Chapter 3 - Blood on the AsphaltMy world went dead dark.
I didn't utter a word. I sprinted past the police cruisers, ignoring Ramirez shouting my name, jumped into my military-issued truck, and slammed my foot onto the accelerator. The engine roared as I tore through the suburban streets, my hands gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles bled.
Sophia. Leo.
It took me less than three minutes to reach the intersection of 5th and Main. The scene was absolute carnage.
The ambulance was on its side, smoke pouring from its shattered engine bay. Glass and twisted metal covered the asphalt under the cold streetlights. A heavy silver pickup truck was wedged directly into the passenger side of the emergency vehicle—right where Sophia and the paramedic had been sitting.
"Sophia!" I roared, throwing my truck into park before it even came to a complete stop.
I vaulted over the hood and tore toward the wreckage. Firemen were already on scene, attempting to cut through the reinforced side doors with hydraulic jaws. Bystanders were screaming, taking videos on their phones.
"Sir! Stand back! It’s dangerous!" a firefighter yelled, grabbing my shoulder.
I threw him off with a single arm sweep. "My wife and son are in there!"
I kicked through the shattered rear window of the ambulance and crawled inside the twisted metal frame. The smell of diesel fuel and iron hung thick in the air.
"Marcus..." a weak voice groaned from beneath a collapsed equipment rack.
"Sophia!" I pulled the heavy metal rack off her legs. She was bruised, bleeding from a deep cut on her forehead, but her arms were locked in a vice-like grip around a blanketed bundle.
Leo.
"Is he breathing?" I begged, my voice cracking for the first time in years. "Sophia, is he breathing?!"
She looked up at me, her eyes glazed over with shock, and slowly unwrapped the blanket. Leo was conscious, whimpering faintly, protected by Sophia’s own body during the impact. But his skin was still terrifyingly hot, and his breath was coming in shallow, labored gasps.
"The driver..." Sophia choked out, pointing a trembling hand toward the shattered front windshield. "Marcus... the driver of the truck... he didn't hit us by accident. He looked right at me before he hit the gas."
My head snapped toward the overturned silver pickup. The driver’s door was hanging open, empty. A line of bloody footsteps led straight toward a dark alleyway behind an abandoned warehouse.
I turned back to the paramedic who had just crawled inside to assist. "Take care of my family! Protect them with your life!"
May you like
Without waiting for an answer, I drew my concealed sidearm, stepped out of the mangled ambulance, and charged into the dark alley.
Chapter 3 Cliffhanger Hook: I followed the fresh trail of blood into the pitch-black warehouse, clicking off the safety on my pistol. As I rounded the corner, a voice rasped from the shadows: “You were never supposed to come back from that mission alive, Captain Vance.”
