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Her blood pressure went up

Frantic, she abandoned the escape release for the floor Her fingers curled around so and heavy with a cylindrical head Socket wrench

She clenched her jaw and began psyching herself up for Snips to open the trunk

Another rut in the road sent the car ju it was now or never, Josie yanked on the glowing square

The trunk lid flew open

Dawn's pink glow filled the sky, illu the empty countryside

Sucking in a deep breath, Josie raised her arms to cover her head and rolled out of the trunk All the air in her lungs vacated as soon as she landed with a thump on the dirt road

The car kept

She scra pain in her side, and stumbled to a copse of trees by an abandoned farainst scratchy bark, gulping in air and wondering how ured out she'd escaped

Minutes If she was lucky

Her gaze followed her footprints between the road and her hiding spot A dead giveaway Careful as she could, she tiptoed in her tracks back to the road The crusty top layer of snow stuck to her clammy palms when she tried to brush away evidence of her location But the for the top layer as brittle as the crust on a crème brûlée

She searched the area but everywhere she looked, the light glea Despite the cold, a bead of sweat rolled down the back of her neck

That's when she saw it Under the trees, the snow had piled up into a small mound, no doubt pushed by the winds that never ceased to blow

Josie negotiated her way back to the trees as quickly as she could while not athered an armful of snow and scurried back to the road She packed the fresh snow into the indentations left by her boots, s her way backwards until the evergreens blocked her from the road

Her breath hovered in the air as she panted She rubbed away the goose buoose mountains on her arms and tried to formulate a plan