The gray van was driving on a road flanked by woods. Seven sturdy Indian men and a skinny woman were crammed into the small, dark space. Everyone in the car was silent. Occasionally, someone would move their sore shoulders or numb lower limbs, look at the darkness outside the window, and ask, "Are you there yet?"
"Right away." The driver replied, moving his neck from side to side, "Corden, change hands."
Corden patted the shoulder of the woman, who was wearing a shawl with intricate patterns as usual, and stood up with her body hunched over, "Move over."
The driver turned the steering wheel, causing the van to tilt to one side and slow down slowly.
"Wait a minute." The driver curled his lips and turned the steering wheel back again, "Someone is blocking the car."
In front of the dazzling headlights, a figure with a bulging backpack on his back stood on the roadside with his arms stretched out, blocking the light of the headlights with a thumbs up. A backpacker.
The people in the van didn't seem to want another person in the narrow space, so they returned to normal speed and drove past the backpacker.
At the moment when they met, the backpacker helplessly spread his hands by his side and turned around. Watching the taillights disappear completely at a small turn, I pulled the backpack behind me, looked up at the dark night sky, shook my head, and continued walking along the roadside. This was the only car passing by half the night.
There was a harsh friction sound, and in the dark night, the sudden sharp sound tugged people's hearts! The backpacker was stunned for a moment on the roadside.
The sound of violent impact and the sound of metal bending erupted at the moment when the light passing through the shadows of the trees in the woods ahead stopped, stimulating his senses at the same time.
The backpacker started running, and the dark road became brighter after running around the corner. The bread he had driven on before was parked on the side of the road without any damage, and on the other side, there was a car submerged in the woods. The entire front of the car was dented, the hood was twisted and raised, and it was stuck crookedly on a thick tree trunk.
The backpacker's shoulders swayed, he dropped the burden on his back, disappeared directly into the woods, and ran towards the car!
The smell of gasoline was very obvious, and the backpacker glanced at the front of the car that had been completely twisted inward. He quickly ran to the side, "Hey! Hey..." The person in the accident was not him, but for some reason, the adrenaline had already made his heart beat faster. He looked at the blood-stained middle man who was pushed in the driver's seat. Young woman, "Hey... are you okay?!"
The backpacker's hand hesitated as he pushed aside the broken glass on the car window with his palm, temporarily ignoring the fragments of windshield stuck upside down on the other's shoulder. He pressed the opponent's forehead and quickly continued to look at him.
"I..." The middle-aged woman seemed to want to move, "I... what, I, what happened..." Her eyes began to scan around.
"Don't move!" The backpacker held down the other person's head, "Don't, don't move!" His breathing was rapid, and he looked at the seat belt fastened to the woman's chest. He didn't know if the other person's spinal cord was still intact under such an impact, so he calmed his breathing. "I need you to hold your position, okay?! Hold your position! Don't move!"
The backpacker turned back and looked at the van still parked on the other side of the road, with a trace of confusion in his eyes. Maybe he was wondering why the people in the car over there didn't come to help.
The backpacker frowned and turned back. He looked at the middle-aged woman and used a deliberately relaxed tone, but who could he lie? His breathing was rapid, "Hi! I'm Derek. What's your name?"
"Hai, Haili..." The woman's irises turned sideways as she answered this meaningless question.
"Hey! Hailey, don't worry, I want you to stay still now, okay?" Derek turned his head and looked at the van on the other side again, then turned back and looked at Hailey seriously, "I want to go there Get someone to help you, stay here! Don’t move! Okay?!"
Derek slowly released the hand holding the other person's head.
Derek, who had just turned around and took a step, was called back weakly. "De, Delk...", the woman's words were blocked by the blood in her throat, and she choked, "I, my son..."
His heart, which had been noisy enough, accelerated again, and Derek quickly looked towards the back seat...
"Hailey." Derek adjusted his breathing, "Don't move, he's very... okay. I'm going to find help now, don't move."
The van on the other side started to start, and Derek had already rushed out of the woods. "Hey!" He slapped his palm directly on the door. The driver looked sideways slightly, as if he had no intention of stopping.
Derek stared at the driver's profile in disbelief, "Damn it!" He rushed to the front of the car!
The medium-sized figure once again cut across the dazzling headlights, and slapped the front of the van hard with his open hands, "You are just going to drive away like this! Stop! Get out of the car! Help!"
The roar of the engine stopped. The side door opened with a loud noise, and the people in the van finally got out.
"Thank you!!" Derek stared at the people getting out of the car, emphasized his tone, and shouted, "Hurry up!" He pulled over a few who looked strong and urged them to run towards the car.
"Do you think you can save her?" A calm and calm voice said from the woman behind, "Are you a doctor?"
"Yes!" Even in a hurry, Derek still answered the question, "So..." He seemed not to want to say more about it at this time, urging, "Hurry up!"
"Hey! Hailey! Look, I told you I will find help!" Derek held the other person's head again and forced a smile, "We will get you out and take you to the hospital..."
"I, my son..."
Derek turned his head and looked at the few Indians standing around. His eyes were conveying something, and he didn't know if it was conveyed. He turned back and kept smiling, "These people will help him get out." Before. There was no time, and now that he knew the other man's van wasn't leaving, he had time to make a real diagnosis.
"How about we focus on you now, Hailey!" Derek no longer cares about the Indians, half of his upper body is almost completely inserted into the car, and his hands press the woman's legs under the seat, " Hailey! Can you feel my hand?"
"No, I can't feel it..." The woman's throat twitched, and what she wanted to say was blocked by blood again.
Derek had taken a deep breath and pulled out his hand, still maintaining that unnatural smile. He carefully unbuttoned Hailey's top, "Now I want to check your..."
He coughed violently and remembered that Derek no longer explained what he was going to do!
Before transferring Hailey to the van and taking her to the hospital, he at least wanted to make sure she was alive!
Derek took out a pen and a switchblade from his pocket, essential for backpackers, but he didn't seem to be doing anything conventional. He quickly removed the pen, leaving the hollow barrel, and tore off Hailey's shirt. He held the switchblade to his bruised body and was about to pierce it...
"The treatment is over." A strong Indian suddenly grabbed Derek's shoulder and pulled him back.
Derek's eyes widened, and his body stumbled backwards. Before he hit anything, he was pulled by another hand and pressed tightly to his side!
"What are you doing! I can save..." Derek's pupils shrank sharply, and the clear click of the machine spring sounded in the woods. The men around him, who didn't know when, had already picked up a crossbow-like weapon in their hands. arms!
Agile figures moved in the darkness, and everyone stared at the surroundings with vigilance!
Strange people who seemed to grow out of the trees surrounded them before Derek had any idea what was happening!
"How unlucky we are." The new stranger spoke. "We unexpectedly ran into a group of hunters."
"How..." Derek's shoulders were held down, "Quiet, if you want to reach Barton alive."
Now it seems that it is not the reason why the Indians knew that Derek was going to Patton, but this is the Newton-style road into the west area of Patton. Going east, either going to Patton or going to the sea.
"How about we make an agreement?" The stranger said in a relaxed tone, "We won't disturb you and continue eastward, and you don't care what happens here."
"That was the original plan." The woman among the Indians who spoke was the cloaked woman. She slowly walked towards Derek and glanced at Derek expressionlessly with her thin, wrinkled skin. " But a kindhearted stranger made us decide to save this poor woman." The woman pointed to Hailey, who was still stuck in the car.
Derek struggled, but did not shake off the Indian who controlled him. save? Derek was already disappointed to find that Hailey had closed her eyes.
"Oh." The stranger smiled, "We all know she is going to die." He paused and looked over there, "Already dead." The strange thing was that his eyes didn't seem to be on Hailey, but on Hailey. He turned to look at the road outside the woods, and then moved all the way to Hailey's current location! Then repeat!
remember? The death of the Earthbinder reappears!
"How stupid you are." The woman lowered her head and clasped her hands under her cloak, "Devils of Newton."
From here on, Derek could no longer keep up with the conversation between the two parties in this inexplicable confrontation.
"If I say save." The woman raised her head, and the elegant red light and shadow wrapped around her hand! "We don't care if she's human or not."
Silver, red, and ink-black lights were like lines dividing space. The cut forest road under the dark night became the last image in Derek's eyes, and he lost consciousness.
Time disappeared for a while.
When the things before Derek's eyes became clear again, he sat up suddenly, pressed his hands on the soft bed, and looked around the bedroom in confusion.
"You're awake." The woman held a cup of tea and handed it to him, "Derek Grande."
As if to explain, the woman waved her hand, "We saw your ID. I am Sibella, Sibella Gale." (..)