Shorter Fiction
The Desert
Excerpt from upcoming short story collection anthology entitled
The Carpenter.
It was hot and dry in the desert air.
"No good," I said to myself with a heavy sigh that followed.
"Not good, at all."
I kept turning the key over and over in the ignition. It just kept sputtering and spitting. For one second, I presumed it was a shining light, a glimpse of hope. It just about seemed like I was ready to go, take off, maybe even like lightning. The bike seemed like it was coming back to life, like the living dead, but it just fell lifeless again. All at once, all shut down.
"If I don't get out of here soon, I'm as good as dead."
As I looked up, I could see vultures already circling overhead. They seemed to glare down at me, waiting, an impending doom I could not escape. Then, all of a sudden, I hear rumbling in the distance, what sounds like thunder, I look up. I could see afar off another bike, coming up the way to where I was. As he got closer he slowed down, coming to a complete stop.
"You look like you could use some help," he said with a smile.
"You don’t know the half of it," I replied reluctantly.
"Hop on!"
I hopped on to the back of the bike, settled in and held on. As the engine revved up, I let out a big sigh of relief.
Not today, I thought. Got another day.
We rode down the road for about a few miles until we came to a highway. A little ways further we came to a rest stop. As we walked in the door, everything seemed to stop. All eyes were on us as we took seats at the bar.
"A cold one, for both me and my friend," he motioned to the bartender. He walked over slowly, uncertain, eyeing us both up and down, as he slid the mugs on the counter down our way.
"Lemme know if you need anything else, guys!" He exclaimed as he walked away again slowly, slinging a dirty, torn rag over his left shoulder, tired, as if exhausted from the monotony of having worked here for too long.
"You boys ain’t from around here, are ya?!" The man sitting down next to us asked.
"Well, my friend here was having a bit of trouble with his bike. I saw him as I was riding up and decided to help him out."
The man sat down, stared, glared into his eyes, not moving an inch, then proceeded to move a little closer, inch by inch.
"Whoa!" my friend exclaimed, "We don’t want any trouble!"
"Whether you want it or not man, you found it!" He yelled back.
"I don’t like the look in your eye!"
He threw the stool down beside him, while the men behind him advanced towards us. We were surrounded. I turned to look where my ride was; he was nowhere to be found. The ringleader swung at me, I ducked. I tried to push through them all, but without any luck. I was done for.
All of a sudden, I look up and see this huge, monstrous shadow, a dark figure moving along the back wall. It seemed to be moving all on its own, its own entity, moving like a slick, black scorpion. Slowly the figure gradually continued to glide along the wall, stealthily. The crowd turned suddenly, seeing the colossal creature crawling along the wall, fearing the worst, then gasped, and finally quickly bolted out the door in tremendous fright.
The figure stopped moving until I saw my friend appear.
"Wow, what a crowd, huh? Wonder what their deal was..." he pondered looking up at the full moon, gazing deeply into it now, as we stood outside now, curious as to where everyone had gone.
The bartender was still inside, hiding behind the bar.
"Hey, my friends and I are planning on hiking up a nearby mountain where I do alot of my work."
"Sounds cool. What kind of work do you do?"
"I’m a carpenter. I do handiwork here and there."
"I might take you up on that offer one of these days," I responded.
"Great, well we’re planning on going up there next weekend, if you wanna join the group," he said with a smile.
"I’ll have to see what’s up with my car; it's been in the shop since last Friday."
"Aw, wow man."
"Yeah, and now with the bike..."
"Nah, I understand."
He seemed to be disappointed at my remark, and the situation as a whole. He then proceeded to suck his teeth, wishing there were more he could do.
I got on the back of the bike, got seated, and we headed a few miles up the road from where the bar was. We stopped at a motel.
"Here ya go, man."
"No, I can’t–"
"It’s fine," he said.
As I walked past the front desk, up the stairs, I turned around as I stepped with one foot onto my floor. Room 233. He smiled and waved as he hopped on his bike.
"Alright, man!" He exclaimed with the engine already revved up.
"See ya around!" I waved back.
I opened my room door, threw my wallet on the bed, with myself following behind. Upon the first bounce, I turned over and let out a big sigh of relief, yet also fatigue.
I picked up my cell and called my girlfriend, who was on a flight the next day to pick me up. I messaged the carpenter and said I'd like to join in on their hike.
Better the mountains than the desert, I thought, as I closed my eyes and hoped to never, ever be stranded like that again, holding on for dear life while death glared at me through the eyes of those vultures and the men at the bar.
Another day, I thought. Got another day.
I turned the light over the nightstand off, rolled over one more time, and closed my eyes, drifting off into a deep sleep.
©J.E. 2023. All rights reserved.
