Page 99 of One Filthy Kiss

“Drive into town. Don’t stop for anything, Meg. Or anyone. Do you understand?”

I nod again. I have no words left, and the tremor in his voice is scaring me.

“When you hit Mountain Road, you’ll see some lodges on the right-hand side. The second lodge is a thrift store. Park around the back. Someone will be waiting for you.”

It’s hard to keep up, but I run through a mental checklist in my head before the information slips into the night and vanishes in a puff of smoke: Mountain Road, second lodge, thrift store.

“What about you?”

His eyes meet mine briefly. “Don’t worry about me. Now go.”

I don’t waste a beat.

I don’t thank him or say goodbye; there isn’t sufficient room in my brain for mannersandsurvival. I’ll save that for later.

I follow Ric’s instructions, dragging Amber along behind me and sticking to the shadows, which isn’t difficult as there isn’t a single light between us and the town below.

The car is there, just like he said. It’s a big car with huge wheels and a high roof. Part of me is already panicking that I won’t remember how to get it into gear, but this fear is quickly beaten to a pulp by the sound of gunfire.

It’s like an electric shock to my system. Somehow, we muster the energy to run even faster, and then we’re by the car, and it feels as though the night is filled with bullets instead of stars. I yank open the door and shove Amber inside, realizing too late, that the driver’s seat is on the opposite side in the States.

“Climb over!” I snap.

Amber doesn’t complain. She shuffles across the center console, and I climb in beside her, closing the door with a click that doesn’t quite connect.

I don’t shut it properly. I’m feeling for the key where the ignition should be, only it isn’t there, and I can’t switch the light on, and Amber is watching me with her ghastly pale face.

“Where are the fucking keys?”

It registers vaguely in my mind that I swore in front of her, but this isn’t real life, and swearing is allowed when a bullet might smash through the windshield at any moment and kill you stone dead.

“Get on the floor, Amber.”

She climbs down into the footwell without a word, and as I glance at her, I spot the key swinging from the ignition on the wrong side of the steering wheel.

“Thank fuck,” I mumble.

I turn it, and the car rumbles to life.

“Gearstick, gearstick…” I find it set high in the center console and squint at the markings. “What the fuck does R mean? Where’s first gear?”

“Meggie, why aren’t we moving?” Amber’s soft voice reaches me from the footwell and jolts me back to life.

While I’m messing around with gears, Ric is risking his life to buy us some time.

I find the letter D—I’m guessing that it stands for Drive—move the gearstick, release the handbrake, and hit the gas pedal. The car jolts forward, slamming my chest against the steering wheel and winding me momentarily. I look up just intime to swerve around a tree. The car skids across the road, and I feel like I’m on the bumper cars at Adventure Island in Southend until I finally get it under control.

My heart is literally trying to leap out of my chest as we hit what feels like a boulder, the vehicle rocking precariously from side to side. I lean over the steering wheel and closer to the windshield. “Why can’t I see the road?”

The car veers up onto the grassy mountain slope and a low wall comes into view before I realize that I haven’t switched on the headlamps. I can’t find the control. The dashboard is like a fucking aircraft control panel. And besides, the headlights will only alert him to our getaway.

“I’m taking my chances on near-zero visibility thank you very much,” I mutter to the universe.

I have to perch on the edge of the seat to reach the pedals. I’m gripping the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles are white. And my head is already pounding from squinting at the darkness.

Then someone appears in front of us, and I scream as I spin the wheel, waiting for the sickening thud as I hit their body, and praying that they don’t land on the windshield like they always do in the movies.

When nothing happens, I open my eyes again and murmur a silent prayer to a God I don’t believe in for saving us from certain death by tree trunk collision.