FUTURITY

JUDE

CRASH!

Leon's fist shattered the driver's seat window of a nearby vehicle.

"Get in the van!"

Jason, out of breath, looked at him. "So, where is this friend of yours going to pick us up?" Leon ignored him and slid into the driver's seat of the black van. It looked like a fifteen-passenger.

Jason heard the other doors unlock with a quiet snap. He hesitated in the narrow alley for a moment, then got into the passenger seat. They had stumbled onto the van by Anne's Salon when they'd been dodging from alley to alley. The cops weren't far behind.

"My friend will pick us up when you take a picture of the inside of this van," Leon finally said. He pulled wires from under the steering wheel and began to jump-start the van. He growled.

The sirens whirred louder. The very air began to tremble with the sound.

Leon growled. He fumbled. He cursed.

The siren grew louder, louder, and louder. It became nearly unbearable. Jason tensed and looked through the back window. He caught another glimpse of flashing blue and red.

"Leon—" VROOM!

The van roared to life and jolted forward. A cop car with lights blazing entered the alley behind them. Leon made the van race out into the open street.

Cars honked. Sirens whined. Flashes of black asphalt, a passed up the green minivan, and the bright sun registered on Jason's retinas.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I-25 is our best shot to stay free right now." Leon wove in and out of traffic, dodging semis and passing other vans and expensive cars like Ferraris. Jason fumbled to buckle his seat belt. His hands felt sweaty.

Leon turned and handed Jason his iPhone. "Here, take a picture of the inside of the van." "Why?" Jason asked.

"It's the only way out of all this mess. Trust me. We can't escape unless my friend comes, and the only way he will come is if you take a picture."

More sirens whined. Slower cars fell behind. Jason glanced at the mirror and counted four cop cars behind them.

Without a word, he began to look for the camera app on the

phone. Adrenaline coursed through his veins like liquid fire. He found the app just as Leon veered onto Interstate 25. Jason turned to take a picture of the empty seats in the back.

CRASH!

The glass shattered as bullets flew through the back window. Jason flinched and dropped the phone. It slid to the back of the van.

Leon hit the accelerator harder. "Did you just drop my phone?"

"I'm getting it!" Jason snapped. When he unbuckled himself, he got onto his hands and knees and began to crawl down the aisle and around the seats. Trash and shattered glass riddled the floor.

CRASH!

Bullets whizzed past Jason's ear. He gritted his teeth and crawled faster.

The wind rushed into the van through the broken windows and tugged at Jason's hair. He reached the back. Gripping a corner of a seat with one hand to steady himself, he used the other to reach for the phone.

PING!

PING!

Bullets battered the side of the van. Now the red and blue lights flashed through shattered windows. Jason struggled to hold the phone with bloody, glass-cut fingers. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead and streamed down his back. He began to shake.