[Daily Telegraph]
It was raining cats and dogs. The highway was paralyzed of traffic water flowed across the road; lakes erupted and broke into huge streams of brown deluge. He waited for a bus, car or van to rush back home. But no vehicles were seen on the watery road. Thunders cracked ablaze on the cavernous sky throwing vision blurring light far flung dim lamps started appearing closer on the flooded road. As the car drew closer hope danced on his hopeless mind. It was a black Honda sedan latest version of fashionable design. Rain battered the car roof and skidded off the curving ends. The wiper blades oscillated to throw water off the windshield. He saw a woman in her 30’s steer the sedan to his surprise the car slowed down and stopped close to him. As the pane moved down, he took a step forward in a bent position raised his hand to his forehead shielding vision to the pouring rain. The voice came out “Will this road take me to Silver Springs”? He replied shivering lips “ not exactly, but you have to go 30 miles east then drive 20 miles through the blackbuck woods and cross the Offshore bridge”. She said “My goodness it is a long way to remember, do you mind getting in and help me with the directions my GPS is down”. With pleasure I have been waiting for two hours to get out of here. “Okay symbiosis”.
He got into luxurious car, it smelled of invigorating fragrance of exotic Swedish gardens. The expensive black leather upholstery was comfortable. He threw a compliment to her, your car is amazing. “Thanks, this is the asset that came from my dad after he passed away”. She drove the car at cruising speed, crossing the dark desolate landscapes with no vehicle in front or behind. The car was floating over the puddles of fast flowing water, on the waterlogged road rain continued to fall, the trees were dark, their leaves wet, and the clouds above were swollen with huge mass of rain. There was no moon and the stars punctured on the black sky road was deserted it seemed like a world with two people driving in the car silence clogged all around. She snapped a CD into the dashboard player and threw the volume to maximum. It was M J’s Jam music thumped out of the speakers behind their heads, the glass shattering sound made his heartbeat faster as if she rammed into the truck but came back to senses as, the car kept moving forward. She asked “Do you like this”? Yeah. At least after seeing the car moving forward.
Then, she frowned with a weary smile as the car entered into the woods. She cranked the car to 80 miles an hour, the speed came down while negotiating the curves, the countless trees tall as if they reached the exploding thunders on the sky and the barks peeling off the stout black trunks. The road was single and narrow the car started wobbling with a sudden roar the car pulled to left and crashed into a tree followed by the screeching brake sound. He jumped out of his seat and kissed the glass, but she remained in her seat with the belt. Both rushed to the front of the car, the silver bumper badly bent, lamps were broken, light flooded out of the broken lamps. She yelled with a furious face, fucking! “Flat tyre”! He said “Thank God, We are safe”. It was dark all around she took out a cigarette launched between her lips, frisked pockets and said “Do you have fire”? Then He fished a dazzling steel lighter out of his trousers and rolled down up the blue flame ejected at the tip. Then, she started inhaling the smoke and exhaled out fast. Then she said “What are we going to do now I forgot to bring the spare tyre from the garage, we need to wait for someone to help us. They heard wolves growling she asked “What is that”, He replied sarcastically “Blood craving wolves”.
Then, she got into the car and locked herself looking at him sitting on the bonnet. The place was of black darkness and ominous silence broken by the sounds of the nature. Fog engulfed the woods malevolently; the cold was in the bones and a sudden heart piercing shriek shrill of wild boars grunted in the enshrouding darkness. Her face turned red, tightly pressed lips wrestled with a smile at him. He threw back a gesture of kindness and comfort but its effect on her was profound she went into a snooze. After a while she woke up all of a sudden as the car was hit by a solid wave of freezing wind, squinted but he wasn’t there.
Her heart started beating faster as she was left alone in the gloom of darkness, she felt something in the rear seat turned back and saw him smiling. She held her anger and said “when did you get in” he remained silent. After a while, the first drops rain fell in seconds the drops were a heavy fall in minutes the fall was a cascade and turned into a ceaseless torrent pouring on the roof of the car, water drained over the windshield in thick streams. The silence was disturbed by streams of water flowing, a horrendous thunder cracked on the sky as it traveled fast like a silver snake being chased cutting the sky in to two hemispheres. She then shifted to the back seat as it was dark. He was faintly visible but she felt his thighs and slowly drew herself closer to him, felt his soothing handover her shoulder, and leaned over him, felt his fingers run inside her dress, she could not resist him, as he meant everything to her. He then gently reached to kiss her neck, and she felt the warmth on her neck. With a deep kiss, she flung her arms around and hugged him tight. They sailed in the ship of ecstasy.
He sucked her neck she felt something damp flow into her breasts. She never felt his breath or motion, frisked with fingers and felt the bloody smell screaming in panic threw him away leaning on to the back, saw his skin peeling off his face. Her eyes were fixed in a blind stare as his body began to swell like a corpse left in the sun, belly ballooned, arms and legs bloated flesh, puffed soft and shapeless as a bladder of butter. Her flesh crawled and yelled hysterically looking at the sinister, she leapt backward. The devil crashed her head to the window glass she felt the cold trickle of blood on top and the back of her head where the broken glass had made deep cuts. Glass fell on the road in jagged shards as she wrestled in the smashed window started kicking with all her might screaming on top of her voice. Her feet in his sharp claws, body in air, at last she was blown out of the little steeple of the window.
Then, she fell ten yards away from the car into the slippery thatch and scrambled her feet, with surprising speed. He shrieked at her again locked together they rolled in the murky pools in a murderous grapple. His hands locked her throat, long curved fingernails were so sharp that they pierced into neck. Yelling in pain filled with fear she hammered her fist into his face with crippled strength. He fell back panting heavily glaring at her with hatred. His face was bloody with sharp teeth stained in blood. In the combat her brow had been shaved off, lips split, bloody eyes with legs sprawled she swayed back in a howl of pain. Once more the claws bit her feet, she felt his razor nails pierced into her flesh cutting nerves sawed through bones, and voice cracked to the stinging pain felt the blood flow in her messed hair and feet. The air in her ventilators went hot and her brain was exploding struggling with him, screaming nervously with all her momentum. She kicked right in his chest, and threw him a few yards out of seconds, stood up and started running into the black woods and the wind was howling. She never looked back but kept running in the mud spattered land with deep breaths of fear collided to a tree trunk and collapsed to the ground. Her fingers felt blood flushing out of her nostrils, she lay helpless there unable to get up filled with terror, could not get out his bloody image out of her mind.
She took a deep breath feeling the pain all over body torn by his sharp claws. Her face was streaming with sweat and blood as she tasted it collectively flowing on her lips. The relentless wind was touching her wounds; every direction jeopardized she took several breaths trying to regain her composure wiping the unspeakable horror from her mind. Filled with dread, hoped that she would die loosing all her blood as her fingers ran over the deep cuts. The blood on her bloody body, thighs tore into deep red stripes, taking support of the tree she rose up paralyzed in fear, moved feebly dragging her left leg, nothing was visible to her in the black blackness of darkness moaning in pain and her feet chucked into mud. She came across a cold black stone stumbled over and landed on her palms and felt that it was a hard black marble, rested on it whispering her last prayers counting the final minutes of death.
She heard the soft cackle of drenched bird on branches overhead. Raindrops fell all over her straddling body alone in long hours of silence she went into sleep with grief lingered in her dreams minutes turned hours. It was morning the sunlight splintered into her burning eyes, light shimmered out through the branches she was brave sleeping on a grave staring at the bones scattered with no motion said to her “Am I still alive”! Birds of bright plumage flashed above with sweet flutings of songs in the dawn, wild doves crooning deep bass and waltzing calling for mates. The flutings which rose from the branches of tall evergreen trees in backdrop seemed like a lilting lullaby consoling her of the gruesome assault. She felt the blood clotted into dry lumps on head and bruised neck and flesh hanged to her foot couldn’t open her right eye as the eyelids were fused together in the dried blood she slipped and slithered as she tried to walk on thick layers of mud crusted.
The brutality of weather came from the skies, composted leaves and shallow sand had been shifted under the incessant rain causing the rivers to break its banks fields to flood and roots of trees washed away. Pain snapped her shoulders and forearms as she dragged her foot and walked a irregular line followed her footstep. Anger remained sharp in her mind and murmured Vultures may hover above me but I am not going to let them get my bones. Greeted by showers of blue petals falling from the trees and poises of wild flowers sprinkled on the graves she came across. The green grass was lush edible fungi on the damp earth. The odor of dung in lumps made her stomach flip as she was walking towards the direction of her inflated car. She stepped over a rusted blade of axe emerging out the sand washed in the sluicing rain then anxiously cleared the sand and pulled out the hunters axe embedded in the loose soil. Cried in joy holding the weapon! The bloody wounds on her face from the cuts and gashes on her head were liquid anger thick and wild spilling from her mind. A furious strength ripped the muscles of her arms, shoulders and limbs, then fiercely hacked the uprooted tree trunk the sound of axe rang down the woods and woke echoes from the corners.
She followed the muddy path filled with webbed feet of grey spotted ducks to her distance herds of bucks gulping water out of the pools. Her skin stiffened as the soil groaned under the lash of sun blood oozed out of her wounds as she walked restless hurdling over the uprooted trees and bumps. She smelt eggs and saw hatched white egg shells on the brown soil things washed upon the eroded land. The sunlight was slowly being buried under the grey clouds the entire woods were again wrapped in a mantle of darkness she felt like a giant swinging the axe waiting to tear up anything that would trouble or obstruct her from going forward the breeze threw droplets of water hanging onto the leaves it went darker again she never feared waited to kill or get killed. She heard the sound of water splashing something ran beside her but she found nothing. Then gripped the axe firm between shivering palms. It started raining again water poured in thick quantities and streams flowed in between her legs wounds were sterilized felt the stench of blood as water ran down her plait. She then heard the honk of a truck, the sound was like a blanket wrapped around her fearing heart.
She took to her heels and started running swift towards the direction of sound with the axe. Suddenly she felt her feet paddling in the air her neck was being strangled in the hard grip of claws. It was hard as she felt her eyes would jump out of her frames, nerves charged with the blood on her neck bulged. Her throat dried gurgling emitted words of sputter ghastly her mouth gaped drooling silver ropes of saliva eyes turned opaque. She then fell on to the ground dropping the axe breathing hard filling her lungs with life she felt the hard blow of foot knocking on her face it was hard like a lump of wood crash into her face blood flowed on her temple and dissolved into the stream of water she crumpled in yowling sobs of pain as she rolled on patch of grass. Opened her eyes to see the devil with decayed eyes of dreadful stench thick fluid oozed from the pores of his skin and ran down the water each drop was pale yellow. It was the smell of rotting corpses his lips retracted to expose his stained teeth out of his skull his features were dreadful and ineffably ugly. Filled with fear she closed her eyes enmeshed in the web of death. Only breathing rumbled in her throat. He threw a wicked laugh as she lay helpless. Her hand slowly crept towards the axe woke up growling in pain and revenge. He felt a sudden violent blow of the axe deep into his shoulder. He screeched in pain before he could encounter the second blow rammed into his neck.
She started running towards the road as fast as she can, stumbling to save herself from the predators hunger. Footsteps chased behind splashing water. The axe was hanging to his neck he dragged her plait as she was trying to run across the road, the truck drivers face bewildered eyes bulged with fear and astonishment to the horrible scene. She ran towards the driver in a death scream help-help- help! He pulled out a cleaver out of his tools and stood in a stance, he was knocked by the giant force flew and crashed into the truck. The axe fell off the devils neck she grabbed it and warned him to be far but he rushed towards her in a rage of revenge. There was a loud splash she closed her eyes her face was instantly covered with blood. He roared and fell down at once with no time she lifted up the axe and hacked off his hands, feet and head like a bloody butcher. The pieces scattered all over the road, she and the truck driver glanced at the decapitated body on the road of amputated organs.
She thought why was he trying to kill her, then she turned left and saw a signboard warning deep curve go slow. It was the place where she over-sped few years back and ran over a man crushing him to death. She wept and regretted for the HIT & RUN!
So, now drive safe!
