race,” Thor said, reasoning why all the cars were gathered together.
The Monte Carlo continued on, not slowing down. Spotting his patrol car and hearing the sirens, the teenagers scattered quickly into cars and peeled away.
Thor was thankful that no accident had happened. Still in hot pursuit of the burgundy car, he witnessed it taking a bend in the road. Finally, leaving the teen crowd behind, Thor began to exhale a sigh of relief as his car rounded the curve and two other vehicles came careening toward him. Apparently, they had been swerving to miss the Monte Carlo.
Shifting into defensive driving mode, Thor attempted to veer around them, but since both drivers were moving at reckless speeds around the turn, it was impossible to anticipate their moves. Within seconds, he was hit by one car, then the other. His car was shoved in multiple directions and began to spin and flip.
Everything went black.
* * * *
“Let’s start over…” Liza’s voice sang out along with Chris Daughtry as his song It’s Not Over played on the radio. It was almost two-thirty in the morning and she was on her way home from Sacred Heart children’s home. She’d pulled an evening shift with them. In her final semester of school, Liza was at the beginning phase of her internship. Even though her degree was in school guidance counseling, she’d asked her advising professor permission to do her internship at a children’s home. She wanted the experience of working with children who were misfortunate. Do something different from working in the schoolhouse in Claremont County. Thankfully, her internship professor had thought it a good idea as well and had approved it.
Excitement cruised through her veins as she hit Gridston from I-75. She was almost home. When several cars zoomed passed her, she wondered what was going on. Seeing all of the small decorated cars, she assumed the teens in town were finishing a drag racing event. Glad that she missed it, she continued in the opposite direction. As she moved around a sharp curve, her heart dropped. A few yards in front of her was a patrol car, smashed into the hill on the side of the road. Veering off to the side, she pulled up behind the car. Jumping out, she ran over to it. The car was upside down and smashed badly. She dropped to her knees as she approached the driver’s side of the car. Dirt scattered as her knees made impact and oblivious to the pain, bent down to she peer into the window.
The officer was hanging upside down, suspended in place by his seatbelt.
The beating of her heart sped up as she reached into the car and pulled the head back so she could see who it was. Dirt and blood were smeared all over his face, but she had no doubt of the identity of the unconscious officer. It was Thor.
“No…” Her voice was faint. Praying he was still alive, she slid her hand up until she could locate the pulse as the side of his neck. It was faint, but he was still alive. Relief flooded her body like summer rain. Scooting away from the car, she looked around to find someone to help. A few yards away from her, two tall gangly boys stood staring at the car in shock.
“Get help!” she screamed out to them. When they didn’t move and still stood there in horror of the accident they most likely caused, Liza yelled, “Get help, dammit! Before he dies!”
Snapping out of their zombie mode, they scrambled back toward one of the two other cars on the other side of the road. She didn’t trust the two of them to be able to get someone out here before Thor got worse.
“Hold on, Thor,” Liza told him as she got to her feet and returned to her car.
She grabbed her purse and pulled the cell phone out, then tossed the bag back into the car, not caring where it ended up. Moving back to the patrol car where Thor’s life was in danger, she called the 911 dispatch.
When Bonnie Tucker’s familiar voice answered the line, Liza began speaking, not waiting for the operator to finish her
Kenneth Robeson, Lester Dent, Will Murray