Green Desert - Chapter 1.1.1 - Fírí

Zhíno tossed his empty beer can out the window and reached into the backseat, fishing around for the gun. The fifteen-year-old sedan flew straight and true down the open highway, Zhíno’s left hand tight on the wheel, his eyes straight ahead. I twisted around in the passenger seat and looked out the back window. The pair of headlights chasing us fit between two of the defogger lines on the glass, that’s how far back they were. Whoever they were.

I listened to the engine whine on a slight hill. I didn’t know much about cars, but this little thing didn’t have much power. “Zhíno, if they were chasing us, they’d have caught us by now.”

“Shut up, bitch.” He found the handgun and checked the bullets using both hands while his knee took the wheel.

“I mean, maybe they’re just lost tourists or something.”

Zhíno grunted. “We’ll see about that.”

His right hand back on the steering wheel, he slammed on the brakes. The seatbelt hit me hard in the shoulder and between my breasts, pinching painfully.

The little car fishtailed to a halt, but before I jerked back against the seat, Zhíno spun the wheel and gunned the engine. We bumped off the road across dirt and then back on the pavement, hurtling toward the other car.