Thanks again for comments and reading. I'm glad you like it! :)

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When Kibum and I reach the spot where we broke through the guard-rail I’m surprised to see that the damage done there is minor. You wouldn’t even think there had been an accident with a car rolling down the slope.

We climb over the rail but stepping onto the blacktop I immediately lose footing because its incredibly slippery.

Kibum helps me getting up and says:

“We better stay on the other side of the rail where there is still some snow. we’ll cross over when we’re closer to the truck.”

So we keep walking through the crunching snow listening to Taemin’s attempts to start the car in the distance. There is no traffic at all, not even on the opposite lanes.

The truck is still in the same place, all lights off. We carefully inch our way over the frozen tarmac to the driver’s cabin. Apart from the sounds we make ourselves it’s eerily silent.

“It’s a bit like the zombie apocalypse”, I say before I can stop myself.

“Okay great, Hyung, now you can check the cabin by yourself”, Kibum answers behind me after a short dramatic pause. “And if you’re bitten by anything don’t get near me, I’ll just run away screaming bloody murder.”

I look back at him over my shoulder.

“No you wouldn’t.”

He pulls a face that could mean anything and then sighs.

“Get it over with, will ya?” He gently pushes me towards the cabin.

I climb the steps with some difficulty and I have to admit that I scared myself as well with the zombie remark. But the cabin is empty.

“Nobody in here”, I call, and step down again.

We scan the environment but it doesn’t look like the driver could have been forcefully tossed out of his seat. The cabin is still intact.

“Weird”, Kibum says. “But maybe someone just took him in and drove away.”

“Without calling the police?”

“Well, as I told you, the lines are all blocked and we’re not exactly on a major highway here, so they’re probably busy somewhere else.”

He might be right about that although I’m still wondering why there’s nobody around.

Then I recall that the road had already been pretty empty for some time before the crash although I didn’t think much about it then.

We slither back towards the rail and I feel a bit better knowing there is nobody dying in the truck either. At least there haven’t been any casualties in this crash.

Crossing the rail again we see the car coming towards us. They actually got it going!

Taemin’s greets us from the driver’s seat with his biggest smile.

“It’s still running just fine”, he says.

I climb onto the front-lid to get through the opening where the windscreen used to be and Taemin helps me back into the car. Turning back I want to assist Kibum but he just walks around to the passenger door, opens it, gets in, and closes it again.

“Ta – daa!” he says when we all stare at him. “This is how I got out in the first place. It’s a BENZ, guys.”

Taemin tries the driver’s door too, but it is actually jammed.

I move into the back to Jjong and Minho the latter not looking too good.

“You should lie down" I tell him.

The space is too narrow for Minho to stretch out completely but holding his upper body in my lap he can at least go horizontal with his knees bent.

“Why do I get his feet?”, Jjong asks jokingly while accommodating on the other end of the backseat.

But Minho is too exhausted to strike back verbally. I’m still worried and Jjong looks concerned too.

“Take these”, Kibum says to Taemin and hands him his fly-glasses. They’re adjusting to light so they’re even usable now in the dark. And it’s probably better than nothing since we have no windscreen anymore.

We decide to not even try to get back onto the highway. It’s way too slippery even for a slow drive. Instead we’ll try our luck crossing the field and trying to get to the nearest town or village to change vehicles again and hopefully get back on the road. Although none of us says it, we all know we’re running out of time.