“Yeah…” Amir said, his eyes never leaving the scene out on the streets. “Maybe I should lock up the shop.”
“Good idea,” Jackson agreed.
Finally, Amir looked away from the window to Jackson and said, “So…”
“Oh. I didn’t mean kick me out, man,” the scientist protested. “I meant to just lock up and keep the crazies out.”
Amir crossed his arms over his chest. “How do I know you’re not one of them? Maybe you want me to lock myself in here with you so you can rob me.”
The sound of screeching tires and then the telltale loud bang of a crashing car made Jackson’s head whip around toward the street. A large SUV with a ridesharing company’s sticker in the window had crashed into a light pole right outside. Its hood was crumpled and smoke oozed around the edges adding to the eerie scene in the street.
The passenger opened the back door and ran from the car, screaming. Jackson could see the driver, still trapped in his seatbelt. He thrashed uncontrollably, apparently unable to get out. “Oh God,” the young researcher muttered.
Flames erupted from the engine compartment.
That was all the motivation Jackson needed. He’d been raised to always help those in need and the driver was definitely in need. He ran outside. His sense of self-preservation from just a few moments ago was gone. He had to help that person. He wasn’t a paramedic or a firefighter. The only thing he would be able to do was unbuckle the driver’s seatbelt. It had to be enough though. Someone else would help him once the driver was out of the car.
Traffic had slowed as drivers gawked at the flaming wreckage, making it an easy run across the six lanes of traffic. He reached the driver’s door in seconds, but four-foot tall flames were already licking the air around the edges of the hood.
Jackson wasn’t prepared for the intense heat of the fire. The vehicle fire seemed much hotter than the normal flames from the gas burner in his old apartment. The intense, skin-boiling heat threatened to overwhelm him, even from several feet away. He couldn’t imagine what the driver was experiencing inside the SUV.
The driver continued to flail his arms wildly in an attempt to free himself. Why doesn’t he just reach down and unbuckle his seatbelt instead of freaking out? Jackson wondered. It was weird, but then again, he’d never been in a car accident before, so he had no clue what was normal and what wasn’t.
He reached out and grabbed the door handle. It singed his skin and he cried out, snatching his hand back quickly. The man noticed him and screamed for help. He slammed his head into the window several times, leaving a mess of bloody smears across the glass. He must have hit his head when the car crashed into the pole.
Jackson pulled the sleeve of his heavy flannel shirt down over his palm and tried again, this time successfully opening the door. The man’s screams intensified. They were incoherent screams of pain and agony. The seatbelt restrained the man as he reached out for help. His fingers clutched at Jackson’s shirt, pulling him into the car.
“Hey!” Jackson shouted. “Hey, stop!”
He pulled one arm free of the sleeve and pirouetted, sliding his other arm free, and stepped back from the car. The driver screamed, dropping Jackson’s shirt and reaching for him again.
“What the hell, man? Calm down. I’m trying to help.”
The flames had grown higher and thick, black smoke billowed into the SUV from under the dashboard. It was all Jackson could do to avoid inhaling the smoke as he stepped closer to try to unbuckle the seatbelt once again.
The driver’s teeth gnashed, slamming together, barely missing Jackson’s shoulder. He jumped back away from the lunatic. “What are you doing, man? You just tried to bite me!”
A gurgling sound emitted from the man as the unpleasantly sweet smell of cooking meat began to mingle with the acrid smoke. Jackson looked up in time to see the driver retch and he sidestepped as a mass of pink, frothy, blood-filled liquid landed several feet beyond where he’d been standing. If he hadn’t moved, it would have hit him in the face.
The driver’s screeching resumed and he beat in frustration at the steering wheel. Jackson stepped over once again, and was rewarded with a vicious scratch across his forearm as the man’s fingernails dug into his exposed skin.
“Aiee!” Jackson wailed, jerking his arm backward.
Blue and orange flames burst from the passenger side dashboard. The heat and smoke drove him back. He stumbled, hitting his hip on a trash can before falling to the sidewalk. Pain exploded in his right elbow as it slammed into the concrete. He rolled onto his side, cradling his arm.
The driver’s screams abruptly stopped, causing Jackson to temporarily forget his pain. He looked up. The entire inside of the SUV was a roiling mass of flame. The man’s skin was charred black, cracking and peeling away to reveal the pink meat underneath. His lips were pulled back, the snarl of pain frozen on them forever, revealing white teeth.
Jackson threw up on the sidewalk. He was close enough to the ground that some of it splashed back up onto his chin.
He pushed himself sideways away from the puddle of partially-digested egg and cheese sandwich. He looked around for anyone to help, but nobody paid him or the poor man in the SUV any attention. They were alone in a crowd of people, rushing to get back to their homes.
Jackson tried to dial 9-1-1. The same prerecorded message about all circuits being busy blared from the cell phone’s
