Broke Down.

Broke Down.

By Stephen A Abell – Thursdqy, 5th January 2023.

Number of Words – 300.



         “I don’t believe four words have caused as much trouble as ‘I have a plan!’ Should you hear this phrase, run.
         “We’d been together forever. I still don’t know why I never asked Abs to marry me. Anyway’s, our car had broke down: A flat tyre on a back road in the arse-end of nowhere. I knew we were fubar’d when I noticed the flat limp-home tyre in the boot. Abby berated me, and rightly so. When I bought the car a few months ago, I'd not checked the damned tyre. But, seriously, who does that, right?
         “That’s when she uttered those life-changing words, ‘I have a plan!’
         “We’d passed a dirt road a couple of miles back, and it looked well-travelled, so the plan was to walk there and down the track, hoping we’d find a house and telephone. Cell reception was fubar’d too.
         “Forty minutes and three miles later, the setting sun was deepening the shadows of the thirty-foot spruces on either side of the dusty road. I had that sinking feeling this was logging land, and no salvation awaited at the end of the tree line.
         “We heard the scratching then: Claws on wood.
         “We sped up from a stroll to a trot. Ten minutes later, the shadows in the woodland had grown denser, and the scraping sound was louder…closer. We looked at each other: We needed no words: Terror works fine. We ran.
         “Abby was in front of me when the tentacle slashed free from the forest. Within a second, it had her tightly entwined, restricting her screams.
         “Then, she was gone.
         “I ran fast. Faster.
         “Then I saw you sitting against the tree trunk. Help(?) I thought. But you’re just a skeleton, though a darn good listener.
         “Well, I’m off.
         “You see...I have a plan!”

For the "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge"   by Arakun the Twisted Raccoon