Bloodshot

..Bitter experiences..

On the first Tuesday in June, I found myself driving north into Washington on I-66 under a huge warm front that stalled over the Mid-Atlantic region. It was a gray, rainy day. The wipers squished monotonously on the windshield of my old black Mercedes coupe. A leak between the windshield and the hardtop that I had fought for years dribbled on the passenger's seat. The coupé was one of my assets, a present from my father on my twenty first birthday and that was approximately four years back

I held the steering wheel firmly as my whole body shook due to the cold wind that tunneled through the leak. I needed a lot of things to buy at hand, a thick hoodie, a handful of paper towels, a rubber seal, a tube of glue, a cup of hot java, a pit stop, sausage rolls, la-di-da and blah blah blah. Perhaps a McDonald's or a mart would help. Sandwiched between trucks, I popped the shifter and overtook the trucks, trying to avoid the spray from their tyres at seventy Miles per hour

Apparently, the weeks the car had spent this winter alternatively baking and freezing outside my apartment has been too much for the goo and do-it-yourself rubber seals that I used to plug the leak last summer. As I drove on, I reminisced about the previous week. Tedious, hectic and bloomy as well, I spent hours drawing blueprints, cleaning up routine paperwork at office, replacing the leaking water heater in my apartment and putting a new battery in my car. The mindless routine and endless rain had me in a gloomy mood that Tuesday evening. I exhaled hard and cruised the highway while watching rain fall from a slate sky and stream across the windshield. I wasn't in the mood for the radio, the monotonous squishs from the wipers, the endless traffic, the subdued daylight, the dribbling leak and the drifting cold all had their way with me.

Finally, I saw a McDonald's just by the highway. I steered into the parking lot and slid the Mercedes to an halt before I bailed out into the eatery after scooting through the rain. I took an hot cup of Java and sausage rolls and I soon felt better. Perhaps, hunger was one of the architects of my gloomy mood. I bought the other items I needed from a nearby mart and strutted back to my coupe, I wiped off water from the passenger's seat with a handful of paper towels and rammed a rubber seal into the leak before I applied some glue, then finished it by taping it with a duct. I put the Louis Vuitton hoodie on and quickly gobbled a hot sandwich and washed it down with an hot coffee, then I burped loudly - pretty absurd of me -

I ignited the old Mercedes engine and it howled in response, I popped the shifter to reverse and abruptly, my cellphone buzzed in it's holster. I glimpsed at the caller and sighed in protest
"Dad" I exclaimed derisively " What's it again"
I picked the phone from it's holster and placed it on my left ear after answering the call
"Hello Dad, what's poppin' ? I greeted coldly
" Tom, is your sister with you ? He asked in a shaky but rather loud voice, his voiced clearly exhibited fear as if something frolicked with his adrenal system.
" Nope, it's been a while I've seen her "
" Oh Christ! "
" Any problem? "
" I've not heard from her since two days "
" What the heck! Have you tried phoning her violin lessons coordinator? or her phone, is off or unreachable?"
" She doesn't know her whereabouts either. She is baffled as we speak cuz' she said Charlotte never misses her lessons and moreover, we tried phoning her but it's off since yesternight"
" Pew!" I exhaled hard to ease the adrenaline gush in my body "I'll inform the cords "
" OK son, be quick. It's getting harder on my heart "
" Ease it sir, I'll get back yo you " I hung up and returned the phone back to it's holster
- More glooms - I thought

Actually, I didn't notice something outside my car, yep! , just by my left. I heard a gentle knock on my car's window and I looked at my left in reflex. Jeez!... I found myself staring at the muzzle of a silenced pistol. The silencer looked as big as a sausage but the hole in the middle meant business. The man holding the pistol was dressed in a overall black outfit, all wet as the rain drenched him like hell. He motioned me to wound down the car's window, but I thought he wouldn't need that. Just a squeeze, a 9mm bullet would find it's way out of the muzzle, crash through the window and ram into my skull - real slow and silenced. I wound the car's window down slowly as I breathed at miles per hour, my face dripped wet with instant perspiration regardless of the cold weather. A casino of thoughts wheeled through my head , but I was too afraid to think. All that mattered to me was how to duck immediately the man pulled the trigger - Easier said than done - I thought
Finally, the car's window went down and the man showed his masked face
" Great Tom Tolland, to hell with you and your sister " The man snorted derisively
Then a black Land Rover SUV outside the parking lot blared its horn loudly, the man with the pistol looked back and signalled a " chillax or ease it " at the SUV, yep! He got a company, my chances of surviving narrowed down instantly.
The man started talking again but all he said looked slurry, he ought to have done the shooting before the talking once and for all. I needed something- an idea, a weapon, an escape plan or Jason Statham's combat skills, but I couldn't even think of a damn thing.
Then my instincts cranked up, the Mercedes' engine was on, the gear in reverse and my right foot slumbered on the accelerator - All I needed- I thought
Still looking at the man's face, I jammed the accelerator to the floor and backed up at full throttle. The engine howled in response and the tyres slid roughly on the wet asphalt. The car's sudden movement bonked the pistol out of his hands and made the gunman stagger a few steps backward. I maintained a reasonable amount of meters away from the gunman before I braked to a halt. I manned the wheel, then popped the shifter to the first gear and charged my coupe towards him.
The gunman quickly picked up his pistol and squeezed off bursts of 9mm bullets which shattered the windshield, yep! The glass exploded sending a barrage of glass shards all over the cabin - Thank goodness, I had ducked earlier-
Bullets ricochetted into the cabin, smashing into the dashboard and the seats. Then the firing stopped, I looked up and saw the gun man trying to reload his magazine but this guy was such a scum. He was still pushing another mag' into his pistol while my coupe rocketed towards him, then he tried to jump out of the way.
Too late - I thought
I hit him a hell of a lick, he flew backwards through the air and landed on the wet asphalt, then I felt two thumps as I ran over him. I took an handbrake turn right at the exit and popped the shifter to the second gear, then, I cruised through the rain recklessly as more adrenaline gushed through my body, causing me spasms. The little leak that always made me grump had turned to a huge ditch, the windshield was gone. The rain crashed into the cabin without remorse so as the cold wind.
I was getting drenched and freezing gradually but I just kept on hammering the gear, driving recklessly through the traffic. I felt like Vin Diesel or James Bond as I overtook every vehicle that cruised beyond my speed. Then suddenly, a barrage of bullets hit my coupe's body letting out a shower of scintillating sparks, I stole a glance at the side mirror and saw the gunman's company tailing me in their SUV. A man in a black suit popped a MP-5 out of the right window and fired sporadically at me. Then he cut my point of view afterwards, a few 9mm parabellum round bullets rocketing at four hundred meters per second slammed into the side mirror sending shards of glass right into my face. My cheek and forehead burned in blistering pains and sooner, I felt blood cascading down my face. I explored my face with my left hand and yep! I extracted several glass shards
-Lucky that glass didn't hit me in the eye-
The pursuit rolled on and stoccato bursts from the submachine gun chewed my coupe's body, I wondered how many clips of mags' the gunmen had, and moreover, the submachine guy was a bad shooter. He should have popped my tyres or shoot at the fuel tank. Maybe he wasn't familiar with Arnold Schwarzenegger or Chris Hemsworth movies - I thought
My Mercedes temperature rose due to the constant revving of it's engine and the chewing action of the MP-5. I wished I had a MAC-10 or a Uzi. I should have done a drive-by shooting and iced these pricks - real slow
The feeling of death,fear, shock and escape made me forget about my gloomy mood as well as my missing sister and my father's rising blood pressure. All that mattered to me was escaping and losing these scums. Sooner, the distant wails of police sirens erupted and echoed through the cloudy atmosphere, I was the illuminating flashs of the dome lights approaching us and I felt hopeful and lucky. I cruised recklessly through the endless traffic and then, oops! I didn't notice the red light of a busy crossroad, my coupe almost made out through the crossroad when I heard a truck's horn blaring in protest. I didn't know where the truck was actually but a second later, I heard a loud bang on my passenger's door which turned out to a CRASH!! throughout the cabin.
Yep! I had successfully ran my coupe in front of a Peterbilt 18- wheeler which took no time in lashing my coupe into the air. Glass shards ricochetted everywhere as I shielded my eyes to avoid getting hit, my coupe was upside down in mid-air when something as huge as a giant's spear impaled right from the hardtop and smashed out through the floor barely missing my head. Then everything jerked to a halt and glass pebbles showered all over the car's cabin. Thank goodness I had a seatbelt on - I would have been dead by now
" Last moments - Last moments "
It looked horrible
I looked around in dispirit and slowly , the world went dark 🌑...