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| There Ain't No Justice |
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| #117 |
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- Roadkill -
by Laura Lemay
It was more than thirty miles from where Carol lived to the city; forty by the
mountain highway. Carol worked in an office in the city, and commuted the
distance willingly every day. It would have made more sense for her to live in
the city, or at least in a suburb closer to work, but she liked the
neighborhood she lived in, and the commute didn't bother her. In fact, if she
traveled on the mountain highway it was almost enjoyable. Often while
commuting, the rolling sweep of the road through the hills had a calming
effect on Carol, helping her to relax after a long day, hypnotizing her to the
point where she didn't even mind the time she spent on the road. With the
exception of the occasional deer which wandered out onto the road, there were
few other disturbances on the long trip from the city to home, even during
rush hour.
On this night Carol had stayed in the city long past rush hour. She had a date
tonight, dinner at a little restaurant and coffee at a cafe next door. The
gentleman she had been with worked in the office next to her; they had seen
each other almost daily in the elevator and exchanged jokes and polite
comments for months before she got up the bravado to ask him out. She had been
more than impressed with him tonight as he revealed himself to be literate and
outspoken, easy to talk to and quick with a joke. She had had a wonderful
time, and had he offered to let her stay at his place, she would have gone.
But it wasn't altogether disappointing that he hadn't; there would be future
dates, and future chances.
It was almost midnight when she started home, and on a midweek night there was
almost no one else traveling on Carol's route. It had been a wonderful
evening, and she felt relaxed and happy. It was dark on the freeway, foggy and
cold, and she drove with the window open, the wind blowing in her hair, a tape
on the radio blasting into the night. She sang along, off key, missing some of
the lyrics and volunteering both lead and backup vocals. She drove fast and
messily, with one hand, staying only marginally within the lane, and watching
the fog roll over the freeway as if someone was standing by the edge of the
road and blowing it out into her path. If she unfocussed her eyes she could
almost see ghosts dancing in the fog before her, illuminated in the brights,
running to hide as her car tore through them.
Suddenly, a dark shape appeared before her on the road, and Carol's eyes
snapped back into focus. She couldn't tell what had wandered out into the
freeway, she came upon it so quickly, but it was big, and black, and made no
attempt to get out of her way.
She was going much too fast to be able to avoid it, but she wrenched the
steering wheel to the side to try, slamming her weight down on the brakes at
the same time. Agonizingly, she heard a thud, her car rocking on its tires in
rebound, and she let out a short scream as her car came to a sudden halt.
Her car had stopped in the middle of the freeway some distance beyond where
she had hit the creature. Carol's heart was beating in her ears, drowning out
the sound of the music still blaring. She reached over angrily and snapped it
off. Breathing hard, she gripped the steering wheel in both hands, took
several deep breaths to calm herself and looked behind her in the rear view
mirror. There was only darkness behind her, dimly lit by the red glow of her
brake lights. She could not see far enough behind her to see what she had hit.
Carol pulled over to the side of the road, and got slowly out of the car. Her
knees were weak under her and she supported herself with her hands on the side
of the car as she crossed around the front to the corner where she had hit the
creature. The fender was dented, but it was a strange, even dent. She had hit
a dog several years ago, and the dent on her car then had been smeared with
blood and bits of fur. This dent was clean, as if she had hit a wall or
another car, rather than a creature with flesh and bones.
Carol looked back along the road, into the darkness. Leaving the keys in the
ignition, she got a flashlight out of the glove compartment, and began walking
along the shoulder of the freeway back towards where she had hit the creature.
She had to see what she had hit, to see if it was still alive, to see what she
could do.
It was quiet and cold as she walked, slightly foggy, with no wind. She noted a
call box along the side of the road; if she had killed whatever she had hit
she could call for help. Twenty-five yards, forty she walked, flashing the
beam of the light all along the shoulder and into the first lane of the
freeway to try and see what was there. If when she had hit it the creature had
been thrown out into the other lanes of the freeway, she would not have been
able to see it.
Finally, far ahead, a dark shape lay huddled on the shoulder, and Carol
squinted, focussing her flashlight on it as she walked closer. She drew up
next to the creature and stood looking at it. It was black, whatever it was,
big, and covered with long matted fur. It wasn't a deer, and it didn't look
like a dog. Carol stepped still closer and played the beam of the flashlight
over it. It was lying on its side, its hindquarters pulled up into its chest.
It looked slightly ape-like. It was unlike any creature Carol had ever seen or
read about. Puzzled, she nudged it with the toe of her boot. It did not move.
Holding her breath, she reached with her foot and turned it over onto its
back. Its arms, long, hairy, with thin spindly fingers, fell to either side of
its body. Carol stood back up again, her heart beginning to beat heavily again
as she looked over the creature.
It was short, and stout, with long arms and legs. Its head appeared to be
joined directly to its body without needing a neck. The head was the only part
of its body not covered with hair; the skin on the scalp was scaly and pink.
The eyes, which were closed, were huge. Its jaw, slightly agape, was full of
sharp teeth. What was this creature? Where did it come from? What had she
found?
Bending even further forward over the body, Carol realized that the body was
unhurt, that there were no signs that it had ever been hit. There was no
blood, nothing broken, nothing out of the ordinary, at least for a creature
that was as odd looking as this one was.
Maybe its playing dead, she thought to herself, and as the thought crossed her
mind, the creature opened its eyes and looked up at her, the beam of the
flashlight reflected on its black eyes. Carol drew a breath to shriek but the
creature reached up faster than she could pull back, took the front of her
clothes in one hand and then ripped the scream and her throat out with the
other.
The flashlight fell to the ground, shattered and went out as Carol fell
heavily to her knees. On her knees she was about the same height as the
creature, who now climbed up on its hind legs, her clothes still clutched in
its hand. Carol's vision faded in and out as the creature looked at her;
surprisingly the pain was not as bad as she would have expected. The creature
frowned, or at least, it made a face. Carol could not fathom the thought or
intention behind the expression. Loosening its grip, it pushed Carol sideways,
letting her fall to the pavement, her legs too weak to support her body. She
landed on her jaw, and it splintered, and then she felt the pain, but she
could not open her mouth wide enough to scream, so the sound she made was more
of a pitiful moan. She had fallen on her side, and she could feel the warmth
of her blood as it ran down the incline of the pavement past her cheek. She
tried to gasp, but she could not draw air into her lungs. She looked up at the
creature who was still looking at her with the big eyes, eyes with no irises,
just endless fluid black. The creature looked at her impartially, and then
turned away from her, walking with a low shamble back along the shoulder the
way she had come, back towards her own car.
Carol's vision darkened, and the pain overcame her. Tears formed and blurred
in her eyes as she blinked to try and see what was going on She tried to push
herself up onto her hands, but her muscles were frozen. As she died, she heard
the engine start in her car, and watched as the lights in her car came on and
it pulled off of the shoulder and vanished down the freeway road into the fog.
Copyright 1991,1992 Laura Lemay
[email protected]
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