Here's Chapter One! Thanks for reading!
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I knew it was going to be bad the moment the engine rumbled, sputtered and the car lurched to a stop.
"You've got to be kidding me," he hissed under his breath. Not only because we were out in the middle of nowhere, but because we were on our first date...and it didn't go too well. I stared out the fogged up window, at the mass of thick pine trees surrounding us.
"What happened?"
"Out of fuel."
Dumbass, I thought. He couldn't have checked that before we left civilization?
"Seriously?" I asked. He didn't answer and instead slammed the palms of his hands down on the steering wheel.
"Call someone." I suggested the obvious.
"Can't. Phones dead."
Of course it is.
He got out of the truck and slammed the door behind him. The visor swung down and a bunch of family photos floated onto the driver's seat. I got out of the truck and stood next to him on the other side.
"I have my phone," I said, sliding it out of my jeans.
"Thank god."
I flipped it open. No service. Duh.
"No service."
"Damn it!" He kicked the front tire. By now, it was foggy. And with each furious breath we took, it seemed to get worse.
"We're wasting time," I said. "Come on."
I pulled him along to hopefully go find someone to help us.
"So what, we're just gonna leave my truck in the middle of the road!?" He asked heatedly.
"Yes, because I'm sure if there was someone here (which there's not) they would be delighted to steal that perfect piece of craftsmanship."
We looked back at the vehicle. Rusty orange, three missing hub caps, and oh! The best part; bird poop all over the driver window.
He chuckled a little. First time I'd seen him happy all night.
"You're right," he said. "We better hurry now."
Just as we took our very few steps bright lights came out of the fog. Head lights. They belonged to a truck! Dalton waved his hands over his head and the car lurched to a stop. The passenger window slowly rolled down.
"You two lost?" The driver asked. It was a man's voice but it was too dark and foggy to see his face.
"My car's fuel is empty, sir," Dalton said. "Can we get a ride?"
Are you crazy!? I thought.
Asking a stranger for a ride didn't seem like a good idea, but then again, we were stranded in the middle of nowhere. There was a long awkward pause.
"Uh...sure. Hop in."
The inside car light turned on while Dalton opened the back door and climbed inside. The man's face stung my memory. He looked so familiar. I didn't give it another thought and instead squeezed in next to Dalton.
"Where are you headed?" The man asked already starting to drive.
"Uh, just bring us anywhere near civilization," Dalton replied.
The man didn't answer and I shot Dalton a quick glance. After another five minutes, which felt like an eternity, the driver spoke up.
"What are your names?"
"I'm Dalton."
"And I'm Rory," I said.
"Dating?"
"No!" Dalton and I practically yelled at the same time. We gave each other an embarrassed glance.
"Just friends," I finished.
"Okay then. Well I'm...uh...Chris," the driver said.
"Nice to meet you Chris, and thanks again for the ride," Dalton replied.
No response.
I shot Dalton another look but he didn't seem to mind Chris's awkward silences. After more endless minutes of driving around, I became very anxious and worried.
"Are we almost there?" Dalton asked. It was like he knew how restless I was getting.
No response.
"Not to hurry you or anything," he added.
Still nothing.
"It's just getting late, that's all..."
Not a sound.
My palms were getting sweaty. In another couple of minutes I would surely explode. Chris adjusted his rear-view mirror until I could only see the tops of his eyes. I slowly pulled my phone out of my pocket to see if we had service. One bar...two bars... My breathing stopped abruptly. I slowly looked up to find Chris's crystal blue eyes staring at me. I couldn't help myself; I began dialing 911. Chris's eyes widened when he saw my trembling fingers trying to dial a number, so he took a horrible sharp turn making my head slam into the side of the window. Dalton and I both screamed. I lost grip of my phone and I heard it hit the floor but couldn't see where it went.
"Sorry," Chris muttered quietly. "Missed a turn."
~
We were all silent. No one had said a word for at least 20 minutes. And that was just 20 minutes too long. I looked at the clock on the dashboard; 8:20. I used only my eyes to try to find my cell phone, because I didn't want to risk cracking my skull on the window again if I reached down to get it.
"Psst," Dalton quietly hissed to me. I hesitated to respond and checked the rear-view mirror first; Chris’s eyes were straight ahead, watching the road. I turned to Dalton and mouthed, "What?" Dalton mouthed something back but I couldn't understand.
"What?" I whispered.
"I said..."
Dalton's sentence was abruptly cut short by the sound of tires screeching. Chris slammed on the breaks and a small deer ran across the road. Chris swore under his breath and the car lurched forward again. Dalton unbuckled his seatbelt and motioned for me to do the same. I just stared at him with wide eyes.
"Do it now!" he hissed quietly. I wasn't too sure where he was going with this, but I was ready to get away from the strange driver. I checked the mirror; Chris's eyes were still locked on the road. I unbuckled myself so quietly that I could barely hear myself doing it. And before I could ask, "What now?" Dalton leaped over the seat grabbing Chris's throat. The two men wrestled in the front of the truck while I screamed in horror in the back. The car screeched and veered left, then right, then left again. It was out of control!
"Get out, Rory! Get the hell out!" Dalton yelled, punching Chris in the side of the head. Chris returned the favor, clocking Dalton straight in the nose. With the truck moving slower now, I had no problem jumping out of the vehicle. I hid behind a tree and started crying.
"Help! Help!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I knew that no one would come to our rescue because Chris had only brought us deeper into the woods. I watched the truck come to a stop and heard Dalton's yelling as Chris pushed him out of the passenger door, leaving him as a lump in the road. The truck sped away leaving Dalton in the dust.
"Dalton!" I screamed, running toward him. I knelt on the cold cement and looked him in the eyes. "Are you okay?" I helped him to his feet, and under the moonlight I saw his face. Battered, beaten, and bloody. "Oh my god. What did he do to you?"
"Agh. Broke my nose, I think. I'm alright though. Come on, let's get out of here."
We walked into the woods, knowing we could do nothing except wait till someone found us. Perhaps we could go searching for help in the morning but not now because it would be too risky at night.
"That guy was a total creep. I'm so glad that we got out of there," Dalton said.
"Me too. You don't think he'll come back, do you?" I replied.
"Nah. Did you see the way he sped off? He was happy to get us off his back."
"Good. And did you see the way he made that sharp turn because I took out my phone? That was odd."
"That's why he did that? Oh. Well why did you take out your phone?"
"I was going to call 911."
"Ha. Yeah, I'm sure Chris would have loved that."
"Yeah and now my phone is in his car....shit! My phone is in his car! Damn it."
"Nope actually. It's in my pocket." He held out the device and placed it in my sweaty palm.
"What!? How did you get it!?"
"Eh, I grabbed it after I punched him. He was down for a few seconds, and I saw it on the ground. Could just barely reach it."
"Oh my gosh, thank you so much."
"No problem."
I gotta admit, I started thinking that Dalton wasn't so bad after all... Minus the part about him making me pay for dinner that night, but other than that, it wasn't that bad of a first date...kind of.
"Did Chris look familiar to you at all?" Dalton said quietly. I turned my torso to face him.
"Yes!" I exclaimed. "I swear I've seen him before."
And I had seen him before. On T.V. But not like on a T.V show or offering a useless item on a commercial; I had seen him on the news.
"Oh my god," I said, almost out of breath. "I know where I've seen him."
"Where?"
"Chris's face was on F.B.I's Most Wanted..."
"Jesus. You're right. But his name wasn't Chris, was it?"
"It was Zeek, I think."
"Shit, Rory. We need to get the hell out of here. Zeek is wanted for murder."
It was actually interesting after the first three sentences.
it was a little rushed though and parts of it were difficult to 'get'. I think you should have detailed it alot more to improve it but apart from that well done. I really want to read more soon.
