Ryan Westfield - Getting Out

“Yeah,” said Sadie. “But what if she doesn’t find a car and she takes a shortcut through the woods. You know she’ll find a way to do that, if it saves time. She isn’t going to be expecting that we’re driving. She isn’t going to expect us to have a car. What if she walks in the woods along the road?”

James paused, considering it. Sadie had a good point, and he knew it.

“So what do we do?” said James.

“I don’t know.”

“We could leave a note,” said James, looking up at the sky. “I really think it’s going to rain. I mean, do you really think Mom is going to find a car that she can steal?”

“That doesn’t sound like her,” said Sadie. “I mean she’s never stolen anything in her life.”

“Except that gas.”

“Well that was you.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m worried about her,” said Sadie. “None of us have eaten much.”

“I’m starting to wonder what the point of bringing all that food was,” said James.

“I think we should drive and find her,” said Sadie. “We’ll leave a note here for her, then if we don’t find her, we’ll come back.”

“The note will say just to wait for us here?”

“Exactly.”

“OK,” said James. “Let’s go.”

He helped Sadie to her feet. It seemed as if her legs had fallen asleep.

“James,” said Sadie.

“What?”

“I want you to know… I know you had to do it.”

She was referring to killing the guy.

James didn’t say anything.

“Help me load up the SUV,” he said.

They got to work. It was tiring. There was a lot of stuff in the back of the pickup.

But fortunately, the SUV was not only state of the art and apparently brand new, but it was spacious as well. Everything easily fit in there.

Sadie made a sign out of a piece of scrap metal that had been lying in the bottom of the bed of the pickup since James could remember. She used a multitool to carve a message in there.

She propped it up against a rock.

“You think she’ll see it?”

“Definitely, and it’s good because if someone’s just driving by they won’t notice it. It’ll just look like a piece of metal.”

“What if Mom drives by and doesn’t see it?”

“She’ll stop and look for us. Plus, we’ll see her driving down, right? There’s only one road.”

“As far as we know.”

They were ready. James started the car, and the engine hummed magnificently. It really was a fine vehicle, thought James to himself.

He didn’t look back at the dead man on the road. There was no need to. He’d seen all he needed to see. It was death, final and simple. That was it. There wasn’t much to it. It wasn’t complicated.

The rain was starting to fall as James pulled onto the road. The clouds looked ominous in front of them.

Neither of them spoke. They were both worried. But they were doing what they thought was right. They were convinced they were making the best decision for their family.

Georgia must not have slept as much as she’d thought. Wait, had she slept at all? She was starting to feel delirious from lack of sleep, from hunger, from the fatigue of walking all day.

She’d cruised right past the people whose car she was obviously driving. She wasn’t going to stop, not when the well-being of her family was at stake. But she felt a horrible nagging guilt that she hadn’t felt in a long time. Those women had looked so… helpless. They’d looked innocent. And she’d seen it on their faces. They simply couldn’t believe their bad luck.

She tried to justify it to herself. Where did they need to go in a car anyway? They already had their house.

But soon she was second guessing her own rationalizations.

Well, the house hadn’t appeared to have a lot of food in it. Maybe they didn’t have much food left, and they would need to leave to get some.

But where were they going to get food? It wasn’t like they’d be able to just drive to a grocery store. Even if there was one nearby, it would have been looted long ago. What’s more, it would be dangerous.

The sky was a dark grey. The rain started falling. It was light at first, but after only a few minutes, it turned into an intense heavy downpour.

So far, no lightning or thunder. But it really felt like a storm was developing. A heavy, intense storm.

The road didn’t have good drainage. Instead of being formed like a crown, sloping down on the sides, it was the reverse of that. The road was shaped like a U, so that water quickly accumulated in the center of it.

Some parts of the road were already flooded.

Georgia had driven trucks as long as she could remember, and she didn’t feel confident in the abilities of this little foreign compact car.

Maybe she should have gone looking for a better car, a truck or something. But she knew there were few houses around here. She would have had to walk perhaps an entire extra day.

She was worried about Sadie and James. She hoped nothing had happened to them. She hoped no one had come along to do them harm.

Georgia was going down a long and steep descent. There was a curve coming up ahead, and she slowed down a little. But maybe not enough. After all, she was anxious to get back to James and Sadie.

It happened fast. Maybe it was the water. Or maybe Georgia was driving too fast on the curve.

But the next thing she knew, the car lost control.

Shitty ass tires, was the last thought she had, before the car left the road completely and hit a tree.

The impact wasn’t that hard. Surprisingly soft, actually. But she felt jolted, and a little dazed.

The airbag deployed perfectly, just as it should have. It worked beautifully, cushioning what would have been a nasty bashing against the steering wheel.

The engine still running, Georgia tried her seatbelt. But it was jammed.

She knew what was happening, despite being dazed. She didn’t stop and cry. She didn’t give up. She didn’t feel sorry for herself.

Instead, she did what she had to do. She was slowly able to fish her pocket knife from her jeans. She flicked it open, cut the seatbelt, and then punctured the airbag for good measure, allowing her to get out of the car easily.

She stood, slightly dazed, next to the car. It didn’t look like there was any way the car would be able to get out of there on its own. She didn’t think that it was severely damaged, but it was definitely stuck.

She got back in and put the car in reverse. But the wheels just spun. Yeah, she’d been right, there was no way it was going to get out.

She killed the engine, pocketed the keys, and started to walk down the road.

Georgia realized that she wasn’t that far away from the women she’d passed, the women she’d stolen the car from.

She walked for less than a minute, when she realized that her ankle must have been twisted.

She tried to push on, simply gritting her teeth and continuing, but the pain was completely overwhelming. Each step she took was pure agony.

She looked behind her. There was no sign of the three women. And what motivation did they have to follow her? They couldn’t have thought they would have any chance of catching up to her on foot.

But then again, there was the possibility that they’d heard the crash and would come to investigate.

The rain was pouring down.

For the first time, Georgia heard the tremendous crack of thunder far away in the sky.

It startled her. She was soaking wet, already drenched to the bone, and shivering.

She sat down on the side of the road to consider her options. There was no way she was going to make it back on this ankle alone.

But she was resourceful, and she wasn’t going to give up just yet, especially when the safety of her kids was at stake.