The trailer was a wall of metal across the road. No way around. No way through.

The car behind her was right on her tail, engine roaring.

Yesu couldn’t outrun either of them, so she chose the trailer.

One second before impact, she squeezed both brakes as hard as she could. The motorcycle screamed. The back tire slid sideways.

She threw herself off, hitting the road, shoulder first.

The bike kept going without her, straight into the trailer.

She slid on the asphalt, under the gap where the trailer’s wheels were.

Behind her, the car and her bike hit the trailer at the same time. The impact thundered through the street.

Then there was silence.

She was on the other side. Alive. Skin on fire from the road. But alive.

Yesu stayed still, face up, staring at the constellations in the night sky.

The noise, the heat, the pain... it all faded.

Slowly, her eyes grew heavy.

And then she slept.

Green fields. Clear skies. Tall trees dancing in the wind accompanied by the sound of rustling leaves. Laughter.

****

Responses to emergencies were usually slow in the Zero district but the Civic Control Division arrived at the scene of the accident seven minutes after.

With an ambulance blaring right behind them.

The paramedics rushed out and the CCD officers made their way, seeing it wasn’t an active threat.

Yesu was still on the ground.

There was a cut on her forehead, probably made by a pointy object from the trailer. Her arms and the side of her face were grazed.

And that was it.

One of the paramedics crouched beside her.

"Pulse is stable..."

He hesitated, looking over the wreckage behind them.

"How is she still alive?"

Her eyes were closed but she was breathing fine.

"She’s... asleep?" He exclaimed in disbelief.

"Asleep? After that?" His partner shouted from the ambulance where he was grabbing the first aid kit.

The paramedic shook his head.

"Hey, can you open your eyes for me?" He called Yesu.

No response. He tapped her shoulder.

Yesu’s eyes fluttered open.

The first thing she felt was... nothing.

No sharp pain. No panic. Just... normal.

"Alert." The paramedic hollered to his partner.

"Don’t move your head for me, okay? You’ve been in an accident. Can you tell me your name?"

"Yesu. You?"

The paramedic was a bit stunned, not just by her response but also by how she had responded. She seemed unruffled.

"Nick." He stuttered.

His partner came to join him. He held Yesu’s head gently and put a neck brace on her.

"What’s that for?" She asked.

"You had a high-speed crash. This restricts your spine movement till we rule out spine injury." Nick explained.

"I don’t think I’ll need it."

Yesu sat up, attempting to get on her feet.

Nick panicked, holding her down before she could stand.

"Wait, you’re wounded. Let’s treat those first."

Nick’s partner didn’t fuss, he just looked Yesu over.

The cut on her forehead is bleeding into her eye. Her sweatpants were torn from sliding across the asphalt. The giant scrape on her arms and the side of her face looked like it was causing a lot of pain, weeping blood.

But the girl before them didn’t seem hurt.

"Rate your pain, on a scale of one to ten." He said calmly.

Yesu blinked.

When the accident happened, for the first minute it had hurt like hell. Every nerve in her body had screamed. Then, like a switch, it had just... turned off.

She brought a hand to her forehead. The blood was still there. Her skin was still raw. But the pain was gone.

The paramedics studied her suspiciously.

"What day is it?" Nick’s partner asked.

"Wednesday."

"Do you remember what happened?"

"A car almost ran me over."

"Are you feeling dizzy? Nauseous?"

"I’m fine."

"Help her up." He said to Nick. "We have to take her to the hospital."

"I don’t need to go to the hospital. I’m fine."

Maybe if they had shown up earlier, she would have needed it. But they didn’t. They never did, because people who lived on this side of the south were zeros.

"Unfortunately, your opinion isn’t valued much at the moment."

"Is there an adult we can call? Maybe Mum and Dad?" Nick asked gently, trying to cover his partner’s bluntness.

Yesu mellowed. "Mum. Dad." She said under her breath.

It was the way Nick said it, like the world was a simple place.

"I think she may have a slight concussion."

Yesu glared at them, stood on her feet abruptly. They stood with her in alarm.

"You won’t be calling anyone." She said,

The CCD officers were busy inspecting the accident scene.

Nick’s partner signalled to one of them and he strolled over.

"What’s going on here?" Officer MacKayden asked, eyeing Yesu.

"Hello, officer. Our little victim here is refusing to cooperate. Doesn’t want to come to the hospital, doesn’t want to give us her parents’ information. Says she’s alright."

A pause.

"Personally, I think she has caused some sort of trouble and is on the run."

It sounded random, but it wasn’t wrong. It was true that Yesu had just landed in trouble.

Gerald’s motorcycle was now a wreck, and what of all that pizza she was on her way to deliver? The customers must be pissed. She was definitely fired.

And if she followed them to the hospital she would have to pay bills. She didn’t have money for that.

Officer MacKayden shifted his attention to Yesu.

"Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?" He said with a grim face, glanced at the accident then back at her.

"How did you survive that in one piece?" He stepped closer.

Yesu didn’t know what, but something about the man made her skin crawl.

"Got lucky I guess."

Officer MacKayden’s gaze lingered on her longer than necessary.

Something about the way he looked at her wasn’t normal.

"You’re coming with us to the station."