Property of the Mafia

[26] Handle With Care

Splinters of glass tore away at my skin. The smell of gasoline and hazardous fumes overpowered all my senses to the point that all I could do was choke in horror as the insides of the car slowly filled with dust and fumes.

"Linette! Are you okay?" Leon screamed. His silhouette became clearer after he kicked the door beside him open, and the smoke permeated from the car, ameliorating vision.

I yelped as the leather seats beneath me began to grow increasingly hotter, even though I was suspended in the air. The car had completely flipped over and we were upside-down. Thank goodness for seat-belts or I probably would be dead about now.

"What the hell happened, Marcel?" Leon demanded anxiously, banging on the separating barrier between the front and the back.

No response.

"Marcel! MARCEL!"

As Leon scrambled to get a response, I reached for Alyssa, who had been completely silent after her bloodcurdling scream. Was she alright?

I inched towards her until I met with her arm, shuddering at the wet substance slithering down her arms. Blood.

Narrowing my stinging eyes, I gasped as the smoke cleared, revealing Alyssa with an enormous gash on her forehead that was bleeding profusely. Had she whacked her head against the window when the car flipped over?

She was completely unconscious and all that kept her up was her seat-belt, which was not looking exactly dependable considering the visible strain and rip in it.

"Alyssa, please, wake up!" I exclaimed, trying to gently shake her awake, but to no avail.

I shrieked when enormous white flickers of light passed along the side of the car. Were those sparks? The disgusting new smell of burning rubber made me gag.

"Linette, get out of the car, now." Leon ordered, his green eyes meeting mine. "I'll get Alyssa out, you just worry about yourself for now."

I nodded immediately, though I wasn't sure exactly how I was supposed to get out. The seat-belt was slicing into my skin and I was starting to lose feeling in my head and upper body with all the blood rushing upwards.

I glanced over to Leon, who took a deep breath, twisted his body sideways midair before landing in a squatting position, upright. Technically, he was on the ceiling, but that was the upright position as of now.

Gulping, I tried to follow suit, quickly unbuckling my seat-belt and trying to land sideways with as much agility as he did. If he believed I'd be able to do it, then I had no doubt that I would be able to.

Of course, I was not as graceful as Leon, as weird as that sounds, but I somehow managed to get myself upright, crawling out of the car on all fours and stumbling back to my feet. I quickly fell over again, with all the feeling completely gone from my feet.

Feeling was finally returning to the lower half of my body, but I was left with a terrible headache and nausea. I realized how strong Leon had to be to have the ability to break down a freaking mob car door while upside down. Talk about skill.

My shoulders heaved up and down as I crawled towards the front of the car, gawking as I spotted the two enormous air bags in the front seat completely puffed out. Were Marcel and Ares behind those? Or had they escaped?

Hoping it was the latter, I still fumbled for the door, squealing as I received a fairly powerful shock from the hot metal. The front window was smashed in, but the side windows were still completely intact, to my surprise.

"Ares, Marcel! Are you guys in there?" I exclaimed, banging on the window. It didn't look like there were any people inside, but if that were the case, where could they possibly be? They would never abandon us, which was for sure---so had something happened? In that short amount of time? That couldn't be possible.