Another.
Fuck.Fuck, fuck.
The red light on my dashboard flashed, telling me my run-flat had been engaged. The potholes must have shredded a hole into my wheel.
Fuck!
William wasn’t that far ahead of me. Even with my run-flat, I still had a shot of outpacing him. I pressed down on the gas, both hands on the steering wheel as the streets started to open up. I could see the Miami bay to my left as we pulled out of the industrial zone. Here, the street was no longer empty.
Honks filled the air. William dodged and swerved through cars, threading the needle extremely close as he drove between two huge shipping trucks.
I almost lost him. If he kept going straight, I would have lost him.
He didn’t, though; he took a sharp right. I swerved and lurched onto the road he cut onto, almost getting sideswiped by another car, their bright white headlights filling my vision and painting the inside of my car.
The road we turned onto was empty. Straight ahead was a narrow bridge, yellow lights warning of a coming ship.
Yellow lights that went completely ignored. The bridge began to lift, William not altering his course. He drove straight ahead, accelerating. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Did he really think he was going to make that jump? Was he going to stop at the last second?
I started to slow, my jaw gaping.
William sped up as the bridge split apart. The bay’s water glittered underneath, dark and rippled by the oncoming boat.
“No, he can’t.”
He didn’t stop. He drove onto the slanted bridge, turning it into a ramp. The red Toyota became airborne, lifting up toward the sky before dipping back down, landing on the other side of the bridge with a loud bang.
The bridge, completely parallel now, stood as a wall, no longer a ramp.
I was stuck on the other side of it, completely shocked and at a loss for what to do next.
* * *
OLIVER
My mouth wasas dry as a terribly bland live-action remake ofAladdin. My eyes blinked open, but my bedroom was so dark. I could barely see anything.
And why was I bumping around so much? Oh my CarrieBradgawd, was this an earthquake? Should I be getting up and hiding under a doorway or something?
I slammed hard against something, my shoulder taking most of the impact.
It was as if the jolt rebooted my memory.
Kidnapped. Hostage. Knocked out.
Holy shit. I wasn’t waking up from a nap, and I wasn’t in my room. This was a trunk, and whoever the hell had control of the wheel was driving like an absolute maniac.
“Help!”
I tried to shout, but it was useless. No one would hear me past the sock stuffed in my mouth.
The car took a sharp turn, and I crumpled back against the corner of the trunk. My hands and feet were tied.
Fear. It filled me like a toxic plume of gas, taking up every ounce of space it could.
Something poked me in my thigh. I realized I could feel the shape of my phone against me. I gave out a relieved sound, muffled by the sock as well as the loud and unnerving sound of a car breaking apart all around me. Everything rattled and clattered and screeched, and there was an overpowering smell of smoke and exhaust fumes in the air.
But if I could reach my phone, if I could somehow call for help, then maybe, maybe I could get out of this.