Breakdown by Daniel Pyle

Author:Daniel Pyle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mysteries/Thrillers
Publisher: Blood Brothers Publishing
Published: 2022-04-28T16:00:00+00:00

In the dark, Addie screamed until her throat burned, slammed her fists against the trunk until her fingers throbbed, folded her legs up between her body and the lid and strained against it until she was sure she’d broken every bone between her kneecaps and her toes. She imagined Bugs back there in the storm, hurt and cold and alone, and she pushed harder still. Her body trembled. Every breath she took went in through clenched teeth and came out amid a spray of spittle. Finally, she let herself go limp and sobbed.

The trunk was good sized, and Shelly had been keeping to her side of it, but now she scooted closer, wrapped an arm over Addie’s stomach. “I’m sorry,” the girl said. Only that and nothing more.

Addie hugged her and cried into her mess of curly locks. She knew she should try to get ahold of herself, that she should be reassuring the girl and not blubbering into her hair, but she couldn’t. Couldn’t do any of it. Couldn’t even reassure herself.

It wasn’t the first time she and Bugs had gotten separated, of course—once, years ago, she’d spent the better part of two days tied to a tractor in the back of an old barn, and that wasn’t even the worst example she could think of off the top of her head—but she didn’t remember ever being so scared for him. He might have otherworldly abilities, might be the most amazing person she’d ever known, but he was still just a man, susceptible to the same dangers as anyone else. Like blizzards. Like head wounds. Like two-ton vehicles slipping across icy blacktop.

The car bumped along, tossing them from side to side like unsecured luggage. The muffled sound of the thrumming engine barely reached them, but the noise coming from the tires was clear and ever present. A wet hiss. A water moccasin.

They rode like that for a long time, arms wrapped around each other, sharing what warmth they had left. Addie felt the car turn occasionally and stop only once for what must have been a red light. If there were other vehicles, she couldn’t hear them beyond the sounds of the car and the storm and their own rustling. She didn’t quit crying entirely, but she did manage to bring the level down to a heavy sniffle. The trunk smelled of oil and rubber and Shelly’s accident, but there was something else deep within the girl’s nest of hair: a faint whiff of soap. A memory of cleanliness. Addie concentrated on that.

Okay, that’s fine. You’ve had a good cry, and no one can blame you for that, but you’ve got to concentrate now. Bugs isn’t getting any warmer back there. You’ve got to do something.

But what? She had no phone. No weapon. No anything.

She knew what you were supposed to do if someone threw you in the trunk of his car: break out a taillight, hope a cop noticed, pray for the best. But given what the girl had told them, at least some of the police might be co-conspirators rather than potential saviors.

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