Page 47 of Stray
My gaze darted between watching the road in front of me and keeping an eye on the truck. My efforts to put distance between us were thwarted every time. The driver hit the gas, having no problem keeping up.
Adrenaline had my pulse pounding faster. We were reaching seriously dangerous speeds. Even though the open highway stretched before us, an unexpected obstacle would create a deadly situation. I sure as hell hoped a deer didn’t decide to cross.
“I think I have to fucking shoot them. They’re not leaving me much of a choice here.” Dom double-checked the bullet in the chamber. He was ready to take this to the next level.
“Wait,” I insisted.
“For what? For these assholes to run us off the road? Fuck that.”
There was no controlling Dominik when he made up his mind. Rolling down his window, he stuck his arm out and fired at the vehicle behind us. As I’d expected, they returned fire. Being behind us gave them a better shot. They immediately shot out one of our back tires.
Knowing that we were screwed, I hit the brakes, not wanting to go off the road at such a high speed. The SUV fishtailed before sliding to one side. The truck raced around us in the next lane. Whoever sat in the passenger seat took another shot at us, blowing out a front tire.
That’s when I lost total control of the vehicle. We went off the road into the ditch. The speed and momentum created a pivot point on the front end, flipping us over. The world turned upside down as we landed.
Pain slashed through my side as my face bounced off the steering wheel seconds before the airbag blew. That suckerpunched me hard in the nose. I was sure it had broken my face, possibly my wrist as well.
After we came to a stop, it took several long minutes for me to process what had just happened. I was disoriented as fuck. Thankfully, the truck had continued moving. They hadn’t stopped to finish us off.
“Fuck, dude, are you okay?” I reached across for Dominik, concerned by his silence.
The interior of the SUV was dark, making it hard to see him. I gave Dom a good shake, needing him to let me know he was alive. He finally made a pained sound. Good enough for me.
Hanging upside down was seriously messing with my head. I managed to shove my door open and release my seatbelt. I fell onto the roof with my bottom half awkwardly crushing my top half. Clutching the door, I dragged myself out of the vehicle.
I had no idea how hurt I was yet. My priority was getting Dom out. Every breath hurt as I crawled on my hands and knees around the SUV to the passenger side. Dominik was barely conscious but he was breathing. I dragged him out, and we both collapsed in the grass.
Knowing I needed to call for help, I dug in my pocket for my phone, hoping it hadn’t been broken in the crash. Thankfully, it was fine. I held it up to call 911. That’s when I noticed the message notification displayed on the screen.
Watch out for Venom.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CODIE
My Saturday night was turning out to be incredibly pathetic. Even though there were several parties going on, I opted to stay home. Stray had never replied to my text message. Maybe that was for the best.
I told myself that spending the weekend at home was a good idea. I didn’t need to party all the time. Munching some nachos while watching a movie on TV was a valid life choice. Athena had gone to a frat party with Luna and Ripley. They’d done their best to get me to go with them. I just wasn’t feeling it.
Instead, I made nachos, bought ice cream, and decided to binge some of my favorite romantic comedies. I may have even glanced out the window several times hoping to see Stray’s Mustang. Nothing. He probably had better things to do.
I kept telling myself that I wasn’t missing out on anything good. There was nothing special about a frat party. The frat bros had them all the time. It didn’t help that Athena kept messaging me to tell me how much fun they were having and that I should totally be there.
She almost had me convinced at one point. I started to consider changing my clothes and slapping on some makeup to go join the girls. That wasn’t what I really wanted to do, although sitting at home alone was starting to feel depressing.
I stared into my closet when my phone rang. Storm’s name popped up on the screen. Maybe she would want to come to the stupid frat party with me.
“Hey, girl. What’s up? Are you busy tonight?” I launched right in, prepared to talk her into joining me.
She shocked me by saying, “Codie, there was an accident. Stray and Dominik were run off the road. I don’t know how bad it is yet, but they’ve both been taken to the hospital.”
My lungs ceased moving. I was at a loss for words. Several times I had to replay her words in my head for the meaning to truly sink in.
“Are you still there?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m just mind fucked. I don’t know what to say.” Tears welled in my eyes, spilling down my cheeks. “This is all my fault. It had to be Venom.”
“We don’t know that yet. We don’t really know anything. Rebel got the call a few minutes ago. We’re going to head over to the hospital and check out the situation. I’ll update you as soon as I know more.” Storm proved what a great person she was by trying to reassure me. We both knew the truth.
