AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Trinity’s voice was high-pitched. “What are you doing?”
“Hold on,” said Josie, jerking her SUV back into their lane. Again, the truck followed.
Trinity turned her upper body, craning to see behind them. “My God,” she said. “He’s going to cause an accident.”
“I think that’s the point,” Josie muttered. She jerked the steering wheel back and forth again, but the truck stayed tight on her tail.
“What a psycho!” Trinity said. Her phone was in her hands. “I’m calling 911. This guy is going to kill someone.”
I think that’s the point. Josie thought. The truck bumped the rear of the SUV, giving them a jolt. Trinity let out a yelp. Josie felt the tug of the truck, pulling her vehicle back even as she sped up. The front of the truck had caught on the back of her SUV. As she pressed her foot harder onto the gas pedal, metal screeched. Something gave and the SUV surged ahead. It afforded her a few precious seconds to get ahead of the truck. Her lead didn’t last long. Peering into her side mirror, she watched in horror as the truck got closer and closer, bearing down on them until she could make out the face of a man behind the wheel.
Dermot Hadlee.
His eyes glowed with rage. One corner of his mouth was slack while the other curled in a sneer.
Into her phone, Trinity said, “We’re driving in a blue Ford Escape on Latchwood Cove Road. There’s someone behind us. He’s chasing us—”
The truck slammed into the back of them once more, sending their upper bodies whipping forward. Trinity’s phone flew out of her hands.
Josie said, “Hang on.”
Again, she pressed her foot against the gas pedal as far as it would go. The SUV felt like its rear was dragging somehow but still it lurched forward, surging ahead of the truck once more. This time, as soon as she had a car’s length between them, she jerked the wheel to the right and slammed on the brakes, bringing them to an abrupt stop. Trinity screamed, bracing both hands against the dashboard.
“Are you crazy?”
The truck flew past them. Josie noted the license plate as it, too, screeched to a stop. Then she pumped the gas again, yanking at the steering wheel as she did, trying to turn the SUV around the way they’d come. Trinity’s head was between her legs as she searched the floor for her phone. The truck’s reverse lights came on. Josie kept it in her periphery as the front of the SUV kissed the guardrail along the side of the road. It was too narrow for her to turn around in one continuous movement. She’d have to do a three-point turn. Throwing the shifter into reverse, she started to back up as quickly as she could. She heard something clatter onto the roadway. The rear tires hit the object hard and then rolled over it, bucking them almost out of their seats. The back of Trinity’s head smacked against the underside of the dash. The strap of Josie’s seatbelt cut into her collarbone.
Sickness rolled through her stomach as she realized her rear bumper had fallen off. She’d just backed over it. It was stuck under the SUV.
“Shit,” she said.
They were sitting ducks, their vehicle sideways across the two lanes of traffic. Josie shifted into drive and tried to accelerate but the tires only squealed, stuck on the bumper. As she tried to maneuver around it in the tight space between the rock face on one side and the guardrail on the other, she noticed that the truck was surging toward them in reverse, getting closer with each second. Then it stopped. For a fleeting moment, Josie paused her efforts, hoping they were safe, but then it started moving again, turning until it was parallel to them and then again so that the front of it faced them. There were no impediments to its three-point turn. Dermot’s pale face was a smudge behind the windshield as the truck picked up speed, now a missile pointed right at them. Trinity’s head popped up. Her phone was in her hands, but her eyes peered out her window at the approaching truck. “Josie!” she screamed.
Josie jammed her foot against the gas pedal so hard that it ached. The SUV bucked a few times before it finally heaved over the top of the bumper. But it was too late. As she tried to guide the steering wheel into the final part of the turn—toward escape—the truck punched into the rear passenger’s side of her vehicle.
Then it kept coming.
Josie tried to control the direction of the SUV while the truck pushed into it, but it was like trying to wrestle a giant. The wheel slipped out of her grip. The vehicle spun. She tried to accelerate away from the truck, but it simply changed direction, sending them flying toward the guardrail faster. She tried to brake but it was no use.
“Josie!” Trinity screamed again.
The front bumper burst through the guardrail, making a shrieking sound. The hood of the SUV tipped downward. Josie felt the loss of control. Weightlessness. Then the whole world spun feet over head. Glass shattered. Her sister cried out. The seatbelt cut across her torso like a knife. Something hard made contact with her head. Before the windshield cracked in a thousand places, Josie saw a kaleidoscope tumble before her eyes. Water, rocks, trees, sky, trees, rocks, water. Her arms flailed to find something stable but there was nothing.
The final impact jarred her entire body and left her hanging upside down.
Time slowed. There was a rushing sound in her ears. Reaching up, she braced both her hands against the ceiling of the SUV, immediately feeling an ache in one of her shoulders. Next to her, Trinity hung limply.
“Trin,” Josie said. It came out much quieter than she had intended. It was hard to talk while hanging upside down with a seatbelt cutting across your upper body. It was hard to breathe.
“Trin!” Stronger this time.
First, there was a whimper that sent a surge of relief through her, adrenaline numbing the pain that felt like it had infiltrated every cell in Josie’s body. Trinity’s hair swung, then her arms. One braced against the ceiling just as Josie had done. The other reached up and disappeared into her lap.
“Trinity,” Josie said. “Are you okay?”
Panic edged into her voice. “I’m stuck. My foot is stuck. I can’t move it.”
“It’s okay,” Josie said. “It’s okay. I think I can get out. I’ll help you.”
