Powerless (Book 1): Powerless Read Free Page A

was a meticulous man and had kept his distance. He had enough room to manoeuvre out of danger.
    Unfortunately, the driver behind Philip wasn’t as adept and careened into the back of his car, causing him to be thrust into the back of the lorry and allowing the bulk metal to rip apart the car and open it up like a cheap piece of tin. Philip had been knocked out.
    *
    Gradually starting to wake, feeling a combination of cold rain and warm blood cascading from his face, he found himself alone in the car . He could not see his beloved wife. He strained to get out of the car, eventually freeing himself from the seat and crawling out through the window. His hearing and vision had been impaired from the violent impact he’d taken to the head. All noise was inaudible, as if underwater, and his vision was blurred and fuzzy.
    Struggling to his feet, he limped heavily on a badly damaged leg that had been twisted in the wreckage. Trying to put the full weight of his body on his leg, it simply couldn’t take it and collapsed. Lying on the ground unable to move, shock was starting to set in. A horrible combination of burnt rubber, fuel and oil filled his nose. The scent acted like smelling salts and revived him. Feeling panicked h e began to look for Josephine. Rolling onto his front he looked into the car, but she was not there. With quick stares his eyes darted all around, but he was unable to lay his eyes on her. The thought of his best friend and life partner alone, scared and quite possibly injured gripped onto his heart. And his child. His unborn child. Sweat dripped from his forehead as he frantically searched for them.
    A moment of clarity hit him and he bolted to his feet, ignoring the pain that seared through his body like a hot poker on cold flesh. Dashing towards the rear of the car, he rounded the trunk, not noticing a loose piece of metal. Treading on it, it offered him no grip to the ground. Once again he collapsed as the smooth wet metal slid from under foot.
    As he hit the ground, he could see round the side of the car to the passenger side. There she was, struggling to breathe, only managing to take short sharp breaths and struggling to cling onto consciousness. For a moment all he could do was stare at her, terrified of the reality of the situation. Labouring back to his feet, he went to tend to her. As he moved closer, the full extent of her injuries were hidden as she lay holding her open jacket across her chest.
    “Are you okay, Joey?”
    No words left her mouth and she simply pulled open her jacket. Philip’s eyes widened, rising his hand to his mouth at the horror of what he was presented with. Sticking through her blood soaked blouse was a large piece of jagged metal puncturing her chest.
    There was a large bend in the metal that Philip put straight with ease . Holding her gaze steady with his, he pulled the metal from her chest to free her from the wreckage.  Josephine howled out in pain. Pulling the metal he could feel the jagged edges rubbing, tearing against his wife’s insides. The sound of Josephine shrieking and the feeling of his wife’s bones on the metal were unbearable to him. Instead he tried to focus on the task at hand, saving the life of his wife and child. Biting back tears he looked down at her chest. The jagged metal left an open wound, but her ability to heal was drained by the later stages of pregnancy. There would be no way back from this. But he couldn’t think of that. He couldn’t face it. Putting pressure on the laceration he tried to stem the bleeding, all the while knowing in his heart that there was little hope for his beloved.   Philip looked into the eyes of his wife and did something he had never done in all the years they were together. He lied. She looked up at him and struggled to speak.
    Philip reassuringly spoke to her in hushed tones. “It’s ok, you are going to be fine, you need to save your strength.”
    Knowing she was hearing lies and choosing to ignore the