make up. He looked agile, his bulky frame bursting out of the shadows. I just had to keep this gap between us. If I could just make it to the cars. But would the keys be there? Why would they have bothered locking them?
I glimpsed the car park as I threw myself along the last stretch of road. My wheezing almost exceeded the noise of my tattered shoes running along the road. I scrambled through the gates into the car park and bolted towards the cars. Carlos had gained on me again and was only seconds behind now. I tried the handle on the first car; it opened. I slid in, flapping about – searching the ignition, the floor, up at the mirror, the passenger seat…
Nothing! Shit!
I dived out and ran to the other car. Carlos was almost through the gates as I pressed down the handle on the silver Audi.
Click.
I flung myself through the door and slammed it shut. Frantically I grabbed out towards the ignition and clutched a set of keys hanging from it. I was elated.
Slam!
Suddenly Carlos’s enraged face was behind the car window and his big hands were thundering down on the glass.
Shit!
I fumbled the keys but got it started as Carlos pulled at the door handle. It began to open – I hadn’t been quick enough to lock it. As it swung open, I put my foot to the floor and slammed down the handbrake. The engine sent a growl through the car park and it burst into life. I swung the wheel and the car sprung forwards in an arc, sending Carlos flying off his feet. I stopped, pulled the door shut, flicked the lock and jetted off down the road.
35
I felt a massive rush. Suddenly I was behind the wheel of a car, accelerating away from my kidnappers, racing down a volcano.
WTF?
I actually started to laugh – hysterically. Had I imagined it all? No – sadly not. I was elated to still be alive. The car handled well as I dropped into fourth, pushing it harder down a long stretch of mountainside. The headlights lit up the black tar road ahead, squeezed between two towering orange cliffs. I pressed on, not knowing where to yet – just ‘away.’ I whizzed on.
Then two more beams scorched my rear view mirror.
Fuck.
Carlos. He was driving the green Ford Fiesta. My heart sank, but I put my foot down further. He flicked on his full beams, dazzling me and I could hear his own engine stepping up a gear.
I revved the engine, leaning into the corners, gripped by fear. A smell of petrol burning off joined the unpleasant odour of sulphur. Or maybe it was just the smell of my burnt flesh.
Now what was I going to do? Well I wasn’t about to give up, that was for sure. There would be no reasoning with him. It was much too late for that. I was hardly matched to fight him either. He was gaining on me. I had to slow as the road narrowed, the black top sweeping crookedly through the mountain. The white lines in the middle swept into one continuous streak as I sped on. Carlos didn’t slow behind me, he actually seemed to be speeding up further. A better stretch presented itself up ahead and I eased my foot down again – fifty, fifty-five, sixty. It felt too fast. One false move and I’d be careering off the side. But he was gaining on me. Glances in my mirror showed me Carlos’s stoic expression, deep in concentration. I slowed again on the next bend and he accelerated further again, tail-gating me now, almost able to shove my bumper. I slowed again as we screeched around another corner. The view ahead was another deep and wide open stretch, a valley between two of the largest mountains. I put my foot to the floor, but could hear Carlos already in full acceleration, pulling out suddenly to the side. He was going to try and pass me. I knew I couldn’t let that happen. If he got ahead of me, I was fucked. I kept my foot to the floor, willing the car to go faster, screaming at it, but it couldn’t. The nose of the Ford started to creep up alongside me, Carlos pushing the vehicle close to the cliff edge and past what it was built for. Then we were almost neck and neck.
Crash!
It must have been instinct. Survival instinct. I don’t even remember having the idea, I just acted. I was tired of reacting. As he tried to pass, I swung the wheel hard at the same moment as hitting my own brakes. My nose smashed into his side before my car spun and jack knifed away from the cliff and towards the mountainside. My body rocked all over the front seat, the belt struggling to keep me inside the car. Finally, I came to a stop. Carlos wasn’t as lucky. The crash had nudged him enough that he effectively accelerated straight over the cliff edge. The Ford tore through the side barrier, pulling a stretch of it along. There
