Stuck Up

Chapter 4 Stuck Up

The silence grew between them after what happened when suddenly, their car appeared to sway on the trail again. Irene made a glance over at Jaden when she saw the man in the back seat was now free. The rope that is tied to his hands is now being used to strangle Jaden’s neck from behind.

  

“Do you think you can get away from what you did? I’ll prove you wrong.” 

  

The man hissed in anger, gritting his teeth in Jaden’s ear as he strangled him. 

  

“Do you think also I would let you go? I would not let you until you confess who you work for.” 

  

Jaden’s reply while struggling to stop the man from strangling him further. 

  

While Irene was still processing of what was going on. She starts by grabbing the steering wheel and prays silently between her breath as she panics. 

  

“What the hell is wrong with you people?! I just wanted to go back home.” 

  

She stated as you can hear how anxious she was now in her voice. 

  

“He-help... m-me.” 

  

Jaden asked her. 

  

The man from behind was gaining on, choking Jaden to death. Because of the rush of events, Irene immediately let go of the steering wheel and picked up the pen she saw a while ago. She immediately stabbed the man in the arm to let Jaden go. 

  

“Let. Him. Go.” 

  

She said stabbing him between her words. 

  

But Irene got tired of what she was doing. Despite that, the man won’t even budge. She picked up another spare pen and repeatedly stabs him but now she targets his shoulder. Blood flows on the car floor and the man felt pain for the first time. She knew then that she hit him badly, but the man boils in outrage at what she did. 

  

He let Jaden go for a moment and punched her in the face. Pain gripped her forehead from the misdirected punch that caused her to curse under her breath. The ring he wore was the main reason her nose bridge bled.

  

“That’s rude!” 

  

She hissed. 

  

“Didn’t your mother tell you that a man who hurts a woman was an effing coward?” 

She added, so pissed at what he had done. 

  

She clenched her fist and jabbed the pen protruding from the man’s shoulder. Irene made sure to immerse it in its flesh and was glad to see that the man now felt more pain. Got distracted from getting hurt so badly and he finally let go of Jaden. 

  

But the two who sit in the front seat are stunned by what they saw coming after. A loud roar echoed in the air when they hit a light pole beside the highway. Everything went in slow motion in Irene’s eyes as shortly as they had an impact. Everything inside the car floated and the man from the back seat flew between Jaden and her.

  

Irene could only close her eyes at the speed of events when the car smashed into the standing light pole. With the force of their blow, the seatbelt almost stuck to her shoulder and severe pain creeps in. 

  

After what took place, Irene looked around. She saw how serious the casualty was. The man behind them in the back seat slipped through the windshield, out of the car. Meanwhile, Jaden was now unconscious. She recognized the smell of something was burning, so she thought they had to get out of the car before something even worse could happen. 

  

As she cleared away her seatbelt, she groaned in pain from her right shoulder. Then took a deep breath, and faced Jaden. She makes him lean over to its back from its sank position to the steering wheel. Put her finger under his nose and felt at ease when she determined he was still breathing.

  

She removed his seatbelt, then got out of the car first to go to Jaden’s side of the door. As Irene descended, the dreadful scene unfolded before her. The man who slipped through the windshield also hit his head directly onto the light pole. As a result, its head was nearly severed, and parts of its brain are exposed. 

  

She covered her mouth with her both hands and simply turned around and walk at the backside of the car to Jaden’s door. It was difficult to open it at first, but she managed to get him out and pull him away from the car. She lay him distant from the side of the road and set him on the grass. 

  

She examined Jaden and noticed that his nose was bleeding, as well as the left side of his head. She returned to the car to search for her phone, but all she got was his phone and the chocolate bar that was given to her earlier. 

  

She opened the backseat and looked for anything they could use, but she only got was a panda-bear stuff toy. She picked it up from the car’s floor and made it a pillow for Jaden’s head. 

  

She rummaged in his pockets and on the left side of it, and there she found a cracked screen of her own cellphone. She sought to open it, but it seemed to be broken and didn’t work at all anymore. 

  

“SHIIIIT! How long will this nightmare last!” 

  

She said, cursing at the wind.

She searched in both directions of the highway and hoped that a vehicle would pass by to help them. She remembers his phone, so she picked it up and tries to open the screen. It thrilled her that it was working, but it needed a password to be opened. Thought about the emergency dial. But her last hope crashed down as she noticed that there was no reception within the area.   

   

Irene walked a few meters to venture out, hoping to see a house around, but she could see nobody. They were in the middle of a secluded road, where she could simply see trees everywhere. She also shouted several times until her voice became croaky, but hears no response.   

   

She wanted to be furious with Jaden for being the reason why she was in that situation, but things had already happened.   

   

“I should be the one who lost consciousness. And you’re supposed to be the one who’s deemed to be awake so that you felt how miserable the plight resulting from your antics.”   

   

She mumbled while kicking him lightly on his feet.  

  

Something suddenly grabbed her attention, with a movement in the car’s compartment. She went there to check on what was causing it to move. When she opened the compartment, another person was inside.   

  

With his surprised face, he leaps forward to Irene, causing them to stumble and fall together on the ground. She pushed him away from her, and the fellow struggled to move and stand, and while his feet were still tied.   

   

“Are you ok?”   

   

She asked with hesitation in her voice. The guy hurriedly removed the rope that was tied to his feet and then cleared away the muzzle in his mouth.   

   

“Gregor! Gregor! Where are you?... Gregor!”   

   

He shouted as he was free and swiftly headed to the back seat of the car. Until he reached the front-rear, right there, he collapsed to his knees to see his partner dead. Irene peeked into the compartment and saw a pair of shoes, a small notebook, and a black USB drive.