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***
It really was Dennis’s car.
We arrived at the sight of the accident before any police or fire fighters had, which would have struck me as odd if I had not been jumping out of the truck before Bobby even stopped, racing towards the overturned vehicle. Flames engulfed the hood, igniting the wheels and making their way through the rest of the car. There was only one other car by the side of the road, a man waving frantically at us as I ran towards the crash site.
“They’re still in there!” the man was shouting. There was manic laughter coming from the car, sounding a lot like Dennis. “I tried to help, but the flames, man, I was scared!” the man went on. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t!”
I didn’t reply and pushed past him, racing towards the car and quickly falling onto my stomach, looking inside to assess the extent of the damage. Dennis was fully conscious, laughing like a madman and shaking from side to side like he was listening to some techno beat in his head. Andrea was strapped in her seat, her hands tied together, her hair falling over her face.
“Lover boy!” Dennis screeched in glee. “Lover boy to the rescue!”
I ignored him, reaching in through the broken glass, carefully not to cut myself, and checked Andrea for a pulse. I found it, but it was weak. I checked her seatbelt, tried to unbuckle it, but got nowhere. Bobby slid onto the ground beside me.
“Andrea!” he shouted, reaching in and shaking her.
“And Bobby!” Dennis screamed. “The knights in shining armor are here, Andrea, you see that? Your gladiators have arrived, oh damsel in distress!” He let out a screech of manic laughter and slammed his fists against the steering wheel.
The heat of the fire was unbearable, but I pushed past it, trying to force the buckle open. It wouldn’t budge.
“The shears in the back of my truck,” Bobby said, slapping my shoulder to get my attention.
“Go!” I said. “I’ll see if I can get Dennis out.”
“Leave him,” Bobby called back. “Maybe he’ll just burn with the car.”
“Oh, hallelujah!” Dennis called after him and laughed again.
I shook my head, forcing myself up and around to the driver’s side. Dennis’s face was scratched in several places, and a piece of glass was stuck in his cheek. His mouth was oozing blood, and I could tell he had broken a few of his teeth.
“She fucking swerved the car!” Dennis screamed in my face. “I didn’t even notice she woke up and she grabbed the steering wheel and slipped us over! What a fucking bitch, right?”
I grabbed him by the back of his head and slammed his face into the steering wheel. I heard his nose crack, and he screamed out in pain, making me cringe.
“You broke my nose!” Dennis cried out. “He broke my nose, Bobby!” Then he began to laugh again.
“Sorry, man, my bad,” I said, then slammed his face into the wheel again. That shut him up completely, and I was able to unbuckle his belt without having to endure anymore craziness. I pulled him out of the car, then dragged him away, not really caring about being careful. Bobby raced past me with the sheers, and when I was far enough, I dropped Dennis like a bag of potatoes, his head hitting the asphalt hard.
A part of me hoped he’d get a concussion. If he didn’t already have one.
Sirens sounded in the distance, and I quickly ran back to the car, telling the other man to stay with Dennis. I dropped onto my knees beside Bobby as he worked the sheer into the seatbelt, ripping it and freeing Andrea. Her body slumped forward, and I reached in quickly, so she wouldn’t hit her head, my arm receiving a nasty gash from some broken glass. I held her head up, praying her neck wasn’t broken.
“The glass,” I said, wincing in pain. “We need to get rid of it before we pull her out.”
Bobby quickly broke the shards sticking out, clearing a path for me to carefully maneuver Andrea around and out of the wreckage. The heat was scorching my skin, and I began to cough violently as Bobby helped me carry Andrea away from the flames.
We laid her down on the grass just off the side of the road, and I bent down, listening to her breathing. It was weak, but it was there.
“Andrea?” Bobby knelt down beside me. He shook his sister’s arm frantically.
I stopped him, shaking my head. “Don’t,” I warned. “We don’t know if anything’s broken.”
The sirens grew louder, and an ambulance screeched to a halt behind Bobby’s truck. I waved the paramedics over with their gurney. They hesitated when they saw Dennis.
“Forget him, he’s fine!” I shouted. “This one here’s the real problem.”
They rushed over, one of them briefly looking back at Dennis’s still body. They pushed us back and bent down around Andrea, fitting her with a neck brace and checking her pulse and breathing before moving her onto the gurney and rushing her back to the ambulance. Two police cruisers pulled up behind the ambulance, and I sighed in relief when I saw Jeremy stepping out of one of them.
They moved Andrea into the back of the ambulance, and Bobby climbed in. I started to follow when one of the paramedics stopped me. “Just one,” he said.
