Chapter Four
Victoria sat in Reid's Escalade watching the tail lights of Tyler's SUV turn the corner ahead of them. Reid looked at her from the driver's seat. "You sure you're ok?"
Victoria looked at him smiling, "Fine, honest. Just looking forward to being done school and out of here for a while." She leaned her head back against the head rest. "So, which hotel did you get?"
Reid looked at her smiling, one hand lazily on the steering wheel, "Who says I got a hotel room?"
Victoria rolled her eyes, "We are going to prom in Ipswich, you booked a hotel in Salem for the weekend. It's how things are done."
Reid laughed, "Fairmont," He said casually, as if it wasn't the best hotel in Salem.
Victoria looked at him. "There is no way!"
Reid smiled, "Like I said, only the best," Reid glanced at the clock on the dash, 7:48 lit up the tiny screen, "Oh by the way, Happy-"
That was when it happened.
The only way to describe it was like hitting a brick wall. Neither of them had any idea it was coming, especially considering the fact they were on a straight stretch of road, with only Pogue's motor cycle a few moments behind them.
The front of the Escalade collapsed into itself. Reid felt the seatbelt catch him like a rag doll, felt glass shards spray over his upper body as the windshield exploded, his ears exploded with the sound of the air bag deploying, felt the crushing blow as it knocked him horn was going off. Smelt burning nylon...
Reid blinked, not sure if he was coming too after a long time or just seconds. He blinked, struggling against the weight on his limbs. Suddenly his eyes came into focus and he noticed the deployed airbag on the passengers side, it looked wrong. He sat up pushing his own air bag away from him, and felt it give as it deflated. He couldn't stop looking at the passenger's seat, like the image wouldn't process. It didn't make sense. It was empty.
But Victoria had been there just seconds before...
There was engine noise, he could hear it coming from behind. "Victoria?" He said, still disoriented, it was like his mouth wouldn't work properly. He looked in the back, it was empty aside from the glass shards, he looked up, all the windows in his truck had shattered. "Whatss...happenin... Victoria!" Reid turned and for the first time noticed there was no more windshield.
He blinked.
There was a body on the road about fifty feet in front of him. She was wearing a navy dress...
"REID! VICTORIA!" Reid heard the screaming. Heard the metal hit concrete, heard footsteps. But Reid was frozen. Just staring ahead of himself. "REID!" Pogue skidded to a halt beside the drivers side door, "Oh my god Reid!? Are you ok? What happened?!" Pogue wrenched open the door.
And suddenly it was like coming back to life, "VICTORIA!" Reid shoved past Pogue and practically fell out of the truck but scrambled back to his feet. Ignoring the agony in his right knee he ran down the street.
Pogue noticing for the first time what Reid was running too took off after his friend, "Oh god,"
By the time the boys got to her, Victoria was already struggling to get up, "No, no, no, no stay where you are!" Reid yelled sliding onto the road beside her.
Victoria looked up at her boyfriend mouth open but suddenly she flinched and it was as if an invisible force knocked Reid back into Pogue, sending them both flying about ten feet back.
Reid and Pogue watched as Victoria, screaming, was lifted into the air as if by her very rib cage.
"What the-" Pogue mumbled.
Energy was pouring into her body and Reid turned and looked at Pogue, they looked at each other, their eyes both black as night. They had seen this before. They had felt this before. This was an Ascension.