End of the Road [PG-13]

[pokejungle]

End of the Road
By Paul [cut out!]​

Nathan tapped his hand against his car?s steering wheel in a steady, silent beat. His black slicked back hair and leather jacket accented his angular face quite nicely. To him, he was boss. He was cool. He was king.
Dusty Texas air filled Nathan?s nose, causing him to sneeze violently. It echoed too loudly in his beat-up ?85 Chevy. He glanced down at his watch. It?s digital numbers showed 2:00. An audible sigh signaled that he had hoped it was later. He had been driving on this desert highway for over two hours already.

?Well, one and a half more hours of this barren wasteland,? Nathan said to himself, ?I better turn on the radio. It?s too darn quiet here.?

He turned on the radio with a deft twist of the knob. Hard rock came down on him like a waterfall. He groped desperately for the volume control, looking frantically down. Finally Nathan found it and turned it hastily to the left. His eyes darted back up to the road, not that there was anything here in the-

A man, crossing the road. Right in the middle of his lane. Nathan could see the look of surprise as the mans face came closer, saw the blood draining, to leave pale skin that was littered with sweat-

Nathan slammed on the breaks, his heavy breathing now louder than the radio. The Chevy fishtailed, but finally stopped right in front of-

Empty road.

Nathan?s eyes swept over the spot the man had been, searching the sides of the road. He quickly opened his door and stepped out, walking a full circle around his car thoroughly scrutinizing the scene. His search even included under his car but he found-

Nothing.

?It must have been a mirage. Ya?must have.? The open land sucked in his words, making him feel tiny in the vast ocean of sand dotted with the occasional cactus, ?I better drink a little bit more water.? He laughed uncertainly.

With another quick scan; he hopped back in his car, ready to hit the road once again. Nathan started up his car, still mulling over the mirage. His water idea didn?t sound so bad. The car was now peaked at sixty, speeding across the tar at a comfortable pace. With one hand, Nathan reached back and felt around for his water bottle that he hadn?t touched since that BP in Houston. His tongue suddenly felt like sand paper. The water bottle was-

Gone.

?Where is that stupid thing?? He reached around quicker now.
Finally his hand closed around a nice, cool-

Scorpion.

Nathan?s hand shot back into the front seat. He was panting loudly and sweat rolled down his face.

?That?s silly. It was my water bottle!? His hand reached into the backseat and retrieved his water bottle.

He quickly swallowed a fair amount, just to realize, that was the last of it. He swore loudly and tossed the empty bottle into the backseat, which was littered with fast food remains. The car came was coming up to a stop sign for a four-way intersection.

Resignedly he looked left. Seeing nothing, he turned his attention to the right-

The man sat calmly in the passenger seat. His head was gruesomely misshapen. As if something had hit him. Blood was caked to his head leading to deep cracks in his skull. One eyeball spun continuously and unhindered in its socket. A slow, deliberate grin widened across the stranger?s mouth. A tooth fell to the seat and rested there.

Nathan bit back a scream. It came out, regardless of his efforts to withhold it. His body was paralyzed with fear. He shut his eyes tight involuntarily. Gradually his heart rate slowed, and his breathing became deeper and more measured. Slowly he opened his eyes. He was-

Alone. No one else was there.

Nathan?s eyes darted back and forth. Nothing remained of his uninvited guest. He looked passed the adjacent seat and found that the stop sign no longer existed. There was no road that intersected his.

Nathan was past scared. He was terrified. Mirages were not something he had experienced before, and not something he knew much about. His mind tried to make that the simple explanation, but-

It couldn?t. Something had happened.

Quickly, he looked at his watch. The digital glow was almost reassuring to him. That he knew was real. Green numbers informed him that 45 minutes had passed since the last time he had looked. That meant only 45 more minutes to withstand this empty-

Well, almost empty-

Highway. It formed into a mantra in his head:
45 minutes, 45 minutes, 45 minutes. It kept him going. His mind couldn?t wander to what had happened or what might happen.

He saw an unusual looking cactus on the horizon. As his car approached, he realized it was a hitchhiker. Normally he would never hesitate to pick up a drifter, but after what had happened, he didn?t know if this was real, or just another-

Mirage?

He slowed his car to twenty, wanting to see if he could tell the difference. The hitchhiker?s clothes were tan with dust, and its backpack looked as if it had a mini desert on top. A large safari-type had covered the face, but Nathan-

Had a bad feeling.

He slowed the car to 10 MPH. The-

Hitchhiker looked up at him. It was a man in his early 20?s, his face covered in stubble, as if he hadn?t been able to shave recently. One of his hands reached down into his belt. A handgun now occupied his right hand. The drifter raised it and shot right into the car with a deafening bang of finality.

Nathan?s body had relieved itself as soon as the gun had come up. Nathan?s foot had slammed on the brakes when the gun had fired. The noise of it had covered his hysterical scream. When he realized there had been no shattering of window, he looked up cautiously. The seen was-

Empty.

Somehow he wasn?t surprised, even though it had scared him half to death, but of course he regretted thinking that. The last thing he wanted to thing about was death. To him, the road had become a haunted house. You knew things would pop out, yet each time you screamed, even though you knew it was a joke.

Once again his car got going, now racing across the road at 75. There were no cops out here anyway-

A siren. The cops were here; he was going to be arrested.

Even though he was sure it was in his mind, he looked out his review mirror. A look of horror crossed his face. It was because there was no police car, it was because of the bullet hole in the center of his forehead. Unconsciously his hand reached up to gingerly touch his head. Of course, there was no hole either. This time he felt almost silly, although, this was so real.

Nathan suddenly realized that he was probably nearing the town his aunt lived in. The reason he crossed this hell. His watch now read 3:15.
?Boo ya! 15 bloody minutes left, and I?m off this place!? A smile lit his face.
Something new had popped up on the horizon.

?This time, I?m not falling for any STUPID MIRAGE!? The latter of his verbal thoughts were yelled.

Now he could see it was a truck, that was driving in his lane. It was going around 90, which was amazing, since it was, after all, a truck. The road almost shook.

?I?M NOT STUPID! I?M NOT GOING TO FALL FOR THIS ONE. NOT THIS TIME.?

He screamed at the top of his lungs, proclaiming to the world.
The truck was almost upon him now. In matter of seconds it would disappear-

Or would it?

For a second Nathan?s confidence faltered, but only for a second. The truck was now ten feet away. 5...4...-

?I?M SMARTER THAN A STUPID MIRA-?


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Anyways...ya. I don't like the ending much, the all caps is kinda cheesy. Any suggests?