So she’d picked up a prepaid one at the gas station an hour before. It didn’t have the internet, so she couldn’t look up the news to see if anything had been documented about Landon. Maybe that was for the best though. Maybe she didn’t want to know what was going on.
She looked at her windshield. The sun had set about twenty minutes prior, but she hadn’t missed the rolling storm clouds coming through. Hannah had been able to smell the scent of oncoming rain in the air when she left the diner.
And no more than a minute later, the raindrops started to fall. At first, it was a light sprinkling, but as the minutes passed, they became angry, falling down harder.
Perfect. Just my luck.
She started the car but didn’t leave the parking lot right away. She waited to see if the storm would pass, which it wasn’t looking like it would ease up anytime soon.
Screw it.
She backed out of the parking spot and headed onto the main road. She drove slowly, her windshield wipers working overtime as she leaned forward and looked out. There was a haziness in front of the car, the fog thick, the inside of the windshield starting to cloud. She cranked the heater, contemplating whether to pull off to the side and wait this out.
She reached out and moved her hand across the windshield, wiping away the condensation. She couldn’t drive like this, not when the weather was so turbulent and she could hardly see.
Hannah had to find a good place to pull off to the side and wait this out, hoping she wouldn’t be sitting on the side of the road for the rest of the night.
But she knew these mountain storms could rage all night—at least, that’s what the gas station attendant said.
She drove slow, taking the winding road, the forest on either side of her making the drive seem even more ominous.
Her tires caught a puddle of water and hydroplaned for a split second. A shocked cry left her, and she tightened her hand on the steering wheel to try to steady the vehicle. Once it straightened, she started pumping the brakes to slow down a little bit, her heart beating a mile a minute, nervous sweat starting to dot her temples.
But the rain came down harder and faster, visibility becoming all but zero.
She was frantically looking for a good place to pull off, but because the road was so narrow, the shoulders descending down into small ravines, she couldn’t pull off safely. And then she hit another puddle of water, the car hydroplaned harder this time.
Hannah squeezed her hands on the steering wheel and held her breath, trying to stay calm.
The weather, the anger... the unfair circumstance and situation of how life could be, had something breaking inside her. Her emotions spilled forth, and as they bubbled up, she finally let them free. There was nothing to hold them back.
Opening her mouth, Hannah let out the scream that had been festering inside her since her family and life had changed so drastically.
She screamed at the uncertainty of it all, at how unfair life could be. She screamed, because she felt helpless and hateful, because she felt this darkness trying to consume her.
She. Just. Screamed.
And when she hit yet another puddle of water, she made the mistake of pressing the brakes, which only made it worse. The car spun, her heart stopped, and the air left her lungs as she braced herself for the inevitable impact.
There was no stopping it, not as the car spun and the trees rushed right toward her.
5
The sky opened up just as Scars left the butcher shop. He was used to these mountain storms, especially for this time of year, and was versed enough in driving these winding roads that it wasn’t an issue for him to navigate with barely any visibility.
But it clearly was an issue for someone as he saw a set of taillights lit up off the side of the road.
The rain had eased up slightly, but it was still a heavy pour.
He pulled the truck to a stop on the shoulder and cursed as he saw the car had gone headfirst into a tree.
“Fuck,” Scars cursed under his breath as he put the truck in park and climbed out. He was soaked within a matter of seconds, but he was more worried about the passenger in the car.
Or at least he hoped there wasn’t a passenger in the car. He hoped they’d gotten out and were already on their way to town for help.
He made his way down to the vehicle, his footing slipping because the ground was turning to mud. Scars braced a hand on the side of the car and tried to look in the driver side window, but everything was blurry because of the water rushing down over the glass.
Gripping the handle, he wrenched open the door and cursed again when he saw a body slumped over the steering wheel. Definitely female. Small. Slender. Her head was turned, and her long dark hair was in a ponytail and tucked under a baseball cap.
“Hey," he said loud enough that if she was conscious she could hear. He touched the center of her back and spoke again, and after a moment, she groaned in pain. “Are you okay?”
She moaned and sat up a little bit, her head rolling on her neck slightly before she touched her fingers to her temples. Her hat was slightly skewed from the impact, and he reached out to gently pull it off and toss it on the passenger side seat.
She pulled her hand away, and Scars could see blood coating her fingers.
“Shit,” he muttered, not knowing how badly she was hurt, but understanding she needed to go to the hospital.
She pulled at her hair tie that secured the locks, the long fall of that raven-colored hair tumbling along her shoulders. She looked at him then, and he felt his chest tighten as he recognized her from the diner.
She blinked at him a few times then started mumbling something incoherently under her breath. Scars pulled out his cell phone, and of course there was no signal, given the shitty fucking weather. Again, not something uncommon living in the mountains, and normally he liked the lack of reception. But right now, it fucking grated on his nerves.
And worried him.
And he didn’t know how to feel over the latter.
“Shit,” he cursed. She started saying something under her breath, and he leaned in close. “What, darlin’?”
She lifted her hand to rub her eyes and then she started moving toward the gash he now noticed in her head, but he gently took her hand away.
“Don’t touch anything, sweetheart. Your head got pretty banged up. I need to take you to the hospital and get you checked out.” He saw the instant change in her after he spoke, like someone had poured cold water on her.
She started shaking her head, her eyes widening as she stared at him with so much fear Scars felt it to his core.
“No hospital,” she murmured and promptly closed her eyes, a groggy moan spilling from her. “My head is pounding.” She cleared her throat and said again, “No hospital. I’m fine.”
He lifted his hand and rubbed the back of his neck, watching as her vision cleared slightly the longer she stared at him. “Darlin’, it’s clear what you want, but your head’s all banged up. I’m no doctor, and even though I could patch you up well enough, I don’t know if you have a concussion.”
She didn’t say anything for long moments, just stared into his eyes, this vulnerability permeating from her. He didn’t know her, had no idea her circumstances, but it was clear she didn’t want to be known. That’s the only reason she wouldn’t want to go to the hospital. No paper trail.