Revenge Road SLC#1

Revenge leads a man to make a fatal mistake

The tire tracks stood out on the gravel road like little neon signs saying “we went this way, come get us”. The four-wheel drive Tom was driving barely fit on the road, its tires tearing up the gravel as he hit 110km/ph. “those b******s can’t be to faraway” He thought, Jenny. Oh poor Jenny. she had still been warm. He blinked the tears away, there would be time for grief later for now he let rage take over. He reached across the seat and checked the 12 gauge was loaded. The truck bounced as he hit a massive ditch that stretched the width of the road. the tire tracks faded as the road went from gravel to tarmac. It didn’t matter though, the road continued straight ahead for miles with only a few turn offs to other neighboring farms and lifestyle blocks. At the end of the road was town, and from there they could only travel west out of town to get to the highway that takes them out to the interstate. He could catch them; he knew the surrounding area better than anyone. As he continued to speed down the road his rage slowly faded as the effects of what he had witnessed took hold. Jenny, her small body lying broken on the stairs, her golden hair, stained red, fanned around her pretty little face. Her arms bent at unnatural angles, how they got broken he didn’t want to think about. If they made his poor baby suffer...no he couldn’t think about that. He wiped the tears from his eyes. his poor baby.

 

He had been driving back home from a trip down to the store to get Jenny a new colouring book and some fancy pens from the craft store for her 4^th birthday. Amy from next door had been looking after her while he had been out. It was supposed to only take an hour or two but he had ended up getting caught up talking to Philip, a man who said he was out of town waiting for some friends to finish up a job they were doing so they could hit the road again. This was nothing new, the small township of Gullvern was always getting new farm hands in for all the local farms. Wasn’t uncommon for them to arrive and leave in groups. Tom had left town at about 11:36 AM, hoping to arrive back home in time to catch the end of the lunch Amy would have made Jenny. As the road had turned to gravel an approaching car had forced him to pull over as it was traveling far too fast for the narrow roadway. He’d shouted at them as they passed but all the passengers ignored him. Taking them for a bunch of joy riding farm hands he pulled back onto the road and continued home. Everything had looked alright at first glance, it was only as he pulled up outside that he noticed the door was ajar. Jenny always was quick to run inside when asked and had a habit of leaving it open. He’d gotten out of the truck and across the porch, his keys jangling as he pocketed them. He had thought it a bit strange that Jenny hadn’t run out giggling at the sound of his truck, but as he nudged the door he thought maybe she was busy having fun with Amy. The door didn’t move. He gave it a push and it pushed back a little, sounding as if it was dragging on the door. He pushed again and went through the opening and tripped over something lying in the entrance. He rolled over and looked at the door and his blood ran cold. Amy lay on the ground, her “rock till you drop” shirt stained a dark crimson red. He scrambled over to her and moved her hair from her face. Her lifeless eyes stared back at him. Her shirt was soaked in blood, the floor boards around her slick with it. The palms of her hands were dried red, she hadn’t died instantly. She’d bled out. Then Tom was up and running, shouting out for Jenny over and over. He’d raced around the first floor. She wasn’t in her room, the lounge, the kitchen. He’d raced up the stairs and stopped on the landing and broke down. His poor baby girl lay sprawled at his feet, her hair wet with blood, her eyes staring blankly into space. She was dead. His baby girl. Who did this! Who killed her? It then dawned on them, the men in the car racing down the road. those b******s! He didn’t want to leave Jenny again but they needed to pay. There were no police, this was his to sort out. He had raced to his room and pulled the 12 gauge and the ammo sack out the cabinet and ran to the truck.

 

the truck crunched along the road, the engine making sounds Tom didn’t like. “Come on don’t crap out now!” he yelled slapping the wheel. The engine cut out for a second then a bang sounded from under the hood and black smoke billowed out. He slammed on the brakes. “Screw it” he yelled. He couldn’t let them get away, he must’ve been close now. He grabbed the 12 gauge and reached into the back seats and rummaged around for the ammo sack. He felt material under his fingers and grabbed it, pulling it into his lap. It felt light in his grip and he realized he’d grabbed Jenny’s little pink bag. He gave a little gasp as he realized she would never wear it again. He set it down gently on the passenger seat, like it was made of fragile glass. He rummaged round for the ammo bag and dragged it out. Without thinking he pushed it inside Jenny’s bag and fiddling with the straps, threw it onto his back. He slammed the car door and started jogging down the road, he could still catch them, he had to.

 

After 10 minutes of solid jogging he entered town. He asked everyone he could find if they had seen a black car carrying all males speeding through. No one had seen anything, but he suspected they were more concerned about why a grown man was running around with a gun and a child’s backpack. He couldn’t tell them why; they would try stop him. He was about to set off towards the highway when he heard a screech of wheels and the same black car shot around a corner behind him. It barreled down the street as he unslung the shotgun and aimed at the car, people around him screaming as he fired off his first shot. The hood of the car took the shot and it swerved on the road. Tom reloaded and fired a second time, the shot going into the hood again as the car angled straight towards him. To late Tom realized they were aiming to run him down. He went to move as the car moved beside him but instead of hitting him it swerved to the side and after a brief moment he felt a stabbing pain in his side as he fell to the ground. The shotgun spun from his hand. He couldn’t get up his side was in agony, he’d been shot. Jenny’s bag on his back was propping him up and he had a perfect view as Philip got out the car and approached him. “rough luck Tom, you really were a nice fella. Shame you had to try act the hero. Oh well, least you’ll be able to go see your little girl. One of the boys says she screamed the whole time she was dying, horrible, horrible screams. Go comfort her” and with that he aimed the gun at Toms head and pulled the trigger.