Slam the brakes

You slam on the brakes. You know how dangerous that is with an injured person in the car, but if you don’t do something, you will have a stab wound and a gunshot wound to deal with. You’re going too fast for the huge, heavy station wagon to actually stop, but the sudden slowing still sets off a chaotic chain of events.

Karen tumbles off the seat with a shriek as Lisey and Kris try to react.

Mavis isn’t wearing a seatbelt, so she almost hits you like a torpedo as she’s launched forward into the backseat. Roxy tries to stop her, but she lunges forward, reaching past you to grab the wheel and jerk it sharply to the right.

The station wagon careens off the driveway, dropping over the embankment and smashing directly into a giant oak tree with a deafening crunch. You are slammed against your seatbelt, and everyone else is tossed around like bugs in a jar.

The headlights are smashed. The engine sputters and whines. The blinker clicks incessantly, and the small cabin light flickers.

You groan and shake your head. The pain in your chest is severe, but at least you didn’t hit your head face on the steering wheel. Your glasses flew off, and you don’t know where they are. You don’t know where the gun is, either. Roxy’s beside you in the passenger seat, but she isn’t moving. You hear Lisey moan.

Glass breaks as the back door is wrenched open. You twist in your seat to see Mavis trying to clamber out of the wrecked vehicle. You fumble with your seatbelt and disconnect it, but your door won’t open. You start to roll down the window as the car is flooded with frigid air from outside. Kris whimpers, but you’re watching Mavis as she staggers away, clutching her head. Your rattled mind is suddenly acutely aware of the things that she said and did: subtly trying to convince you not to proceed with reporting Professor Austen. Trying to get your evidence. Feeling you out to find out who else knew, who else she needed to get rid of to make this go away.

You and Mavis are alike. She’s ambitious. She wants to run that university as badly as you want to run CCL. She can’t have something like this happening on her watch. She can get rid of two problems at once: CCL and Professor Austen’s indiscretions. At least, that must have been her plan. What a two-faced bitch. And yet, you two are still so alike. After all, you aren’t exactly the most honest person.

Your window is down. You wiggle out and fall to the ground, but pick yourself up. Mavis looks back. You don’t know where the little revolver went, but the big shotgun is still over there with Roxy.

Tackle Mavis?

Or go for the shotgun?