Turtle let out the clutch as swiftly as he could without popping it. I prayed the big truck wouldn’t stall. If it did, we were all dead. It felt like eons as my flesh seemed to cook right on my bones. I experienced every moment as though events were moving in slow motion, yet everything was happening with all possible speed. The powerful cab leaped forward. accelerating smoothly even with the trailer dragging behind it, and the red needle edged the fifty-kilometer mark as we hit the door.