The Fast Lane

Chapter 22

Bzzzt. Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

Bzzzt. Bzzzt. Bzzzt. “Hello? Yeah I have her.”

I opened my eyes slowly. My forehead was resting against something cold and hard. Without moving my head I shifted my eyes to look to the right. Fields flew past as blurs of color. My eyes wouldn’t adjust and I was so dizzy. I squeezed my eyes shut and wrinkled my forehead as I tried to get my head to stop spinning. I immediately began to feel ill and gripped the door handle. I searched for words to tell the driver to stop but when I couldn’t I simply opened the door and, leaning against the seatbelt, threw up.

"Woah…" The driver said, grabbing my arm and helping me lean out as he stepped on the breaks. When we were going slow enough, I unclipped my seatbelt and rolled out of the car onto the dirt road. The car stopped immediately and I heard a door open and feet running over to me.

I sat up on my knees and threw up three more times, beginning to cry after the last time. The stranger began to rub my back. “It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay.” My head was pounding and my forehead had an intense amount of pressure on it. I reached up and began to touch above my left eyebrow, but the stranger grabbed my hand gently and held it.

"Don’t touch, we’ll get it taken care of when we get to Jenna’s. It doesn’t look too bad. It actually looks pretty badass." He laughed.

Slowly I looked up at the stranger. My eyebrows were still pushed together and I clutched my stomach as I tried to hold down another round of vomit. He was tall - probably about 6 foot 5 - and he had short brown hair. His brown eyes had flecks of orange in them and looked encouragingly down at me as I struggled to look up at him. His clothes were all muddy and his hand was wrapped in a bloody strip of cloth.

"You think you can ride about 3 more miles? We’re close."

I nodded once and took the unhurt hand of the stranger as he helped me to my feet. He put a supportive hand around my back as I started to walk toward the car. I yelped as I put pressure on my right leg and felt an insane amount of pain shoot up the lower half. When I looked down, I noticed my leg was wrapped in a shirt, but the shirt was covered in blood. Still unable to say anything, I began to cry.

"I know, I know, we’re getting you help right now. Just make it to Jenna’s."

I nodded again and let the stranger lift me into the car. I looked out the window at the fields as we drove the three miles to Jenna’s. There was no wind and the sun was out. The fields and houses around us were destroyed by the tornado. People stood on what remained of their porches and looked out over their ruined property, looking up at the car as we sped by, swerving to avoid fence posts and other debris that lay in the road.

I began to feel dizzy again as we approached Jenna’s house. I felt the car stop in the driveway, and the stranger stood up out of the car.

"Joel! Get Harry! I’ve got her!"

I heard shouts as someone ran inside and shouted for Harry. I opened my eyes and squinted toward the front door as I watched Harry sprint out of the house, jump off of the porch, and throw the car door open. My vision began to blur and everything started to go black as I saw a sweaty and panicked Harry reach for my outstretched hand. I heard him yell.

"Get my car now, we’re going to the hospital!"

I passed out again.