Chapter 68
Idon’t know how I didn’t go flying through the windshield.
By some miracle, the airbag caught me and threw me back against my seat instead.
After a few disorienting seconds, adrenaline surged through my veins.
All I could think was, get out.
Escape.
Dr. Pike was unconscious, slumped over the steering wheel after hitting his head on impact. I looked over at him for a split second before I fumbled for the door handle.
The car was embedded deep in the snow, packed in tight, and when I tried to shove the door open, it wouldn’t budge.
“No, no, no,” I muttered.
I reached for the keys still in the ignition and yanked them out, then tried smashing one of the keys against the window. The key bounced off uselessly.
I tried again but nothing happened.
“Come on, come on,” I whispered desperately, trying to hit the window harder.
Dr. Pike groaned.
My entire body surged with more panic, and I turned in desperation to rip the headrest from the seat I was in. My hands were shaking so badly I nearly dropped it. I eventually managed to tug it free, and two metal rods stuck out from the bottom.
I sucked in a breath and slammed the metal spikes into the window.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The fourth hit cracked it.
On the fifth strike, it shattered.
Glass exploded, spraying into the snow. Tiny shards rained over my hair and clothes. I squeezed my eyes shut as fragments stung my skin.
I shoved my arm through the broken window and dragged myself through.
Cold air hit me and snow pelted my face, but I blinked through it and was halfway out when a hand clamped around my ankle.
“Get back here!” Dr. Pike growled.
I screamed and kicked wildly, slamming my heel into whatever part of him I could hit. His grip loosened a bit and I kicked again.
His hand finally slipped off and I made it out of the car.
I stumbled through the snow that was almost to my waist. It swallowed me whole, but I forced my legs to move.
Move, Hope. Move.
My breath came in ragged gasps as I trudged and clawed my way through the snowbank back to the road.
I finally made it to asphalt and reached into my pockets to search for my phone but I couldn’t feel it anywhere. It must’ve fallen in the snow or got lost somewhere in the car when we crashed.
I didn’t have time to keep looking for it, so I decided to just start running.
As my legs started pumping, my lungs burned in the cold air, and I tasted the undeniable metallic taste of blood on my tongue.
I ran for what felt like hours.
I slipped constantly. And every time I fell, my hands slammed against the frozen asphalt. The flesh on my palms tore a few times but I ignored it and just kept going.
I thought I was imagining it when I finally saw something in the distance. It took me a few moments to accept that what I was seeing wasn’t a dream.
There were neon lights, and they grew brighter as I got closer.
A gas station.
A sob tore out of me, and I pushed myself faster, stumbling down the road until I reached the door into the little store. I grabbed the handle and tried to turn it, but it was locked.
The pumps were on but the storefront was dark.
“No,” I whispered.
My knees buckled and I dropped to the ground, my forehead falling against the door. I grabbed the handle and shook it.
“No, please,” I begged, tears rolling down my frozen cheeks. “Let me in. Please.”
I could see a phone inside. And the agony of being so close yet so far made me sob harder.
My hands were bleeding. My forehead and hair were sticky with dried blood from earlier. My fingers were turning blue. My whole body felt bruised and achy from the impact of the crash and I didn’t know if I had the strength left to break into the store.
But I didn’t have much choice.
Just as I straightened up and started to look around for something that could help me get in—I heard the crunch of gravel behind me.
Headlights cut across the trees and snow and my entire body snapped back into terror.
He found me.
I spun around, preparing to run again when I heard someone say my name. And it wasn’t Pike’s voice.
“Hope! Is that you?”
The voice had my knees buckling.
“Jay,” I choked out. “I’m here. It’s me.”
His car door slammed and his footsteps pounded across the gravel.
And then he was there.
I reached for him at the same time he reached for me.
The second his arms wrapped around me, I collapsed against him.
I sobbed violently into his chest.
“What happened to you?” he breathed into my hair, clutching me tightly against him. “Hope, what happened?”
“He—” I tried to speak but my voice broke. “He followed me to my car… —”
I couldn’t finish.
“Who?” Jay pulled back just enough to brush my wet hair from my face.
His navy eyes were now filled with a dangerous fury.
“Who did this to you, Hope?”
“Dr. Pike.”