Chapter 9 - The Edge
The van swerved violently along the winding mountain roads.
I struggled to sit up, using the medical cabinets in the back to balance myself.
"Where are you taking me?" I demanded, hiding a heavy oxygen wrench behind my back.
"Somewhere they will never find us," Silas laughed, wiping blood from his forehead.
He was driving erratically, clearly disoriented from his injuries and the explosion.
I knew if he got me to a secondary location, I would never survive.
I had to end this right here, right now.
I crawled toward the metal grate separating the driver's seat from the back.
"You need to pull over, your pupils are dilated," I lied, projecting a tone of medical authority.
"You're bleeding into your brain."
He glanced in the mirror, panic flashing in his eyes for a fraction of a second.
It was all the distraction I needed.
I swung the heavy metal oxygen wrench through the gaps in the grate.
The metal slammed brutally against the side of his skull.
Silas roared in pain, his hands flying off the steering wheel.
The heavy van veered sharply off the paved road and crashed through the guardrail.
We plummeted down a steep, forested embankment, smashing through thick pine trees.
Metal crumpled and glass shattered as the van rolled over twice before slamming into a massive oak tree.
The world went violently black for a moment.
I woke up coughing on thick, acrid smoke pouring from the crushed engine.
I was hanging upside down, tangled in the IV lines from the medical cabinets.
I kicked the jammed back doors open and crawled out into the freezing mud.
My vision was blurred, and warm blood trickled down my forehead.
I started limping toward the steep hill, praying to reach the highway.
Suddenly, a heavy, blood-soaked hand wrapped around my ankle.
Silas dragged himself out of the wreckage, his face entirely covered in blood.
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"You..." he choked out, raising a jagged piece of twisted metal to strike me.
"You don't get to leave."
