Page 161 of The Island

She switched back to drive mode and glanced in the rearview. She watched the Toyota disappear into the trench and held her breath for three seconds until she saw it struggle out again.

“Shit.”

Only a quarter of a mile clear run to the ocean now.

The ground was boggy but the Porsche didn’t mind. She heard it ascend through the gears. Third gear. Fourth.

Another bullet dinged inside the cab and punched a hole through the windshield. This time, the entire windshield cracked.

She couldn’t see anything.

She tried hitting the glass out with the flat of her hand. It didn’t move.

“I can’t see!”

Olivia smashed it with the butt of the rifle, and the windshield collapsed, spraying them with glass.

The walkie-talkie fizzed to life. “Give it up, Heather! You’re going to get yourself and the kids killed! Nobody wants that!” Matt said.

Olivia looked at her. “Do you want to answer?”

“Don’t worry about that. You just keep your head down.”

“I can answer him from down here.”

“There’s nothing to say.”

“Heather, please, pull over before anyone else gets hurt. We can talk this over. Ma agrees with me that this has gone on long enough. We can go back to the original plan,” Matt said.

She drove through the boggy grass and stole a look at the Hilux. The Toyota had much higher wheel arches and was making easier progress across the terrain.

But it was not so far to the sea now.

Another bullet sang past the car. She flinched after the bullet had already missed. Olivia sat up. Heather pushed her head down again.

Heather grabbed the walkie-talkie. “If we’re going to negotiate here, Matt, I suggest you stop shooting at us.”

There was a pause before Matt came back on. “We’ll stop shooting if you pull over,” Matt said.

“You stop shooting first and then we’ll talk.”

“Where are you going, Heather? This is pointless. There’s nowhere to go.”

“How much gas you got, Matthew? How’s that transmission?”

“We’re doing fine.”

Maybe they had enough gas for one car but not enough for the rest of the family to follow.

She looked in the rearview again. The Toyota was five car lengths behind them now.

She was hitting fifty miles an hour. A ridiculous speed on this terrain.

She hadn’t heard from Owen in thirty seconds. “Owen, are you OK back there?”

“Yeah.”

They hit something; the whole car shook and went up on two wheels for a second and then came down with a heavy thud.