The car had gone completely out of control and was rolling over and over again.
After rolling around many times, the car hit a large tree hard and stopped.
Albina felt dizzy. It took her a long time to recover and the roaring in her ears died down.
She pushed Umberto and he did not respond.
Albina suddenly panicked.
Umberto was holding her too tightly. Although she had lost consciousness, his arms were still just as tight around her and showed no signs of letting go.
Albina was worried and frightened, and it took her a great effort to free herself from his embrace.
When she looked up, she saw that Umberto’s forehead was covered with blood and his face was pale, looking very weak and terrible.
Albina held Umberto’s face in her trembling hands, her voice cracking with sobs and panic, and cried out:
-Umberto, wake up! Umberto!
Umberto did not respond at all. His eyes were closed and his lips were pursed. Because she was holding his face, the blood from his forehead ran down his pale cheeks and even his clothes were stained.
Albina’s hands had trembled with fear and she hadn’t even realized she was crying.
She had never seen Umberto so weak, and no matter how much she screamed there was no response.
She was terrified. She feared that Umberto would die and abandon her as her father had done four years earlier.
After a while, Albina breathed hard and wiped the tears from her face.
Fortunately the car was of good quality. The front of the car was completely shattered when it hit the tree, but the passenger compartment was not crushed.
Umberto’s head injury would have been caused by a hit with the steering wheel.
Fortunately, the airbag deployed and cushioned the impact. The cut on his forehead looked horrible, but it was not too serious.
The car door had been crushed, exposing a large hole. Outside, the car was silent and only the chirping of birds could be heard.
Albina flung open the door, got out of the car and looked around.
She had no idea what this place was, there was only a large tree in front of her. The surrounding area was barren, with bare gravel on the ground and no other plants around.
She looked up the hill the car had rolled down. It was high. From the tracks on the hillside, he could imagine what had just happened here. Because of the angle of the slope, the car hurtled down and stopped only when it hit a tree.
It was difficult to climb by herself, and even more impossible to do so if she had Umberto with her.
And Umberto’s injuries were so severe that she had to stay close to him, not daring to go out alone.
Besides, she was worried that the place was infested with wild animals.
Albina calmed down. She walked to the driver’s seat, pulling Umberto out of the car.
Due to her weak strength, she accidentally bumped into Umberto several times, but he showed no sign of waking up. He only had a frown on his face, perhaps because the wound hurt so much.
Albina dragged him to safety. Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly thought of something. She went back to the car to get out the cigarette lighter.
The car’s fuel tank had been smashed and was now leaking fuel.
Albina looked around.
There was no hay, and that created a barrier around the car. Even if the car caught fire, it would not spread.
There was also no wind, so it would not aggravate the fire.
After considering the situation, Albina looked inside the car to make sure there were no important objects left, and then simply set fire to it.
The men who had just chased and shot, and eventually even crashed their car, were determined to kill them.
Albina was sure they would come down to see them later. If they saw the burning car, they would probably think they were dead in it. That would have delayed it for a while and made the two of them safer.
Looking at the burning car, Albina pulled Umberto out of the area.
Instead of carrying Umberto, Albina dragged him. The man was so tall that when he was on Albina’s shoulders, his long legs kept dragging on the ground.
Albina’s forehead was still sweating. She gritted her teeth, thinking that when she got back safe and sound this time, she would have to convince Umberto to lose weight.
Although he wasn’t fat, the muscles were too heavy.
Albina gasped and pulled up clump after clump of grass. There was no path and no road. He was walking on instinct and didn’t know when he was going to get out.
She just pulled out her cell phone and, there was no signal, so she couldn’t call the police.
He didn’t understand why in Sogen City, a cosmopolitan city, there were such deserted places.
After a long while, Umberto slowly opened his eyes.
His first reaction upon regaining consciousness was a pain in his calves. Then he felt a pain in his forehead. The last reaction was that the thing he was holding was small and soft.
Noticing a change in the breathing of the man at her back, Albina realized that Umberto was awake. She hurried to set him down and check on him.
-Umberto, are you awake?
She carefully leaned Umberto against a tree and looked at him happily.
Umberto opened his eyes and wiped the blood from his forehead. It was about to stay in his eyes. When he looked up, he saw Albina.
Her face had become dirty, and only those eyes remained radiant. That made him freeze for a moment.
-Are you all right?
The men chasing them had been so mad that they had collided with them.
-Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. It’s you who should be worrying about yourself,” Albina gave him a slightly angry look.
Her appearance was very bad. He no longer looked like his usual self, his face was a mess, covered in dried blood. His clothes were also torn in many places and he looked miserable.
-Me?
Umberto pointed to himself. It was when he realized Albina was okay and stopped worrying about her, he felt the pain.
-You have blood on your forehead,” Albina said, her fingers hanging over her forehead.
She wanted to wipe it off, but she was afraid of hurting it and aggravating her injury.
Umberto made a quizzical face and pointed to his own leg.
-Why does my leg feel like it hurts more?
Albina followed his finger, saw his worn pants, touched her nose in embarrassment and sounded a little aggrieved:
-You’re too tall. I can only drag you down.
And she had been so busy running for her life that she hadn’t realized she had damaged her legs.
Umberto looked at her helplessly. He had wanted to pamper her like a princess, but he hadn’t expected to get her into such a mess.
-Let me see your legs,” said Albina, rolling up the sleeves of her suit pants.
As soon as she lifted up the trouser leg, she could see that the skin on Umberto’s leg was abraded. Although the wound was not bleeding, he should have felt pain.
Albina was filled with guilt:
-I’m sorry.
Umberto touched her head and smiled weakly:
-It’s okay. It’s because you’re afraid and we’re in danger, isn’t it?
Albina suddenly perked up at these words.
-We must have run a long way. I didn’t hear anyone catch up with us from behind. Those people must have seen the burning car and thought we were dead inside.
Having said that, he remembered something and looked at Umberto:
-You don’t have anything important in the car, do you? I set it on fire to distract those people and buy time.
Umberto shook his head:
-No.
The car was used by him on a temporary basis, not the armored car that was usually used. That’s why the windshield was so easily pierced by a bullet.
This incident served as a lesson to him.
There were always people who wanted to take the opportunity to kill him, and they might involve Albina in the future.
He decided to replace all the windows with bulletproof glass when he returned.