Page 3 of Kiwi Sin
The other car had stopped, and somebody could be hurt in there, but I couldn’t pay attention to that. I was running toward the crumpled rear of the wrong-way car, because I was smelling gas, and gas plus the kind of sparks you got when a car rolled on pavement …
That meant fire.
Get in through the windows,I thought. The doors would be locked.
The driver, a youngish fella, was upside-down, still conscious, eyes wide. Drew was there, though. I could feel his presence behind me, so I kept running around the car to the other side.
A woman here. Dark hair, white face, upside down. I shouted, “Punch your seat belt! Punch it!” Drew wasn’t shouting, because he was already hauling. The driver must have unclipped, but the passenger hadn’t. She was fumbling for the latch, and I wasn’t just smelling gas anymore. I was smelling smoke.
I didn’t think. I crouched, and then I straightened. Right into the shattered window, grabbing for the shoulder harness and following it up, punching where the button would be.
The second it released, she fell straight down onto her head, but I wasn’t worrying about that. I had my hands around her hips and was turning her awkwardly and hauling her out, legs first. She was tangled in the belt, and I pulled harder, the steep bank beside me not giving me enough space for the leverage I needed.
The smell was stronger now. Leaking gas. And smoke. Something catching.
I pulled like it was life and death, because it was, and she came loose. Her abdomen hit the edge of the window hard as I pulled her out upside-down by the legs, and she cried out.
The back of the car was burning, the flames licking toward us, but I had her mostly out, grabbing her around the middle now. It was a long way around there, and she was heavy.
Because she was pregnant.
The heat was a scorching thing. I could feel it on my cheeks, my arms. I was dragging her away from the bank that trapped us, around the front of the car. Then I had her in my arms, and I was running.
The blast like a furnace as the fire reached the gas tank and blew. A bloom of heat on my back, my legs, stinging hard, but I was striding like my legs could cover the world.
We were out.
We were free.
Escape.
2
THE WAGES OF SIN
Gabriel
By the time I lowered the woman to the grass, there were three more cars parked on the verge, and men running. One holding a handful of flares, running back toward Wanaka, the other waving his arms over his head at oncoming traffic in the other direction. Brave, but foolish. Drew, who had the driver of the burning car sitting propped against the bank, shouted to the arm-waving man, “Flares in the boot of my car, across the highway,” and pointed, and the man ran for them.
I registered all that in a sort of compartment in my mind, a dispassionate corner that was taking stock, and then I was setting the woman down gently, beside her husband. I was afraid to look, afraid of what I’d see, but that dispassionate corner had me looking anyway, because it was necessary.
She wasn’t crying. She was gasping, holding her belly, and I wanted to pray, but I didn’t really know how. I knew about a vengeful God who punished sinners for their wickedness, and would punish me, too, for my sins today. God was probably punishing her right now, but that didn’t feel right. What could she have done to deserve this? I didn’t know how you asked for mercy, so I just crouched beside her and asked, “What hurts?”
“Susannah,” the man said.“Susannah.Oh, my God. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I only forgot for a minute. How could it happen that fast?”
Drew said, “I’ve rung for the police and the ambos. They’ll be here soon to check her out.” He was still holding his phone, though, and now, he did some clicking around, waited a minute, then said, “Gray? Got the number of that doctor fella, Matiu? Read it out to me.” Some more clicking, then he was saying, “That Matiu Te Mana? Drew Callahan here. Still in Wanaka, or on your way?” Another few seconds, and he said, “Come on as fast as you can, then. There’s been an accident at the intersection with the Gibbston Highway. Got a pregnant woman here who needs attention, and some burns as well. Ambos on their way, but you’ll be faster, and I want you to look at this lady.” He rang off and told the woman, “There’s help coming. An emergency doc, and the ambos. They’ll take care of you, and the baby. What’s hurting? Are you having contractions?”
She said, “I … I don’t know. I don’t think so. I hit my belly hard on the window, though. It hurts. Is the baby … do you think she …”
Drew said, still calm as a glacial lake, “Pretty protected in there, with the amniotic fluid and all. Your body takes it in order to protect her, eh. I’ve got three kids myself, and I’m guessing you’re doing a pretty fair job of that protection right now. How far gone are you?”
“Thirty … thirty weeks,” the woman gasped.
“We’ve been traveling,” the man said. “Our honeymoon, before the baby. I’ve been driving on the left for two weeks! I wasn’t even going that fast. I realized as soon as I made the turn, as soon as I saw you. It was only a second. How could it happen in asecond?”He had hold of the woman now, and I thought about how many things could happen in a second. You could turn your back on your home. You could hurt your family. You could burn down your life.
“American, are you, mate?” Drew asked. Still calm, but he was stepping behind me, checking out my back.
I said, “I’m fine. Stings a bit, that’s all. Got a little hot there, maybe.”
