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Tick couldn’t believe his eyes Out of nowhere, a car had appeared to their left, just a few feet away His first thought was that whoever had caused this whole mess had pulled up to finish them off But then the backseatrolled down, and his heart lifted when he saw the ridiculous face of Norbert Johnson, as so at the same time

"Norbert’s co wind "I’ll pull you through the !"

Tick’s dad i, then grabbed Tick by both ar him over to his side and toward Norbert’s open"You first!" he yelled

With no ti thehi with a firm hold The other car was literally a foot away fro racers Before Tick knew it, Norbert had reached out and grabbed hiroaned and grunted as he rolled past Norbert and fell onto the floor of the backseat, suddenly safe and war hi toward his dad with a sudden burst of terror His dad had half-crawled onto the hood, gripping the edge of the door bar with one ar out for Norbert with the other The look on his dad’s faceclose to the fear and panic and sheer horror that now ht demeanor The man looked as terrified as any kid would be, and it scared Tick

"Get my dad!" he cried "Please save my dad!"

But Norbert didn’t need any further instruction He was on his knees, leaning out the , grabbing at the large h three times what he did, and it wouldn’t be easy to pull him off the other car and into this one Not able to breathe, he looked ahead

The road curved sharply to the right, just a hundred feet from where they were

"Hurry!" he yelled

Norbert suddenly jerked back into the car, his ar on Tick’s dad as best he could Tick watched as his dad’s hands, then arh the open , Norbert screa fat tubby body is stuck!"

"No!" Tick yelled He reached forward and grabbed his dad’s shirt, yanking and pulling as hard as he could "You can do it, Dad Suck in your breath!"

"Son, Ican’t, I’ripping, heaving and reheaving Though he couldn’t bear to look, Tick knew they only had precious seconds left until it was all over

"Pull away from the other car and slon!" Norbert yelled to the driver "Don’t you worry, Mr Higginbottoo of you Keep your feet up!"

The driver veered to the left as he slowly applied the brakes, though it seemed like the worst roller coaster ride in history to Tick His dad would be roadkill if he slipped out of the

"Don’t let go of Big Bear," Dad whispered to Tick, actually breaking a so of hter

Just as the car slowed to a snail’s pace, they heard a horrendous screeching andthey couldn’t see A bright flash lit the night around them as a terrible explosion rocked the air