The Unstoppable (Chapter One)

The Unstoppable

PART ONE: ACCEPTANCE

Chapter One: The Inescapable

“Adam look out!”

Tires squealed as I mashed my foot into the brake pedal, the sound soon followed by a metallic clang as we bumped lightly into the guardrail with our right fender. My fiancé Kate and I were both flung against our seatbelts as we came to a stop, breathless but unharmed.

We knew each other well enough that one glance, one quick look told us everything we needed to know. She could see the panic in my eyes, the slight tremble overtaking my body. And I could see, even through the scattered strands of brown hair obscuring her face, a sympathetic smile and patient concern.

I broke stares and looked away. Outside the car windows, Chesapeake Bay soared to the horizon. Its blue expanse filling our open car windows with rich sea air, air that made my chest seize up, my stomach turn.

For a moment all was quiet save for the sound of waves lapping beneath us, till a honking truck suddenly roared past, swerving into the other lane for a moment. Two or three more cars I’d apparently been holding up followed suite.

It had happened the moment we’d left dry land. I wasn’t sure if it was just seeing all the water, or perhaps it was the nauseating sea air, but suddenly I’d been lost in memory. The silence returned once more, but my heart was still pounding, my nerves still frazzled, panicky. After a little time to regain composure, Kate reached for my hand, which was gripping the gearshift with white knuckles.

“Are…you okay, Adam?” she asked tentatively, her voice soft and low, as if she were afraid to break the stillness. Instead of answering, I reached with a shaky hand to turn on the air conditioner.

“Adam?”

“I’m fine…I just…” I let my voice trail off, a little unsure.

“You know we don’t have to do this, it’s not like she’s coming to the wedding,” Kate declared. I knew she was trying to be helpful, and it was almost certainly true, but it made the pain a little raw.

For a moment I didn’t speak. It had been almost ten years since I’d seen my mother. We were the only survivors of a terrible car wreck that had killed all three of my sisters after our van flew off a bridge, into a lake. We’d grown apart quickly and completely following the accident.

Both of us had developed a terrible fear of water following that awful night, and had escaped in our own ways. My mother had grown distant, left my father, and moved to an island in Chesapeake Bay, surrounded by the sea on all sides, surrounded by constant reminders of that awful day.

While she’d lived haunted by the past, I moved to the Texas desert, toiling under the sun for an education. It was where I’d met Kate, and where I planned to spend the rest of my life.

Finally after a long pause, I spoke, prompted by an oncoming car in my rearview mirror. “We didn’t fly all the way out here just to turn around and leave now.” She gently pried my hand up off the clutch and squeezed it, smiling. Immediately I felt my raw nerves begin to settle. That was why I loved Kate, she could make me feel better without even speaking.

“I can do this,” I said, returning a hand to the steering wheel. I was eager to get through it and move on with my life. Everything I’d ever wanted to say, I would say, and then we would never come back here again.

“You can do this. But I should drive,” she declared, her brown eyes crinkling into a cheerful smile. She began to unbuckle her seatbelt without another word. At first I was tempted to resist, but I knew she was right.

Before I could reach for my belt, I heard a honking behind me, and suddenly my head was flung back by an airbag, the world spinning so fast all the colors blended together, the sky and the sea and the clouds merged, and then as our tiny little rental car smashed through the guardrail and hit the water, all went dark.

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At first I thought I was losing my mind. It all seemed so much like that night long ago, water flooding at my feet, panic heavy in my chest with every heartbeat.

As I came back from the black space behind my eyelids, I knew I had to get out of the car, but my first concern was for Kate. I turned to her seat to reach for her only to find it empty.

The panic deepened, till I thought my heart would stop.


This can't be.

I fumbled with my seatbelt until I could free myself, then slithered out the open window. I climbed to the top of my sinking car on unsteady legs, my head spinning. The glare of the setting sun hit my eyes as I looked back towards the bridge. At first I saw nothing, and then there she was, lying unconscious on the road.

Her seatbelt, I realized. She'd been knocked flying. I saw where we'd busted the guardrail up, but there didn't seem to be any cars along the span of the bridge I could see.

A hit and run.

She was an easy thirty feet away and much too high to reach. I glanced towards the shore, feeling sick. It was about a hundred yards off, a marsh thick with reeds and littered with garbage. I would have to swim for it. Fear flooded my chest and seemed to beat in my veins but I knew it had to be done. I couldn't let the fear control me, not this time. I looked to the sky. The sun was just beginning to set. Soon we would become too dark to see. Not a moment of precious time to be lost.

Without another thought I threw myself into the water and began to swim, the waters icy despite the warmth of the air. The entire time I felt certain my life was over, every time I dipped my head under, the water would keep me, or my muscles would freeze, and I would sink to the bottom.

But I made it. By the time I staggered my way onto shore, twilight had grown even deeper. I pushed my way through the overgrown weeds as fast as I could, slapping through cattails and plodding through the bog in bare feet, my flip-flops being long gone.

The road was strangely quiet. I could hardly believe I still hadn't seen or heard a car since the accident. However, as my wet feet slapped onto the asphalt I noted in the distance a pair of headlights in our lane, leaving me short on time.

I sprinted for where Kate lay prone on the street and immediately felt for a pulse, slipping two fingers against her slender neck. I soon found a faint beating. She appeared a little beat up but I found nothing broken.

I didn't want to move her, but I was afraid I had no choice, with darkness settling on the ocean like a thick black blanket. I gathered her limp body in my arms and stood. The vehicle approaching was big, I saw. A semi. I was about to move into the other lane to move out of the way when I realized a whole line of cars was suddenly zooming in.

Trapped.

I would have to throw us at the mercy of the trucker. I started hollering and screaming so loud Kate began to stir. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a few cars slow down, but none stopped.

Nor did the trucker.

I waited and waited, beginning to panic again, and still he didn't stop, didn't seem to see us at all despite the fact that his headlights now clearly illuminated us.

Out of options, I looked down to the water, terrified again.

I steadied myself, tightened my grip on Kate and leapt for the water through the twisted gap in the guardrail. I think we would have made. I really think everything would have been fine, but for the fact that the grill of the semi clipped my ankle, shattering it instantly and cutting my jump short, sending both of us flying headlong into my car.

My head smashed into the roof of it hard enough to drive every thought from my head. I saw a flash, a mere second's glimpse of Kate lying next to me, eyes wide open. And then the darkness devoured me, as sudden, deep, and terrifying as a riptide sucking me under the waves.