Soft, wet snowflakes landed on his face. How could it be snowing in the car?

He opened his eyes and felt a jabbing pain at the back of his head. He rubbed it with his hand, which came away sticky with a trickle of blood.

The sky above him was thick, grey and heavy with snow. Fat flakes fluttered casually down towards him, and he blinked as one landed on his eyelash.

He pushed himself up on his elbows. He was lying in spongy brown heather, and could smell the peat buried a few feet below. His body ached, a jarring stiffness greeting every muscle twitch. He gingerly moved each limb then rolled his neck, his actions only met with grumbles, nothing sharper.

He looked round. Behind him was a sheer rocky cliff, occasional mossy tufts poking out from pockets of scree. It was at least 150 feet high. In the other direction, the sea was shushing against the shore 100 feet below him, down an incline peppered with boulders and craggy outcrops.

He sat up further and saw he was on a shelf in the cliff, thirty feet of flat gorse and heather. He stood up. No sign of the others. He walked to the edge of the shelf and saw the Audi down below, mangled and upside down at a sharp angle, almost at the water’s edge. The front end was crumpled into nothing, the left-hand side of the frame missing to reveal the skeletal chassis underneath. He couldn’t see from here if anyone was still inside.

He looked at his watch. The face was smashed and the display blank. He pressed the button for the heart-rate monitor. Nothing. Serenity now.

He pulled out his mobile and pressed 999. No bars on the signal, but worth trying. He heard a beep and looked at the screen – ‘No network coverage’.

He checked the back of his head again. No new blood. He carefully edged his way down the slope towards the car. It was easier going than it looked from above, plenty of footholds and grips on the slanting rock face.

‘Molly? Guys?’

He waited, listening. No reply, just the wash of the sea, his own heavy breathing and the thud of his heart in his ears. He bustled down the slope, breaking into a jog as the gradient eased off, a shuddering pain through his body with every step.

The car sat on a tiny rocky beach. He reached the passenger side first but there was no one there. He leant in and saw Molly and Roddy across the other side, hanging upside down in their seat belts.

‘Molly, Roddy!’ he shouted. No answer. ‘Shit.’

He ran round to their side of the car and pulled on Molly’s door, but it was buckled in the frame and wouldn’t budge. He was standing in a rocky puddle of seawater, rainbowed with leaked petrol. He tried Roddy’s door but it was the same. He shouted again, no answer.

He ran back round the car, looking for Ethan or Luke on the way. No sign. He climbed in the passenger side at the back and slid over to Molly. Her hair was tangled over her face. He reached out, swept it back and stroked her cheek.

‘Molly? You OK? Please be OK.’

She blinked and moaned. ‘Shit.’

‘Thank God,’ he said. ‘Just hang on.’

She opened her eyes and looked at him. ‘What …’

‘Shhh, don’t worry about it. We had a crash. I’m going to get you out. Can you move your arms?’

She tentatively stretched them out in front of her. It was weird seeing her movements upside down.

‘OK, you’ll need to brace yourself against the roof of the car. You’re upside down. I’m going to release your seatbelt, so be ready. I’ll try to hold on to you. OK?’

Molly nodded. He put an arm around her waist and reached for the red button of the seatbelt release. He pushed it and the buckle whizzed out of his hand, snapping downwards. He felt the sudden weight of her in his arms as she tumbled into him, knocking him onto the ceiling of the car and landing on him in a heap. Together they struggled out the other side of the car, scrambling onto the slick pebbles and breathing heavily.

‘Thanks,’ said Molly.

‘You OK?’

She nodded. ‘I think so.’

‘Just wait here.’

He looked around for Luke or Ethan again. Nothing. He ducked into the car.

‘Roddy?’

No answer. He turned Roddy’s head towards him. Out cold. He touched his neck for a pulse, felt throbbing under his fingertips. He braced himself, wrapped an arm round Roddy’s body and popped the seatbelt. He was pushed down by the weight, pain jabbing through his legs as he fell and Roddy’s body pinned him to the ceiling. After a moment he felt Roddy shifting and saw Molly pulling at his arm. He pushed from the waist and slowly the body shifted off him and out the car. On the way past he felt something slick against his head. When Roddy’s legs were clear he touched his face. Blood. He scooted clumsily out of the car.

Molly stood over Roddy, his face pale and his right shoulder a mess of blood. Adam went closer and saw a three-inch strip of jagged metal poking out from the fleshy part above his armpit.

‘Jesus.’

‘I know,’ said Molly.

‘What do we do?’

‘Pull it out?’

‘You think?’

‘I have no idea.’

Adam knelt down and examined it. He tried to lift Roddy’s jacket to see underneath but the spike pinned his clothes to his shoulder. He held the rod and gave it a gentle pull, but it was stuck firm. He tried again and blood oozed around the wound but the thing didn’t budge. He gave another pull.

‘What the fuck,’ said Roddy, flinching and opening his eyes. ‘Jesus fucking Christ, what’re you doing to me?’

‘Sorry, I was …’

Roddy let out a yell. ‘Shit, that hurts.’ He looked down at his shoulder. ‘Oh, fuck.’

‘Yeah.’

Roddy gazed at the spike sticking out of his shoulder, then touched the blood around the wound. He looked at Adam.

‘What happened?’ he said through gritted teeth.

‘We had a crash.’ Adam looked up. ‘Came down that cliff.’

Roddy and Molly followed his gaze.

‘Jesus Christ,’ said Molly.

‘What about this?’ said Roddy, pointing at his shoulder.

Adam looked inside the car. The front windscreen frame was buckled and torn, bits missing. ‘I think it’s a bit of the car frame.’

Roddy winced. ‘Fucking bullshit Audis. I knew I should’ve brought the Beemer.’ He sat up carefully. ‘Fucking help me up, then.’

Adam leaned in on his left side and lifted him. ‘Don’t you think we should get that out of you?’

‘Fuck that,’ said Roddy. ‘If the pain I just felt when you pulled it is anything to go by, it can stay in there for-fucking-ever.’ He tried to stretch a little and doubled over with pain, holding his arm. ‘Fuck me.’

Molly and Adam looked at Roddy then at each other. Roddy righted himself, breathing heavily. He walked over to the car and looked inside. He gave the chassis a kick then cringed with pain. He turned and looked around.

‘What happened to the other two?’ he said.

‘Good question,’ said Molly.