Inside Out

Susan couldn't understand what was taking Jim so long to return. The gas station was probably only about 2 or 3 miles back, and why hadn't she just insisted that they go together? Now it was getting dark and there was no sign of Jim. The landscape was pretty flat up in these parts so you can see pretty far and as far as she could see there was no sight of Jim. "Dammit, it's to dark to go out there now and besides maybe he found someone to drive him back." Susan turned on the radio and turned the tuner trying to find anything. At this point she would even settle for a country western station. But no such luck, there was nothing but squawking and static. She turned it off and opened the rag tabloid that she had already read from cover to cover, she scanned it the best she could. Susan looked out the window again and still no sign of Jim or any traffic for that matter.She heard a loud wail coming from the vast field that stood on both sides of the road, jolting up in her seat she quickly scanned all around and made sure the doors were locked and the windows were rolled up. Susan silently prayed for Jim to hurry up and return with the spark plug."Good God, she thought what if the gas station doesn't have any spark plugs? what if that was what was keeping Jim from returning?" Susan leaned over the seat and reached into the back for the cooler, grabbing out a soda she spotted a new magazine that Jim must have bought for her when they stopped at the gas station the first time, the same one that he had to hike back to for a damn spark plug."  Susan grabbed the magazine and smiled as she read the front, "Dennili devasted as Ashford caught cheating!" She began to page through the magazine when there was a loud bang, almost like a gun shot coming from behind the vehicle. Instinctly Susan ducked down and peeked over the seat to see out the rear window. It was much to dark now to see anything. She felt real fear welling up inside and once again wished she had gone with Jim to the gas station.



Jim heard what sounded like a gun shot and he looked all around but didn't see anything in the darkness that surrounded him. He couldn't wait to get back to Susan and the car so he could get the plug in and they could get to her parents place. Jim knew he was close now, it seemed to take the attendent forever to find the right spark plug but Jim was just happy the guy had one. Jim began to jog and then heard howling off towards the dark field on his right, he bagan to run a little faster until he could see the outline of the car about a mile ahead of him. Sweating and panting from being a little out of shape and a little heavier than he probably should be he felt a cramp in his side which turned into a sharp pain and he came to stop. He grabbed his side and began to rub at the pain. He walked along at a slower pace and wished he had followed through with his resolution to get back into the gym. A snapping sound came from the field and he glanced towards the sound but because of the darkness he wasn't able to see anything. Jim kept walking but also continued to glance towards the area he had heard the snapping noise. The last thing he needed was some wild animal darting out towards him when he was so close to the car but yet still far enough away that it would be able to tear him apart. Jim started jogging again ignoring the pain in his side and was almost to the car when he heard a low growling coming from the tall grass on the side of the road. He ran quicker at that point and could see the outline of Susan in the car, she must have seen him to because she was leaning towards the drivers side now and just as he reached the door it popped open for him. He jumped in and locked the door. Jim was sweating profusely and Susan was staring at him wide eyed. "What, what's wrong?" She exclaimed! "There's something out there. It was stalking me, I think and just as I was almost to the car I could hear it growling." Jim glanced all around and couldn't see any animal but he was not going to take any chances either. "I think I'll wait to put in the spark plug for a little bit anyway. Susan smiled and agreed silently. She leaned over towards him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. " I kept hearing noises to and I was so worried for you, I didn't know if the gas attendent didn't have a plug or if something terrible had happened. What took you so long anyway?" Jim explained how it took the guy a long time to even find the plug and then he had to walk all the way back in the dark so he was getting freaked out by all the strange noises he was hearing! They embraced each other for a while, both of them happy to be together. "I think we'll just rest for a little bit and once the sun starts to come up I'll change the plug and we can be on our way, ok?" Susan agreed and snuggled into Jim and they both shut there eyes to get some rest.



It's eyes shined against the dark and it watched, quietly waiting till the exact moment when it would make it's move. It was proud of the patience it showed, sure it could have taken the man at any time but it wanted them both. So it didn't make a move, instead it toyed with the man a little bit. Even though it knew you shouldn't play with your food, it enjoyed and even craved the smell of fear coming off the man. Grinning with it's huge mouth, it's sharp teeth glistened and a small pool of saliva streamed from the corner of it's lips. It howled again loudly and could see the shadow of the man and women bolt upright and the air filled with the strong scent of fear, but it also smelled of death and it's long serpent like tongue darted out and licked at the scent in the air. It crouched down and waited for the sun to make it's appearance because it also knew that the man and women were also waiting for that to happen before they would leave the safety of the car. 



Susan awoke to the sun rising and nudged Jim. He stirred alittle but wasn't quite ready to stir from his slumber. Susan had to pee but didn't want to get out from the car by herself just yet. She scanned the field around them and once she was sure there wasn't anything lurking around she decided it was safe to get out and go to the bathroom. Just as she was about to open the door she thought she saw something moving in the tall grass near her side of the car. She hesitated and watched intently towards the spot she saw movement but the grass was still. Susan grabbed the handle and slowly opened the door, just as she was about to step out the door something bolted from the tall grass and flew towards the open door. Susan never even had a chance to scream and it was on top of her, slamming into the car door causing it to slam shut. Jim jumped up from the noise, just in time to see Susan being dragged away into the tall grass! He jumped up and without thinking, Jim was out of the car and racing towards the spot he had seen Susan's body being dragged off. "Susan," he screamed as he ran after her... "Susan, i'm coming!" Jim ran blindly after her and when he could no longer see where it had dragged her off to, he stopped and turned around frantically searching his surroundings! Jim felt something slam into his back and he lurched forward, collapsing onto the ground. He never even got a good look at what had caused him to fall when he felt something crushing down on his skull. Jim began to scream and he felt something warm and sticky running down his forehead. He began to lose consiousness and he drifted away into a sea of red.



Martha and Roland drove up slowly and peered into the car parked on the side of the road. Martha turned to Roland and said, " isn't that weird? Who'd leave there car door wide open and just sitting on the side of the highway? You don't think something happened to the cars owner, do you?" Roland shook his head and answered that he didn't know one way or another! Roland didn't like the looks of it but he didn't want to scare Martha either so he patted her leg and said we'll call it in when we get tot he next town. There was nothing they could do and if it was something crazy going on he didn't want to put Martha or himself in danger.

"should we check the car?" Martha asked and Roland shook his head no. We should do as I said and call it in to the local authorites once we're in town.