David Wisehart: Blood Alley

Claire couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t focus on the road ahead—

Oh, God, somebody help me!

Claire grabbed Dakota’s fingers, which were wrapped around at Claire’s throat, and pulled back on the digits as hard as she could.

Dakota’s fingers snapped.

The girl didn’t scream.

Claire gasped for breath

The air in the car was thin and hot and tasted like gasoline.

I’m burning.

She had to go forward, faster, to escape the conflagration.

Faster! Faster!

Claire noticed that her foot had slipped from gas pedal. She stomped on the pedal, and felt the engine catch its second wind.

Dakota punched and slapped her.

Claire grabbed Dakota’s hair and yanked her head down between the front seats.

A patrol car raced into the tunnel, unaware of the danger.

“Fowler! I know they lied about you. Let me go, and I’ll tell them the truth.”

“ They know the truth! ”

Dakota’s tried to free herself, but Claire clung tight to the girl’s hair.

“They think you killed your wife and daughters.”

“ Yes! ”

Dakota jerked her head back sharply. Her hair came out in a giant clump, leaving a bloody scalp. But Dakota was free again. She jumped on top of Claire. Straddled her in the driver’s seat.

Claire couldn’t see the road. She threw down the bloody clump of hair in her hand and tried to shove the other girl aside.

Dakota grabbed Claire’s face.

And kissed her.

Locking lips.

And souls.

Claire felt an icy chill inside her. Her muscles tensed. Her chest heaved.

Remember who you are…

Claire put a hand to Dakota’s throat, and pushed the girl’s head away.

But the phantom head of Eldritch Fowler remained, lingering, kissing Claire with an undying passion.

Finally, the Highwayman withdrew and re-entered Dakota’s head to speak with her voice. “ I loved my children—very, very much. ”

Claire understood the awful truth.

Oh God, no.

“It was you,” Claire said. “Nineteen years ago… you and my mother…”

“ Yes! ”

“But you were already…”

“ Dead. ”

Claire slapped Dakota’s face.

“Stay away from me!”

Dakota snarled a warning.

“ I brought you into this world, and I can take you out! ”

“Get off me!”

Claire tried to push Dakota away.

“ Blood Alley is yours, Claire. ”

Ahead she saw the flashing lights of an oncoming patrol car driving straight toward the Hummer and the rushing wall of flame.

The patrol car braked and skidded.

Claire swerved to avoid a head-on collision. She sped past the patrol car. It exploded behind her, feeding the flames.

Dakota started to grind herself in Claire’s lap. “ Can’t you feel it? Blood Alley. Rolling under you like a lover. ”

“What do you want?”

“ You and me, Claire. We could ride this road forever. ”

Claire saw another patrol car speeding toward her, lights on, siren wailing.

“ Nothing can stop us, if you open yourself to me .”

Claire glanced up. The sunroof was open.

She drifted into the opposite lane at 110 miles per hour, aiming straight for the patrol car.

“ Blood Alley— ” said Dakota.

Claire let go of the steering wheel.

“ This is where you belong— ”

She put her hands on Dakota’s waist.

“ This is who you are. ”

She lifted Dakota up.

Forcing the girl’s head through the sunroof.

The Hummer hit the patrol car head-on, climbed the policeman’s hood like a ramp, and launched into the air. The top of the Hummer hit the top of the tunnel.

Claire felt a crash above her, and heard the sickening sound of Dakota’s skull being crushed, her body decapitated.

A torrent of blood rained down, splattering Claire.

The Hummer landed hard on the road.

Claire let go of the bloody torso. It fell back against the front passenger seat. Claire grabbed the steering wheel and regained control.

She saw more oncoming traffic, emergency vehicles responding to a distress call. Claire weaved in and out of the onrushing convoy. She swerved left to avoid an ambulance—right to avoid a fire engine—left again to avoid a patrol car. Playing chicken with a dozen vehicles.

A paramedic truck sideswiped the Hummer.

The front passenger door ripped off and fell away.

Behind her, vehicles drove headlong into the fireball, feeding it. Ten, twenty, thirty explosions. The shriek of metal and roar of flame.

Claire saw the end of the tunnel.

Almost there—

Dakota’s headless corpse sat up in the passenger seat. Claire saw the Highwayman’s head on the bloody stump of Dakota’s neck.

The dead girl’s body was still possessed.

The Highwayman laughed, revealing his one gold tooth.

In the passenger seat, Dakota’s corpse taunted Claire with a death-rattle laugh. The front passenger door had been torn off in the collision with the paramedic truck, and now the wind and flames rushed in through the gaping hole.

Claire took her foot off the gas, pivoted in her seat, and kicked Dakota into the flames. The corpse launched out of the car, bounced off the tunnel wall, and disappeared into the flames.

The enormous fireball chased Claire to the end of the tunnel.

And out.

Beyond the tunnel, Claire drove past a row of parked patrol cars, then hit the brakes and came to a stop. The Hummer was still burning. The fire had spread from the back compartment to the rear seats.

Get out!

Gasping and choking, Claire staggered out of the Hummer. She collapse on the highway and crawled away.

Two policemen rushed to her side and helped her from the burning car.

“You all right, lady?”

“I’m fine,” she lied.

“ Medic! ”

Firemen ran to the Hummer with water hoses, and quickly knocked down the flames. More firemen arrived. They jumped down from their red trucks, gear in hand, preparing to battle the horrific blaze inside the Devil’s Tunnel.

Too late.

The tunnel collapsed.

Explosions threw dirt, rocks, and cement high into the air.

It’s over, Claire thought.

But didn’t believe it.

An hour later, as the tunnel fire died and the rescue crews began to clear the rubble and search for survivors, Claire stood leaning against a patrol car, watching the first hint of sunrise over the mountains.

The medics had bandaged her cuts and checked her bruises, but she was still being interviewed by the detectives, O’Brien and Hunt.

O’Brien looked skeptical. “So they killed him?”

“For the road.”

Hunt checked his notes. “You say his name was…”

“Eldritch Fowler.”

“And he was your…”

“Father… I mean, grandfather.”

Another lawman, Officer Massey, arrived and addressed O’Brien. “Something you should see.”

Hunt said to Claire, “Stay right here.”

“Of course.”

The two detectives followed Officer Massey back into the Devil’s Tunnel, leaving Claire momentarily alone.

The burning smell was inescapable. Detective Hunt stood a few feet inside the passage. Further in, the tunnel had completely collapsed. At least a dozen units had driven in there. So far none had reported back to dispatch. Everyone feared the worst, but hoped for a miracle.

It would take days for the rescue team to work their way through to the other side.

Long, hard days.

Even here, at the outer edge, the asphalt had melted from the extreme heat.