The Road Hog

 

The Road Hog

By Paul McCann

 

I pulled over there on the side of the road with an overheated engine .

I had no idea of my whereabouts as I had been driving all day and needed a break.

The last place I had stopped was a few hours ago at Rossa Valley Vineyards were I had eaten some lunch .

So, I sat there I was feeling tired and soon drifted off to sleep but then I awoke suddenly as if an icy breath had come over me . Something touched my cheek like a kiss of death . There was a strange tension in the air and night was on its way .

Suddenly from over the hill  a strange looking jeep emerged a short  from where I was parked  . I watched as the Jeep thundered on to the highway , like some kind of mechanical monster making screeching sounds with the engine breaching and reaching its limits as the drivers went through the gears one by one . The jeep was elevated with huge tyres; the double exhausts were shooting flames out the back as it burnt its way along the highway like a hell hound bound for vengeance to kill and maim anything that was in its way .

 

I couldn’t resist the urge to follow and see the damage whatever it was going to be.

Along the highway it sped , passing past cars, one by one, until it made its way to a place where it slowed down to a crawl , leaving a long line of traffic in its wake .

Refusing to let anything pass . It crawled at a slow pace until it came to narrow section of the road on a bend where it came to a stop .

The driver got out  and looked creepy . He wore a pig’s head mask over his face to conceal his identity . He held a megaphone and began to talk.

“Today is your doomsday and now you’re all going to die “

 

Some of  the drivers turned around and fled . People in cars and buses were in mad  rushes to get away but as they did the creepy driver pressed a remote button from a hand-held device and from both sides of the road a mechanical barrier rolled across both sides of the road blocking any escape .  

 

He took a flame thrower from out of the jeep and suddenly smoke and flames were streaming out as a warning to anyone who might have an idea to evade the area,

People who sat terrified in their cars ,

Some people began to pray .

The creep pit away the flame thrower and laughed . Shouting again through the megaphone he said ,

 

“ It’s my way or the highway”.

Fear was driven deep into the hearts of many . The road hog took a remote-control  device and with the touch of a button he brough some mechanical barriers across  the road preventing and traffic to enter or leave the area .

 

Nothing moved for a while but as soon a one of the cars tried to make it to the front the road hog lifted his flame thrower and gave a few short blasts in their direction .

Then using his megaphone he said ,.

“No one gets past until I say so . “

In the darkness the drivers were told to switch off their headlights .

Then he took out a set of mobile traffic lights and placed them north and south on  both sides of the road then he said ,

 

“I’m in control now so you will all have to wait until I give you the green light to go “

 

Getting back into his jeep he drove away leaving a huge traffic jam on both sides of the road .

All the cars made way for him to pass through unhindered .

.

The traffic sat waiting for the red lights on the mobile traffic lights to change .

After a while stayed they flashed from red to green allowing the northbound vehicles to get past . When the other side got the green, the northbound vehicle was given a red light to stop . It was as if the road hog was watching the entire scene .

 

The next day news reports on television and radio broadcast the story of the road hog however the version they told was exaggerated . Some reporters made up  fictious tales of what had occurred .

Now the Road Hog had now become media fodder . Different channels began to get on the band wagon . Some reporters had even mentioned that he was a serial killer on the loose on the open roads selecting his victims at random .

The news report was seen by the road hog who was now angry at the lies they told .

 

The public were now in the grip of fear as they would drive their vehicles .

Unfortunately, the road hog had become affected by all the hype and bad media which triggered him into an angry rage .

He reacted in wild response and began tying people to posts on the side of the road . They were given stop and go signs and were instructed by the road hog who communicated to them with a radio he had strapped to their bodies.

These people were all in fear for their lives . The road hog had stolen their drivers licenses and he had their ID and if they refused to do as they were told their homes would be burnt to the ground . The road hog went on a rage operating all over the place from the city to the country . He would suddenly appear on the scene , holding up the traffic and bringing  it to a stop . There was traffic chaos on the roads .

On the highways and back roads ,  night and day he was slowing the traffic down ,  preventing anyone to pass . It was mayhem where ever he went.

Now he would appear anywhere and anytime in a crazed state .

He was armed with various weapons making weird demands from drivers caught up in his power control game .

He stopped traffic for a little while and then move on but during the time he was present there was no turning back or forward on his highway . The road hog was in control and there was only one direction . His .

Some people in the community started vigilante groups to defend their families .

There was a great relief when the news broadcast the story of a truck who had lost its brakes and crashed into a jeep that had been the one driven by the roads hog.

The thing about that was all that was found in the jeep was a pigs head mask .

No body was ever found .

Some of the public were relieved while there were others who lost some kind of hero /

I guess there are all kinds of people out there with different opinions about things ,

During the time the road hog was in action there were no road rage incidents , a drop in car accident and a lot fewer speeding drivers on the roads .

 

The End