Steve grabbed the dash, trying to maintain his balance as the car slid around another blind corner. He ducked instinctively as Hughes leaned out of the fleeing car's passenger window and fired a volley of deadly shots at them. Drawing his own gun, he leaned out of the car window to return fire. The car lurched as Hughes' aim found its mark, exploding the front tire and sending them into an uncontrollable spin. He was aware of Mike's desperate struggle to control the deadly slide, but the slick, wet road gave no tread for the car's wheels to grip, and the car spun wildly sideways. His awareness fled - pain exploding through his head as the passenger side of the car bounced off a tree and careened off the road into the thick undergrowth. Its occupants tossed around inside like rag dolls.
An eerie silence blanketed the surrounding trees for several minutes before the chatter of frightened birds filled the void.
Slowly opening his eyes, Mike remained still as he assessed himself for any injuries from the terrifying ride down the hillside. His head hurt, the world tilted and spun wildly around him. Swallowing hard against the rising nausea, he carefully lifted his hand, fingering the large lump above his left eye. He could feel various aches and pains throughout his body but the intense, grating pain in his right arm when he attempted to move it told him he had not escaped without any broken bones. Drawing in a shuddering breath to override the pain, he straightened up and looked around.
The car had come to rest against a large tree that had stopped its plunge down the steep forested embankment. The ferns and underbrush cast the car into a twilight aura. The windshield in front of him had shattered and he peered, still a little dazed, through the spider web of cracked glass at the crumbled front of the car. A cold breeze, wet with light rain blew through the crumbled remains of his door, torn open by the impact.
Remembering the reason for their predicament, he quickly turned towards the passenger's side, groaning at the pain the sudden movement caused. Steve was slumped motionless against the door; his legs pinned by the dash, blood trickled down the side of his face from a cut that ran along his hairline. Staring at the still body, Mike lifted a trembling hand, almost afraid to touch his friend, afraid to confirm his worse fear. A soft moan and the slight fluttering of eyelids reassured the anxious man that his partner had also survived. Ignoring the pain, he raised his left arm and grabbed Steve's shoulder, shaking it firmly, "Steve? Steve?"
Green eyes blinked slowly in response as Steve groaned and slowly lifted his head, looking around in confusion. "Wh…what? Wh … where?"
"Hey, Steve, stay still. Try not to move." Mike commanded softly as he rested his hand firmly on Steve's arm in an attempt from preventing him from moving. "We had an accident."
"Accident?" Steve frowned in confusion he turned his head slowly to look at his partner. "You okay?"
Fearful of just how serious Steve's head injury might be, Mike studied him closely as he answered, "I'm okay, Buddy boy, just a bump on my head and I hurt my arm… I'm more worried about you! Where are you hurt?"
Steve closed his eyes as he tried to assess himself before he slowly answered. "My legs really hurt, so does my head and my right side." Opening his eyes, he added softly, "My vision is kinda blurry."
"I think you might have a concussion. Your legs are trapped under the dash. Can you move them at all?"
Steve moaned in pain as he tried to free himself and weakly shook his head. "They are stuck tight. I think I'll need to be cut free." Drawing a deep breath in an attempt to clear his head and take his mind from his pain, he asked, "We were chasing … Hughes and Murphy, right?"
Mike nodded, "Right."
"Did… we lose control of the car?"
Mike eyed the younger man closely, concerned by Steve's confusion, as he answered slowly, "Right … Hughes shot out our front tire."
Steve frowned as he tried to remember the full details of how they came to be sitting down the tree covered embankment in a crashed car and not in the city through the fuzziness that seemed to fill his head. His frown deepened as he looked slowly around, looking for the two criminals. "Did Murphy and Hughes get away?"
"I hope so. If they decide to finish us off, we are sitting ducks in this car!" Mike admitted grimly.
Steve nodded slowly as he turned to stare back through the shattered windscreen at the spiderwebbed dark shape of the trunk in front of him, biting back the groan of pain that threatened to escape from his lips.
Both men fell silent a moment before the sound of a car driving slowly along the road above them filtered through the underbrush. Listening intently, they heard the engine stop before the sound of car doors slamming shut and the distinct voices of the two criminals arguing about where their car had gone off the edge echoed down the embankment.
Aware of the danger that they both faced if found trapped and injured in the car, Mike turned quickly to his partner. "Listen Buddy boy, we have to get of here. I'm going to try and get you free."
"You can't, Mike, there isn't time. I'm trapped too tightly under the dash." Steve groaned, swallowing back a moan as Mike tried to free his legs. He could hear Hughes call to Murphy that the car was just ahead. "Go, Mike! You have to get out of here...Now!" Steve desperately tried to push his partner away as he heard the loud voices, and the sound of snapping branches grow closer. "I'll try and hold them off as long as I can, give you a chance to get away!" He promised, fumbling weakly for his gun in its holster. He groaned in pain and frustration as Mike shook his head and grabbed his arm, still trying hard to pull him free. Struggling free from Mike's grip, he fell back against the door. "Damn it, Mike! Don't be a hero! Go while you still have the chance. If you stay with me, you're a dead man too!"
"No! No way, Buddy Boy!" Mike's shocked and angry hiss through clenched teeth stopped any further argument as he grabbed Steve again with his good arm, ignoring Steve's frantic attempts to push him away.
Feeling Mike reach for him again, Steve weakly shoved him towards the open door as he pleaded, "Please, Mike, go!"
"No, I'm not leaving you." Mike growled as he raised his foot against the dash, pushing with all his weight as he pulled his friend towards him, his chest tightening in anguish as he forced himself to ignore the cries of agony that escaped Steve's lips. "We are getting out of this together, Steve! There's no way I am going to leave you behind!" Mike felt the dash move away from the trapped man as Steve screamed in pain and slipped free, collapsing insensibly against his chest.
Hearing the excited voices and crashing undergrowth noises drawing closer to their position, he grabbed Steve's now limp body and with the last of his strength quickly threw them both out of the open driver's door and into the undergrowth, biting hard on his bottom lip in an attempt to stifle his own cry of agony as his injured arm slammed heavily onto the ground, sending fiery bolts of agony through his shoulder and chest. He frantically blinked his eyes trying to will away the darkness that offered him a blessed relief from his pain.
Dragging Steve to the safety of the underbrush, Mike drew his gun awkwardly with his left hand, holding his breath as the two men approach the car and quickly checked inside before they began to curse loudly and turned their attention to the surrounding forest, their guns ready to use if, and when, they found their two helpless targets.
Mike released his breath in relief as the sound of approaching sirens echoed through the thick forest and the two men turned and began to scramble up the slope towards the car parked on the wet road somewhere above.
Dropping his head onto his unconscious friend's shoulder, he released a tired breath, "We're not just partners, Steve, we're family, and no matter what happens, there's no way I would ever leave you behind." He whispered as he closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift into the comforting, pain free darkness as he listened tiredly to the sound of Bill's and Lee's shouts coming closer to where they were hidden beneath the ferns.