I have a better chance at living if we crash.
When I can finally peer over the seat, I swallow my reaction. Flashes of blood.
So much blood.
I suppress a gag as bile works its way up my throat.
“Take a picture,” Ruka rasps.
“What the fuck? You’re worried about a picture when we’re about to crash to the ground, and there’s a fucking tree branch lodged in your left side? You might lose your arm, Ruka!” I yell.
“She’ll be upset if you didn’t. This is the picture of…of…her…dreams,” he croaks.
We’re slammed by a piece of debris, and it dents the entire right side. I fly, crashing to the other side of the truck so hard it knocks the breath out of me.
We spin again, flipping backwards. We’re hit again, metal groaning against metal.
I hit the roof next, then the floor. I’m beat the hell up by the time I pull myself back into the seat.
The longest twenty seconds of my life.
I try to bite into my wrist, trying to remember to feed him my blood before we crash. I need to feed him. Nariko will be fine. My blood is in her system. If she dies, she’ll be a vampire, but her death will probably tilt my world.
But she can’t live an eternity without her best friend.
We tilt backwards, the front end pointing to the light at the end of the tunnel. Nariko’s camera falls onto my lap.
It’s her dream.
And I’ll never be the one to stop her from achieving those dreams.
I don’t know what I’m doing and lift the camera up and take as many photos as I can. I play with the lens, twisting and turning at warp speed until the memory card is full.
We fall, the camera falling from my hands. Time slows. The camera lens smashes into pieces. Nariko’s hair sways over her shoulders. Ruka’s blood drips onto my cheek.
Gravity drags us down, gripping us by its invisible threads.
The familiar whistle of death’s call takes me back to my brother’s lifeless eyes.
His head almost severed from his body.
My brother choking on his own blood.
Alaska’s red eyes.
The crash happens fast. Even knowing we will hit the ground, we never know when. The earth swallows us, and we grind against the surface, uprooting dirt.
The feel of soil on my skin, the soft pebbles light scratching my cheek, insnare the same memory from the first time this happened. I remember the dirt in my mouth. It tasted how you’d expect.
Like dirt.
The truck falls to pieces. The back door rips off and the wheat snaps in half, ripping from its long skinny stem.
Nariko’s heartbeat settles me.
I’m happy she’s unconscious. I’d rather her not witness the destruction this storm has caused. She doesn’t need to see her brother dying as mine did.
I want her free of that pain. It’s too much to carry.
