Page 94 of Ice Devil

All deserved.

Even if his arrogance had pissed me off. Why not listen to me? Did he honestly believe I’d been out to hurt him? If so, then he hadn’t learned a thing about me. Not one thing. Maybe I should be angry with him. He certainly could have gotten off his high horse and heard me out before tossing me to the curb.

Hmmmm… Okay, I was furious with him for giving up on something that I’d thought was meaningful.

I could hear his voice inside my head. Now I wanted to bash my forehead into the steering wheel. Well, I’d tried to get through to him. I’d done my best and if that wasn’t good enough… Tough.

Another boom jarred the car enough I screamed. Then some motion caught my eye and I slammed on the brakes once again as a limb flew by the front of the car. Forget panting. I was close to hyperventilating.

I pressed on the gas once again, going a few feet when something else caught my eye. I jerked to the right, narrowly avoiding another smaller limb just as a shadow appeared as if from the heavens.

What was that?

As I squinted to try to make out what I was seeing, something fell onto the hood. Jumping, I tried to move forward when a flash caught my eye once again.

And in those few seconds, I heard the crunch of metal before I knew what I was hearing.

My scream was silent, everything around me coming to a screeching halt even with chaos taking over.

A huge tree had fallen on the car. Within seconds, I couldn’t see a thing and my instinct kicked in, yanking the seatbelt and falling to the side just before the cab of the car crushed down on me.

Only seconds later, I realized I was trapped.

I lay still as the storm rocked on, concentrating on several creaks and groans the car was making. With the wind still whipping, I knew any scream made wouldn’t be heard by anyone. My only luck in being rescued was if someone from the company came along. I tried not to panic, struck by how lucky I’d been with my instinct telling me to duck.

If I hadn’t…

Nope. I couldn’t think about it.

Another creak and the top of the car gave way to more of the weight of the tree.

“No!” I gasped, pressing my hands against the roof, which was only inches away from me.

Don’t panic. Just try and breathe normally.

Yeah, right. As if that was even possible. I searched, wondering if I could get out from the passenger side.

Not a chance in hell. The tree had done an excellent job of turning the little car into a squashed tin can.

Another tear slipped past my lashes. Now I knew why everyone said that if you had the chance to tell someone how much you cared about them, you didn’t hold back because you never knew what could happen.

I would be crushed into a pancake.

A laugh bubbled to the surface from nerves more than anything. While I tried to control my breathing, making it slow and easy, I could swear I was getting lightheaded.

Another noise and I couldn’t keep my control any longer. I was terrified and didn’t want to die like this.

“Help me. Help!”

Another sound, louder this time. Wait a minute. What was I hearing? Was that the wind roaring? Or something else?

The car shifted as if someone was shaking it. Could the fallen tree do that? Confusion settled in just as tree limbs were tossed aside, leaving additional light coming in through the broken roof.

Another rattle. Another even louder sound.

A howl?

Wait. Hold on.