Chapter 3 [Rester Ravine—15 miles west of Metropolis—half an hour later]
The storm intensified dumping more freezing liquid on the Kansas landscape. Glare ice coated every surface. The razor sharp chill cut through every animal and whistled every bough in its path. People for the most part wisely stayed at home.
Lana, however, pressed on anyhow. She'd dropped off the needed materials at the state courthouse. Due to an emergency at the Talon, she eschewed potential hotel rooms not that there was any room at those inns anyhow. Whoorderedupthisstorm?Great.LikeIreallyneedthis?She looked down at her cell and saw it was dying. "Score 2 for me." She rolled her eyes wondering how she could've overlooked that. She bit her lip and turned up her headlights.
The high beams only reflected off of the ice.
She turned them back down. "Figures. And there are no rest stops between here and Smallville." She took a deep breath wishing for her phone to magically pop back on. "Too bad someone can't just run in here and whisk me back to Smallville." She shivered despite the heater's attempts to pump warm air into the interior. She decided to keep going.
About five miles away, she bore down on the ravine's overpass.
As she did so, the mist intensified cutting down on visibility. Like a curtain dropping across her eyes, it obscured her vision to all things. She tried to stay in the middle of the road but overestimated her spacing.
She saw the guardrail too late and crashed into it. She could see the thirty foot drop in front of herself as the vehicle plunged into the stormy space. Fortunately the vehicle pitched onto its side and skidded down the rock face before coming to rest on the bottom.
The metal and fiberglass bent in but held. The window and windshield glass exploded inward just missing her face but ripping through her clothes and gashing her limbs. For what seemed like an eternity, the downward slide over the icy rock continued.
Hanginthere,Lana.Justhanginthere.She put her arms over her head and crouched defensively.
When the blazer came to rest, she could smell the fumes from the ruptured gas tank seeping through the vents. No!She wrenched the seatbelt buckle from the clasp and shoved her phone into her pocket. She pulled herself through the open windshield. Her arms and legs burned from the cuts. She could feel her pants sticking to her legs from the blood. Still she pressed on. She tried to stand but her legs buckled. So she did the only thing she could do: she rolled away over the wet, muddy and icy ground.
Her clothes soaked through from the water. Then the ice started forming.
She shivered from the freezing conditions. Yet she rolled further away eventually stopping fifty yards away from the vehicle.
At that moment, the blazer ignited and began to burn. Then it exploded in a big fiery pyre. For a minute, it flared brightly against the heavy overcast before burning out of sight and mind.
A few heated chunks of metal seared her shoulder and started her clothes smoldering.
"AH!" She quickly smothered the impending fire in the wet underneath herself. She glanced up at the sky and shook her head. "N…need…to find cover." She pulled herself to her feet.
Her legs screamed from the exertion. Blood seeped from various wounds on them.
She limped about five steps and then collapsed again. "N…no use….Can't stand…." Then she took a deep breath. "You got…to….Need to go on…Talon…Chloe…Clark…." She set her jaw letting her feelings for the farm boy numb her pain. "Clark. He's count…counting on you." She crawled further away from the burning wreck.
As she did, she noted several bluish rocks scattered around the place. Bluerocks?Meteorrocksareblueorredthough!She filed the thought away for another time as she carved a grove in the turf. She struggled as her clothes grew heavier from the icy rain, mud and blood. Finally she could see a cave. "C…cover." She pulled herself the last thirty yards out of the cold and wet conditions.
She collapsed onto the dry and stony conditions and breathed heavily. She shivered from her exertions. "S…so…cold." She shivered and cursed herself for trying to make the trip on that day. "N…need h…help."
She called the Talon but for some reason, there was no answer.
"G…great. Wh…what are they doing?" She chattered her teeth as the last bar flickered on her phone. "O…one last call…." She dialed again and waited for a response. "C…clark….L…love you…."