Chapter 4 Tommy
Tommy
A loud bang snaps me awake. My entire world shakes, then spins and screeches, then comes to a violent stop. Heart pounding, I shield my face and brace for whatever comes next, disoriented and confused and not remembering where I am.
“Shit. Fuck,” a familiar voice grunts beside me. A hand wraps around my arm a second later, squeezing firmly. “Thomas, are you okay?”
I slide my hands down to eye level and spread my fingers, peeking ahead. The windshield is cracked. Smoke escapes from the side of the SUV’s hood, and the thick trunk of a pine tree blocks the passenger’s side door.
Oh fuck. I suck in a sharp breath, inspecting myself for any new injuries. I find none, thank god, but my head is throbbing like crazy. “What happened? Did we crash?”
Next to me, Nikolas lets out another grunt as he undoes his seatbelt. “Yes… I don’t know how it happened.”
Inspecting the inside of the car to make sure nothing is an immediate danger, I unbuckle my seatbelt, too.
A sudden bout of panic makes me check for the stone, which is thankfully in my pocket where I tucked it.
Everything happened because of this little shiny thing, so it would be such a shame if I lost it.
I try my door, but the tree won’t let it open enough so I can slip out.
“This way,” Nikolas beckons, stumbling out of the vehicle with the bag in hand. He puts it down on the ground nearby and kneels by the tire.
I haul myself over the console and slide out the driver’s side, my legs shaking and my head spinning.
I feel like throwing up. I was dreaming about something, and remnants of that dream still linger at the edges of my consciousness—the tickling sensation of the sun on my cheeks, the blue sky, water splashing nearby, strawberry parfait.
“Oh, you gotta be kidding me…” Nikolas’ growl sounds both annoyed and desperate.
Curious, if still a little unstable, I trudge around the front of the SUV to where Nikolas is crouching down to inspect the damage. The front right tire is completely busted, the rubber ripped beyond repair.
“What the fuck did you hit?” And more importantly, “Do you have a spare?”
Nikolas stands and crosses his arms over his chest, mumbling what was probably another curse. “I do, but…” He rubs his eyes, then looks up at the still dark sky. “Where the fuck am I gonna find three more?”
Three more? My chest constricts, suddenly too tight for my galloping heart. Three more? Surely Nikolas couldn’t mean that we’ve busted all four tires, right?
Mind swimming with worst-case scenarios, I check for myself. The remaining three tires look just as bad as the one on the front passenger side.
“Uh, weird. How did you even manage this?”
Nikolas’ hard gaze makes me shudder. “How the fuck would I know? I didn’t see anything! I was just driving and suddenly everything went to hell.”
That makes zero sense. The chances of tires all going bust at the same time is very low… They don’t just randomly decide to shred themselves to pieces of useless rubber.
A lump forms in my throat as Nikolas paces back and forth and mumbles something in that foreign language. The uneasiness grows with every anxiety-inducing loop he completes, spreading to my stomach, which knots with nerves and the anticipation that something will jump at us any moment now.
“I’m going to go check the road.”
Nikolas answers with something that could be a nod or a shake, still pacing.
Focusing on regulating my still elevated heartbeat, I follow the tracks the car left.
There is nothing, at least at first, so I backtrack even more, all the way to where the skid marks from the heavy braking start.
Even then, I almost miss it. That’s how well the spike strip is camouflaged.
Uh, why is one of these here?
Cautiously, I approach it, noticing a red blinking light only when I’ve circled it so I can inspect it from the other side. Is this thing…?
“Fuck me.” I break into a sprint, adrenaline flooding my system. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Nikolas is staring at the ruined vehicle with his hands on his hips when I almost crash into him. He looks so pale it seems like he might pass out. “So? Did I run over somethi—”
I grab him and the bag. “We need to go. There was a spike strip and I’m pretty sure we triggered its location ping.”
The frown on Nikolas’ face is more than understandable, but I don’t think we have time for this. “I… There’s no way I missed something like that!”
“It was very well hidden.” I pull harder, my heart trying to rip a hole out of my chest. “Please. We need to go. I don’t want to be here when whoever set it up arrives.
” A horrifying thought crosses my mind. What if it’s the same people who’ve been chasing me?
What if, somehow, they knew we’d be heading this way and laid a trap for us?
Fuck, I really don’t want to find out. We should get away from here as quickly as possible.
Nikolas perks up, his entire focus shifting to the forest surrounding us.
He’s on high alert and that gives me chills, forcing me into an elevated sense of alarm.
The quietness around us grows heavy, foreboding.
The sounds of the forest take center stage.
I can hear the leaves sway at the hands of the wind high above us, the bark crackle, the grass settle, the insects move.
Not far from us, a branch snaps, loud like an explosion in the relative stillness.
“What was that?” I press closer to Nikolas.
“Probably an animal,” he says, swallowing hard. “But you are right. Let’s go.”
For a while, we power-walk in silence. You can’t really run here, the ground is too uneven.
I gradually get used to some of the noises, but I don’t let my guard down, pausing to look back every minute or so to make sure no one is following us.
The terrain is very challenging, to say the least, roots and stones trying to trip us every couple of feet, so I can’t exactly walk and keep watch at the same time.
“Why would there be a spike strip here, in the middle of nowhere?” I finally dare to ask, needing something to douse over the nerves swamping me.
Nikolas halts mid-step, his shoulders tensing. But he doesn’t say anything, just stands there and observes the silence as if it will speak up.
Fuck, is it that bad? Now I regret asking. But hey, at least I’m not alone.
Trying to shake off the ramping up fear, I take the lead.
My mind races with possibilities. Did we walk into a trap?
Is the enemy about to jump at us and rip us to pieces?
I shake my head, take a deep breath, speed up my strides.
No, no. I shouldn’t be thinking about worst-case scenarios right now.
Besides, I’m not on my own anymore. I have Nikolas.
The Nikolas, a living legend in the underground world.
The two of us will be fine; we are just…
temporarily stuck in a scary-ass forest and possibly being tailed.
But, hey, it could be a lot worse, right?
“It was probably set up to catch us. If the Crimson Crew figured out their initial attack failed, they’d be on the lookout,” Nikolas says just as I am starting to lean toward the spikes just being terrible luck.
“That quickly?”
It’s a stupid question, considering how many times I got close to dying this past month. The Crew is a formidable enemy you definitely don’t want to piss off.
“The stone you stole… It must really mean a great deal to them.”
I slide my hand into my pocket out of habit and stroke the smooth gem.
This little thing is important, huh? I know I have an eye for these things, but in this case I wish I didn’t.
My life would still be a boring college slog and coding if I didn’t steal this trinket and put a target on my own head.
Sigh. But then again, this is the kind of fucked-up adventure you only see in movies. An honest-to-god crime syndicate is after me because I stole their precious treasure from right under their noses. A total thief newbie. It’s impressive, no?
Could I have returned it, maybe? Gone back the next day and left it somewhere they’d find it?
I contemplated that on the first day, during class.
Considered swinging by the fancy building the day after even though I was so fucking scared they might catch me and I’d end up like Zac.
But then, someone sneaked into my dorm in the middle of the night.
To this day, I don’t have the slightest clue how the man managed to get past the CCTV and security, how he bypassed the keycard-controlled entrance, how he got around the lock on my door.
The only reason I am even alive is thanks to the fact that I was in the kitchen for some water when the break-in happened, then walked in on the guy looming over my empty bed, ready to strike.
I ran. I ran until I was on the brink of passing out and surrounded by campus security. God, they were so confused and annoyed when I led them to my empty room, no trespasser to be seen. They thought I’d gone crazy because of exam stress.
Pff, what a simple and dull life that would have been! Stressing over exams and coding deadlines and not because bloodthirsty mobsters want to kill me.
“You with me, Tommy?” Nikolas’ big hand comes around my shoulder, squeezing gently.
Sucking in the chilly air, I shiver. “I really shouldn’t have stolen it, huh? Fuck. I’m such an idiot.”