The Car Crash.

The Volvo S80 ploughed through the guard-rail and fell fifty feet onto the rocks below.

Its front end crumpled with the force of impact thrusting two-foot of metal back into the car. The windshield imploded, showering the insides with deadly slivers of glass. Both the driving wheel and dashboard compacted into one mangled mess. The rear side passenger door was savagely torn free from its hinges and the front two wheels were sent spinning out into the night.

The metal of the car groaned like the final cry of some wounded beast and it shuddered once then fell slowly onto its side.

After that all was silent for a while.

David Rice knew he was lucky to be alive. The drop alone should have liquefied his insides, it was the equivalent of jumping off a five story building. His chances of survival almost nothing, yet here he was, his face pressed into an airbag, still strapped firmly into the driver’s seat with nothing worse than cuts and scrapes to show from the fall.

David could smell smoke; an oily taste hung in the air. He grappled with the airbag and managed to push it to one side. The car was filling with dark fumes that burnt his throat and caused his eyes to water. David understood his time was limited, the smoke could kill him as surely as the fall. He had to get out.

He wasted precious seconds struggling with the door handle before in his shocked state he realised that the car lay on its side, pinning the door against the ground.

The engine caught fire; small flickers of yellow flame appeared from between the twisted metal.

David scrambled for the other side of the car but something pinned and held him back. His seat belt was still attached. Frantically he searched for the latch.

He began to cough from the smoke inhalation, each lung full now burning at his insides, his eyes were red raw and both streamed uncontrollably as he fumbled with the belt.

A rush of hot air and the fire spread to engulf the roof of the car. At once the heat became intolerable.

The shock of the fall gave way to an almost paralysing fear. To survive the fall only to be burnt alive, David’s mind reeled, he wanted to live!

The seat belt came undone. David kicked himself out from the driver’s seat and into the back, coughing violently as he went. Small drops of fire started to fall through the roof, burning into his face, his hair and his hands.

He started to feel weak and nauseous, he could feel his body beginning to slow. Dimly deep down inside he knew that he was losing consciousness, his brain was starved of oxygen and was in danger of passing out. If he did, he would die.

With a supreme effort of will David lifted himself out of the hole where the passenger door once was and threw himself from the car. There he remained coughing and spluttering until he could draw a single breath and his vision cleared sufficiently.

He wasn’t out of danger yet, if the fire hit the petrol tank the explosion could still snuff out his life. He had to move further away, get out of range from the blast radius.

David struggled back to his feet, but almost immediately was in danger of falling back over. He had to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Small steps were all he could manage.

He had staggered less than five yards when the car exploded. A great ball of orange flame erupted from the vehicle sending fragments of hot metal shooting hundreds of feet into the air. An invisible cushion of heat struck David from behind, filling perfectly the contour of his body, it lifted him effortlessly off the ground and threw him like a rag doll out over the rocks to where he landed sharply on his shoulder and lay still, twisted and broken.

The car continued to burn for a while sending plumes of thick black smoke up into the night, occasionally something would crack or pop like an old man muttering his displeasure at the world.

David really couldn’t believe that he was still alive. He lay exactly where he had fallen, looking up at the cliffs unwilling to move. This was more than luck he decided, this was bloody genius.

His right arm was completely numb and remained bent at a strange angle, he studied its shape beneath the leather of his jacket and noticed an odd lump sticking out at the elbow. His arm was completely broken but he couldn’t feel a thing.

He had no idea what else might be broken, his spine could be damaged, he might have head trauma, undoubtedly he was still in shock and lying out here in the night would be enough to succeed where the fall and the car had failed.

But what would be the chances of somebody else finding him? He would need more than luck he would need a miracle.

The left side of his jacket began to vibrate, then the faint music of Doctor Who floated eerily from out of the pocket. It must be his mobile phone he realised. Somebody was trying to contact him.

David never really believed in God before, there might have been a divine being looking out for him then again there might not. It hadn’t really seemed important.

It was now.

Risking movement David reached down and removed the phone from his pocket, he flipped it open with one practised swing and nervously placed it to his ear.

“Hello?” He whispered.

After a short pause he managed a smile and said. “Hi Mum. Yeah look I’m going to be a little late, you see there’s been an accident…”

END