Part 30 (1/2)
Her legs refused to even twitch.
She took another breath, trying to draw some strength out of the air itself. If she could just get enough power, she might be able to shake off the darkness and get out of wherever she was.
It was no use. Her body simply wouldn't respond to her commands.
Her heart was solidly pumping. Annja willed herself to stay relaxed and calm. Panic would rob her of whatever little bit of energy she could manage to muster.
And she needed every ounce of it.
She kept breathing, concentrating on just counting her breaths over and over again all the way up to fifty and then starting back at one again. Breathe, relax, breathe, relax, she told herself.
The darkness lightened. Annja could see a bit of light flas.h.i.+ng in her eyes.
”Annja?”
That voice. She'd heard it before. But where?
”Annja?”
She opened her eyes. The wrecked corpse of a truck loomed over her, twisted and gnarled almost beyond recognition. She looked down and saw part of the front end was pinning her down.
She was trapped.
No wonder I couldn't feel anything down there, she thought. Still, it didn't look good, not one bit. She might have extensive damage to her limbs.
”She's awake.”
Jenny's face came into blurry view. Annja had to blink several times to clear the picture.
She smiled at Annja. ”Nice to have you back with us.”
”Wh-what happened?”
Jenny shook her head. Annja cold see the streaks of dirt and grease across Jenny's face. ”Some sort of explosion. It tossed the truck through the air and we came down pretty hard.”
”You're okay?” Annja asked as everything came flooding back to her.
Jenny nodded. ”Probably got a sprain or two, but nothing too serious.”
”David?”
”He's okay, thank G.o.d. He's a pretty hardy guy. Got some cuts but nothing beyond that.”
Annja frowned. ”Looks as if I drew the short straw this time out, huh?”
”David says he's got a jack that must have gone flying when we exploded or whatever it was that happened. He thinks he can crank this off you and we'll be able to pull you out.”
”Does it look bad from your angle?”
Jenny glanced down and then back at Annja. ”I can't see your legs, so I'm not going to speculate on what it looks like.”