Impulse

by Lenise Lee

  “I can see that,” Jesse said as he did a swift survey of their surroundings. He didn’t want anyone sneaking up on either of them while their attention was distracted. “Eve and I stayed at the cabins last night. We only heard about the news late this morning.”

  “Eve is with you?” Eli said as he pushed his torso up to stand to his full height. “Man, that’s great to hear. I haven’t been able to get a hold of anyone for hours. Before I made the dumb ass mistake of coming down here to fill my tank, I stopped by Tiffany’s dorm to check on her but she wasn’t there. I can’t even get a text out to her. All the networks are down, I think.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been trying to call home since earlier and it’s the same deal. Listen, Eli, I have get Evie out of here. Are you going to be okay to make it back to your truck?”

  “I think I’m good from here. My truck is over there,” he pointed to the dark green SUV about fifteen feet away at the edge of the gas lot. “If those assholes hadn’t of tried to jump me, I would have been able to take any of them one on one. You and Eve can take off. I should get going too. I was gonna’ try to swing by the campus one more time and look for Tiff again before I hit the highway and headed across the bridge back to Arnott. This shit isn’t going to get any better any time soon.”

  Jesse nodded silently. If this is what the downfall of society actually would look like, he didn’t want either him or Eve to have to stick around to witness how much more madness was on the horizon.

  The blare of a car horn stopped Jesse’s heart for exactly one missed beat. His mind bellowed out the name faster than his body could react. Evie!

  - Seven -

  At the sight of the spray of the man’s blood from Jesse’s powerful blow, Eve’s nails embedded themselves into her folded palms. She felt the sting as the force of her sharp nails broke the skin there.

  After the initial shock had dissipated, she twisted her body around and grabbed the inside door handle with both shaking hands. After tugging repeatedly at the silver handle, she realized that the automatic locks were still in place. She unhooked her right hand and moved her thin index finger to push the button down to unlock the door. Before her hovering digit could complete the task, a leering face appeared through the window of door closest to her causing Eve to shrink back. A second shadow fell over the exterior of the car, this time from the driver’s door, and alerted her that there was another man on the opposite side. Eve’s sight darted from one side to the other as four shrewd eyes leered inside of the vehicle she was tucked away in.

  The man closest to her, a tall and gauntly thin Caucasian man with long stringy black hair, had a sinister look in his eyes. His menacing stare made her pull her body into a half curl on the front seat. She tore her attention away from the black pupils that were the color of absolute midnight. His partner was leaning right against the glass. The man’s unique olive skin color made him appear as if he were a mix of African and Asian descent. He was covering his eyes so he could get a better inspection of the inside of the car; in particular, he was studying the dashboard.

  “It’s full,” he lifted his head and yelled over to the red car.

  “Open up!”

  Eve jumped when the man beside her punched the window once with a folded fist. The vibration shook the glass slightly. There was a clicking sound coming from her left side. The other man was yanking on the outside handle.

  “It’s locked,” he yelled out again. “Let’s just try another one.”

  “No!” The taller man meant business when he shrieked out his final verdict. “This is the one. It has a tank full of gas and a real pretty girl inside. We’re takin’ this one.”

  Black eyes turned back to Eve and she shrank another inch deeper into the leather seats.

  “Open the fucking door!”

  He pulverized the glass with both fists this time, repeatedly striking the window until it groaned a little.

  As Eve sat helplessly trapped between the two thugs, her senses suddenly hit their peak. All around her were shouts of obscenities mixed with the blare of sirens and horns, and interspersed with various cries for help. With everyone else all around her scrambling to and fro in a last ditch attempt to gather up all they needed before the dark sky fell over the city no one else was even paying attention to the torment that she was now suffering.

  As if mere will alone would be enough to will the two would be criminals far away from her, Eve shut her eyes tight and covered her ears with both hands. With each blow, the sound of the straining glass crept up by one shrill decibel. At any minute, the brute might actually succeed in getting through the strong hold of glass that was the only barrier keeping him from gaining entry into the car. Dark and crazed eyes refused to budge from the spot where she was pinned to car seat out of mortal fear.

  Though delayed, her impulse to save herself finally kicked in. Enough was enough, she needed someone’s help. She needed Jesse. He was less than twenty yards away but her panicking perception easily morphed that small span of distance into a surreal and expansive stretch.

  As quickly as Eve reached over to mash down on the car horn, a crash of breaking glass stung her ears and tiny shards of the sharp droplets raked over her right arm. The psychotic man had taken off his T-shirt, wrapped it around his fist, and delivered one final and successful punch through the car window. The fortress was breached and Eve was all alone with nowhere to escape to.

  “Eve!” Jesse’s lungs opened up to their fullest capacity when he cried out her name.

  Two men had surrounded his sports car. The one standing on the side of the car closest to the curb lunged his upper torso inside the vehicle. Jesse had told her to lock the doors so how the hell had that asshole gotten in? The question ran through his brain but he didn’t bother to consider the possibilities because that effort was a complete waste of time and energy.

  Jesse ran into a sprint back across the street toward his fire red two-door but both men used incredible stealth. They managed to climb inside of the vehicle at a burglar’s pace before he could close the distance to the car. He pushed through the swarm of frantic citizens and zig zagged through the abandoned cars, trucks, and buses that were now litering the center of the main road.

  At only eight feet from reaching his destination, Jesse heard the sound of his engine roar to life. A hurried survey of the surrounding area helped him to recall that the car was trapped in the middle of grid locked traffic. His previous thoughts of trying to attempt that K-turn would have probably failed now that he was seeing the scene from this angle. A line of vehicles packed each side of the wide asphalt road with the solid yellow stripes racing down the center. There was no escape for the thieves who were trying to dash away with his car and drag his woman away on their failed joy ride. They wouldn’t be able to move the car two feet in any direction. Despite his usually good natured and nonviolent ways, there was no way that Jesse was going to be able to stop himself from beating the shit out of the hoodlums as soon as he caught up with the duo.

  He stepped up to the driver’s side door and, without warning, it swung open and whacked Jesse with a powerful blow. The heavy frame collided with his chest and midsection, knocking the air from his lungs, and successfully forcing him onto his back. He grabbed his bruised stomach. The sounds of Eve’s screamed raked over his ears and clawed at his mind.

  “Jesse!...Jesse!” He heard her desperate and agonizing calls to him. Her pleas were full of terror and worry.

  Through the pain emanating from his torso, Jesse managed to crack his lids open just enough to see the kidnappers make a bold and desperate move. The driver put the engine in reverse and squeeled the tires until the rear of the car crashed into the abandoned minivan behind them. Once the wheels refused to budge one more centimeter, he pushed the red machine forward and repeated the action, plowing into the rear of the sedan in front of the car. There was no need for Jesse to guess at the desperate driver’s next move. If the streets were blockaded there was only one other path – the
sidewalk.

  As Jesse lifted his injured body up on scraped elbows, the man behind the wheel repeated his daring collisions twice more, each time with Eve’s calls to Jesse escalating ever louder. The sound of another man’s voice yelling at her to shut up sent Jesse’s blood boiling. The pain that had nearly overcome him only a few seconds ago had dissipated. He bolted up to his knees and stood tall. At the exact same instant when he reached out to grab hold of the car door, the driver turned the wheel in one sharp motion and Jesse’s stolen car lurched up the curb and on to the sidewalk. Pedestrians scurried from side to side as the black tires tore a smoking trail up the packed walkway and toward the residential streets about five miles ahead. Once they reached that point, the car could disappear around any corner. If they turned down a side street, it would take Jesse hours to find the right one and there would be no way of getting Eve out of their clutches before darkfall. He couldn’t even face the thought of what would happen after that devasting event.

  He needed to get Eve away from them now and there was no time to spare. Without wasting another precious second, he pushed his long limbs back over to where he had left Eli. His friend was still slightly winded but had managed to make his way back over to his green sports model SUV.

  “They took her!” Jesse yelled out to him as he sprinted toward the parked vehicle.

  “Eve? Oh, shit, man,” he grabbed at his aching chest and leaned back against the driver’s seat to inhale another wheezing breath. “What are you gonna’ do?”

  “What do you mean…I have to get her back. Give me your keys!”

  Against the wishes of his battered ribcage, Eli sat up straight.

  “Jesse, man, there’s no way you can even get down the street. It’s mobbed with people.”

  Jesse stepped up close enough for Eli to read the enraged determination in his stormy gray eyes. His body had hardened to full battle mode and his adrenaline was pumping vigorously. The blood ran so hot and pumped so hard in his system that the furious swell raised his veins and arteries up to hard lines under his light tanned skin. They looked like snakes winding up and down the length of his bulky arms and biceps.

  “I love you like a brother, Eli, but if you don’t give me your keys right now, I’m gonna’ have to take them from you.” He held out his open palm. His fingers were pointing straight out like sharp daggers. “I don’t have time to argue, they already have two minutes on me.”

  One glance at the fire and rage boiling off of Jesse and Eli knodded. Jesse loved Eve, he had since the first day they had meant, and Eli understood that Jesse would break every bone in the body of any man who dared to get in the way of him getting her back to safety, even if that man was his own best friend. Eli pushed himself forward and jumped down out of the seat and onto the ground.

  “The key is already in the ignition.”

  “Thanks, Eli.” Jesse stepped around his friend and hopped up into the driver’s seat of the full bodied green monster. “You know, I can’t let you go with me.”

  He closed the door and moved the gears into drive before Eli could do what Jesse had been expecting him to, which was try to dart around to the passenger side and pull himself in. The man’s injured body wouldn’t allow him that kind of speed and Jesse had to take advantage of that weakness. It was for Eli’s own good. Jesse wouldn’t allow another person to be placed into the path of danger because of his impulsive choices.

  “Hey!” Eli had to hop back as the machine bolted into action. “What if they have guns or something? You can’t do this alone.”

  “Watch me,” he said and crushed the gas pedal down to the floor.

  Today was Jesse’s first day in his role as protector and he would aggressively execute this responsibility until his last ounce of strength was depleted.

  He swerved around Eli and accelerated the big vehicle at full speed toward the direction that the vagrants had fled. Since the SUV was already up on the station’s parking lot, Jesse aimed it along the sidewalk on the same side of the street. He hated to disrespect the law so blantantly but he had no other choice. Three crucial minutes had passed by, the woman he loved was now in mortal danger, and time was not his ally.

  - Eight -

  Eve struggled in the man’s tight grip. He had wrapped both of his sweaty arms around her in an attempt to pin her in place against his chest. She was forced to share the passenger seat with him while he held her against her will.

  She moved again and stomped down her sandaled foot down on his dark leather boots. He tightened his hold until he almost crushed the wind from her small lungs and then shook her menacingly.

  “I said stop moving,” he barked in her ear.

  The feel of his breath blowing over the side of her face made Eve’s skin crawl. She tried to shrink out of his grasp but the more she tried to fold her shoulders in, the more he circled his terrorizing grip around her. What the hell did he want from her? Hadn’t stealing the car been his primary intent not kidnapping?

  If they owned one, the two thieves’ vehicle must have gone bone dry or dropped down low enough to set them into a panic. Under these distraught circumstances, it wouldn’t have taken much to make anyone act out of character yet Eve had the unnerving feeling that this was probably not far from these two characters’ usual behavior.

  Eve’s will to be loosed wouldn’t allow her to sit still and be held as a helpless captive any longer. She twisted herself again and again he shook her, more violently this time, causing the vein at her right temple to start knocking like a hammer under her brown skin.

  “If you move one more fucking time, I’m going to open this door and toss you out,” he threatened. “And I’m gonna’ make sure that Vick doesn’t stop when I do it.”

  Right now, Eve would have welcomed the idea of being removed from the vehicle, even at high speeds, but doubted that her captor would make good on his threat. Somehow, she sensed that he had instantly taken some perverse liking to her. Why else hadn’t he simply dragged her out and left her on the curb when they first confiscated the car? Why else did he seem to be enjoying holding her in such a tortured embrace? From her place on his lap, Eve could feel his excitement growing.

  “Jim, dude, I don’t like this,” the driver finally chimed in. “Just toss her out. Why do we need her with us anyway? Traffic is clear on this end and we can make it out to the country roads with no more problems to hold us up.”

  “Shut up, asshole.” Jim moved Eve partially to one side. It was just enough space so that he could snap back at his partner with no obstructions but not enough for her to struggle free. “We keep her because I want her. Plus, we’re not leavin’ the city just yet.”

  “Why not?” Vick asked his question in a low and cautious voice. It was obvious that Jim was the leader and Vick was becoming his reluctant follower.

  “Because there ain’t…no…reason to. All this shit will be straightened out in the morning.”

  “But, Jim, what if it’s not? I mean…what if what they say is true…what if all of the reserves everywhere are nearly dried and empty and they can’t dig for anymore full a long time?”

  “I said shut up! Drive over to my mom’s house. We can crash there until the AM, then we’ll see.”

  Being forced to remain under Jim’s strangling hold was as close to a waking nightmare as Eve could have ever imagined. The thought of being forced to spend a night with him – anywhere, but especially in an enclosed area – was enough to bring small tear drops to the corners of her light brown eyes. She wanted to struggle more. She wanted to find out if he would fulfill his promise to throw her out if she did; however, the intense headache caused by Jim’s last vicious shake had left her too weak to offer any further resistance. Despite the fact that she was nearly limp under his crushing weight, Jim continued to hold her like a dog clutching a new toy with fierce eagerness.

  The clock was counting down on Eve. Where was Jesse? Would he come for her or was she to become a victim of the sometimes cruel hand of fate? She
prayed silently – hopefully – as the ebbing pain in her head grew more intense and washed away her remaining strength second by crawling second.

  Somewhere, at the back of her mind, in her most secret sanctuary, it was almost as though she could hear Jesse’s comforting voice speaking to her. I’m coming, Evie. Please, baby, don’t be scared.

  Jesse thundered his speeding beast up the hard blacktop and closed in on the car.

  He had a hunch that the assholes who had stolen his love would stick to the main road for the first few miles and he was right. To make up for lost time, he had rarely taken his foot from the strained gas pedal. Jesse had somehow managed to swerve and maneuver through a danger ridden obstacle course for the first mile with very little trouble to slow down his pursuit. The street emptied of traffic the further he traveled away from the downtown area so he didn’t need to speed up the sidewalk any longer.

  Once his turbulent gray eyes had locked on to the racing sports car, only a handful of yards ahead of the vehicle he was driving like a crazed stunt man, Jesse’s choice was set in stone. There was no other option. This might be his one and only shot at snatching Eve away from her captors. There was a high chance that his move wouldn’t go exactly as executed; nevertheless, this chase needed to end now before one of the vehicles ran out of luck, blew a tire, and spun aimlessly out of control. If the car plowed into any one of the dozens of massive buildings that lined the road that would be the end of everything that Jesse loved most in the world.

  Jesse charged the monstrous SUV up to its highest gear. He sped up close enough to clip the rear bumper of his fleeing car the same way he had seen police do when they wanted to ram a vehicle so that it would fishtail to a stop. At the moment of impact, he heard the crunch of metal scraping against metal, followed by rattling vibrations shooting through his the aching chest, and then all went dark.