As I said this is my favorite chapter throughout the story and it took three attempts to be written down.
There were actually two different scenarios through which I wrote, one where Ana was caught up in the accident and injured with Christian saving her, or the second one (which is the one you'll be reading below) where Ana rescued others. Both scenes were equally intense, but I settled for this one because it was more thrilling and the characters received less injuries than compared to the first scenario.
But if you guys want, I'll be uploading it at the end of the story in "Deleted scenes chapter." Till then, hope you guys enjoy this one.
Happy Reading XD
14.
Christian
Nothing could've prepared me for this, as I drove into the nothingness that suddenly turned into everything.
One moment we were in the woods and in another, out of nowhere, the surroundings changed like a magician's illusion.
Damn. Anastasia was right, not that I ever doubted her.
Still, I couldn't fucking believe my eyes. It all seemed too vivid to be the reality. Like entering into a dreamy world.
The weather did not change; we didn't enter into a different time zone. Yet, the infinite changes in the scenery were the proof enough to indicate that we were in the Brooke.
My heart was pounding rapidly against my ribs, threatening to come out. I was scared, I was nervous. I guess we all were.
There was no big bang or boom. No thunderous explosion. No lack of air or any other side effect of going from dimension to another, just a blink of an eye and we were in another dimension.
Only, there was no blink of an eye. I couldn't think of lowering my lashes as I had driven into our horrific dystopia.
Was it really that easy? Or was it so simply because we had already been here once?
The dreadful familiar scenery was suddenly right in front of us, around us.
Woods and trees transformed into civilized roads.
It was so un-fucking-believable. Somewhere deep in my mind, I was still hoping that this was all a farce.
An elaborated overextended prank.
Or better yet, a ridiculous out-of-the-blues dream.
The irrational part of me prayed that I'd wake up anytime now, open my eyes and laugh it all off.
And then I'd be fucking relieved that nothing had ever happened.
That I haven't been robbed off my control; no one had invaded me of my choices.
That Christopher was somewhere happy and safe. Not rotting in some bloody enemy dimension.
Most of all, that Anastasia was the happy, snarky and innocent girl I had met last year.
That she was safe from all this. No mind fucks, no heart breaks, no threat to her virginity by rape and no attacks on her.
No BMHS. No BLU. No Pinnacle Race.
I was actually very tempted to pinch or slap myself in hope that I would wake up.
But I didn't do it for two reasons. A) I didn't want Anastasia and others to think that I was finally losing it, and B) if I didn't wake up, if this all was really real, I might finally lose it.
No one dared to so much as breathe while I kept driving us further in our nightmare.
The one we had survive from. The one we were returning to. The one that we would destroy so that no one else would have to go through it.
"This place, it seems to be so... lifeless, dead." Mia said in a hushed tone, discomfort oozing through her voice.
I heard Jose's bitter chuckle as he responded to her. "Welcome to The Brooke."
"Nothing welcoming about it," Mia bit back.
"Guys," Anastasia interrupted in a grim tone. "We're not here on some kind of a trip, alright? Don't expect a five-star stay here unless you want to go to BMHS. If you're having any doubts now, I'm sorry but it's too fucking late."
That happened to shut them both up. The sudden change in Anastasia's mood was a bit shocking. She has never been rude. Not downright at least. Even when she spoke bluntly, her voice remained calm and friendly.
Right now it was neither of those things.
But I guess she deserved a break too. I'm pretty sure coming back here, looking at our worst nightmares right in its face would make anyone bitchy.
The Brooke Cave was out there, somewhere in the woods. Or at the least, the woods would be the start of our exploration.
That meant we would be driving to the woods, crossing our way through BMHS.
I wasn't sure if I was ready to see it. None of us were. The haunting memories we all were keeping at the bay could cause a breakdown right here.
Stepping on the clutch, I zoomed the car faster.
"Is there any other way? To go in the woods?" I asked.
"The woods are down the hills. We could take a different route. Down the cliffs." Jose answered.
Ana jumped in. "But we don't know the way to the mountains or the woods. We were taken there in a helicopter."
"It was a short fifteen-minute ride. And we weren't flying that high. I figured it couldn't be that far away from BMHS."
Changing the course of the track I took another route. I wasn't sure if Jose's theory was right but I surely didn't want to come across BMHS.
This way, I thought, we all could avoid a major meltdown risk.
For the next hour, we all were battling our own fears, not bothering to make any conversations.
Diverting from the regular road that would have led to BMHS had proven to be the right choice. I found the way to the hills pretty quickly.
"Do you think they know we're here?" Emily asked in a hushed tone, as if not wanting to disrupt the fearful silence.
"I don't know. If they knew, they would have stopped us somehow I guess." Brandon replied.
Though he was right, the risks of being caught were too high.
We were in the lion's den, taunting him. It would only be a whole before it hunted all its prey down.
Hunted us down. We could only pray to get out fast enough with minimal casualties.
I wasn't stupid to believe it would all go down smoothly. I knew there will be casualties, but I also knew I won't let anything happen to Ana.
Even if that meant fighting the devil himself.
As if sensing my thoughts, Anastasia's hand came to rest on top of my free one on my thigh.
I glanced at her; the smile she gave me was filled with so much hope and determination that for a moment I almost believed that everything will be alright.
That was when things went downhill.
Figuratively as well as literally.
I was too focused of Ana and her dazzling smile. Not looking where we were driving as I should have.
We had been driving in the deserted hills for so long without any hitch, I wasn't as vigilant and alert as I had been since coming here.
Anastasia's eyes flickered to the front, her face immediately drained of blood, becoming pale white.
"C, LOOK OUT!" She cried, staring past the windshield.
It all happened so quickly.
My head whipped back to the front at the panic in her voice.
I saw it coming, knowing it was too late.
A dark monstrous figure whipped past us, stopping right in our tracks as it attempted to climb over a tree.
I knew without a doubt that colliding with him would only mark our end.
Hastily, I stepped repeatedly on the brakes, simultaneously moving the steering to my left.
The wheels spun, losing all control. Squealing against the ground.
Our car swayed at first, then started spinning in wild circles towards the free side.
The free side of the cliff, where there was nothing but empty space that would lead us to our death.
We were going to crash.
"Hang on!" I screamed as I downshifted, granting more power to the suddenly turned angry engine, in an attempt to turn the car's direction because the brakes were failing.
The next moment, I failed too.
Our trajectory turned from swaying to flying. The car flew, but not on the ground anymore.
The front end crunched as the axis buckled, sending us tumbling through the sky.
Everything happened in a slow motion.
Crashing noises...
Sounds of glass shattering...
Anastasia's screams...
Brandon shouting for Emily.
Red covering my vision.
Anastasia's screams...
Head smashing against the solid metal.
Listening to a carnage going over.
Anastasia's scream...
Pain blasting in the back of my head.
Anastasia's scream...
Skidding, smashing, flipping repeatedly.
Anastasia's scream...
Vision going darker. Blackness surrounding me.
Anastasia's screams...
A soft mewl of fear was what brought me back into the world of the living.
My eyes refused to open at first, feeling undauntedly heavy. Pinching them shut I tried again and again until I was able to look around me.
Up was down and down was up. The throbbing pain in my head wasn't helping in making any sense whatsoever.
The gurgling noise of the engine wouldn't stop whining. Like a dying animal's howl, it went on to cry. The shattered glass was spread beneath me like broken pieces of crystals.
Blood stung my eyes, but I refused to tear my gaze kept searching for Anastasia.
Anastasia...
Shit. Anastasia!
Panic lodged into me as I turned my head with an effort to look at her.
A new pain that had nothing to do with my injuries slammed into me.
Anastasia wasn't there.
The door to the passenger side was half gone, the metal ripped away and broken by the hard mountainous rocks.
The seat next to me was empty.
What the...?
My breathing turned frantic.
Where was she?
From the quick analysis, I took in the car's position and the miracle by which I was alive.
A tree's bark.
In middle of the cliff, blossoming out of the rocks was a tree's heavy and thick bark giving our car the resistance from being crushed like a match box and taking us along with it.
But my relief was only short lived because Anastasia wasn't here.
Unable to tear my gaze away, I kept looking at the dangling passenger door.
Petrified to even think what it could mean.
Below the tree bark, that was our temporary savior, was what I had to guess at least two hundred feet.
No one could survive falling from here, and definitely not from the cliff we had just left.
Could Ana have fallen? Down there?
Nononono. Please no.
My lungs demanded to breathe. I gasped and spluttered.
My seatbelt felt too tight and suffocating, cutting through my torso, keeping me pinned upside down.
Droplets of my blood traced their way over my forehead.
Blinking away blood, I tried sucking in a breath, willing the oxygen to knit me back together and revive me.
So that I could look for my Ana.
Come on.
I willed my limbs to move, to find a way and get free from this hanging situation.
The mewling came again, sounding clear to my ears this time.
A name.
A name being called out with despair and pleading and hope and pain.
"Brandon, wake up. Please."
"Emily?" I attempted to clear my throat, my voice sounding hoarse and barely audible.
"Christian?" She cried out.
"You okay?"
"Yes, but Brandon isn't waking up." She sobbed.
Shit. This wasn't good.
"Emily, do you know where Ana is?"
"She isn't here? In the car?" She sounded alarmed and terrified.
Fuck. She didn't know either. "Where are the others?" I questioned.
"Here." Jose's hoarse voice rang through the car. "We're fine. Shaken up. But fine."
"Where's Ana?" I roared. Losing my patience quickly. Not liking the irrational fear growing inside me.
But every time I looked at the destroyed side where she was sitting not too long ago, the fear gave its way to rationality.
"We'll find her Christian. But first, we needed to get out of here. Only then we can help her." Jose was right. The bark, though it looked pretty thick, seemed a bit fragile to bear the weight on an SUV with six people inside it.
Five. Not six.
Ana was missing. And it was on us, on me to get out of here and look for her.
The windshield was shattered, all the glass gone.
The only reason I wasn't tumbling through it and falling face first to my death was the seatbelt cutting through my ribs. And the airbag that was currently suffocating me to death.
"What do we do?" Emily asked.
"Slap Brandon. Try waking him up."
"How would that solve the problem?" Jose asked.
"Well, it's a start."
"I- I don't know. He looks hurt. I can't hit him."
"Look Em, we need to get out soon. Brandon needs to wake up or he won't be able to get out."
That seemed to be inspirational enough for her as the vibrating sound of a slap on bare skin echoed.
"Ugh," Brandon grunted.
"Brandon, wake up." Emily talked to him and I tuned them out. My mind wandering over two major problems. Finding Anastasia and getting out.
Crack.
The sound came from somewhere behind me followed by ever so slight misbalance of the car.
My breath was cut off as the vehicle moved a little before coming to a rest again.
"Jesus, what the hell was that?"
Mia screamed in joy next. Making my breath stop once again with her words.
"Oh my God. Anastasia!"
The relief in her voice sagged through my body. So overwhelming that I wanted to drop to my knees and cry.
"Hold tight okay?" Anastasia's sweet yet fierce voice filled my ears and I swear my heart burst through my chest.
Another loud crack.
The car was in an upright vertical position. Dangling on the support of just a bark.
Don't know why but this reminded me of Titanic. The way that half part of the ship stood erect just before sinking down.
We weren't in a much different position from that.
Except that there was no water to cushion our landing, no chances of survival through swimming.
It was death waiting for us down there on the harsh uninviting ground.
A third crack came, followed by another slight movement of the car.
Mia screamed, this time, stopping short just as it settled.
And then she screamed again, in fear this time. "What the hell Ana?"
"Sorry about that."
Huh? What was she doing?
"You want us to push the other way around? So the car lands horizontally on the tree?" Jose asked in a calm tone.
What the hell was happening?
"No. The branch is thinning out here, too much of a risk. It might break off completely."
And then we'd be dead.
But I wasn't as tensed as before.
Anastasia was safe. That was one big thing less to worry about.
I didn't care much about what happened to me. Ana was alive and she was not going to go down with us.
She'd stay safe.
The thought vanished as soon as it had come. As fast as I remembered where we were.
The Brooke.
No one was safe here.
Especially not Ana.
The will to make through this hanging car alive came with a renewed passion and a vicious protectiveness for Ana.
"Everyone okay back there?" She asked Jose and Mia since they were sitting at the back.
"Yeah. Looks like so. Brandon seems a bit banged up, though."
"Christian?" She yelled softly, making my chest swell. "Baby, are you okay?"
"Yes, my cinder. You?"
"I'm fine. I'm going to get you out of here. All of you."
This was Anastasia. Taking care of everyone. Saving everyone through and through.
The crunching of glass was luckily not succeeded by any car movements this time.
She huffed. "Okay guys, listen. I need you to very slowly and carefully make your way out. If the car lands fully upon the bark, it will break off. It's too fragile to hold that much of weight."
"Where are you, babe?" Surely she couldn't be standing there with the way she sounded so uncertain about it.
"On the branch above it. I think it's pretty strong for all of us to stand on it."
"How did you get there?" I asked, baffled.
"I'd explain when we all are safe. Now Mia, don't look down, don't disturb anything, just very slowly climb up and I'll pull you."
Mia let out a shaky breath. "Okay. This does not sound fun at all."
It wasn't. One wrong step and we all will be dead.
"Trust me." Anastasia said to her a calm, peaceful voice.
I was pretty sure the look on her face that accompanied her steady voice was what made Mia sigh and climb up.
Yeah. Try ignoring that look. Never works.
Anastasia was deadly. All she had to do was plead and one would be ready to risk his life for her.
Mia was no different. No immune to it.
The grunting followed with micro-motions of our death trap, stopping my heartbeat every time.
After a few minutes, the car violently jerked towards the left.
"Holy Shit!" Brandon cursed.
My guess was that Mia, who was sitting on the right, had successfully left the car. Making its balance sway.
"Brand! Pull Em to left. Balance the weight." I hissed, scared to scream. That the sound waves might upset this fragile stability.
Jose and I were on the left-hand side of the car. So it would make sense if Brand and Em stayed to the right.
"No don't!" Anastasia screamed. "Stay where you are." The panic in her voice was poorly covered.
"What's wrong?" I yelled.
"Nothing."
Yeah, I believed that. Like hell.
Something was wrong. Bad enough that Anastasia was lying in an attempt to keep us calm.
"Jose. Let Em go first. Please."
"Brandon, no. I'm not leaving you here."
"I'm right behind you, darling. Just please, it would make me feel better. For me? Please, Em."
The pleading in his voice was something I understood very well.
I could actually see myself doing that, saying the things what he was saying had it been Ana stuck in here with me.
"Emily, he's right. You need to go so that you can help pulling him up. Ana won't be able to do it by herself." I spoke reasonably.
She was quiet for a moment. "Okay."
With that, she began climbing up. Tumbling over from the middle seat to the back.
Another violent jerk. Fuck!
"Careful Em. Slowly and steadily." Anastasia continued to encourage her as she helped her.
I knew the second she was in the clear with the way Brandon sighed in relief. "Thanks, man I owe you one."
"Yeah, if we get out here alive."
"We will. Your girl is fucking fantastic. She'd make sure we will."
That brought a smile to my lips, a prideful feeling swept through my core. "Yeah. She's my girl after all."
"Think you should make your way here. Would be too risky to do it after the car's empty."
He was right. It will also not go well with the equilibrium when I'd be the last one.
And I couldn't die. No matter what I couldn't die now. I had to save Christopher. Keep Ana safe.
I wouldn't die and leave her here in this fucking nightmare alone.
With a deep breath, I slowly did my seatbelt, gripping the back of my seat so that I didn't fall.
But after that I was stuck. Anything I did would result in me flying out of the windshield.
"Brandon, I need you to grab my hands."
"Sure." He said coming to my side.
The car swerved towards the left again, making Brandon freeze in his place.
"Shit." He cursed.
Yeah. Shit.
He was a little too far to simply bend and grab me. Neither was I a lightweight for that to work.
I needed to think. Fast. Else I was fucked.
"Where's Jose?"
"Currently he's climbing up."
An idea came to my mind. A helluva' risky idea. But if things went fine, it could work.
Wasn't like we were having a bunch of suggestions that would work here. No guidelines for situations like these.
Something was better than nothing right.
So here went 'something'.
"Okay listen to me, go and climb to the back seat before he fully makes it. That will give you time to stabilize. Then stay there right in the center. As soon as I scream push to the right. With all your strength. Got it?"
"Yes. Loud and clear."
I closed my eyes, breathing deeply before opening them and looking down.
Damn. Shouldn't have done that.
The fall was fucking scary.
I could do this.
Yeah, you can do this Grey.
One by one, at the pace of a turtle's, I brought both my legs under me so that I was in a crouching position.
The sudden veer off of the car alerted me to Brand's landing in the back seat.
Here goes nothing.
"Now Brandon!"
With that I left the death grip on the seat, letting the gravity take over.
The wind flew rapidly against me, blowing at my face as if bitch-slapping me.
Shifting all my face at the head I rolled through the broken windshield, my head touching the hood of the car.
As soon as it did, I brought my hands above my head and placed them on the screen, where the glass used to make a windshield.
The broken pieces cut through my palm but I avoided them. My survival instincts taking over me and flipped myself, hanging through a single hand.
The moment I faced the interior of the car, my free hand locked onto the broken glass screen with my whole body swinging freely.
"Christian! You bloody motherfucking jackass! I'm going to fucking kill you." Ana roared at me.
I couldn't see her face clearly but the trembling in her body could be seen from a mile. She was shaking, badly that too. With anger or fear? Maybe both?
I let out a panty-dropping grin just to ease her. "Love it when you curse, babe."
"You wait till I get you up here. You'll be fucking lucky if I don't kill you myself, you fuckface!"
"Nah, babe. It's you who'd be fucking my face by the end of the night."
"Oh no, no, no. You aren't getting anywhere near me after that stunt you just pulled through. Forget it."
"Twenty buck says the moment I'll be standing next to you, you would jump all over me and kiss the hell out of me."
Ana shut her mouth and stilled, with her face in my direction.
I think she was glowering at me. Cute.
"You okay, dude?" Brand asked.
"Yup. Thanks, buddy. Now just stay in there till I climb over the hood." Then I shouted, "Jose, you and the girls try holding the car, either from the rear bumper or the screen if that's possible."
"Okay. On it." Jose shouted back.
"Brandon, if the car loses its balance just get out. Alright?"
It took him a second to respond but he did. "Yes. Got it."
With that I pulled myself up, bringing my torso over the hood as one hand stayed on the screen while the other reached for the top screen.
There wasn't much to hold there but I prayed that it wouldn't be that far before I got a hold of the carrier.
Thank fuck this car had an additional carrier.
I was going to get one installed in my Jetta as soon as I got back to it.
A loud crunching sound stopped me in motion.
We all paused to hear the crunch that warned me I was close to meeting my maker today.
"Christian." The panic in Ana's voice wasn't hidden this time.
This was what she must have seen earlier. The bark was giving away.
Hurrying, I grabbed the top of the broken windshield with one hand then used to other to reach for the carrier.
My body went along with the motion. My weight taunting the weak equilibrium.
Whooshing of wind passed through me as the car skidded a little downward.
"Brandon go up. Right now."
He had done enough. He didn't need to go down with me if that was what would happen.
He looked like he was about to argue but it was Emily who made his decision. "Brandon, please come here." She begged, stretching out her hand. I knew he wouldn't resist her even for a second.
With that worry being cleared off my conscience I pushed myself to the carrier again. Not caring if the car skidded some more.
Either way, the car was going down. With me or without me. I just had to make sure I didn't cling to it while that happened.
I had to make it to the branch where others stood now.
When my hand successfully found its grip on the steel carrier rods, I brought my other hand up and swung my body upwards.
The momentum seemed to dislodge the car almost completely of the bark.
"Christian!"
Jesus. It was like fate was playing with me.
Whatever distance I covered by climbing up, it would bring me back to the helpless hanging by making the car wobble downwards.
Steadily I climbed the carrier a little more. My legs touching the start of the car's roof now.
I was almost halfway through it. Able to see Ana clearly, who was waiting with her hand stretched out as much as her body would allow her.
Beside her, Brandon and Jose were holding the bumper with reddening faces.
And then things became a big clusterfuck.
Three fuck ups marking my end happened at the same time.
One, the bumper in their hands gave away.
Two, the car lost its balance.
And three, the bark broke off. Completely.
"Let go of the bumper. Brandon grab me. Quick!" Those were the last words by Ana I heard before the car became the prey to the gravity.
Taking me along with it.
If this is how I was going to die then I'd take one last sight of her. I'd close my eyes with her face being the last alive thing I ever saw.
My eyes refused to blink as I stared at her.
"CHRISTIAN JUMP! FOR ME!"
My body obeyed her before my mind did. Leaving the car I jumped in the air hoping I'd somehow meet the safety of the trees and branches.
Please let me have some super power I never knew existed in me.
Please let me fly to safety. To her.
But I knew it was stupid to think like that.
Even as I jumped upward, hanging momentarily into the air, I already knew the branch was too far out of my reach.
Jumping had done nothing good except for me leaving the partial blanket of the car.
It might have protected me from worse injuries. Or crushed me to confirm my death. Who knew.
Anastasia had asked me to jump, for her. If it was the last thing I was going to do for her then why not.
I closed my eyes, acceptance pouring into me as I froze in mid-air for a millisecond. Followed by going down.
But before the gravity could call back to me I felt something tiny yet feeble grab me from under my arms, locking behind my back.
The sudden pressure caused us to jerk hard in the mid air which resulted in the hold around me being loosened. My eyes flashed open.
A curvy body tightened its hold around me, with both arms, to keep me from falling.
The arms that went under my armpits, locking together at my back as if to keep it from the break the hold.
Big wide steely gray eyes met mine.
For a moment I thought I had died and woke up into my personal heaven by some miracle.
I was about to send a quick prayer to whichever God had decided to have mercy on me and make my death so painless and beautiful.
But then I realized there was something wrong with those eyes.
They looked upside down.
Actually, her whole face was upside down. Her hair dangling down, cascading like a waterfall in the shimmery moonlight.
Her eyes were a little below my eye level. They always were due to our height difference but this time, it wasn't due to our heights.
It was because of the way she was hanging. Upside down. While holding onto me.
What the fuck?
As hard as it was, I managed to tear my gaze away from her perfect face and stare up.
My doubt was confirmed. She was hanging upside down from the branch, with Brandon grabbing her by her ankles.
Anger quickly overtook me.
"Ana! Are you insane?"
"Hush. I've got you know. You're fine. You're safe."
Her words both warmed me and terrified me.
"You think I care about that? What the heck did you just do?"
She gave me mischievous smile. "A stunt. Pretty sure if it was recorded I'd be replacing Michelle Rodriguez."
I'm not going to melt. I'm not going to melt.
I. Just. Wasn't. Going. To. Melt.
"Let go of me, Ana. Now."
Don't let go of me. Please. Never let go of me.
Shut up, Grey. She'd fall with you. Do you want that? For her to die with you? Because of you?
"You are an idiot if you think I'm going to let you go."
But if she didn't she'd die with me.
"Don't sweat it, baby. Let Brandon enjoy staring at my ass a little longer." She giggled.
She fucking giggled.
"Anastasia you need to-"
"What I need to do is save you like you have always saved me. This is my right, C. My choice. Don't take it away from me or be angry about it. That'd be an insult to me."
I kept my mouth shut but scowled at her. If she had to put it that way then fine, I'd respect her decision but that didn't mean I had to like it to.
"Come on, pretty. Smile. Enjoy your time in the hanging garden."
That only deepened my scowl. "Brandon! Pull her up. What are you waiting for?"
I didn't hear his reply or if he had even replied.
Because in the next moment, Anastasia's lip unexpectedly touched mine.
Grazing slightly then sucking sweetly at my upper lip first and then repeating the action with the bottom one.
It was a sweet short kiss. For which I was thankful.
Any intense make out in this situation wouldn't have been recommended due to the depth of its danger.
Still, though, what was she thinking? Kissing me like that? In the middle of hanging off from a branch of a tree stuck into the cliff.
"What was that, Ana?"
The mischievous grin grew wider, making my heart throb.
"Always wanted to try the Spider-Man kiss."
I gave up. My lips quirked into a smile.
"Damn it, Ana. You're my true cinder."
She pecked me once more. "I only burn for you Christian. Only you."
Whew! I guess one can say their re-entry in The Brooke was quite a dangerous one, don't you think?
Please don't forget to review and let me know your thoughts for this chapter as I struggled writing this one the most.
Belated Happy Valentine's Day
Love ya all,
Kaishi Spring xoxo