They swung open the cage door, cattle prods at full power, humming with electricity. The man lazily lifted his hands in surrender. "Now, now." He said softly. His voice was like velvet. "No need. I'll do as you please." The man in the cage said, his...
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The car jumped as one of her tires dipped into another unavoidable pot hole, the half rusted springs of the old suspension system squealing alarmingly before settling again. The road had gradually gotten rougher with each successive mile she had driven, and wilder too. Hearty fir trees and scraggly bare alder's hung over the narrow path, while brown grass cracked through the pavement like greedy fingers searching for something to grasp onto.
No one had maintained the road in a long time, and she doubted anyone was around to care anyways. It had been several hours since she'd last spotted a building of any kind, and even longer since she'd seen another vehicle.
The little red needle on her fuel gauge was perilously close to the 'E' that glowed ominously up at her. A nervous frown pulled the corners of her mouth down as she nudged the heat down a notch. It was frigid outside but she was using up gas that she couldn't spare. The drive back was a solid six hours- there was no way she could walk all that way, let alone in the dark that had been persistently deepening the further north she drove, and even if she had her phone there surely wouldn't be any service.
That left her only option ahead of her, cracked by grass and surrounded by trees that blocked out the starlight above. She mouthed a little prayer to herself that the town would show itself soon.
The words had barely lifted from her tongue when she saw the flicker of light ahead of her. It was only a small one, shining dimly through the woods like a candle might shine in a dark room, but it was enough to kindle the hope for a gas station.
As the building began to take shape through the bare trees, her heart dropped a beat and her frown returned. The structure had only a small, crooked wooden sign above the covered porch of the building. She glanced over it.
Rat Bones: Bone Broth & Ale
Charming.
The name alone would have normally been off putting enough for her to continue on past the decrepit place, but she couldn't see any other buildings in the distance, and at the very least, she needed to know how much further she had to go before finding a station. Maybe even hitch a ride with someone else to get all the way there and back with the spare gas can she kept in the trunk.
With a defeated sigh, she turned into the mostly empty parking lot and turned off the engine. Just a quick run in to check and then back out again, she told herself.
She got out of the car carefully so as not to slip on the ice, her bag clutched tightly in one hand, the other on the keys in her pocket. Sucking in a sharp breath at how cold the night had grown, she cast a glance up that revealed a clear night sky. There wouldn't be any snow to punctuate the miserable cold, at least.
The steps to the front porch creaked as she walked up them, bowing and rattling as her weight shifted. On one of the windows a metal sign proudly stated that the place was open in chipped curling letters. They looked like they might have been red once.
