Benze to Hell

Benze to Hell

Who said I shouldn't drink and drive? Thinks Daniel, Oh yeah, Candice. That was his current girl friend and maybe more. After all theey had been together for over two months, a new personal best for Danny. Now she is riding shotgun and holding the door handle with both hands as the Mercedes sedan accellerates past eighty. Her knuckles are paling and her body is rigid, which Danny finds both infuriating and encouraging, both imsulting and complimenting his skill as a driver. His buddy Odin is in the back, smooching with Candy's BFF Judy. Odin never gets nervous when Dan is driving and with good reason. They grew up together watching the races, car chases, idolizing the drivers, and had turned sixteen and gotten liscenced the same summer. They had been driving their paarents cars whenever they could swioe the keys and were both given a car before senior year as a kind of growing up present. Odin got a BMW and Danny the C-280 sport they were riding in now. Then they had really cut loose; playing follow the leader on windy mountain roads in up state New York, drag racing at red lights, and basically acting like they would live forever.

Odin's Beamer was in the shop until next week or he would never be in Daniel's car. He had practically begged Danny to hook him up with one of Candy's friends. He was a hundred pounds overweight and getting chicks was to him like getting picked in gym class: only if he was the last resort. That was why Odin had brought the vodka, to loosen Judy up so he could hopefully lose his virginity.

Not that Danny was thinking about that now, with the needle hovering around a hundred he was totally focussed on the road and the car like a responsable wreckless drunk driver should be. Even when sober, at around a hundred miles per hour, everything else fades away for Daniel. He is unnaware of the frightenned girl next to him, the couple undressing in the back seat, and even the radio falls silent to his adrenaline fueled focus. The neewly paved road rolls under his wheels smooth as silk and the Benz is the catalyst. He eases the throttle back and cuts accross both lanes to the inside of a curve, the really opens it up as the road straightens and begins to descend a steep hill. Beatiful conditions he thinks, We haven't seen another car in like an hour.

They were supposed to be taking the girls home but Danny couldn't resist taking the long way. It gave him a chance to show off his car, his driving skills, and gave Odin a chance to score. He knew all these roads. With gravity lending a hand they are nearing a hundred fourty when a stray foot kicks Dan's arm causing him to jerk the wheel slightly. The right wheels drop off the shoulder and Danny lets off the gas, waiting for his speed to drop before attempting to pop back up onto the pavement. Then the shoulder becomes rougher, erosion has caused a little series of trenches to form and the car shakes violently. Its now or never, thinks Daniel and snaps the wheel left then back to center and somehow returns them t the rosd. Only now they are at an angle instead of in line with the crisp markings and a bridge is approaching. He brings it around and almost saves them, maybe would have if the front right tire would have held a little longer, but it doesn't. It blows like a bomb and they are pulled to the right, just ahead of the bridge. Instead of crumpling against the railing they are catapulted over it, over the bank like a pole vaulter going for the record.

Danny sees the river below and thinks, If we can land in the river we might make it. He hears Candy screaming and wonders when that started. He thinks Shit, my car is totalled. He looks in the rear view and sees Odin and whats-her-face going at it, so into it they don't know anything is wrong. He also knows they aren't going to land in the water but are going to fly clear accross it to where the concrete tapers up from river to bridge. He thinks I've killed us all. Now that concrete bank is rushing up to meet them and Danny tenses in preparation for impact, but it never comes. At the moment they should be splattering against the concrete they fall through it. It opens like a mouth to swallow them and all is dark.

He becomes aware that he is awake or waking up, "did we survive?" he asks and opens his eyes. He is in the back seat now, head resting on the window. The car seems ok and the others are there. Odin is in the driver's seat, my seat, with Candy beside him. Why am I back here with Judy, when did I get change places with Odin, and when did they get dressed? are some of the questions that surface in his mind. Then he looks past his friends to what is outside the car and he forgets to think at all.

It is dim but he can see a black sky over a red alien landscape. They are at rest on a flat and barren red plane that stretches out far in all directions. Mesas like trumpets rise in the distance, some in clusters and some alone, but all in shades of red. Glowing crimson the land is the only source of light, the sky is a coal, space without stars, devoid of anything. A shaded figure appears outside , far off but drawing closer. With agonizing slowness it becomes more visable. It is human in shape, it is robed and hooded. In red of course.

"Start the car."

"I can't, the keys are gone."

Now the thing is close but still hard to see, a trick of the odd angles of light. It walks leisurely up to Danny's window and leans against it, openning its robe as it does to reveal a desireabe female body. Danny immagines what it would feel like and decides he would trade Candy and Judy for a chance to touch those amazing breasts pressed against the glass only inches from his face.

"Don't get out of the car" Judy says pulling Daniel's hand from the latch. He didn't know he had been reaching for it and can't imagine why he would. That body out there ceases to be desireable. What he took for a taught trim tummy sucks in until he can see hips and ribs clearly defined through pocked and blotchy skin. The breasts sag and rot before his eyes. The things steps away and he can see the face is a skull wrapped in rags of flesh. Hair like wet straw and bulging milky eyes that are a mockery of life. It raises a hand like a birds claw from within the folds of its robe, clutching what appears to be a common kitchen knife, wooden handle and all. It brings the knife over its head and brings the point down on Dan's window, hard, chipping a small piece of glass. It strikes again and a small crack appears. Danny knows the window won't take much more of this, it should have broken already. Everyone else is panicking noisily and Danny knows it is up to him to stop this demon. He thinks, This is my fault, my driving, my car, and my responsibility.

He opens the door and darts out as the arm winds up for another swing. In the same motion he slams it shut on Judy's hysteric protests and catches the wrist holding the knife, pulling it behind and down. He strips the weapon from the hand and strikes upward, cutting through robe and the decaying skin beneath. The horror rolls away, out of its ruinned clothes, and comes to its feet facing Daniel and grinning its death's head grin. Danny thinks, I can beat this thing, I had no trouble taking its knife and now to take it life!

The thing swings wild and Dan ducks easily dodging, he sees an openning. Flipping to an overhand grip he brings the blade up into the things hip. It is like chopping rotten wood, the tip goes in a little then stops. He brings the heel of his other hand aroud fast, striking the wooden handle and driving the knife deeper.

Good moves, rasps a voice in Danny's head like a migraine, but I am not vulnerable there. The knife is stuck fast and Dan's attempts to free it are halted by a back hand blow that sends him sprawlling. Struggling to his feet he watches the monster draw the blde from its leg as that voice invades his mind once more. I let you take the knife, let you feel hope so I could crush it. So I could eat your despair, and it is sweet. But now I want to taste ypur pain.

And Danny does despair. He turns to look for the relative safety of his car but it is gone. The claw hand sweeps the blade accross his thighs and groin, openning a world of pain. Danny sees the contents of his pockets fall to the ground and there among loose change is the key to his car. The knife cuts again and again and after a lifetime of undying agony Danny is greeted by blessed darkness, "Did we survive?" he asks and opens his eyes.