Chapter Two
775 Words
The car accelerated, the engine straining as Julian pushed the limits. The expedition now tailed closely, tires shrieking on the wet pavement. Lia heard gunfire pop over rain roar, each shot sending chills down her spine.
“Can’t we call for assistance?!” Lia yelled, her voice quivering.
“No time!” Julian snapped, his focus unwavering from the road ahead. “We must lose them first.”
The car skidded around a corner sharply, and Julian yanked the wheel hard left. The Expedition overshot the turn, granting a momentary lead. Julian seized the chance, gunning the engine as they sped down a narrow alleyway.
For an instant, Lia thought they may have escaped. But then the unmistakable roar of the Expedition engine sounded behind once more. They were still being pursued.
Julian’s face was grim as he glanced at the fuel gauge. “We’re running dangerously low on gas and need to find an escape, and fast.”
Lia’s mind raced faster than light, adrenaline pumping through every vein. “What about the ancient bridge, long out of service? Though narrow, if we cross could they follow without risking ruin?”
Julian nodded, a flicker of hope rekindled in tired eyes. “A perilous plan, but perhaps our lone chance. Hold tight, Lia, the end is in sight.”
He whipped the wheel sharply, skidding onto the rotting bridge through pounding rain. Lia held her breath as wooden planks creaked under straining metal. Julian didn’t pause, pressing on into the unknown.
The bridge moaned under added weight, rain-softened boards shifting with echoing cracks below the dark churning waters far below. Lia’s heart thundered as out the window she peered into the abyss below.
“Hurry, hurry,” Julian muttered prayers under rapid breath, eyes fixed on salvation across the roiling river ahead.
The SUV slammed to a halt where the bridge met the bank, its master wavering on the precipice. For a moment, hope soared- but then with a roar it charged onto the weakening wood in dangerous pursuit.
Lia’s eyes grew wide with renewed terror. “They follow still!”
Julian gritted his teeth, jaw set with determination. “Nearly there, just a little further.” The car surged on as one board gave with a c***k like rolling thunder. Lia felt the sinking lurch and knew their race was at an end.
"Hold on!” Julian screamed desperately, though his cry was swallowed by the cacophony of crumbling concrete and screeching metal. Lia clutched his arm in terror as their vehicle hydroplaned toward the precipice, the bridge disintegrating behind them. For an eternity, suspended between one heartbeat and the next, they were suspended over nothing, the churning rapids rising up to meet them. As the car lost its battle with gravity and plunged into the frigid waters below, Lia unleashed an atonal shriek that was as quickly swallowed by the roiling current. Their fate, it seemed, was now in the hands of the raging river. The remnants of the bridge crashed into the water behind them, sealing their fate...or perhaps marking the start of a new chapter. Only time, it seemed, would reveal their destiny.
As the car plunged toward the churning waters below, time seemed to slow. Lia gripped her seat, her breathing shallow with fear as the dark river rushed up to meet them, its surface stirred violently by the pounding rain. Julian's knuckles paled around the steering wheel, his jaw set resolutely against the impending crash.
The SUV teetered precariously on the broken bridge's edge, its driver momentarily paralyzed by indecision. For a split second, Lia caught the driver's shadowy gaze through the rear window, though his expression was masked by the stormy gloom. His intentions, however, needed no clarification.
Bone-jarringly, they hit the water. A spray of icy liquid drenched the windshield upon impact. Within moments, the car was submerged as the river flooded through shattered glass. The frigid temperatures shocked Lia's system, and she inhaled a mouthful of water involuntarily.
"We have to get out, now!" Julian shouted urgently over the din, already working to free himself. Lia fumbled with trembling fingers to undo her seatbelt, panic rising as the river rose past her waist. Julian reached deftly across, quickly releasing her with practiced hands. "Take a deep breath," he ordered firmly.
Just then, the SUV's headlights pierced the murky depths above. Lia watched in horror as it plunged after them, the bridge at last giving way under its weight. The shadows of its descending form were the final things she witnessed before darkness enveloped everything.
Then, with a roar to deafen, the river swallowed them completely.
- Writer
