The driver’s door refused to open. Panic surged through him as heat built beneath the hood. Someone yelled from a passing truck, “Kid, get back! That thing’s gonna blow!”
Caleb ignored them. Fear didn’t feel new to him; it felt familiar. He grabbed a bent metal fragment from the roadside and jammed it into the doorframe, pulling with desperate strength until the metal groaned. The door shifted slightly. He forced his shoulder into the gap, coughing as smoke burned his lungs, and reached inside to unbuckle the unconscious man.
The stranger was heavy — impossibly heavy — but adrenaline overpowered exhaustion. Caleb dragged him across broken glass and gravel inch by inch until both collapsed onto the roadside. Seconds later, flames burst from beneath the car, heat washing over them like an open furnace.
People finally rushed closer.
Sirens wailed somewhere far away.
