In Their Eyes

-13-

   With a loud bang, something hits the back of the car and it hits hard, rocking it violently.
    Both kids stare out the back. The creature is crouched there, staring in at them with those horrible eyes.
    "He jumped over the train, Trish...", Darry says. Trish grinds the stickshift, trying with all her might.

    "He fucking jumped over the train, Trish!", Darry says. With a loud clunking noise, the car's transmission falls into gear and Trish guns the engine.

     The car lurches ahead, jolting the creature. It clutches the sides of the car as she speeds forward.

     Darry is in a stun, numbed kind of shock.

     Trish dips onto the shoulder of the road, trying to make the ride rough. She swings across the lanes, weaving erratically.

    She tries desperately to lose the thing on the trunk. Trish slams on her brakes. The car swings sideways violently.
   Finally flinging the creature into the air. The kids watch as he flails into space.
   Coat flaps around him, like a giant bat who has suddenly lost its equilibrium.

    It hits the asphalt hard, rolling and skidding. Things fall out of his coat as he does.

    The battle axe clanging noisily on the ground and another insidious looking knive, bounces on the asphalt with a couple of others, like the creatures, coming to an abrupt and violent halt.

    "What the hell are those?", Darry asks. Trish just staring at the motionless heap of black under the moonlight.

    The train's final car moves down the tracks behind them, revealing the dark truck just beyond the flashing railroad lights.

    Both stare ahead at the lifeless heap. The sound of the train fades in the distance and the bells at the train crossing ceases.

    Silence now. Only the sound of their breathing in the car.

    "Hit him.", Darry says, breaking the silence. Trish looks at Darry. "Hit him, Trish. Hard.", Darry says.

    She looks out the windshield. That lifeless mass sprawled on the highway.

    "Do it!", Darry hisses. Trish opens her mouth to respond, then the creatures head begins to rise.

    Its staring back at them. Those blind, ugly eyes burning out towards them.

    Trish slams on the pedal.

    She corrects the position of the car and rockets forward with as much speed as she can build.

    The creature's face caught in the glare of the headlights as Trish slams into it hard.

    The car's wheels pummel it savagely.

    Both kids gramacing with the terrible sounds of cracking and crunching beneath their tires.

     Trish stops now and looks back at her handiwork.

    The cape has flipped over the creature's head and its lifeless figure, complete with tire tracks, lays a little flatter on the road.

    Darry and Trish exchange glances. "You think its dead?", Trish asks.

    "They never are.", Darry says. "Right.", Trish says.

    Trish throws the car in reverse and speeds back at the lifeless shape.
   A sickening distinct sound as the tires roll over its legs this time.
    Trish comes to a halt behind it. Both stare ahead into its high beams, there can be no mistake this thing is flattened.