Page 6 of Forever Found

CHAPTER 3

ADDY

Eli started the car, and I winced at how loud the sound of it was around us. The guards Eli had mentioned earlier, the men patrolling outside, had to have heard that, didn’t they? Thankfully, Eli floored the car right away and we smashed right through the flimsy, wooden garage doors. The impact ricocheted through me as I fought to hold on, but Eli didn’t hesitate. He just continued to floor the gas as we sped down a gravel drive. Guards appeared and ran towards us with huge guns in hand.

“Eli!” I screamed as they started to shoot at the car.

“Get Down!” Eli yelled and I ducked just as a bullet took out the window on my side. I dared to peek out of the windshield just as we came to the gates at the front of the property, but the speed Eli was going, we blew right through them, taking one right off of it’s hinges. I watched as the huge wrought iron gate flew through the air and landed on the ground beside us as we sped by.

“Fuck! Are you okay, Addy?” Eli demanded as he continued speeding down a narrow graveled road. Shots were still being fired behind us, but none were hitting the car now.

“Are we out?” I asked as I lifted my head all of the way and looked around us.

“We’re out,” he confirmed as we came to the end of the narrow road, and turned onto a small highway. “Are you hurt?”

“N-no. I…I don’t think so,” I gasped, my breaths short and panicked and my whole body shaking with adrenaline. “What about you?”

“I’m good,” Eli panted as he reached across and took my hand in his. He was still speeding down the road and I realized why when I looked behind us and saw a black Escalade following not far behind.

“Is that them?”

“Yep. We need to lose them, which would definitely be easier if I had the first fucking clue where we are,” he told me, sounding half amused and half terrified. “Is there a cell phone in here anywhere?”

I started to search all around me, opening the glovebox and another box between the seats, but there was no cell phone.

“Nothing!” I cried as I sat up and looked behind us again. Eli had managed to maintain a distance between us and the other car, but they were definitely getting closer. “What do we do?” I panicked.

“It’s okay. I’m going to get us out of this. Just breathe for me, Addy,” Eli told me more calmly. I sat back and tried to concentrate on calming the heck down. The situation was bad, but I needed to keep it together. My panic and fear would have to wait until it was all over and we were both safe. That was the time to have a meltdown. Not in the midst of a damned car chase.

When I felt able to actually get air into my lungs I opened my eyes and turned to look behind us again. We were driving waytoo fast and I just prayed nothing would come down the narrow road towards us.

“They’re getting closer!” I gasped when I saw the black car had gained on us fast. “You have to speed up!”

“I’m going as fast as I can,” Eli ground out. He had both hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles had turned white, and his whole body was taut as he glanced between the rearview mirror and the road.

“They’re going to hit us if we can’t go faster,” I panicked.

“I know. I’m going to have to try something else.”

“What? You’re not exactly a stunt driver, Eli!”

“No, but I am a good driver,” he told me confidently as he glanced to me for a second, then back to the rearview mirror. “Make sure your seatbelt’s tight and brace yourself as much as you can.”

“No, Eli. This is a really bad idea. I don’t want you getting hurt,” I pleaded as I looked behind me again and saw the black car almost upon us now.

“I don’t want that either, but if those men catch us, I have a feeling they’ll hurt us way worse. Just do as I said, and hold the fuck on,” he told me, doing a way better job than me of hiding the panic from his voice.

I sat straight in my seat and pulled my seatbelt as tight as it would go. I checked Eli had his on too, even though I already knew he did, then I braced my hands against the dashboard, just in the nick of time too.

Eli turned the steering wheel to the right at the same time he slammed on the brakes. The car turned in the road and cameto a screeching stop so fast I could barely stop my head from smashing into the dash of the car. We ended up stopped right across the road, and the black Escalade which had been about to ram us had no time to stop. Instead the driver turned the wheel and veered off to the left at a crazy speed. They drove right over the verge and the car flipped onto its roof on the sandy, baron land they landed on. There was a deafening bang and the twisting screech of metal as the roof gave under the weight of the rest of the car, leaving it looking like it had been partly crushed by one of those machines they used in the wrecking yards.

“Oh God!” I panted as I slammed my hand over my pounding heart and looked to Eli. “Eli?” He was staring at the other car where it lay on it’s roof, and he wasn’t moving an inch. “ELI!” I yelled louder and I was relieved when he turned to me.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes. We have to go. Those men will be armed if they crawl out of that wreck,” I pointed out.

“Do you think they’re still alive?” he asked, and I realized he was feeling guilt at what he had done.