Page 20 of Sebastian

“I’m trying.” I grit my teeth as I swerved around another car, cutting into the oncoming lane to avoid a collision. “They’re following me. I can’t get rid of them.”

“Hold on. I’m calling the police. Where are you?”

“I’m just outside of... shit.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another dark vehicle appear beside me, headlights off and windows blacked out just like the first one. It seemed to come out of nowhere, boxing me in on one side while the first car continued to pursue me from behind.

I wasn’t driving anywhere specific. Wasn’t even paying attention to the road signs. My only instinct was to flee.

Then I noticed a bridge up ahead.

It shouldn’t have taken me by surprise. Baton Rouge sat beside the Mississippi River, so there were plenty of lakes and rivers dotting the area. It was impossible to get anywhere without crossing a bridge at some point.

The bridge was relatively small, and the road merged so there was only one lane going in each direction. The car beside me knocked against my side while at the same time the first car slammed into me from behind. My car lurched to the side and bounced off the guardrail protecting the edge of the bridge.

A stabbing pain shot through my neck as my head whipped back and bounced against my seat. One of my hands slipped off the steering wheel. I desperately grabbed for it, trying to regain control, but it was too late.

One of the black cars slammed into me again. The door beside me bent inward with a screech of buckling metal. My car hit the guardrail again, breaking through the protective barrier.

For a moment, I felt weightless. My car hung in mid-air with me inside.

Then I hit the water with a shattering impact.

The river was too shallow to support the weight of my car. It slammed down nose first, crashing right into the bottom of the riverbed.

Pain erupted everywhere. I hung limply in my seatbelt, barely able to breathe through the shock.

The car stood on its front end for a moment, so I faced directly into the ground. The engine and hood had completely crumpled like it was mere tinfoil instead of steel.

As if in slow motion, the current of the river pushed against the car, tipping it to the side. It moved slowly at first, then all at once it toppled sideways.

The second smaller impact sent numbness spreading through my limbs, and my ears buzzed like a broken television. I may have blacked out for a moment, it was hard to tell, but I was brought back by the feeling of something cold running down my leg.

Water was leaking into the car and gradually filling the interior.

The car had landed on the driver’s side, so my door pressed directly into the riverbed. The water wasn’t deep, but it would be enough to drown me if I stayed trapped inside the twisted box of metal.

I needed to get out.

I blindly fumbled for the latch of my seatbelt one-handed. I don’t remember finding it, but I must have, for a moment later I tried to climb up to the passenger’s seat that hovered above me.

Pain, like fire burning my skin, raced up my right leg. Between the repeated blows from the other cars, then smashing into the ground, the front portion of my car had collapsed around my legs. My left leg was mostly fine, but pieces of jagged metal pierced through my right leg like the teeth of a monster.

Water continued to flow into the car. I needed to escape through the passenger door, but I was pinned.

“Fuck.”

With shaking hands, I tugged at the metal piercing my flesh. All I did was smear blood around. The metal wouldn’t budge.

“Goddamn it.”

Adrenaline pumped through my veins, turning my vision red at the edges.

Or maybe that was blood leaking into my eyes. I definitely had several other injuries, but my leg was the biggest concern.

I needed something stronger than human hands to pry the metal jaws free.

My coat.

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