Page 23 of Hunted in the Shadows
“Cliff,please.”Mierda, she sounded close to tears.
“I’ve driven through plenty of storms,” he said wearily. “Trust me.”
Rain pelted the car, filling Sylvia’s answering silence. The thick, inky darkness beyond the headlight beams was barely visible, but I caught glimpses of trees beginning to crowd near the road. They did little to protect us, only creating more shadows. If I recalled correctly from our previous trips to the outpost, our path was little more than a strip of land cutting through the swamps by this point.
Before long, the wipers did jackshit to keep the road in view. As Sylvia trembled against me, my mind filled with images of the car missing a turn and plunging into the swamp.
“Hey,” I said evenly. “We might be better off pulling off to the side and waiting this out.”
Cliff grunted. “Hell no—we’ll get flooded if we sit around. The quickest way out of this is through it.”
“It’s two against one,” Sylvia snapped.
Judging by the set of his jaw, Cliff was doing everything in his power not to snap back. “It’s not a vote,” he muttered. “Close your eyes, cover your ears, whatever you gotta do.”
Another beat of silence. Then Sylvia flinched dramatically—without thunder or lightning this time. “What wasthat?” she uttered.
“What?” I asked.
“There—through the window. There was something in the water.”
Narrowing my eyes at the glass, I wondered how the hell she could discern anything except torrential rain and scraggly vegetation. “I don’t see anything,” I said.
I meant to soothe her, but intention meant nothing when another streak of lightning filled the sky. The promise of another thunderclap put her over the edge.
“Isawit! I felt it—”
Her voice tapered off when the thunder hit. Her skin suddenly felt bitingly cold against my neck. I pulled her in front of me, rubbing her upper arm with my thumb. She was almost painful to touch, but I couldn’t bring myself to let go. She buried her face in her hands, shoulders heaving.
“I’m here, Sylv,” I whispered, bringing her closer and cupping my hands to block out the downpour. “I’ve got you. We’re safe.”
She gave a little nod, head down.
Soothing her worked for all of five minutes—until there was a crash of thunder that shook the entire car. Cliff and I cursed in unison, and Sylvia shrieked. As she hyperventilated, a cracklingsound caught my ear. My eyes widened when I peeked up from her to findicecrawling onto the passenger-side window.
“Sylv—hey,hey, you’re alright,” I breathed, watching with wide eyes as the frost spread. My hands were freezing cold.
“What the fuck?” Cliff barked. Ice had started spider-webbing from the corner of the windshield. “Get your shit together, Sylv! I can’t see through your fucking ice!”
“I’m trying!” she cried back viciously.
“Whatever you’re trying’s not working!”
“Don’t yell at her!” I snapped at Cliff.
“I’m just trying to get us there in one piece.”
The air in the car was so frigid that our exclamations were visible puffs. My fingers were growing numb.
“I—I told you we shouldn’t be here!” Sylvia cut back at Cliff.
“We’ll be fine if you just—”
A viciousCRACKsounded ahead of us, and the headlights caught the flash of a huge branch falling directly into our path. The tires squealed as Cliff swerved. I pulled Sylvia close against me as weightlessness flipped my stomach. A brief but brilliant pain exploded behind my eyes before the world went dark.
I was wading through fog. My head throbbed with pain, the pungent tang of burnt rubber making me choke on my next breath.
“Oh, thank the stars—you’re breathing. Jon? Jon,wake up!”
