I open my eyes.
The car is quiet. All I can hear is the low hum of the engine, a faint rattle underneath, and the seat creaking softly against my back.
Still, something feels wrong.
When did it get this dark ?
I turn toward the window and go still.
Moonlight has washed everything silver.
A full moon hangs overhead, bright and cold. Stars are scattered across the sky. Not that fake, overdone glitter vomit from movies or anime, but still too many to count. Beyond the window, there is nothing. No streetlights. No buildings. No road. Just barren land stretching into the dark.
No fucking way.
"Are we in a fucking desert?"
It slips out before I can stop it.
Up front, the driver reaches up and adjusts the mirror with slow, careful movements, angling it until she can see me better.
"We indeed are. Care to guess whose fault it is?"
"Sorry. Next time I get kidnapped, I'll try to be more considerate of the kidnappers' schedule."
"You are not being kidnapped. We are your legal..."
"Ah, forget it. I don't even care anymore. It's like talking to a wall."
I wave her off and turn back to the window.
Surrounded by darkness from all sides, the car keeps moving. Dust and sand trailing behind us.
Then something slams into us.
Not a bump. Not a scrape. A hit. Full force.
My head slams back into the seat, and everything vanishes for a second. Glass bursts. Metal shrieks. The whole car jerks backward, slams down, and starts rolling, one violent flip after another, pieces tearing free and flying.
When I come to, the world looks wrong.
For a few seconds I just stare, trying to understand what I'm seeing. The roof is where the floor should be. My body is hanging at a weird angle.
Then it hits me.
I'm upside down.
I grab for the buckle. Miss. My hand slips. I try again. My fingers won't work. My head won't work. Nothing will. Then the latch clicks free.
I hit the roof hard, fumble for balance, and start crawling toward the front.
The back of the car is wrecked. Crushed nearly flat. Twisted metal, shattered glass, everything bent out of shape. I shouldn't be alive. The fact that I can still move is even harder to believe.
Then I see my mom.
She's slumped in her seat.
I reach her and grab her shoulder.
"Mom! Do you hear me? We need to leave!"
Panic closes around my throat before I even understand why.
She never really cared about me, and honestly, after the whole betrayal mess, I didn't care about her either.
But I still can't just leave her there.
I shake her again.
Her body tips toward me.
The top of her head is gone.
For a second, my brain refuses to process it. Then it all hits me at once. Blood all over her face. Blood soaking her clothes. Jagged metal punched through her torso.
I scream.
My mind goes completely blank.
I let go of her. Stop trying to pull her out. Stop trying to do anything except get away.
I scramble out of the wreck and into the night. The first breath of cold air makes me shudder. I drag in another breath and look around.
The Miracle Inc. woman is slumped against the wreck.
She looks hurt. There's blood on her face and arms, but I can't tell if it's hers or my mom's.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," she mutters.
Before I can say anything, a woman with unnaturally long legs steps into view. She's wearing white shorts and a dark crop top. Her hair falls to about medium length, except for two side tails that hang just above her shoulders. She has a baseball bat resting on one shoulder.
She walks closer and practically yells, "Jackpooot! We got two girls! Live ones!"
Then, without even pausing, she shouts, "Stephan! Come over here, you useless fuck!"
A second later, something huge starts coming toward us.
At first, I can't even tell if it's a person or some kind of monster. Its skin is dark. The upper half looks like some awful mix of human and ox, especially the face. Broad and blocky, it has two ox-like horns. The lower half is even worse. Below the waist, it's basically a caterpillar. No legs. Nothing human about it. I've never seen anything this bizarre in my life. It's like somebody stitched a person together out of random animal parts.
But the scariest thing about him isn't even how he looks.
It's how huge he is.
The fucking thing is enormous. Even without legs, he's well over ten feet tall, towering over all of us like a wall.
The woman walks right up to him and smacks him with the bat.
"What the hell, Stephan?! I told you to stop punching the cars so hard! There was another chick in the car and she's fucking dead!"
She keeps hitting him.
"You're wasting our merchandise, you fucking useless thing!"
Stephan rubs the back of his head, unfazed by the blows landing against him.
"I'm sorry, okay?"
She smacks him hard across the arm.
"You say that every single time, you useless thing!" she yells.
I notice she isn't normal either. She has a feathered tail like a chicken, and her bare feet resemble those of a bird.
I carefully assess the situation.
The Miracle Inc. woman looks way too hurt to move. The two freaks are busy screaming at each other. Then I look closer at the giant's hand and see it's torn up, with glass and metal stuck in it.
Shit.
Did he punch our car?
The moment that clicks, I know exactly what to do.
I run.
Getting caught by Miracle Inc. was already bad enough. Getting caught by some lunatic with a bat and a giant that can punch moving cars sounds a whole lot worse.
I bolt without looking back. I know I'm leaving my mom behind, but I don't feel bad about it. Not even a little. It feels like leaving trash on the side of the road. Maybe that's all we ever were to each other.
I keep running.
Running through the sand is hell. Every step drags, my feet sinking just enough to hold me back, like the desert is trying to swallow me whole. But even that isn't the worst part. The worst part is not knowing where I'm going. Every direction looks the same. Endless sand under a dark sky thick with stars.
If I weren't running for my life, maybe I would have noticed how beautiful it was.
I keep running until my vision goes hazy and the ground rushes up to meet me.
I hit the ground hard and lie there twitching, my arms and legs moving all wrong. I turn my head just enough to see the chicken woman raising the baseball bat over me.
Shit, I think, and then everything goes black.
When I come to again, all I can see is the ground sliding beneath me. My vision is still blurred to hell.
Fuck.
At this rate, I'm going to end up with serious brain damage.
I try to keep count of how many times I've had my head slammed around in the last two days, but the thought falls apart halfway through. I lift my head just a little and realize I'm slung over the chicken woman's shoulder.