Gast: Volume 1: Dead to rights. (Gothic Horror) (Completed)

Chapter 2 - Death Throes.

The groans of warping metal - a world upside down, and the horrid screams that followed - these were the things that Adam remembered - they tormented, stalked him - until the day that he finally passed from the world. He forgot the events that would later remain elusive and forbidden from his waking mind, forever out of his grasp, yet within reach.

As the universe spun out of control, Rose screamed - she screamed for what sufficed an eternity - until there was only silence. The car had stopped rolling, the horrid groans of the bending metal had ceased - An intricate network of scars and fissures was all that remained of the windshield. It remained stable for now. The car stopped spinning, the earth and everything contained within was still and statute. Everything but Adam.

"Rose?" he asked unable to remove his sight from the cracks in the glass. Finally, he plucked up the courage to turn and face her.

"Rose?"

Devoid of emotion she stared out beyond Adam - her face locked in a silent scream - trapped in the throes of death.

He grabbed her and shook her, but she remained an empty vessel.

He paused searching for any logical explanation where there was none.

"The fuck," he said as he looked out of the window at the timeless universe that awaited him.

The car was currently upside down and on a collision course with the thick trunk of an ash tree. It remained motionless, free-floating several inches from the ground. Adam squinted and saw a doe was also trapped, frozen mid bounce in the distance. It's eye wide and fearful of the beams from the headlights of the car.

He un-fastened his seat belt and looked back at Rose one last time. Contemplating forcing her from the vehicle, but knew deep in his heart that it was impossible in her statute state. With a sigh, he abandoned her and pushed open the car door.

Adam expected the door to resist - to groan a protest - It did not. It opened, and gravity temporarily resumed its natural path as he crashed into the forest floor with a thud.

Winded - he sucked in as much oxygen as his lungs could hold, and lay panting. As he lay in the darkness and the dirt - the stillness of the world caused him to ask himself a question that risked his future sanity. Would time start again? Or would he be trapped here in this Forever-land? This limbo?

He stared at this timeless world, and his eyes found themselves wandering back to Rose - Rose in her final moments - frozen forever in a state of imminent death, and he screamed.

"Whoa! That's quite a scream - Careful now. You don't want to wake the dead."

Adam stared open-mouthed as a child stepped silently through the underbrush of the forest with a great hound accompanying him.

Adam had never seen a breed like this before. More giant, than  dog, more bear than  wolf.

"What's happening!" Adam spoke unable to mask the terror in his voice, unable to hide the frailty.

"What does it look like." the boy replied with the grin that belonged to a trickster.

The hound approached Adam cautiously, sniffing the air and with haunches raised.

"Am I dead?" asked Adam.

The Hound sniffed him and with one swift motion licked his face. The tongue was wet, long - and although Adam chuckled, he also found himself wary of its Jaws.

"Do you feel dead Adam?" The boy asked taking a seat in front of him - his cobalt blue eyes bearing deep into Adams soul.

"No."

"Then wake up."

He grinned, his smile spreading further and further across his face, and flicked Adam on the forehead. Knocking him from the ground with inhuman force - Adam screamed as he soared and came to snap back into his seat. The door slammed shut behind him, and the glass that was frozen in time - began to crack.

Millisecond by millisecond - the wheel once more began to turn. The cogs of reality and fate, action and reaction powered the wheel. Adam heard it turn for himself and Rose, and the universe. It was starting - he didn't care about the past or his grudges, all he cared about was seeing Rose smile again, seeing her move. He closed his eyes as the stump moved closer to the shattered windshield and smiled.

Tears streamed from his face and his smile became a laugh. He Laughed as the car, once more, rolled through the air - as the metal screamed in protest - as the thick, ancient trunk of the tree slammed through the windshield and the car came to an abrupt stop. As reality crumbled around him and the darkness seeped through the cracks, Adam heard the boy speak from some faraway place.

"Nothing happens without the machinations of the Gods. Remember that, Adam."