Little Lyra and You

Chapter Five:Homecoming

      As you barreled down the frozen Streets of Rocksbrough, Michigan Lyra dozed on the cold dashboard. It was cute watching her sleep, but you had different things on your mind. Like what did the government want with a new speciese of horse, miniature or not. You had seen it in the documentaries and read it in the wiki-leaks.

     It began with simple examination, but soon turned to expirimentation, duplication and overall pain for the subject. And in this case, the subject was Lyra. And you had promised not to let anything bad happen to her. And that was a promise you were detirmined to keep, at any and all costs.

     As the green light changed to yellow, you lightly applied the brake and the car slowed to a stop. At the feeling of the car slowing down, Lyra opened her eyes sleepily and stretched he neck to look at the road before them. She had been fascinated by the snowflakes falling earlier and now she was actually able to see more than what she could when confined to window.

     It wasn't the way that it should be though, and you knew that. She should be able to run free amongst her friends in an open place. In a real home and not an appartment. But you knew that wasn't possible here. Not in you world.

     It was funny how a single car trip made everything so clear for you. You had even come to terms that Lyra would eventually leave you. It was obvious that it would happen eventually, even if you wouldn't tell her that. It was incredibly selfish not to bring it to her attention, but you loved her too much.

     A car honked behind you and pulled you out of your thoughts. You waved your hand in the mirror and applied the gas and the car began to roll forward again. But as you pulled out into the middle of the intersection, a small red sports car came barreling down the street and it appeared to have no intention of stopping. You had just enough time to pull Lyra down off the dashboard and put her in you seat before the other car slammed into yours, and then darkness.

     It wasn't as much the pain that woke you but more of the sense of duty. You cracked open you eyes and were immeadiatly disoriented. You felt all the blood in your body in your head and it felt like your ears were about to explode. And as the red started to form on the outer edges of your vision you knew you were in trouble.

     You tried to undo the clasp of the seatbelt, but it wouldn't budge and your pocket knife had fallen out of your pocket after the crash. You tried to wiggle your way out of the seat belt but that just made it harder to move. As the red began to encircle your vision, your head erupted in pain and began to pound to the rhythm of your heartbeat. You needed to get out of here now before you passed out.

     You had to cut the belt, but with what. As your arms dangled lifeless lay in the air, your mind was working as fast as it could. Sweat dripped down your face and onto the ground before splattering against the glass and mixing with the blood that had dripped out of your arms. Wait, the glass! You thought. It had all shattered into little pieces after the crash and now littered the ground, err, roof.

     You quickly reach down and grab a piece of the glass. You ran a finger along the edge to these the sharpness and in response it knicked you finger.  A small trickle of blood rand down your index finger and fell to the floor just like everything else. But you didn't have time to worry about that. You turned the piece of glass around and leaned up to the lap belt and began to saw outward. It might have been easier to saw inwards, but you didn't want to run the risk of castrating yourself when the belt snapped.

    In about a minute you had sawn your way through the lap belt, but the glass had slipped in your hand and sliced your palm open and blood began to drip from your hand and into your eyes. It burned like nothing you had ever felt before, but you didn't have time to worry about that. You moved on and began to make your way out of the chest strap. It was harder to do with the glass digging into your skin as well, but you grit your teeth and kept sawing. Just as the red enveloped your vision and your eyelids began to get heavy, the belt snapped and you fell out of the seat. But you hadn't braced yourself and landed head first on the roof of the car.

      You felt the glass piece the back of your skull and neck, but ignored the pain as you wriggled yourof the seat and lied down flat on the roof, allowing yourself a moment to slow your breathing and let the blood come out of your head. As your thoughts re-organized themselves, you felt the flares of pain from your head, arms and chest. Places where you had been cut or where the airbag had slammed into you. But that was nothing vompared to your leg. Whenever you tried to move it, it just sat there limply on the ground, or roof, whatever. While your left leg was still functional.

     After allowing yourself a few more moments to collect yourself, you began to look for a way out. It would be difficult to wriggle your way out of the door, or even open it after the crash. You glanced over at where the windshield had been and then you saw her. Lying on the ground a few feet from the car was Lyra. You could tell from here that she had been scuffed up pretty bad, but nothing life threatening. At least, not that you could see, and from this distance, which wasn't much. You couldn't make out the rise and fall of her chest and a feeling of dread began to wash over you.

     A new strength ran through your body and you began to crawl towards the door closest to you. Pain shot through your limp leg as it bumped against things and dragged along the floor, but you did your best to ignore it. As you reached the door, you grabbed the handle and pushed, but it wouldn't budge. You tried agai to open the door but to no avail. And then you heard the sirens. The kind of noise that could be heard from miles away in this kind of weather. A sound at normally brought a feeling of safety now brought fear. You knew that of the police or anyone else found out about Lyra that wasn't a personal friend of yours would mean her getting turned over to the government. And you weren't about to let that happen.

     Out of time and options, you brought back your elbow and slammed it against the glass, adding to the spiderweb bed cracks that ran up the length of the window. You brought back your arm again and slammed it into the window, feeling it flex a little after the blow. Your arm ached and you wanted to just stop and lie there until the police came and got you out of here, but that would mean losing Lyra. You brought back your arm and slammed it into the window again with the force of a giant and knock the pane of glass straight out of the door not leaving the slightest bit of shattered glass to risk cutting yourself on.

      Your leg throbbed terribly as you crawled out of the damaged car. The sirens could be heard getting closer, probably only a mile away now. Time was running out. Rather than wasting your time trying to stand and walk, you crawled your way over to Lyra, or more like dragged yourself. Leaving a thin trail of blood from your arm and some that dripped down your neck. The pain in your leg had gone from hurting to excruciating. Every centimeter you moved felt like someone was running it over with a jumbo jet. But after a few. One feet of crawling, you reached the small pony. And you couldn't tell if she was breathing.

     You rolled her over onto her back and pressed your finger against her chest. Under her fur, you felt a faint heartbeat. It was weak, but it was there. She was stil alive. You almost wanted to collapse in relief, but you were only half way there. Now that you had gotten Lyra, you had to find a safe place for her and yourself to hide. Staying and talking to the police wasnt an option at this point. But there was no way that you'd find a place to hide in time. Or was there?

    You noticed that the road you had been driving on ran parallel to a this growing of trees only about twelve meters off. But you wouldn't make it in time by crawling, you would need to stand up to get there in time. And that was the only option, giving up Lyra wasn't even a possibility in your eyes.

     And with that, you put Lyra's limp body in your breast pocket after making sure there weren't any holes that she could accidently slip through. You firmly planted your hands on the ground and used up. You weren't a weak man by any stretch, but your whole body ached and your muscles screamed in protest of this sudden movement. But you did you best to ignore the pain and push yourself up and managed to get yourself up on your knees with only a little bit of pain, but that wasn't standing. You took a deep breath and prepared yourself. Luckily you were standing near your car and had something to lean against.

      You leaned your shoulder on it and pulled your left leg out from under yourself and planted it firmly on the ground. And then you forced yourself to stand. Using your leg and your arms to draw yourself up. And it hurt like hell. Your leg dragged along the ground as you stood up causing unpredictable spasms of pain to shoot through your body. But after a few moments, you managed to right yourself, though you still clutched your side in pain.

     Enpowered by your success, no matter how bad it hurt, you began to shuffle forward. Your left leg took most of the weight while your right just dragged along behind you. Snagging on everything possible. From glass to twisted car parts, to chunks of asphalt. But you kept hobbling forward towards the treeline. And just as you made it to the trees and small shrubs on the side of the road, the police came into sight down the road.

    And you watched them as they pulled up from the safety of the trees. You had tucked yourself into a shrub and rested your back on a thick trunked tree. Letting your tensed muscles relax to the sound of birds chirping and car doors of the police slamming. Suddenly you realized that your eyelids were increadible heavy. As to be expected after something like this. Maybe a nap would do you good in this situation. And with that, you shut your eyes and drifted off the the dark abyss know as sleep.