Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Daily Story 13: Hitching

I feel the bones in my legs splinter apart as I hit the concrete, and before I have a chance to fall down completely I throw the device as hard as I can towards the shocked onlookers. Immediately the world vanishes, replaced by freezing darkness. It only lasts a second and then light explodes around me as I catch the device. I take one last look at the poor bastard with the mangled legs and turn to run.

The first few steps are disastrous and I nearly fall before realizing I'm wearing high heels. I kick them free and run as fast as I can. My breasts are flopping all over, my bra isn’t exactly made for this. I press one arm against my chest and that helps, but really I need to be a man again, preferably one with good shoes.

Making a detour through the park I find a jogger easily enough. He sees the panic on my face and stops, asks me what's wrong - as if on cue, the agents come around the corner behind me, yelling. I press the device into the jogger's hand. "Take this, quickly!" I yell, and the world flickers. I'm running, weaving to keep trees between me and the gunshots that sound so close over my shoulder.

I'm back across the street, once more surrounded by people and buildings. I need to get ahead of them a little further, make some rapid changes so they can't track me. I turn down an alley, see too late that it's a dead end. One of the men turns in after me and I try to grab for his gun but it's not going well, the barrel is slowly creeping towards my face. Desperate, I bite him. He pulls back, just for a moment, and I slip the device down the back of my pants. The man is about to shoot when his partner turns the corner.

"What the hell is going on?" I yell, doing my best to look confused. "How did I get here? Who are you?" I hold up my hands, trying to make it look like I'm cowering in fear but really wanting them to see I'm not holding the device. "I swear to God I don't know anything, some woman ran up to me in the park and next thing I knew I was here!"
There’s no way they can be buying this, but the second agent points his gun at the first - just in case.
"Okay. This is easy to sort out. What's my wife's name?" Shit, there goes my plan.

Wait... The first guy looks nervous. He doesn't know!
"Just, just put the gun down. Here, I'll tell you something else."
"LOOK OUT!" I yell as I point at the first agent. His gun lifts instinctively, agent two panics, and it’s over. I didn't think his trigger finger was that itchy - he must be really scared of me. He turns, shaking, and as he looks to see if anyone on the street is going to investigate the noise I take his partner's fallen gun and put two rounds through him. So, you know, I guess maybe he did have a reason to be scared.

For the first time since escaping I think maybe I'll make it. I'll hop from person to person until I reach the West coast, live on the beach where it's all water and light and I can forget the icy void on the other side of the device.

8 comments:

  1. Ohhhhhhhh this was great .... are you going to continue with this story????

    ReplyDelete
  2. I might, yeah. Certainly there's a lot of unexplained backstory there, plus he has to figure out what to do next.

    With 352 days to go, it's likely that I'll end up continuing several stories.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hell yeah, this one is full of hooks for more stories. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yep, great. This is the best one yet. Keep 'em coming.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lovin' it! This is such a great idea for you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I had to have Doug help me to understand how the woman could have given away the device and then still have it. I did not get that the person had changed bodies. Maybe you could make that a little clearer. Once I got it though it was a great story.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Steven,
    You have been tagged, the details are on my blog.
    SQ

    ReplyDelete
  8. After all the great writing you have done, this one is still my favorite.

    ReplyDelete