PART 4

Tommy woke up. Luckily, his unconsciousness had lasted but a few seconds, and although his head felt like all the hangover's he'd ever had put together, his body still had the strength to go on. More luck. He was having a lucky streak, and it was sure to stop very suddenly, very soon. But by the time he had thought this he was already in a freshly-stolen Admiral and speeding to Sunshine Auto's. He didn't get very far at all, and he soon wished that he'd worn his seatbelt.

Steve had seen him. He had seen one of the men that he thought was dead spring to his feet and hijack a car, in front of his very own eyes. And that man was Tommy Vercetti. He watched the Admiral speed off, not sure what to feel. But he felt shocked when he saw Tommy's joyride end very quickly and abruptly as a police car came from a road junction and swerved in front of Tommy's car, flattening its bonnet and sending it into a wild spin. Steve began to run. A cop jumped out of the police car, gun drawn. Steve ran even harder. The Admiral's tyre's screeched as Tommy yanked on the handbrake, but it was no use. The car hit the kerb of the pavement and went up onto the grass, rolling sideways. It finally began to slow down, and rolled its way to the very edge of the island. It stopped over the edge. Steve breathed a sigh of relief, but too soon, for the car was overbalanced, and slowly began to lean before it went crashing down in an explosion of seawater. Steve jumped.

Tommy opened his mouth to scream, but he had no energy to do it. He slumped over against the remnants of the driver's door as water seeped in through every crevice. He couldn't move his arm for the pain, and the airbag was restricting his breathing, but none of that mattered to him anymore. As the water slowly rose past is neck, he gave a long, slow exhale. A man appeared in the driver's window. Tommy tried to gasp, but all he got was a mouthful of water. The water rose above his nose. The man tugged at the door, but to no avail. Tommy stared at him, feeling dazed and weak. The saltwater hurt his eyes. The man signalled to the lock on the inside of the door. Tommy snapped back to his senses. He tried to lift is arm, but a jolt of excruciating pain gave him other thoughts. He pushed himself upwards, pushing his nose up into the small pocket of air that remained. Choking, he swivelled his body around and managed to pull the lock up with his good arm. But the man in the window was gone! However, he appeared there again in a few seconds, having gone to get some air. Ironically, as he had gone to get more air, Tommy had just ran out of his.

Steve pulled the door open and Tommy Vercetti's limp form slumped out of the wreckage and fell into his arms. He kicked upwards; pushing himself towards the bit of land that he assumed was West Island. He then realised that the police would be there and turned around, towards the other mass of land. Starfish Island. He was very deep down, his ears were bursting, and by the time he had reached the surface, he was mere metres away from the island. Tommy Vercetti somehow found the energy to breathe in.

Sergeant James Reed stared at the bubbling water. He didn't notice two figures pop their heads up at the other end of the bridge. An ambulance was on its way, but James had no hope. The suspect was undoubtedly dead, and the man who had jumped into the water after him had yet to immerge.