The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Road Kill
by Kim Richards

Logan’s Jeep trundled down the dirt road. It traveled the bumps and ruts with ease, rocking gently from side to side. He usually didn’t take this way home to the farm, but road crews were doing work along his normal route. This place looked lonely and desolate. It was not a great place to get stranded.

He noticed the car a long way off. It’s front end dipped downward into the ditch along the side of the road. He pressed his foot down on the gas pedal.

He coasted up along side the car. The Jeep’s tires crunched rocks and sticks beneath them as he slowed and stopped. The driver’s side window was open. A pair of women’s legs, feet in sneakers, stuck out the window with ankles crossed.

Logan put his vehicle in park and leaned over to roll down the passenger window. He called out, “Hey! Do you need help?”

A high voice mumbled but he couldn’t make out the words. He turned off his Jeep, climbed out, and approached the black car.

“Do you need any help?” he asked again.

“Help?” the woman asked in a feeble tone—thin and high.

Her feet trembled so Logan moved closer.

The woman—twenty something—lay like a cast off doll across the front seats and console between. He long blonde hair splayed across her face and chest. The woman moaned. Her body jerked in tiny motions.

Logan’s brow furrowed and he leaned in the open window. He didn’t want to open the door until he knew doing so wouldn’t cause an issue. He didn’t see blood which pleased him.

“Ma’am. Are you hurt?” he asked.

“Hurt?” she echoed.

He ducked his head further inside. Then he reached out and gently touched her arm. Her skin felt cold and clammy. He wondered how long she lay here. Still, he saw no cuts or bruises. He reached up to swipe her hair from her face.

A blur of movement surprised him. The sharp pain which followed surprised him even more. The woman’s teeth were embedded in his arm, just above the wrist on the top. He jerked back but her jaw clamped down tightly. He felt his skin give way as she tore a chunk away from his arm.

He stumbled back, hitting his head hard on the door frame. Cursing he backpedaled while clamping his bleeding arm with his other hand. He pulled up the hem of his T-shirt and pressed it against the wound.

The woman pulled her legs inside the car. Her cackling laughter rang out. Then she raised her head in the open window and grasped the door frame with both hands. Her eyes were wide and wild. She opened her blooded lips and grinned.

Logan stumbled around his Jeep and climbed in. As he started it up, he noticed a blur in the woman’s direction. As he threw his vehicle into gear, there was a loud thump on the passenger door. He gaped. She climbed in the open window quick as a cat.

The jeep leapt forward as his foot hit the gas. In a flurry of blonde hair, she leapt at the same time. She knocked him sideways, causing him to inadvertently jerk the steering wheel to the left.

Logan tried to fend her off as the Jeep hit the ditch. It continued forward before striking a tree and stopping with a jolt. Then a pain similar to the one in his arm exploded in his throat. The last thing he heard was that high, cackling laughter.

Fiction © Copyright Kim Richards
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com