The Incubus

Chapter 13, Scene 14

'Stay with me, baby,' Justin said. He placed his hand on her leg and shook it a little. Rebecca moaned again and opened her eyes. Her vision, although still blurred, was slowly returning to normal. Justin's voice was still a distant, unintelligible echo in her ears. 'Focus on my voice.'

She closed her eyes, swallowed hard, and then opened them again. 'Where...where are we...?'

Justin flipped on the windshield wipers. The rain pelted down hard now and the wind jolted the car across the lane every now and again. Justin clutched the steering wheel tightly, trying to keep control of the vehicle while he tried to make up as much distance between them and the apartment as quickly as possible. 'We're in the car, honey,' he said.

Rebecca sat up and rubbed her face. 'Where are we—?'

Thud!

The car shook as something heavy struck the roof. Rebecca screamed. Justin jerked at the wheel to swerve the car out of the way of an oncoming truck.

'Hang on, baby,' Justin said and stepped down on the gas pedal.

'What's going on?'

'I don't know!'

Justin jerked at the sound of metal tearing right next to his head. A rotten claw ripped through the roof and grabbed hold of Rebecca's hair. She screamed out in panic and Justin swerved the car hard to the right to try and shake off whatever was on the roof. It didn't work. Justin over steered and for a split second time stood perfectly still.

Everything paused.

Rebecca's panic-stricken face was the last thing Justin saw before he closed his eyes.

Sound, motion, wind, and rain all returned at once as the car veered off the shoulder of the road, crashed into a log, flipped over, twirled through the air, and smashed into the ground with a sickening crunch.

Then everything was silent again aside from the soft hissing coming from the torn-apart wreck.