Tyre! (21)

An unnamed force hurled them savagely toward the massive rocks at the roadside, and the off-road vehicle shattered like a clay pot.

Violent impacts came one after another, like the relentless, merciless blows of a hammer.

The whole world turned upside down, shaking without end. The trembling air filled with dirt and gravel, flying sparks, and metal shards sharper than sewing needles.

The madly howling wind suddenly ripped the canvas off the vehicle, like a cruel child tearing the wings from an insect.

In the final instant before he was thrown clear, Alan smelled burning wood.

The vehicle broke apart beneath his feet and flung him into the dust-filled air.

Then he crashed headfirst into the ground.

The off-road vehicle completely overturned, slammed into the boulders by the push of that nameless gale.

Flung free, Alan skidded face-first across the ground, his throat packed with ice chips and blood.

He spun several times before finally coming to a slow stop.

When he raised his head, his chest and face were one vast, unceasing bruise. It felt as if two sharp axes had bitten into his breastbone and cheek.

He tried to stand, but he had been battered so badly that he could barely breathe.

Even drawing a breath felt like swallowing shattered glass into his chest. A fragment of the off-road vehicle, trailing canvas, rode away on the wind, dancing lightly through the air like a cheerful ghost.

Alan got to his feet and limped toward the wreckage.

Several arrows streaked overhead. Ghoul archers were closing in on the wreckage on all fours.

Fragments lay scattered across the ground before him. Here was a torn piece of canvas; there, a snapped axle. Iron-plated body panels lay buried in the mud like giant arrows.

Then he noticed a broken metal pipe