Page 30 of Everybody Needs a Hero

“Seriously?” was all Drew could think to say through the rolled-up window. There they all were, trapped together out of fear of an earthquake, and people were starting to act like nuts.

Her face red and eyes snapping, the woman put her hands on her hips. “Yes, seriously,” she said. “I finally got her paid off, and now this happens?”

Drew shook her head. “But it wasn’t my fault,” she said. “The guy in the black truck didn’t watch where he was going and pushed me into you.”

Throwing up her hands, the woman looked to the heavens. “Why does stuff always happen to me?”

Drew could hardly believe what she heard her say. Her car was ruined too from the looks of the bent hood. The damage would be expensive to fix, and although money would never be an issue, it pissed her off the woman claimed things always happened to her. From Drew’s perspective, bad things were currently in the process of happening to everybody.

Obviously overhearing the entire exchange, Tess leaned over Drew’s lap to look out the driver’s side window. “Listen,” she said, with a little more grit than Drew was used to hearing. “We are all victims here, so cut us some slack.”

The woman’s mouth fell open as she stepped closer to the car window. “My God, are you Tess Landish?” she asked a moment before grabbing at her lower back. “Oh, my poor back. I felt something pop when you hit me.”

That was the last straw. “You have got to be kidding me,” Drew said, unfastening her seatbelt.

Tess grabbed her arm. “What are you doing?” she asked, and Drew nodded at the crazy woman on the other side of the door.

“Did you hear what she said? I’m getting out so I can talk some sense into her,” she said. “It’s all getting ridiculous.”

“Drew, don’t,”Tess said, not letting go of Drew’s arm. “I can promise you, engaging will only make it worse. Ask for her name and number. I can have one of my assistants look into it tomorrow.” Unfortunately, she had a lot of experience with people coming after her financially for various reasons once they recognized her. The woman standing outside their car didn’t have a back injury, at least not from the crash, but Tess had no doubt she would milk the accident for all it was worth. “We have other things to worry about right now.” She nodded toward the front of the Pathfinder. “Maybe try and start the car?” Seeing the condition of the hood made Tess nervous. Although Drew’s vehicle was bigger than the woman’s red Honda, the Pathfinder’s engine had stalled when they collided. If their ride turned out to not be drivable, then Bryce’s suggestion of walking somewhere would be the only choice they had. Considering how hard it was raining, the reality wasn’t appealing.

Drew nodded. “You’re right,” she said and pressed the ignition button. Nothing happened. No lights on the dash or anything. Frowning, she tried again. Still no response. “Well, that’s not good. Maybe we blew a fuse of something from the impact.”

“What’s wrong with the car?” Ashley asked, leaning from the backseat. “Did the truck crash do something?” The young woman’s eyes shifted to look out the windshield. They widened. “Oh, wow. That’s not good.”

In complete agreement, Tess was about to ask what they could try next when there was an angry knocking on Drew’s window again. “Are you ignoring me?” the woman with the red Honda snapped. “Because I’m not simply going to go away.” With a sigh, Drew took a notepad and pen from the center console and quickly jotted down her name and phone number.

As she reached for the button to lower the window, she paused. “Shit,” she said. “I can’t roll down the window with the car not responding,” she said. “I’ll have to open the door to push the note through.” Tess wasn’t a fan of opening the door, even if they could get the woman to go away and was about to say so when the familiar rumbling sound started. Both the woman with the wrecked car and Ashley let out a little yelp of panic in the same instant the ground jolted beneath them. Unlike before, the sensation was more of a bounce.What is happening?Tess thought before realizing the car’s shock absorbers were reacting as if they were driving over a rough road. Being in a vehicle during the shaking was an entirely different sensation.

“Oh God,” Ashley moaned. “Please let it stop.” Tess hoped for that too, but unlike the other tremors, the earthquake grew louder and had already lasted longer.Could this be it?she wondered, facing the reality they were in a horrible spot.Is it the ‘big one’ everyone worried about?They were in downtown LA, in a traffic jam, trapped in a car that wouldn’t start.What else can go wrong?Then, she heard the rumble grow louder and the sound of something creaking. A loud crack snapped through the air.

Grabbing the car’s armrest, her eyes widened. “What is that?” she asked, looking out through the windows while the vehicle continued to shimmy.

“Oh my God,” Drew said, grabbing Tess’s arm, shock, and awe in her voice. “Look at the freeway.”

Looking out the rain-spattered window, Tess let her eyes drift to the blurry image of the freeway ahead of them. Even from where they were, over a block away, she saw pieces of concrete raining down and the onramp they would have taken starting to shake.

24

Bryce faced a dilemma as the Pathfinder continued to rock on its tires and the cracking noise from the breaking concrete ahead became more pronounced. Unable to see much of anything from behind Drew in the backseat, especially looking out the rain-speckled windshield, she needed to step out of the vehicle. Considering the tall buildings surrounding them, getting out was a bad idea. With the earth rumbling, anything could happen to her—falling debris, another crazy driver, or something entirely unpredictable. But if she didn’t, she would have no idea what was happening. There would be no chance of reacting if any of the structures around them started to crack. Making up her mind, Bryce kissed Ashley on the temple. “Stay here,” she said to the woman still clutching her arm. “I’m going to get out of the car.”

Ashley’s head whipped around. “Wait. What are you doing?” Ashley asked, the panicked sound from earlier rushing back into her voice. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I need to see what’s happening,” she said, slowly extracting her arm from Ashley’s grasp. “I’m sorry but there’s no way to assess the threat if we are all in here.”

Drew started to open her car door. “I’m getting out too,” she said. “Bryce is right. I can’t see enough because of the rain.”

As Drew opened her car door, Bryce wondered if Tess would protest but instead heard the unclipping of her seatbelt. “I am too,” she said. “Something is happening to the freeway.”

“We don’t all need to get out,” Bryce said, but it was too late. Drew was already gone.Shit, she thought as she climbed out too.That did not go as I intended.As soon as her feet hit the shaking pavement, she nearly fell, only saved by grabbing the Pathfinder’s door for support. Not realizing how much more difficult it would be to keep her balance out of the car, she worried one of the others would fall. The last thing they needed was for one of them to break their leg or something worse. Opening her mouth to ask them to please get back inside, she stopped in awe before saying a word. Up ahead, she noticed a catastrophe in the making. With another crack like thunder, the onramp broke away from the freeway and started to sway.There’s no way it’s not going to collapse.She heard people shouting in alarm as they climbed out of their cars to run away from the impending disaster.Everyone needs to get away from that ramp.

One vehicle at the very top tried to back up, but there were a dozen cars behind it blocking the way, including the big, black truck that hit Drew’s Pathfinder earlier. For some crazy reason, the driver still used his horn and tried to move forward, apparently not realizing the ramp was not connected to the freeway. When he rammed into cars, the situation grew worse as another vehicle was pushed halfway into the gap to hang suspended over a twenty-five-foot drop. Bryce prayed the car was empty and the truck would stop.Leave your stupid truck, Bryce thought, while the structure continued to sway.It’s too late. Get out and run.As if hearing her warning, the driver’s side door opened, and she watched someone jump out at precisely the moment the shaking stopped.

Like before, there was a moment of silence in the void of the rumbling. People halted their panicked running, and many turned toward the steep onramp that slowly came to a stop. Bryce let out a deep breath she didn’t know she had been holding, thankful the structure held. She started to turn to Ashley in the backseat when a horrible sound cracked through the air from the direction of the onramp. Knowing what she was about to see, she still had to stand there, watching in horror as the tons of metal and concrete tipped like a giant dying beast and fell.

Watchingthe onramp move while doing all she could to keep her balance beside the Pathfinder, Drew assessed the situation ahead of her. It seemed likely the structure would fall, so she quickly counted the vehicles in the area. Roughly twenty-seven were in the most immediate danger, but many drivers were smart enough to flee. She watched a woman in a yellow dress fall from the rocking and roll down the ramp. Further up, the black truck that hit her car was creating havoc of its own. There was nothing but chaos until as quickly as it started, the rumbling ceased, and the ground stilled.

Oh, thank God, she thought when the onramp stopped swaying. At least the injuries from people escaping the area would likely be minimal.Maybe we will get out of this with nothing but some twisted ankles.She would get her emergency bag from the back and see where she could help. Before she could take a step, the onramp made one last protest and then, as if in slow motion, tipped over. Almost unable to believe her eyes, she watched as chunks of concrete shot into the air on impact, smashing more of the surrounding cars. People started screaming again, and as she hurried to get to the back of her car, a peppering of small pieces of concrete landed on everything.

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