Turning his attention to the back seat now, he saw Ally. She was also suspended by her seat belt, long dark hair covering her face. Her arms and legs dangled, giving the illusion of a rag doll. He twisted around, pain shooting through his arm and shoulder as he jammed himself between the seats, reaching through her hair to feel for the pulse in her neck, praying under his breath the whole time. Finding it at last, he fought back tears of relief.
He had never felt so alone and so helpless in his life. A constant hum filled his head until he could barely think straight. None of this seemed real. They were coming home from the concert. They were safe. They were together. So what had just happened? He had to get them out of there, had to get them to safety and call for help.
“Callum, wake up. Come on man, please – I need your help!” The panic in his voice scared him as he shook Callum’s arm. “Callum!”
Callum stirred and the breath he didn’t realise he had been holding escaped in a rush.
He shook Callum’s arm again. “Hey! Come on, wake up!”
Callum groaned, feebly pushing Jack’s hand away.
“The car flipped,” Jack breathed. He shook Callum’s arm again and Callum offered resistance this time, pulling his arm away.
“What happened?” he mumbled hazily. “Oh man, my head… ”
“Another car hit us. We’re upside down. I’m gonna try and release your seatbelt, but you’re gonna have to help me here. Brace yourself – hey, can you hear me?”
“What? Yeah. I’m here. I’m okay,” he mumbled, sounding a plane ride and a taxi journey away from okay.
“You’re gonna have to brace yourself – stay with me. Do you think you can stop yourself from hitting the deck?”
Jack twisted around to get into a better position. He leveraged himself, reaching around Callum to fumble blindly for the release button.
“You okay? Are you hurt?” he asked, wanting to keep him talking in the meantime. His shoulder cried out with every move he made but he gritted his teeth against the pain.
“No, I think I’m okay,” Callum mumbled, both arms reaching down to brace for the landing. “The car flipped?”
Jack grimaced, reaching over as far as he could, ignoring the pain in his shoulder.
“Yeah, looks like it,” he grunted, finally getting his fingers to work. “Okay, I got it. You ready for this?”
“Yeah.”
“On three, okay? One, two… three.”
Jack pushed on the release and Callum landed on the roof of the car with a strangled groan. Jack tried his best to help him right himself as he mumbled a string of curses under his breath.
“Sure you’re not hurt?” Jack demanded, casting a worried glance behind him at Ally.
“No, no I’m good. Just my head… I think. You okay?”
“Yeah. Shoulder hurts like hell but I’ll live.”
“Jesus – Ally?”
“She’s out cold. I can’t wake her.”
The silence seemed to scream at them.
“We’ve gotta get her out of here.”
Jack turned his back on Callum, twisting and crawling to gain access to the back seat. He fought his way through to kneel beside her, breathless with the effort. Reaching up to brush her hair away from her face, his heart wrenched. She was pale but he checked her over and couldn’t see any blood. He felt again for her pulse, relieved to find it once more, although weak.
“You’re gonna have to help me here,” he said to Callum, his eyes tracking the seat belt to the release button at her waist. “I’m gonna let her down as easy as I can but you need to hold her so she doesn’t hit her head.”
“Hang on, we don’t know if she’s okay.” The urgency in Callum’s voice stopped him dead. “We shouldn’t move her, just in case. What if she has internal injuries or something?”
“We can’t just leave her here like this!”
“Just hang on for a few more minutes. I’ll see if I can find some help, maybe that other car, maybe they can help.”
Callum reached for his door, trying to force it open but it was stuck fast. He grimaced but gave up, twisting himself around and crawling towards the driver’s door instead. He shoved at it but it wouldn’t budge, so he rolled over onto his back and kicked at it – one, two, three times before it finally gave.
“Just wait, okay? Don’t do anything yet,” he breathed, clambering out of the car.
“Okay.”
Callum took a moment to get himself together outside before he stood up. Then he promptly collapsed onto the damp grass.
“Hey!” Jack crawled between the seats and out through the driver’s door, the twisted metal further giving way with a sickening screech. He scrambled across the grass to Callum, who was already coming around.
“Are you okay?” he demanded, turning Callum over.
“Oh shit.” Callum rolled away and vomited, his body bucking with the effort. Jack grimaced, giving him a moment to catch his breath. Callum ran a trembling hand across his mouth and squinted up at him. “Man, my head. Feels like it’s been run over by a semi.”
“I bet.”