Ch. 60: Rain! (I)
**BOOM!!**
**CRASH!!**
The car tumbled, over and over, each impact rattling my bones as I struggled to stay conscious. My sense of time blurred— had it been seconds or minutes since the explosion? My body was tossed violently within the wreckage as the vehicle slammed into something hard and finally came to a halt, resting on its side.
Everything spun. I could barely see straight, my vision marred by blinding orange light and the suffocating haze of thick, acrid smoke. My lungs burned, the air too thick to breathe, and I could feel the heat crawling up my skin— fire. The car was burning.
No! Don'tpanic, I told myself, forcing the rising terror down into the pit of my stomach. I gritted my teeth, drawing strength from somewhere deep within, from a well of power I had learned to access only recently. The searing pain in my body was a distraction, and I needed to focus on survival. There was no time for weakness.
Move!
React!
