Beau had reason to worry; things were not boding well for Nickie and Gina. Having reached the top of the dirt road Nicke was beginning to panic; the fierce winds had grown stronger and were quaking the car.
“You can’t drive on to the flat pad, we’ll be flipped over,” Gina yelled.
“How the hell am I supposed to turn around if I don’t? I have to go up there. I can’t back all the way down the fucking hill.”
A sudden savage gust hit the car, rocking it wildly, and screaming loudly Nickie dropped her head to the steering wheel.
“Oh, my, God, we’re gonna die up here,” she wailed. “We have to turn around, we have to.”
“You cannot go on to the pad,” Gina shouted. “You have to listen to me, Nickie. You absolutely cannot go up there!”
“I have to, it’s only what, fifty feet further? How much worse could it be? I won’t drive all the way in, just enough to turn around. I’ll do it really fast,” and ignoring Gina’s continued wails of protest Nickie gunned the engine, shooting the car forward.
They hit the crest, and the moment the flat open space came into view, Nickie realized she’d made a terrible mistake.
Copious amounts of debris were flying through the air, and branches began slamming against the car. Totally frantic she turned the wheel but it was too late, the wind caught them and began sliding them sideways.
“We have to get out, we have to get out,” Gina screamed. “Get out and crawl back to the road.”
“Crawl back to the road, are you insane?” Nickie wailed, but when another gust shifted them even further and threatened to tip the car over, she stared at Gina in horror.
“Tell me what to do!”
“Get out of the car but don’t hold on to the door, the wind will rip it away from you. Just let it go and drop to your stomach,” Gina said frantically. “Keep your face to the ground and crawl as fast as you can back towards the road, but we need to do this at the same time. Okay?
“Okay, shit, I’m so scared, I’m so fucking scared,” Nickie howled.
“I know, I am too. On three; one, two, three.”
Just as Gina had predicted, the moment Nickie opened her door it was instantly blown from her grip. Falling to the ground, panting and sobbing, she scrabbled forward, her nose in the grass, not even sure in which direction she was headed. For a brief moment she paused and gazed up, trying to see where she was, and was horrified to see the car rocking beside her, its doors wildly flailing, looking like a live creature in pain. Frantically crawling away she managed to move around the back of it and peered down the passenger side in search of Gina; to her horror she saw her laying on her back, unmoving.
“GINA!”
Though she had shrieked her name Nickie knew her voice had been lost in the tumult, and as she clawed her way forward she realized the writhing passenger door was swinging just inches from Gina’s head.
No, no, if the wind shifts the car any closer, or the door blows off…oh, my God…I have to move her, I have to move her.
Utterly panic-stricken Nickie scrabbled as quickly as she was able, and though she was literally on her stomach and Beau’s thick coat was offering some protection, she could feel objects hitting her body and legs, sometimes painfully, and her face was stinging.
Battling her way forward, her heart wildly pounding, Nickie finally reached her and discovered why she was motionless; in spite of her helmet Gina had been hit by something, and was sporting a bloody gash just above the bridge of her nose.
“Gina, oh, no, this is all my fault,” she sobbed.
Gina let out a low, deep groan, rolling her head to the side.
“Thank, God, thank, God,” Nickie wept, but a loud creaking from the car snapped her back to the immediate and dire danger. “I have to move you. Don’t worry, I can do this, I can,” she muttered, and clenching her teeth, with the wind and debris raging around her, she put her hands underneath Gina’s arms, and wriggling backwards she began to pull.
It took a massive effort, but inch by inch, her eyes shut tight to protect them from the stinging dust, she slid Gina away from the car. Not sure how far she’d traveled she paused, gasping for breath, and risked a glance. To her horror she saw the door of the Lexus was hanging at a bizarre angle, and the car itself had shifted; if Gina had not been moved she would have been toast. Mortified by the sight, Nickie used her last ounce of strength to roll Gina on to her stomach before collapsing next to her.
Her head buried in her arms, her face in the grass, she listened to the fury raging over her head; it was like nothing she’d ever heard before, and to her ears it sounded like a gigantic demon breathing its mayhem upon the earth.
It is The Devil Wind, that’s exactly what its. What have I done? If I survive this I’m going change everything about my life. I’m going to have horses, and screw my pride, I’m going to tell Beau that I love him, I do, dear God I do. I love you dad, and mom you might be a cow but in my heart I love you too. Please, God, please let me get out of here, and please help Gina, please.
Risking a glance she peered over her arm, and though she barely had any breath left in her, she gasped. The Lexus was on its side and half way across the pad, but that wasn’t the only thing that made her catch her breath; everything looked dim, as if The Devil Wind was a real monster casting a huge shadow across the earth. Feeling a sudden chill, she shifted her gaze away from the car and realized it was dim because the light was fading. A fresh sob racked her body as she dropped her face back down, and reaching out her arm she wrapped it around Gina’s waist.
If we’re going to die, at least we won’t die alone.