have so much hair he would be
able to see the tip of it coming out of the exit wound.
This is fucked , he thinks.
He looks at Crystal, “I can’t.”
“This thing is going to go over the side at any min-
ute,” she says.
Kevin feels like he is about to have an orgasm. This
makes him pause for a moment. Part of him thinks that if
he is going to die anyway then dying during a blowjob is the
way to go. The more sensible side of him thinks that he has
to do everything in his power to save Stephanie. He won-
ders what the doctors (or coroners) will think if they find his
semen inside of her skull once they get to the hospital.
He wonders what the heck happened to Stephanie.
He wonders why she is acting like this. She seems com-
pletely unaware of what is going on around her. It is like the
bullet has scrambled her brain.
As he pulls himself out of her mouth and pushes her
away, Stephanie lunges forward with all her strength, kick-
ing off of the side door to get closer to him. The van shakes
and slides farther over the edge. Crystal shrieks at them.
“What the hell are you doing?” Crystal cries. “Get
out!”
Kevin wriggles out of Stephanie’s grip and opens his
door. Without thinking, he jumps out of the van and lands
on the rocky side of the cliff. Only half of his body makes it.
His legs dangle over the edge.
Crystal can’t get to Kevin to help him up. They are
separated by the van, the side of the mountain, and the drop-
off. He has to pull himself up, scraping his naked penis across
a jagged rock as he gets to safety. When he rolls over and
looks at his dick, it is covered in blood. He isn’t sure if he just
cut it open or if it is blood from Stephanie’s head wound. He
decides to zip up his pants and worry about it later.
Stephanie doesn’t know where Kevin went. She sits
up and looks around. She sees Crystal outside the van call-
ing out to her through the side door. She can’t understand
what she is saying.
“Come on, Steph,” Crystal says like she is talking to
a puppy. “Come on.”
Stephanie crawls over the seat. The van slips and
shakes. Crystal tries to hold the van from sliding any fur-
ther. The closer Stephanie gets to Crystal, the quicker the
van starts to move.
Jason is on the ground crying silently in agony. When
he hit the ground, his kneecap popped out of joint. His un-
derwear soaks up the wet mud as he tries to figure out a way
to undo the dislocation of his knee. He looks around. The
sound of croaking frogs is loud around him. It is like they
are screaming. Screaming at him to get off of his feet and
get out of there. Nobody is going to find him. He’s all alone.
The only person who is going to help him is himself. The
wind shakes the trees and freezes the moisture on his body.
He straightens his leg out and hears a popping noise
from inside of his leg as his kneecap slides back into place.
Standing himself up, he puts all of his weight on his good
leg. Then he unzips his fanny pack and pulls out the pistol.
As he walks, he realizes that his leg isn’t as badly
damaged as he thought it would be. He’s afraid he’ll dislo-
cate it again if he puts too much weight on it, but he is able to
move around without too much of a limp. He steps through
the trees, looking up the side of the cliff at the cabin’s lights
so that he can find his way to the bodies.
When Kevin gets off of the ground and looks through
the van’s windows, he sees Crystal on the other side, pulling
Stephanie off of the back seat to safety. The van stops slid-
ing. It settles into place. He doesn’t know how he’s going to
get to them with the van blocking the path. He could try to
climb up the steep slope behind him, but decides it might be
best to hold off just in case the van does go over the cliff.
“Is she okay?” Kevin calls out.
Crystal is busy holding Stephanie back. For some
reason, the wounded girl is trying to get back
Laura Lee
Zoe Chant
Donald Hamilton
Jackie Ashenden
Gwendoline Butler
Tonya Kappes
Lisa Carter
Ja'lah Jones
Russell Banks
William Wharton