Fredward Cullen was standing four cars down from me wearing, for a change of pace, a nice black turtleneck sweater and slacks, and staring at me in horror. His face stood out from a sea of people faces, all frozen in the same mask of shock. But of more immediate importance was the dark blue van that was skidding, tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to hit the back corner of my truck, and I was going to be caught in the middle. I was going to be squished between an ugly van and my bulbous truck, and I didn't even have time to close my eyes.
Just before I heard the shattering crunch of the van folding around the truck bed, something hit me, hard, but not from the direction I was expecting. My head cracked against the icy blacktop, and I felt something solid and cold pinning me to the ground. I was lying on the pavement, pinned to the ground with a cracked head, next to the tan car I'd parked next to. But I didn't have a chance to notice anything else, because the van was still coming! It had curled gracefully around the end of the truck and, still spinning and sliding and gliding, was about to collide with me again.
A low oath74 made me aware that someone was with me; someone who hadn't been there before and whose voice was impossible not to recognize. Two long, white hands shot out protectively in front of me, and the van shuddered to a stop a foot from my face, the large hands fitting providentially75 into a deep dent in the side of the van's body. How did the hands know that dent would be there, at that time, for them to fit into? My mind buzzed for answers.
Then his hands moved so fast they blurred. One was suddenly gripping under the body of the van, and something was dragging me, swinging my legs around like a rag doll's, 'til they hit the tire of the tan car. A groaning metallic thud hurt my ears and the van settled, glass popping and locking, falling to the asphalt—exactly where, a second ago, my legs had been.76
74. A promise, sometimes made to a deity.
75. With providence.
76. Her savior is evidently blessed with precognitive powers. Not only did he/she/it know where to put his/her hand to fit into the van's pre-existing dent, he also knew that glass would fall onto a spot where Bella's legs would be a few seconds later. This is not to imply that Bella's legs fell off.