My entry to challenge #5
Mist
Reg
frantically rubbed at the inside of the windscreen, but it made no difference,
the mist was outside, not in the car. It had come on so suddenly it unnerved
him. He hated driving at night as it was. It served him right for taking up
tennis in the winter months; driving home in the dark was a given with dusk
falling at 4pm. He was a summer person, he hated winter.
He swerved sharply to miss someone standing at the edge of the road. He looked in his rear view mirror but the mist had enveloped them. Who would want to be out in this?
Then there was another. He just spotted them in time, hearing the screech of his tyres as they twisted on the wet road. But as he avoided them another came into view, until all he could see along either side of the road were outlines of people.
In the dim foggy light he couldn’t make out their features, but they didn’t seem to be moving very fast. He slowed down, wondering where they were had come from. Could there be some kind of concert in the area? It was all countryside round these parts, but surely it was too cold for one of them raves.
At the reduced speed some of their features came into view. Reg wondered if he was seeing things; they all seemed to be slack jawed with their mouths hanging open and arms dangling at their sides. And he was so busy staring he didn’t spot the few that had wandered into the road until he felt the thud of a body hitting the bonnet.
He came to a sharp halt, and jumped out, running round to the front of the car to see who he had hit. It was a bad move. He didn’t see them turn towards him as he squatted down to check the pulse of the person on the ground, and as he readied himself to give mouth to mouth resuscitation he didn’t look up.
He was pushed forward onto the body as someone fell on top of him, and when another body fell on top of that he was pinned to body on the ground. He felt the last of the air in his lungs expel when several more dropped on top, and as he lay gasping, all Reg could think was how he planned to have pasta for his tea.
He swerved sharply to miss someone standing at the edge of the road. He looked in his rear view mirror but the mist had enveloped them. Who would want to be out in this?
Then there was another. He just spotted them in time, hearing the screech of his tyres as they twisted on the wet road. But as he avoided them another came into view, until all he could see along either side of the road were outlines of people.
In the dim foggy light he couldn’t make out their features, but they didn’t seem to be moving very fast. He slowed down, wondering where they were had come from. Could there be some kind of concert in the area? It was all countryside round these parts, but surely it was too cold for one of them raves.
At the reduced speed some of their features came into view. Reg wondered if he was seeing things; they all seemed to be slack jawed with their mouths hanging open and arms dangling at their sides. And he was so busy staring he didn’t spot the few that had wandered into the road until he felt the thud of a body hitting the bonnet.
He came to a sharp halt, and jumped out, running round to the front of the car to see who he had hit. It was a bad move. He didn’t see them turn towards him as he squatted down to check the pulse of the person on the ground, and as he readied himself to give mouth to mouth resuscitation he didn’t look up.
He was pushed forward onto the body as someone fell on top of him, and when another body fell on top of that he was pinned to body on the ground. He felt the last of the air in his lungs expel when several more dropped on top, and as he lay gasping, all Reg could think was how he planned to have pasta for his tea.
Word Count: 406
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