The Truth Comes Out

Chapter 9: After The Crash

The hood of Beca's Hundai crunches under the impact of the large truck flying at around 70 MPH. Her windshield shatters and the glass dances along the freeway, landing yards from where the car is stopped.

The truck hits from the side, and Beca's car skids and crashes into the wall of the freeway where it scrapes to a halt. The air bags immediately explode out from behind the dashboard, causing Beca's head to snap back and hit against her side window, and she blacks out from the blow. Chloe's body violently lurches forward and her seatbelt locks up, inducing a large rash on her hip. Small shards of shrapnel fly into her face and arms.

There's a silence. A terrifying moment of no movement.

The smell of coolant intoxicates the car, and smoke fills Chloe's lungs. Lightheaded from the chemicals in the air, it's almost enough to take Chloe out of consciousness, but instead she begins to go into hysterics when she sees Beca.

Beca's forehead has a large bump on it, growing in front of her eyes. Her head is rested in an awkward position on the side window, her eyes closed, her body lifeless.

Chloe cries out and reaches out to Beca, but her locked seatbelt restrains her from moving out of her seat. She grunts and attempts to unbuckle herself. It's a hard task. Chloe's hands are shaking violently. For the first time she notices the shrapnel in her arms and the little pockets of blood seeping out from each sliver. She finally manages to free herself from--

"Oh my God. Are you okay? Jesus. Is she okay?"

A large woman with a baseball cap on top of her wild curly hair sticks her head in the window, next to Beca's face. The woman seems to have no scratches on her, but Chloe concludes that she had to have been the one driving the truck.

Chloe tries to say something, but only a pathetic squeak follows. She breaks down into a painful sob, no tears actually coming out.

The truck driver is also trembling, visibly shaken up by the crash. "Oh my God. Okay. I'm going to call 9-11."

Chloe nods, and helplessly looks over at Beca.

A man runs over to the scene. He also has a phone up to his ear. As the man approaches the car, he informs the receiver of their location and opens Beca's door. The truck driver steps back and hangs up her own phone as the man gives her his own. "Here. Talk to them for me."

He then pulls Beca out of her seat from under her arms and picks her up, fireman style, carrying her to the freeway wall. The smell of coolant grows stronger. As the sound of sirens approach from behind them, the man jogs to Chloe's door and opens it.

She's not unconscious, but he still picks her up under her legs and effortlessly carries her to Beca.

Chloe is shaking, gasping for air, being enveloped in her hysterics.

Before leaving her, he raises a concerned eyebrow.

"Let me get you some water." He jogs back to his car.

Two sirens and a cop car pull up to the scene, and before the man comes back with Chloe's water, an officer is already interrogating him. Two men hop out of the first siren. A third follows behind out of the second.

They work hastily together to lift Beca's body onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.

No. They can not take Beca away from me. Chloe cries out and painfully stands up.

She catches one of the paramedic's eye, and he runs over to her. "Please sit tight while we get your friend situated."

"No! No. I need to be with her. Please," Chloe squeaks.

The paramedic shoots a look at the police officer behind them, then sympathetically back to Chloe. "Okay. Okay, I can do that for you. I'm really not supposed to, but we can make this work."

He quickly walks her into the ambulance. With a grunt, Chloe heaves herself into the small siren. She sucks in a gasp of breath. Tubes and masks are already attached to Beca. It scares her. Chloe walks over to her.

"Are you going to be alright?" The paramedic asks.

Chloe nods.

"Okay. We are on our way to the hospital now."

She nods again and looks down at Beca.

She slips her hand in Beca's. A tear surfaces her blue eyes. "I love you," she whispers.