Zoe sat in finger-gun-man's car and banged her palms on the steering wheel until they stung. How the hell was she supposed to turn off the car's GPS? With a frustrated scream, she let the tears she’d been holding in stream down her face.

She had to find Jack. He couldn’t be dead. She wouldn’t believe it. She’d go south, even if that meant walking twenty miles.

She grabbed her knapsack, hopped out of the Escalade, and headed back to the building. A tattooed-covered man with a beard reminiscent of an old ZZ Top video strode towards a Harley across her path. She had an epiphany and followed him.

He put on his helmet, and his boots stomped the starter, all the while ignoring her taps on his shoulder. Over the deafening roar of the engine, he leaned back and put the bike in gear. That wouldn't do. She straddled his front tire, reached over the bars, and shoved her hand into his face. The reflection of a sparkling tornado reflected in his visor.

He frowned and shouted over the din, “What the hell do you want?”

“I want a lift to the accident.” The exhaust fumes clogged her throat and her eyes stung. She coughed and pointed south.

“Sorry sister. No extra helmet.” The biker backed the bike out from between her legs.

Before he could move forward, she threw the vortex, thinking to make a small hole in the parking lot. The ground shook and rumbled like thunder and three cars disappeared into a sinkhole.

The biker’s mouth dropped open. “Get on. Shit, what was I drinking last night? What the fuck kind of demon are you?”

“One that wants a ride. Drop me off and I promise to disappear forever.” She ran around the back and threw her leg over the back seat.

“Not gonna be an easy ride, sweetheart.” The biker gunned the engine and popped a little wheelie. She screeched, almost toppled, but clung to his waist. She tried not to inhale the stench of cigarettes, beer, and sweat.

He raced down the exit ramp on the shoulder's edge. As he darted around traffic, he leaned, and the bike tilted. More than once, she could put her hand to the ground. When he reached the scene of the accident, she stumbled off the bike, and numbly mumbled “thanks.” The biker grunted, gunned the engine, and raced away.

A bus lay on its side across two lanes of traffic. A second bus blocked the remaining lane. At least ten ambulances lined up like taxis in front of a tent set up in the meridian. Medics rushed around the chaos. Tow truck operators worked on removing the buses. An elderly couple sat under the shade of meager bushes with empty stares and blank faces. She scanned the scene for Jack’s car.

The groan and crack of metal drew her attention.

She nearly retched again when she realized what she was seeing. Jack’s car was a misshapen mass of crushed metal, half the size of what it used to be.

“No, no, no!” Her screams tore painfully from her throat.

A young police officer bounded towards her and blocked her from the wreckage.

She clawed at him. “Let me go. You don’t understand.”

“You know the driver of that car, miss?” His kind but firm hand led her away.

“That was my…my…friend’s car. Oh God, is he–” She had to swallow the bile rising in her throat. How could she go on and never feel his arms around her again? Or hear his funny snide remarks? Why had she insisted they take separate cars?

The officer was still talking and she tried to focus on his moving lips. “…miracle, really. We’re working with the jaws-of-life but it may take a while. Miss? Did you hear me? He’s alive but he floats in and out of consciousness.” He moved into her face and stared. “Miss?”

Blood seemed to rush back into her arms and legs. Zoe nodded numbly and let the officer lead her closer to the wreckage.

A large, burly medic looked up when they approached. “Are you Zoe?”

“Yes.” Zoe smiled and grimy tears of gratitude ran down her face.

“You can wait over there beside the car. He got rather riled the last time he woke. I think your presence might calm him down while we free him. I’ll have someone call you over if he wakes again. In the meantime, report over there.” He pointed to a medic truck, and walked towards a woman who held an arm to her chest.

A young man offered her bottled water and indicated where she should sit. She tried to keep up a polite conversation with an elderly couple, but noxious fumes threatened to turn her stomach. She moved away with an apology.

She wanted to text Josh and Olivia, but Josh had said to keep her cell off. She certainly didn’t want finger-gun-man to find her again. She was about to ask someone if she could borrow their phone, when the officer nearest Jack’s car beckoned her over with a shout and a wave.

She prepared for the worst as she slowly approached the gnarled mess. Jack's moans made her run to the gaping hole. An alien cocoon blanketed him in metal. Oddly, there was no blood and his cuts seemed minor.

“I’m here.” Her legs almost gave out with the rush of relief.

“Zoe?” Jack’s voice was muffled, his head faced down, his body in a fetal position.

She put her hand through the sharp mass of metal and rubbed the rough stubble of his cheek. “It’s me.”

Jack sighed with a whoosh of air. “You’re okay.”

She smiled through the tears stinging her eyes.

“They’re going to get you out of there. You’re going to be fine.”

“I’m so fucking tired,” he said brokenly. “Lost too much energy. Understand? My body needs to recoup…” His voice was a weak whisper. “Need Olivia.”

Zoe got it. Leaving her hand on his cheek, she closed her eyes and pulsed healing energy into him until she had no more to give. She braced herself against the car and held his head until he fell asleep. 

A medic put an arm under her shoulder and helped her away. “He’s going to be okay, Miss. But we’ll know better once we get him out of there.”

“Can I stay with him?” She turned to the annoying beep-beep-beep of a huge tow truck backing up.

“This could still take a couple hours. You’re going to have to step back onto the green.” The medic led her back onto the meridian. The multiple flashing emergency lights caught in her peripheral vision, causing an odd sense of vertigo. The smell of oil, gasoline and burnt rubber added to her discomfort.

Zoe placed her head between her legs and sat on the green that stretched for miles. The pneumatic motor of the jaws-of-life growled and the car frame screamed and screeched in protest. Cars slowed on the north side of the parkway as they passed the scene to rubberneck. Occasionally, brakes squealed and horns honked.

Josh’s voice boomed above her. “What the hell are you doing here?”

She squinted into the now midday sun. Olivia was there, too, wearing a disapproving frown.

“He’s my mate. I needed to be here.” Zoe jutted out her jaw.  

“We snuck right up on you. Do you have a death wish?” Josh scolded.

“She’s safe. That’s all that matters.” Olivia sat down beside her and placed an arm over her shoulder.

Together they waited while Jack’s car was split apart. Eventually he was extracted from the wreckage into a waiting ambulance, and Zoe felt like she could breathe again.