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It's one thing to have your nightmares filled with bugs and dead people, it's a whole other playing field to wake up and be unsure if you're still dreaming because the image in front of you is so hard to fathom.
Darcy blinked slowly, struggling to take in the destruction around her.
Cars stood on the road in various positions: on their sides, completely flipped, four tires touching the ground but fire licking at their interiors. Debris from the crash was scattered across the pavement, some of it on fire, some of it smoldering and smoking, some of it looking like it had been thrown through an industrial paper shredder. People littered the area. The air reeked of blood and fear and gasoline and coolant.
Darcy brought one of her shaking hands to cover her mouth in horror but stopped when she caught sight of the flesh. It was blistered with healing burns and blood dripped from her skin. At the sight, she became all too aware of the rest of her body.
Her chest heaved with exertion and her breath clouded in the air. Cuts and gashes ranged all over her body with bruises to match- they were too fresh to have even stopped bleeding. The shirt she'd gone to bed in was a mess of tears and stained with blood. Her entire body ached like she'd been hit by a car, rolled through a pile of gravel, and then stepped on by the Beast, which the more she thought about it, seemed more likely than not.
"Thank you," someone said behind her.
Darcy spun around, eyes going wide, to see an older woman- dark hair streaked with grey and soot, bright eyes, lined face- clutching a frail arm. Her eyes widened even further when she realized the woman was talking to her.
"What?" she asked, confused. She walked forward and hesitantly grabbed the underside of the woman's arm to take her pain.
"You saved us." Her voice was scratchy, like her throat begged for water, or she'd been screaming too much.
Black leached into Darcy's hand, blending in with her own pain, but it was second thought anyway. Her mind was still on the wrecked cars around them.
"What happened?" she asked softly.
Bright eyes turned confused and soft. "You don't remember?"
Lying, Darcy replied, "I think I hit my head. Can you remind me... please?"
The woman gave her a weird look but then sighed like it wasn't worth the effort. Her body sagged with exhaustion and Darcy shifted her hand further up her arm to lead her away from the center of the wreckage. "Something, some animal, jumped onto the road," the woman started. "At first I thought it was a large bear but then after it... After it caused the collision, it started attacking those in their cars and I saw that it- it was no bear." Darcy would've had to crane in to hear the woman's voice if not for her supernatural hearing. "Thankfully, you showed up before anyone got seriously hurt, I think."
