AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“HANG ON!”
An arm shot across the car, pinning me to my seat, and then suddenly we were skidding, spinning, falling backwards. Rolling off the road and beyond the embankment and down a steep, steep hill.
AXEL—
I didn’t have time to call his name, only to think it. There was an explosion and a rush of air, as suddenly everything was coming at us, from all sides at once.
And there wasn’t even enough time to scream.
~ 25 ~
ARIANA
Speed, noise chaos — those things disappeared altogether, leaving us utterly and completely alone. We sat motionless in our seats, which were somehow on a strange angle now. Our world blanketed by an unnerving silence.
“ARE YOU OKAY?”
There was panic in Axel’s voice. I reached out and found his hand.
“Yeah, I’m good. Just… rattled.”
He swept me into his arms, crushing me against his chest. I could feel the immensity of his relief, flowing through his body. For several important seconds, we just held each other in the darkness. It was the kind of hug you’d get at an airport, from a lover who’s been away for weeks or months.
Holy shit.
There was the strange smell of burnt rubber, or maybe fabric, as the airbags slowly deflated. But my car was screwed. The windshield had cracked from the impact, which had been from the rear, and there was glass everywhere. Most of the windows were shattered.
“At least you saved that deer family,” I coughed.
“There was more than one?”
“Yeah.”
Axel let out a deep breath and shook his head. “Fuck, Ariana,” he swore. “All I saw were trees.”
We both reached for our phones at the same time. Neither of us had had a signal for miles now, but we still had to check. Our shoulders slumped.
“Thank God for that snowbank,” Axel murmured, glancing over his shoulder and through my broken back window. “If we hadn’t skidded into it…”
“Things would be a lot worse,” I agreed.
I hugged him again. I could tell he needed the comfort as much as I did. As grateful as I was that we were both alive and okay, the level of concern on Axel’s face was melting my heart.
“Sweet fuck it’s cold,” I shivered.
It was snowing into the car now, and the wind was picking up. Already the windshield was covered in thick, heavy flakes. Between that and the spider-webbed glass, I could barely see through it.
Axel wriggled out of his jacket. Before I could say anything he’d draped it over my shoulders and began pulling my arms through.
“Axel—“
“No arguments,” he told me. I could see his breath now. The temperature was dropping fast. “We need to get going.”
“Going?” I swallowed. “Where are we going?”
“Anywhere but here.”
The doors of my poor car creaked open on both sides, but noisily and under protest. Important metal parts had twisted. Things would never be the same.
