I turned and heaved loudly and violently onto the Jump Killer’s lap.
As he howled in disgust, I impulsively reached over and unclipped his seat belt. The engine screamed as I dropped the accelerator to the floor and wrenched the wheel to the right.
Even with the air bag popping, the shoulder belt friction burned into my neck as we hit a telephone pole head-on. The hood of the car folded back into the windshield, shattering it before the momentum of the crash swung the car up and to the right. I heard the world’s loudest nails-on-a-chalkboard screech as we skidded along the concrete railing.
Then we flipped over the guardrail backward, and we were falling through the air.
Chapter 47
STARS GLITTERED through the shattered windshield as we free-fell. My skull whacked off the headrest as we hit the water with a booming splash. It felt like I’d been hit from behind with a baseball bat.
It was amazing how quickly the cold, black water poured into the car. Definitely a lot faster than I could think what to do about it.
I tried to open the door, but it was too heavy, and by then the water was up to my neck. I took a last gulp of air as it closed over my head.
I couldn’t see anything. The car seemed to twist around and swing forward as we submerged. I wasn’t sure if we were upside down.
Along with panic, I was now attacked by a strange, sudden paralysis. Could I find an air pocket? I wondered stupidly. Should I try opening the door again?
I realized the window was open. I tried to pull myself out of it. I couldn’t. I was stuck. Then I saw that I was still wearing my seat belt.
Pain bloomed at my right elbow as I desperately tried to unclip myself. It was the Jack Russell. He was biting me under the water. I shoved him away in the dark and finally freed myself. The dog nipped at my boot as I was on my way out. I turned and reached in. My hand wrapped around fur and I dragged him up with me.
I don’t know who was gasping louder when we broke the surface, me or the little dog. He tried to bite me again as I pulled him by his collar toward some mangroves growing from underneath the concrete roadbed of the highway to the left.
“Stop it!” I screamed at the dog. “Do that again, and I’ll leave you for good!”
He finally seemed to get the message. He made a whimpering sound as he relented and let himself be dragged. In the heavy boots, I was hardly able to keep us both above water.
When I was close enough to the shore to stand, I turned back toward where we’d gone under. There was no sign of the Jump Killer. Did he make it out? God, I hoped not. The whole thing had happened so fast. I think I was still in shock.
The Jack Russell barked and followed at my heels as I headed out of the water through the brush and sand toward the road. I cursed. With its wall angled away from me, it was going to be hard to climb. The top edge of the metal railing was about three feet over my head.
It took me four jumps off a large piece of driftwood to grab on. Because of the angle, I couldn’t use my legs. I was hanging there, swinging back and forth, trying fruitlessly to get my huge, heavy-booted leg up onto the top, when there was a splash behind me.
Please be a sea turtle, I prayed.
“Nina? There you are. Wait up,” the Jump Killer called from the water in a strangely calm voice.
Chapter 48
“HOW AM I DOING, you wanted to know?” he continued, as he sloshed through the water. “Let’s see. My collarbone is broken, my face is sliced to ribbons, and one of my eyes is full of glass. Otherwise, I’m as right as rain.”
I started to cry as I swung my leg up as hard as I could. I managed to get the toe of my soaked boot onto the metal railing this time. But then it slipped off, and I was dangling there again helplessly as the splashes behind me got louder. I screamed as I tried again. Not even close. I was too terrified.
“Your arms aren’t getting tired, are they?” the Jump Killer asked as the splashing became crashing through the brush behind me. “And what are you doing? Don’t you know it’s not legal to leave the scene of an accident?”
He would catch up to me in a second. My arms felt like wet spaghetti. I had to try again. I swung up. And missed!
“Darn nice try, Nina. You almost had it that time,” the Jump Killer said directly beneath me as I swung back down.
I kicked out blindly behind me. My heavy boot heel came into delicious contact with his face. There was a strangled animal scream, and he was on his knees, holding his nose.
With the last of my strength, I changed my grip and did a chin-up to the rail. I hooked my right arm around it. It felt as if I’d torn a stomach muscle as I rolled over it and dropped into the road.
And heard the thunderous whine of an approaching truck.
You have got to be kidding me, was my only thought as I lay there on my belly with the blinding headlights of a truck coming straight at me. I couldn’t do anything except watch the lights grow bigger and bigger as the air horn sounded. Its seizing brakes gave a drawn-out metallic chirp-chirp-chirp.
Chapter 49
THE TRUCK STOPPED six feet in front of me with a deafening outrush of the air brakes. From my perch almost underneath the thunderously rumbling vehicle, its grille looked as tall as a skyscraper. It felt like my heart had stopped, too, as well as all of my major brain function.
“Are you out of your goddamn mind!?” someone yelled.
I looked up. Far above me, a middle-aged blond woman’s pissed-off face was sticking out of the tractor trailer’s passenger window.
She jumped down and dragged me to my feet roughly. All I could do was stand there, staring at her. She was one of those heavy women that people think would be gorgeous if they were skinnier. As if that were relevant. I had post-traumatic stress disorder by this point.
“You stupid, stupid girl,” she said, shaking me. “Do you have any idea how lucky you are that my husband didn’t kill you? What happened to you? You’re soaked. Are you drunk? Drugged out? Is that it?”
I looked back at the concrete wall I’d just climbed and then back at the woman with my mouth open. Where was the Jump Killer? Would he hop out now? Or was he hiding? Running away?
“She’s not talking, Mike,” the woman called up to the driver. “I think she might be some type of foreign person. Call the police on the CB.”
“No, wait,” I finally got out.
I wanted to tell her what happened, that I had just run into the Jump Killer, but I realized I couldn’t. No way could I have contact with the police. Even after all this, I still had a chance of getting away from Peter.
“No, it’s OK,” I said. “I broke up with my boyfriend. We’d been swimming a ways back there and when I came back in, he’d, uh, left me. True, I cheated on him last night with his cousin, but still. I’m down here without any money, and I was trying to hitchhike home. I guess I fell asleep,” I said.
“Fell asleep? You make a habit of falling asleep on the highway, you’re going to wake up in a graveyard, moron. And you’re certifiable to be hitchhiking. Couldn’t you call your family?”
“My mom doesn’t even know I’m here,” I said. “Please don’t call the police. She’ll throw me out if she finds out.”
“Where’s home?” the woman said.
“Boca Raton,” I said off the top of my head.
“Should I call the cops or not, Mary Ann?” the driver called down.
The heavyset woman stared into my eyes fiercely. “Don’t bother,” she called back up after a second. Then to me she said, “We’re going as far as Miami. Would that help you out?”