Y.E.E.T.

Good Samaritan

  The heat was unbearable on the road to Timbuktu. The windshield was a magnifying glass that slowly toasted Jessie alive. She wound down her window and turned on the AC, but it was no use. Even the air was smothering.

Her phone rang in the passenger seat; the caller was a familiar face. At first, she ignored it; she was an advocate of 'no phones while driving', but then who drives through the Sahara in the afternoon?

"Hello," greeted Jessie through the phone.

"Hey girl, how are you doing..." her friend answered. "How long until you get there!"

"Well, Timbuktu is still a day and a half away... that's if I keep driving nonstop. But I think I'm gonna have to stop for a rest. The sun is the freaking worse, my car is overheating, and everything smells like melted plastic."

"You're the one who wanted adventure so there you have it." Her friend's voice became raspier over the phone. "Hope you have everything you need; gas, water, food, first aid kit and fresh..."

"I have everything please stop talking," she laughed, more to herself than to her friend. "... I needed this though, better than being home alone and bored and even better than being with my family. Haven't talked to my mom yet and don't plan to either..."

Her friend went on talking about 'family matters' and 'you need to stop the mother-daughter strife instead of gallivanting around the world'. Jessie ignored her and was about to cut her off when her rented old station wagon made a final mechanical roar, then came to a sudden halt.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Jessie yelled in a rage. "I knew this car was a scam!"

"You see I told you," her friend continued. "Dis why I be calling you. You're a magnet for bad luck..." There was a continuous ring, and the connection got lost. Thank god, she didn't want to be the rude one and hang her up.

She quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and went to examine the car. A giant cloud collided with the bonnet as Jessie lifted it. When the smoke started to clear, she spotted what was it immediately. There was a giant hole at the side of the radiator, slowly dripping water from its aluminium shards.

She made the mistake to touch the area and was instantly burnt. She jerked her hand backwards and screamed.

But with her scream, she heard something else... a bang. She ignored it. While clutching her burnt hand in pain, she thoroughly analysed the rest parts of the engine. Then she heard the bang again, this time farther away.

At the top of a golden hill not so far away from the road, was the silhouette of a man pointing a gun at a motionless body sprawled on the blistering sand. He stooped down and fished out a small oval object from the dead body, then disappeared behind a wall of hazy, distorting heat and down the other side of the hill.

Jessie quickly squatted behind her car. She fumbled while dialling 911. Before she could even press the 1, her phone game it' last vibration and died out on her. Dammit!

She reluctantly poked her head out from behind her vehicle, searching thoroughly in case the shooter was still nearby. But no, there was no sign of the killer, only his victim still lying on the heated sand. She wanted to help whoever got shot; maybe they were still alive. But she was deathly afraid and was expecting the shadow killer to return.

She waited, not an exceedingly long wait but more like a twenty-second wait, and then rushed at full speed across the road and up the golden hill to where the body was.