green eyes glowing in the dark just beyond the reach of the headlights.
Jumper whimpered from his seat when she jumped into the cab. With the windshield cleared and the brights on Charlotte could see the creatures approaching, hunkered down and slinking, their long limbs folded up under their bodies. Their eyes glinted in the light and most moved away from the beams, sliding along the sides of the truck, but a few maintained their course.
Charlotte put the truck in drive and slowly pressed on the accelerator. The truck inched forward. She was afraid to go any faster, for fear that the tires would spin, and she would end up in the deeper snow on either side of the path she had cleared. Her hands gripped the steering wheel, and she was trembling even though the cab was warm. The creatures in front of the truck moved out of the way. She could see them baring their sharp little teeth at her, but any noises they made were drowned out by the engine and the blast from the heater. Charlotte leaned forward, intent on the cleared trail, focusing only on the five feet in front of the truck. She was almost there, almost to the end of the drive way where the snow shovel still lay, and the cleared track ended. She stopped. The creatures stopped with her. There was a very real possibility of getting stuck in the snow. The one lucky break was it appeared the snowplow hadn't piled snow against the end of the drive. If she hit a snow bank like that it would be like slamming into a brick wall.
The creatures crept closer, and Charlotte decided it was now or never. She reversed, and slowly backed up. The creatures moved backwards, watching her. She buckled her seat belt and urged Jumper down onto the floor of the cab. He barely fit, but did as he was told. She put her foot on the gas more firmly than before. The tires spun on the packed snow then, found traction. The truck lurched forward, and hit the snow covered section with barely a shudder.
One of the creatures leapt onto the windshield as she cleared the driveway. Charlotte screamed as the thing bared its teeth and scrambled at the glass. On instinct she slammed her boot on the brake pedal, jerked the wheel, and instantly knew it was a mistake. The truck skidded on the last bit of snow from the driveway and careened across the road. Charlotte tried to correct, but it didn't matter. The vehicle was out of control, and it slid across the road.
Charlotte had never believed that your life flashes before your eyes at the moment of death. And it didn't happen to her. What did happen is everything slowed, every second stretched out for minutes. Jumper huddled on the floor of the truck. Her hands squeezed the steering wheel. The red furred creature glared at her through the windshield as it slid away, inch by inch, freed by the laws of physics, its eyes full of insane hate. And she wondered at that. Why would it hate her?
The truck slammed into a tree. Jumper yelped. The breath exploded from her lungs as the seat belt locked across her torso.
She managed to take a breath before looking around. The engine was still running, though it was making more of a coughing than rumbling sound now. From her vantage point she could see that the right front of the hood was crushed inwards. Jumper was whining, but she didn't have time to check on him. Something was scrambling across the roof of the truck.
She could hear the claws scraping across the roof, making a sound far worse than nails on a chalk board. She looked up, and tried to track the sounds with her eyes. They were scrambling about, clawing at the roof, and at the doors. There was a thud as one of them landed on the hood of the truck. The beast on the hood started scratching at the windshield, searching for purchase, a way to get in. Charlotte jumped and screamed as another body hit the truck, this time the drivers side door. Jumper howled.
The beast on the hood reared up on its hind legs and threw its body forward, landing on the windshield with both of its front paws. The glass sagged inwards, still intact, but not for much longer. She could feel cold air seeping in through the cracks. One more time, and it would all cave in, spraying pellets of safety glass all over the interior of the truck. Then they would be in, and there would be nowhere for her to go.
Jumper scrambled on the floorboards, unable to make up his mind as to whether he wanted to attack the creatures or hide. He barked, howled, whined. The sounds he made competed with the rising screeching and chittering surrounding them as the creatures descended up on the truck. They jumped up and down on the roof, threw themselves against the doors. They were in the bed of the truck, hammering on the back window. The truck rocked and shook under the assault. The one on the hood opened its mouth, exposing the yellow fangs crowded in a way that seemed impossible. It raised a single paw, and slammed it into the sagging windshield. As she expected, the glass gave. It sprinkled across the dashboard and her lap with a magical tinkling sound. The creature on the hood screeched with delight, and stuck its head through the opening, its jaws stopping inches short of her face. Charlotte screamed again and tried to jerk away.
The air vibrated, and for a moment, Charlotte was sure it was her screaming, filling the air with sound, and terror, shaking the very fabric of reality. This is what it was like when you die, she thought. But she stopped screaming, and the world continued to buzz. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, and she could feel the strands on her scalp struggling to rise against the weight of her long tresses. The air crackled with electricity as if there were million static discharges zapping across her skin. Jumper doubled down on the howling.
The creatures surrounding the truck froze. The screeching and scrambling claws stopped. The one staring at her, so close to her face she could smell its fetid breath as a dribble of saliva dripped from its half open mouth on to her hand, flicked its ears. She could see the fur standing up along its body. The electricity in the air intensified, the static shocks became painful. The creature in the windshield backed away, catching some fur on what remained of the glass. The scrabbling sounds began again, this time as the creatures scrambled to jump from the roof and the bed of the truck. In the failing light she could see them loping away at an incredible speed, heading for the trees lining the road.
The electrical buzzing in the air stopped, as if a switch had been flipped, and the ensuing stillness was oppressive in its weight. Even Jumper had stopped whining and howling, and Charlotte didn't dare move. They were still out there, waiting for her, she just knew it.
A bright blue light appeared, flooding the road. The bare trees cast long, black shadows in that light, and in the shadows something moved. Charlotte jumped and shrank into her seat. Around the truck, in the trees and farther away, the sound of the creatures snarling and screeching filled the air. Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut against the cold blue light, and pressed her hands over her ears to block the sounds the creatures made, and Jumper's howling.
In an instant, it was over. The blue light blinked out. There was a bang, like a thunderclap, and then absolute silence. Charlotte slowly opened her eyes, and lowered her hands. She shivered. Cold air seeped in through the shattered windshield and snow flakes slowly drifted towards her.
Jumper began shuffling around, trying to climb into the seat next to her. Charlotte ignored him and peered around the outside. It was almost fully dark now, only one of the headlights was working, and in its weak beam all she saw was the ghostly trunks of the trees. The only sound was the wind whistling softly through the windshield and around the truck, and far in the distance, almost inaudible, the sound of the snowplow: engine rumbling, the blade scraping at the snow.
About the Author
JA Ellis was born in Guam, and grew up in Sicily and Spain, before settling in Michigan at the age of ten. As an impressionable child she devoured anything by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Saul and Robert McCammon, which instilled in her a life long love of horror, the supernatural and all things weird. She currently resides in Kentucky with her human son and three feline children. Visit her at:
Blog: https://acreativeexcercise.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JAEllis6
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