When a billion year old creature decides its time to come to dinner … and the entire population of the Earth is on the menu. Who do you call??

Short Fat Stubby Finger Stories PRESENTS:

THE Night OF the DARKNESS

By Tony Stewart

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PRESS HERE FOR Episode 23 Chapter 21 Part 3

• Published56

LEGENDS: LINKED TO EPISODE 19 (the trip to Trenthamville) 2

The authorities made the decision to allow the seemingly endless line of vehicles caught up in the car-park that was now outer London to continue on their journey to wherever life was taking them that fateful Friday as soon as the last damaged car was removed.   They felt that they had no choice but to do so.   The traffic lined up behind the damaged cars at the James Street intersection was already far more than the traffic lights would be able to cope with once the traffic began moving  again because of all the traffic trying to merge from the side streets.   The authorities quickly realised the use of traffic lights would have led to utter chaos as frustrated drivers were guaranteed to ignore the lights and try to force their way onto Shaftson Road, and that would, more than likely, lead to more accidents.   It was for this reason that they had made the decision, but held back on making any move to announce it until they were certain that half of London’s finest were available for traffic control … and  in place to make it work.  

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    Eventually the road was cleared of the damaged vehicles … and their damaged occupants; the traffic lights were turned off, and a whistle armed policemen was stationed at every feed-in street and potential trouble spot that the authorities could think of.   Then once the authorities felt that every single thing required for a smooth transition was in place the order was finally given to disperse the traffic and the cars began to move forward, albeit at a much slower speed than they would have had the police not been out in so much force.  

   The new head of the pack in the left lane was an affable young man by the name of James (Jimmy) Morrison who was driving a green Mini similar to Mary’s prized antiquity.    Jimmy, a young man on the go who had recently inherited the Mini following the death of his father, was heading to Trenthamville to visit his uncle.   Jimmy’s mother had passed away several years earlier and now that he was alone in life his uncle had suggested it might be a good idea to come down to his farm to visit for a while.   ‘A few weeks in semi-solitude where he would have as much ‘company’ and ‘me’ time as he required’, his uncle had suggested … and Jimmy thought it to be a good idea: a chance to come to grips with his losses and ascertain the direction that his life would take.  

  Jimmy and his uncle had been reasonably close over the years and he was looking forward to spending some time on the farm with him.   Herding the cows to milk them, mucking around with the pigs, driving the tractor, getting up before the sun did, sounded like a great retreat from the twenty four seven computer repair and back up service that had employed him, but it had taken him some time to find reliable fills-in for him while he was gone.   Jimmy knew that he needed a break at the moment, but he had to ensure himself that he still had a job to come back to.   Now, relaxed, everything seemingly sorted out on the home front, he was finally on his way and as he drove he tapped on the dashboard as he spoke,   ‘Thanks, Dad.  I miss you, but I can feel you here beside me every time I drive old Lucy, here.’    Jimmy loved the little green Mini his father had left him.   Driving it gave him a warm feeling and reminded him of the good times he had shared with his father before his illness overcame him.   Jimmy had fallen in love with the car ever since he had first seen the Italian Job with Michael Caine on one of his father’s sixties D.V.Ds, and his father had assured him that he would leave it to him when he went, no matter how long that it took for that to happen … which unfortunately had happened a lot earlier than they both had expected.

   However, despite his love for his own car, Jimmy’s other great love interest when it came to cars was for retro Mercedes Benz … and especially the model that was travelling beside him at the moment.

  It was a beautiful day, the sun was now in full light and Jimmy felt proud as punch as he drove side by side with the elegant grey coloured Merc as they moved towards the on-ramp.   Eventually they approached the turn off to the motorway where the last policeman on point duty waved them on.   But as soon as they had passed him the constable immediately stepped in front of the next two cars, placing one hand in the air to indicate he wanted them to stop as he listened to the two way mobile he had in his other hand.   While the frustrated drivers waited impatiently, mumbling to themselves as they shook their heads in disbelief, the policeman’s head went up and down like a bobble head car dog in agreement with whatever the person at the other end of the line was saying.   Finally he took the mobile from his ear and walked over to a point between the first two cars and indicated for the occupants to wind down their windows.

“Sorry about this, lads.   I know its been a long day, but they are about to turn the traffic lights back on, or at least, these ones,” he said, indicating the lights next to where he was standing, “and about another dozen sets heading back to the city to see how things go … and they don’t want any accidents to happen as a result.   Won’t be more than a moment or so, they say.   It will be a lot safer once they are turned on because it will slow down the amount of vehicles trying to get on to the motorway at one time.   There are a lot of vehicles waiting to enter the motorway just now, as you may have guessed, and we don’t want them all running amok on the motorway at the same time.   They want to make everything a bit safer with so much traffic on the road at the minute.   And we don’t want any more hold ups do we?   Well, thanks lads.    You’ll be on your way in a moment.   Have a safe journey, then.”  

   And in an effort to keep everybody else in the queue happy, especially those that were getting rather heavy on the car horns, the policeman raised one arm high in the air, raised his other arm in the air and tapped his watch with the index finger – then pointed the index finger upwards to indicate one minute before turning the finger in the direction of the lights.  And true to his prediction, forty three seconds later the traffic lights were back in action, the policeman was on his way back to his parked vehicle and the huge stream of vehicles now banked up for over forty five blocks began to move off once again. 

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   While the policeman was busy advising the new leaders of the pack of the intention to turn the traffic lights on, the two original lead cars began rolling forward to the motorway, with their respective drivers unaware of the action taking place behind them.   And as they drove Jimmy felt elated, perhaps ecstatic would be a better word to describe his feelings with the Mercedes at his side.   As he glanced in the rear vision mirror he was surprised to see the growing distance he was placing between the following cars and himself.   He had no idea what had happened behind him, but he was glad that it had … he felt it gave him a short ‘alone’ time with the Big Merc at his side.   He felt this way because the cars were the cars that they were, they were his two favourites, and for just a moment he felt that he was somebody special and allowed his imagination to take control.   Suddenly he was the suave cockney, Michael Caine, travelling casually on his way to one of the greatest robbery getaways in movie history, and Uma Thuram was travelling beside him dressed up as if in her role as Poison Ivy in the Batman and Robin movie.   It didn’t matter to him if the car in the movie was red … it was the same model, and that is what counted.

   ‘When she turned her head to see who was driving the smashing green Mini it would be love at first sight.’ his imagination  told him,  ‘She would manoeuvre the Mercedes in behind the Mini and follow it until it finally pulls over.  Then she would get out of her car, walk over to him, smiling happily as she walked, and they would meet face to face.   And after that…’

   Three beeps of a car horn snapped him back to reality and the first thing he did was check his steering to ensure himself that he wasn’t drifting over to the other lane, which he was.   Sheepishly, as soon as he had corrected the car, he turned his head in the direction of the Mercedes to offer an apology should it be possible and got a pleasant surprise to find the face of a young woman around his own age smiling at him.   Without thinking, he reciprocated.   The young woman increased the radius of her smile, though it was quite obvious it was tinged with a splattering of embarrassment at being noticed.   The young man also increased the brightness of his smile.   ‘The girl was pretty, very pretty.’ He thought to himself, “It is a pity that we didn’t meet under better circumstances than on the entrance to the motorway.’

   At the thought of the motorway he realised that they had almost reached the peak of the hill and were only seconds away from joining the motorway itself, and he began to turn his attention fully back to the road.   Jimmy knew that the cars behind him would most likely attempt to pass him as soon as they reached the motorway.   It could very easily be a nightmare for the first few moments on the motorway as impatient drivers attempted to increase their speed and constantly change lanes as they tried to make up some of the time they had lost due to the accident … and a lot of them didn’t care who they cut off … or how.   So the greater distance that he put between them and him at the time of their initial arrival on the motorway suited him right down to the ground, and at the moment everything was in his favour.

   But just before he gave driving his full attention he decided to risk one more smile.  A quick look to extract his position on the road then he turned his head to his right, hoping that she was still looking in his direction.   So hopeful he even placed a cheeky smile on his face in anticipation, but what he saw on her face gave him cause for serious concern.   The girl’s face, a minute earlier, young, pretty and full of life was now seemingly drained of life as she stared in awe at whatever had caught her attention.   Confused by her sudden change of mood Jimmy turned his head back to the road to locate what she was looking at … and his mind recoiled in surprise at what he saw.  

   Fear was about to completely surround his mind, the unknown was going to control his every move and thought for every yard he now travelled as his front wheels made first contact with the motorway.   Every action, every decision, that he made from that moment on would have an effect on his life forever, or at least, for as long as it took for the massive ball of fire and death to arrive.

PRESS HERE FOR Episode 23 Chapter 21 Part 3