Finish It #16: Into the Night

She knew she’d hit something. But what? She saw the shade suddenly jumping or running right in front of her car. Oh no! Her heart was racing while she got out of the car. Maybe it was just her imagination. Maybe it was the fog and the darkness setting in. Maybe she did not hit anything. Maybe it was just the fog. But she felt it too. She slowly made her way to the front of the car. And then her heart froze. There it was.

About thirty feet from the front bumper of her car.

Something big. A deer? She could see fur, black and gray. Deer’s fur aren’t like that, are they? She suddenly wished she had paid more attention when watching those nature shows with her 10-year-old son.

No, that is definitely not a deer. Besides, where are its antlers? Deer has antlers, right?

She stepped closer. It looks more like a dog now, a great big dog but the closer she got, the more she wondered. Do dogs have feet? No, dogs have paws. Her right hand flew over her mouth. Oh god! I’ve hit someone.

It was a man, a naked man. Without hesitation, she shrugged off her knee-length down jacket so she was only wearing her hospital scrubs and threw it over him. What is a naked man doing running across the foggy icy road? She wondered as her life-saving instinct kicked in.

Quickly, her trembling finger moved to the man’s neck. There’s a pulse, good, weak but the important thing is he’s alive and he will survive. “First aid kit,” she breathed and ran back to her trunk. When she came back with the kit to bandage his bleeding head wound, the wound was gone. It was as if it never happened. Was she imagining it?

She shook her head. Either way, this man needs the hospital. Steadily, she placed the man’s left arm around her shoulders and hauled him to the backseat of her car. “It’ll be okay,” she assured him even though he was still unconscious and got in the front seat of her car.

She was glad the road was deserted as she did a hard U-turn and sped toward the hospital.

Five minutes to the hospital, she heard a jolt in the back. The man had woken up. “What are you doing? Where are you taking me?” He said in a frantic voice.

“I’m taking you to the hospital.” She said.

“No, you can’t.” He sat up as she glanced in the rear-view mirror. Her heart seemed to have stopped altogether as she stared into the man’s great big yellow eyes.

She slammed her foot on the brakes. He flew forward by the force but he stopped himself by grabbing the seat. She took one look out of the corner of her eyes and could feel her heart racing ferociously. Those are not hands. They’re like claws. There’s no way this man is normal. “You’re going to let me go, now!” He demanded in a coarse voice.

Frantically, she nodded. He pushed open the door and ran into the night. As he ran, she peeked in the side mirror. He was running on all fours and as he reached the end of the street, he stretched his neck toward the sky and howled.

She sat back, shocked and then words poured out, “Did I just almost ran over a freaking werewolf?!”

I am participating in Finish It, a challenge where we are provided an opening and we are to finish the story.

25 thoughts on “Finish It #16: Into the Night”

Great story and it would be neat to see the development of the relationship between these two from this chance meeting. Some of your verb tensing in the opening paragraphs needs work but I love the plot-line.

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Yinglan says:

May 28, 2015 at 2:33 pm

Thanks. By first paragraph, do you mean the paragraph in capital letters? If so, that paragraph was given. I just wrote the rest.

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- joseph elon lillie says:
  
  May 29, 2015 at 9:41 am
  
  It’s in the second paragraph. “Deer’s fur aren’t like that, are they?” could be “A deer’s fur isn’t like that, is it?” or “Deers’ fur aren’t like that, are they?” and that affects the paragraph below ” Deer has antlers, right?” becomes “A deer has antlers right” or “Deers’ have antlers, right?” Deer deer’s or deers’ I struggle with my animals all the time and my editor friends have to correct me. That’s why my characters seldom hit deer I have them hit simple things to conjugate like tigers.
  
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- Yinglan says:
  
  May 29, 2015 at 9:47 am
  
  Oh, those are thoughts. I like to go in depth to write about what the character is thinking in panicky situations such as this. That’s why the words are italicized. I wish I could’ve written this in first-person. It would’ve been so much better.
  
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- joseph elon lillie says:
  
  May 29, 2015 at 9:52 am
  
  I love the plot line and I think you have given the characters a lot of room to breathe and grow. The story can move in so many interesting directions from this place.
  
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- Yinglan says:
  
  May 29, 2015 at 9:54 am
  
  Thank you and you’re right, there are many direction I can go with this. By chance, they could meet again in very interesting circumstances.
  
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