by Dave Ferraro
***
“I don’t see the others following anymore,” Krystal observed, twisting to look out the rear window.
Amelia glanced back, unconcerned. “They had to turn around too. They just got a late start.”
Krystal nodded slowly. “I guess.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Why is it that the dark seems so much darker when you’re scared?”
“It’s the work of an overactive imagination,” Amelia assured her, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t worry about it. When we’re back at the video store, we’ll just find an alternate route home.”
Jade turned to look back at them. “And since it’s a full moon, it’s actually brighter out than on most nights.”
“Although these damn trees make it seem much darker,” Jordan murmured, his eyes on the road ahead.
Krystal looked back again. “I still don’t see them.”
“Don’t worry about them,” Amelia told her. “We’re-”
“I saw something back there!” Krystal said, sitting up. She leaned back, squinting into the darkness behind them. “I swear to god. I saw something chasing us. Something big.”
Jade glanced at her brother nervously. “Well, not many things can catch up to a car, so we should be safe.”
“Probably a stray dog,” Amelia suggested. “Or a deer attracted by the lights.”
“Speaking of deer, maybe you should slow down,” Jade said, peering at the dashboard. “With these woods, you’ll never see one before it jumps out.”
“I saw a sign warning of deer a while back,” Krystal confirmed, then frowned. “But I don’t think it was a deer. But I guess I couldn’t see it too well.”
Amelia glanced back, worrying that the girl’s paranoia was rubbing off on her. She wondered briefly if she should call Shanna’s phone, just to make sure they were alright. But before she had decided on whether to give in to her instincts, her phone actually began to ring. “That’s probably them,” she murmured, reaching into her purse.
Something suddenly hit the side of the car with a loud smashing sound, and Jordan compensated for the sudden impact by jerking the steering wheel, causing them to swerve a bit before righting themselves.
“Oh, my God,” Krystal screeched. “What was that?”
Amelia tried peering into the darkness as Jordan accelerated. “Something’s out there. Shit.” Her phone rang again, and she plunged her hand into her purse to retrieve it. As she wrapped her hands around it, it suddenly stopped. She paused for a moment, before pulling it out to look at her call history. “It was Shanna.”
“Well, call her back,” Jade told her, putting a clip into a handgun that had been in the glove compartment. “Maybe they know what-”
She was cut off as something landed on the roof of the car, denting the sheet metal.
Krystal screamed as Jordan fought for control of the car again.
Whatever was on the roof pounded on the car relentlessly, trying to make a hole.
“The brakes!” Jade yelled. “The brakes!”
Jordan hit the brakes and they all jerked forward as something large rolled off of the roof and over the hood, tumbling to the ground before the car as it sharply rolled to a stop. It didn’t land in the light of the headlights however, so they couldn’t see what it was.
“Go, go, go!” Amelia ordered Jordan after a few seconds. “It’s probably still out there!”
Jordan obliged, quickly accelerating.
But he wasn’t fast enough. The right back window exploded in a shower of glass and Krystal screamed again, scooting into Amelia, who grabbed her protectively. A fur-covered hand groped at the interior of the car for a moment before it retreated.
“Shit,” Jade swore, eyes huge in her head. “I think it’s-”
Thunder rang in their ears as the creature hit the roof of the car again, its weight causing it to sink and shatter several windows. A hand reached in and grabbed Jade by her damaged shoulder, causing her to yell as she beat it with the gun, unable to get a shot off. Jordan reached over to assist her, which was when he veered too close to the side of the road and the car drove straight into a ditch.
Jordan tried to bring the car around at the last minute, only making matters worse. The left side of the car left the ground and they were suddenly rolling in the ditch.
Amelia’s stomach lurched as the car went upside down, the seat belt digging into her stomach and left shoulder.
Screams resounded amid the sound of crunching metal and glass. Amelia heard the driver’s airbag go off as Jordan grunted. She kept her eyes closed, her teeth clenched as she felt the impact of the car as it hit the ground in ways it wasn’t meant to.
The car rolled three times before it came to a stop, steam pouring out from under the crumpled hood, glass raining down over the people within. When it settled upside down, Amelia realized that she’d hit her head on the roof at one point, because she felt a warm dampness on her scalp, and had a sudden killer headache. But she fought through it as she struggled to release herself from her seatbelt.
The car suddenly shifted, and Amelia realized that something had climbed on top of it, causing the car to groan under its weight. And then she heard a sound that chilled her to the bone. Directly overhead, she heard the long, triumphant howl of a wolf.