Alex was flattening the gas pedal as he raced into the semi filled street. He looked into his rear view mirror, he saw Ben's GT tailing him closely. He focused again on the road ahead, cars swerved out of his way as his engine roared. There was the sound of car horns and screeching tires.
Alex gritted his teeth and prepared to speed across a busy intersection.
At the last moment he turned his head and saw a black suburban heading right for him. The suburban slammed into the car.
Alex's head hit the dashboard and glass exploded all around him. His head hit the window and Alex felt something warm run down his face.
His left arm and leg were jammed against the battered driver door, pain was spreading throughout his entire body. The suburban hadn't stopped and the other side of the car was pummeled by oncoming traffic.
The seat belt was cutting sharply into Alex's chest and sharp pieces of metal were flying all around. He put his arms up around his head in an attempt to protect it. The suburban backed up, its front destroyed. Alex's car was sitting in the middle of the street, there was the sound of police sirens and the suburban sped away.
Alex felt a wave of fresh, intense pain overcome his body. He was on the brink of passing out and he groaned. He looked up and saw people walking over horror on their faces.
He rested his head back on the seat, he tried to move but the seat belt was restraining him. He looked down, trying to raise a shaking hand to take his seat off.
He stopped however, when he saw the piece of metal sticking out of his right shoulder. His breath caught in his throat and he felt a wave of nausea rise up, his stomach churning. He tried to pull it out but it was stuck in.
His eyes were burning and it was getting harder to see. He touched his forehead with a trembling hand, it came away bloody and Alex closed his eyes.
His head was pounding and each beat sent harsh pain throughout his skull. Slowly he unclasped the seat belt and gasped the pressure on his chest on abdomen was released.
Carefully he moved his shoulder in a circle and almost blacked out because of the pain. Bracing himself he reached across and opened the car door. He moaned as his pinned arm and leg were released.
Alex looked down at his left side and it took a while to register. His leg was obviously broken down by the shin, everything was covering in blood and with panic he realized that he couldn't move either.
He groaned again and gasped on the thick blood dripping from his head.
Numbness was spreading through his chest, his vision was getting blurry around the edges and black dots were dancing around his gaze. Using all of his remaining strength he lifted his battered leg out of the car and shifted out.
It was very hard to balance, on one leg and he was sort of shuffling along. His whole body was on fire. Smoke burned his eyes and the smell of gasoline was everywhere.
It was getting harder and harder to see and the world suddenly seemed very off.
One moment he was looking at his wrecked car and the next his head and body had hit the floor. He didn't know how it happened and how it had happened so fast but the ringing in his head had intensified from the blow.
The uneven asphalt was pressing uncomfortably into his back and the sky's gray color seemed to be fading of color.
A shadow appeared over him and Alex breathed out weakly, trying to make out what it was. He knew before getting into this gig that driving fast cars was a risky business.
Alex's mind kept replaying scenes from the past few days. It was like sometimes at night when you couldn't get to sleep because your brain kept getting stuck in the same track over and over again.
The road was hot and stifling and the air didn't seem to be getting into his lungs.
Alex wasn't quite sure he felt any pain anymore. He felt very weird all of a sudden. The world was quiet. He dimly registered the faded red colors flashing in the corner of his remaining vision but he couldn't do anything besides lay there.
The sky seemed to get closer as some type of unseen force lifted him from the ground and onto a softer surface. Things were happening very slowly and then suddenly the sky was gone.
The real gray sky was gone replaced by a metallic gray surface which made Alex feel suddenly very claustrophobic and enclosed.
He felt himself frown and things suddenly felt very very very wrong. There seemed to be a lot of swirling colors surrounding him in his field of vision. They made him feel almost on the edge of panic, threatening to pull him out of his peaceful daze. Things were escalating, there were flurries of motion that were getting more and more into focus and the ringing in his ears was intensifying, becoming almost intolerable.
And then, at the climax of it all a single broke through to Alex.
"Breathe!"
It was like a switch had been thrown inside Alex. His body heaved and fought for breath. Suddenly everything was killing him. He was insatiable, uncontrollable, savage and he couldn't control himself, the pain was too unbearable.
There was too much sound, too much motion, too many colors and too much hurting. He felt his eyes grow wide and he felt his lungs strain and his felt his heart burn before the darkness overtook him in a whirlwind and cacophony of pain, sound and fear.
Ben Daniels watched the scene with growing despair. He hadn't seen the suburban that had crashed into Alex.
It was his job, he should have been watching. Alex had been t-boned ferociously and now he was dying on an ambulance stretcher. He looked awful. His leg and entire left side had been battered and destroyed. He had a piece of metal sticking out of his shoulder and there was thick blood running down his face.
He looked dead on the stretcher and Ben would have thought he was if it were not for Alex's eyes watching him blearily. Alex was still alive, somehow.
Ben fought his way into the ambulance as it prepared to leave. He watched as Alex's body began to break down. He watched the scene with growing anguish and fear. He couldn't lose Alex, not again.
"Breathe, Alex" He whispered under his breath.
To be continued….