Smoke.
Pain.
Silence.
Then…
A sudden gasp, sharp and wet, tore from Emma's throat as she blinked her eyes open. Blood trickled into one of them. Her ears rang like a church bell struck too hard, too close.
She was upside down.
Disoriented from the crash.
Hanging from her seatbelt, the world a twisted mess of broken glass, metal, and the smell of gasoline.
No no no! The car's going to blow...
Her instinct roared louder than the agony. With trembling fingers slick with blood, she fumbled at the belt. It released with a click, and she fell hard onto the roof of the crushed car.
"Jean," she rasped, dragging her shattered body toward the cracked side window, every movement screaming.
The first blast of heat came behind her.
Her lungs burned. Her vision swam. But she crawled… she crawled out through a jagged gap in the door, cutting her thigh open, but she didn't care.
Keep going. You can't die. Not now. Not before she knows the truth...
