Lifers 20

‘What the hell was that?’ shouted Jill.

Vicky still stared through the cracked windshield whilst holding tight to the dash. ‘There was someone in the road. We hit someone,’ she said.

‘What?’ Jill heard quite clearly what Vicky said, she just didn’t want to believe it.

Vicky turned. ‘We just killed someone, Jill.’

Both of them looked through Jill’s window, back along the stretch of road that fifteen seconds ago was right behind them.

‘Is there a flashlight in the car?’

Vicky nodded. ‘Yes, in the trunk, inside a shoebox with my old sneakers.’

‘Nice,’ said Jill, reaching down to pull the lever under the dash. She went to get out but stopped. ‘You are coming, aren’t you?’

‘What, are you fucking crazy?’

‘We can’t just leave; we have to see what we hit. It might have been a deer or something,’ she said, more in hope than honest belief.

Vicky still had the fingers of her right hand sunk deep into the dash; her left arm was across the top of the front seats as she leant in towards Jill. ‘I saw it, Jill. And believe me ... it was no deer.’

‘Well I’m going to find out for sure.’ Jill climbed from the car and walked around to the open trunk where, after a good rummage, she located the shoebox and the flashlight. She turned with a fright to find Vicky standing right beside her. ‘Fuck! You scared the shit outta me!’

‘After you,’ said Vicky.

Before switching on the flashlight, Jill turned to look back along the road with Vicky stood well tucked in behind her. Fifty yards in front of them, something lay there quite still, something that looked to be about the same size as a body, or a deer or something. With little more than a silent click, Jill switched on the flashlight and started to move towards it. Vicky, being her usual brave self, chose to remain tucked in behind.

Although the sky offered up a full moon, the limited amount of light it gave was continuously being interrupted by thick, dark clouds, gusting across its path. The rumble of thunder sounded way off in the distance, and the night air felt muggy, humid, indicating a large summer storm was on the way.

‘Will you get up here, Vicky?’ whispered Jill.

Vicky, though somewhat reluctant to do so, moved slowly to Jill’s side where they both linked arms and walked towards the shape lying in the road. Jill still hoped it was a stray animal she’d hit, but the nearer they got, the more she realised it wasn't. An immense feeling of dread funnelled through her whole body when she saw a foot, a hand, and then a face.

They stood about five yards away, both looking on in silence at the sight lying before them. It was indeed the twisted body of a man. He’d landed on his back in the centre of the road with his left arm protruding out from under him; his right arm looked to be grotesquely dislocated as it lay across his neck. His head lay twisted in their direction, and his legs, from the knees down, were bent in the opposite direction to what they should have been. He wore a black leather jacket, a black T-shirt, and dark blue jeans. One white sock, his left, was visible as a boot came off during the accident, and now lay between them and the body.

‘We’re gonna have to check,’ said Jill.

Vicky shot her a look. ‘Check? What’s to check? Can’t you see the guy’s a pile of shit?’

‘Check to see who he is, or was.’

‘Okay, but you can go through his pockets. I’ll hold the flashlight,’ she said, snatching at it.

Walking the final five yards to the man in the road, took them longer than the previous forty-five. After a long pause to pluck-up the courage, Jill crouched to start looking through his jacket pockets.

‘Try his inside pocket,’ urged Vicky.

‘Do you wanna do this?’ she snapped in a whisper.

Jill found nothing on his person that would identify him, and was about to stand when she noticed something glint beside the body. Curious to discover what it was, she reached out, picking it up.

Vicky wasn’t watching; she was too busy shining the flashlight over the man’s face. ‘Do you know how to check for a pulse?’ she asked.

‘Sure,’ said Jill, reaching out. ‘You just press here, or here, or was it-’

She stopped to look in to the trees, the whoop-whooping noise from earlier had neared. She also saw flashlight beams bouncing and weaving about between the trees.

‘Come on,’ she said. ‘We need to get the fuck out of here, right-’

What stopped Jill in here tracks this time, was when she turned back to look at Vicky, Vicky was looking beyond her and along the road. Apart from seeing a look of horror on her face, Jill watched as it changed colour, first blue, then red, then blue, then red again. She turned to see where the multi-coloured lights were coming from, and then a deeper feeling of dread funnelled through her.

‘Shit! Now we’re really fucked!’ she said.