I heard Gerry gasp and looked up from the map on my tablet to see his face. It had gone white, and I looked out the windshield to see what he was looking at...
It was snowing slightly, and the Roaring Fork River was rushing and beautiful with foamy white caps. Our next stop would be Glenwood Springs.
But then I heard Gerry gasp and looked up from the map on my tablet to see his face. It had gone white, and I looked out the windshield to see what he was looking at and couldn’t see what had startled him. The green, chain link fence was racing by us, and I looked back at Gerry as things began to slow down. His left arm was straight out on the steering wheel and his right arm grabbed his left one. He seemed to be gasping for air as the truck sped up, drifting to the left. Then it drifted over too far, and we were getting close to the fence. I reached for the steering wheel and pulled hard.
“Gerry!” I yelled but before his name was out of my mouth, we hit the fence and it accordioned against the hood and windshield and we launched over the embankment. I had my hand on the steering wheel, trying to pull it back toward me but it was too late; the truck’s tires were turning in mid-air. We hit the road below us hard, wheels down and the truck rolled over to the drivers’ side and began to skid. I looked at Gerry’s face and his eyes were closed in pain.
We were still skidding, and I could feel the RV pushing us, could feel my seatbelt hanging me. We skidded off the road now and through the brush and trees and then there was the river. Please, God, I prayed, let us stop. The rushing water split, and a great wave splashed up as we landed in it. I noticed that the airbags deployed before the truck stopped moving. We hit something hard, and I opened my eyes. The truck’s left half was submerged in the raging river, my side was not. We were not all the way down on the river bottom but sitting on something, possibly a boulder. I could see the muddy river water rushing through the partially submerged windshield.
The dogs had cried out in pain and fear and were tumbled on top of each other in the back seat. I looked down at Gerry and he appeared to be asleep. I held on to my seatbelt as I reached for Gerry’s seatbelt, pushing the deflated airbag out of the way and unbuckled his belt. He fell toward the window when his belt released him. My window looked up at the sky and I craned my neck to see the side mirror to look behind us. Apparently, the RV was still partially on the snowy riverbank, keeping us from going all the way down in the river.
I pulled at my seatbelt but couldn’t get it loose and it was beginning to choke me as I felt water making its way into the cab of the truck.
Copyright 2022 © All rights reserved. Excerpt from Resurrection: The Dark Chambers of Gerry Frey’s Heart by Mare Loch.
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