Casanova Da Vinci's "City Limits: The Long Road Out", was written under "The Hardline 80's" genre, one which the Author felt happy to combine its flavor to "The Factory" and the forthcoming Mini-Novel: "Road Rash".
Feedback appreciated.
The drive to Vale City was to be long and tiring for both Eleanor and I, as we had been travelling all evening through a backlash of traffic that had put three hours onto our travel time. Alerting me to the sign that would take us into the Motorway Diner, I indicated and pulled off the busy road to enter the car park into an empty parking space. The Diner was old looking, derelict, even, with the windows dark and scarred with fuel emissions, weathering and use; the main door worn of its metal shine, the creaks that screamed as the handle was pulled and the ripe smell of burning onions, meat and coffee hitting your senses as soon as you entered the premises.
Eleanor made her way inside to the counter while looking at what was on offer in the food section along the way – it was almost empty of everything, except for a couple of cakes, fly pies and biscuits. It somehow left cautious thoughts in my mind.
‘Pie…Apple by the looks of it, too!’ She yelped almost excitedly.
I nodded my head before making my way to an empty table at the window, there sat down to face the inside of the Diner, watching Eleanor as she walked swiftly down the line to pay for the food and order drinks. The woman at the till smiled before taking the credit card from her hand and swiping it through the register.
‘Where are you headed?’ The cashier asked suddenly waiting for the receipt to make its way through the 1970’s WASP machine.
‘Seacliffe, we were on the 2205, then took the wrong turn on the 2208…’
The cashier was curious. ‘Where did you come from?’
‘Briarstone. I guess we got a little confused with the signs at the last turnoff. Do you know a quicker way?’ Eleanor asked the woman who was still thinking on her answer.
The road that we had used from Briarstone was the wrong road to use, and according to the cashier, we should have taken the second exit, not the first.
‘It’s getting late, the roads around here aren’t safe at night. If you want a quick route out of here, take the 105…Avoid the main highway that passes through the city. You don’t want to be near that road after dark.’ She warned rather than advised.
Eleanor thanked the woman and came over to the table with a radiant smile that had me aching for a kiss, a kiss that would cost me a hug. Without hesitation I pulled her toward me and planted a big kiss on her lips, just before we heard the first plate of several being thrown down and smashed on the floor. Looking up we saw three men, they were young, but they weren’t without the knowing that the actions were causing distress to the other customers.
‘What the hell!’ I gasped, my body suddenly restrained by Eleanor, whose eyes told me not do what I was thinking of doing to the young men. ‘It’s okay, I’ve got this. Besides, they’re just kids!’
Allowing me to pass by her I made my way up to the counter where the first young man turned and faced me.
‘Hey, Grandad, what the fuck are you…’
Before he could say another word I head butted him, his face exploded with blood as he screamed out in pain. The two other men rushed to his aid, only to get a double dose of what the first had been given; together they attempted to blindside me into the path of a fist unprepared to be met with a size ten shoe that I snapped up in the air to meet. The bones cracked and split before shattering into several different pieces under the quick blackening skin.
‘Oh, you’re fucking dead, man!’ The one I had kicked shouted before he took out a switchblade and pointed it into my face.
Eleanor was worried a little, but not enough to believe that the two men would get the better of me anyway. She knew that I could handle myself, especially against a set of amateurs like these three.
‘Yeah,’ said the third man taking out a knife that he, too, pointed at my face. ‘We’re gonna fuck you up!’
The actual incident lasted three and a half minutes, as from the very beginning to the point that Eleanor and myself left the Diner. The cashier told us that the three men were Drevzil Pack Boys; Redstone City’s scourge of Outlaws, bikers and racers alike, and the top dogs of these were The Drevzil’s…Staxx’s Gang.
‘You don’t mess with these people, Son,’ she exclaimed looking down at the unconscious men on the ground.
Eleanor tried to reassure the woman that everything would be fine, but she nodded with a doubtful look that sent a shiver down my spine. Leaving the Diner we drove across to the filling station for petrol, it was a well-lit area with very few cars that were using the pumps. Inside the attendant asked if I was heading out of the city, something that normally I would have had a single word answer ready as a reply. This night it was different.
‘We’re heading to Seacliffe, is there any other roads out of here than the Main Highway? A back road, maybe?’ I asked with some amount of desperation building in my voice.
The attendant rubbed his chin. ‘There’s The Shire Road, the surface is a little shot, but it would get you past the city limits at least…or there’s The Drive: The 105; take a left at junction 90, stay on the road till you come to Old Mill Lane, turn right and you’ll be back on the road to Seacliffe. Will there be anything else I can do you for?’
I guess the directions were a little confusing, what with the turns and ahead only’s that made my head pound with aching pain.
‘No thank you, just the fuel and directions will do fine.’ I gave my reply before paying the bill and returning to Eleanor back at the car.
‘What did he say?’ She asked as soon as I got inside the car and buckled up my seat belt.
‘Quite a lot that I didn’t understand. Hey, did you know we were in Redstone?’
Eleanor nodded with a blank look. ‘Don’t do that to me, Connor, you know it freaks me out. You asked me for directions here…a shortcut or something you said!’
Shrugging off the unbelievable statement I gave a strained smile.
‘It’s this overnight driving, it makes you say some strange shit sometimes, right? We’ll be fine once we’re out of the city.’
Pulling out of the petrol station I drove in the direction of The Drive – the 105, which to be fair was difficult to find in between the low cut hedge lines and buildup of trees that seemed to disappear onward and upward forever into the distance. Making the call on turning left, I had the strangest feeling that I needed to go right – but it was too late, I’d committed myself to a dirt road that was neither fit nor stable for my car. The road was crumbling in many parts as I looked out of the car door window and down onto sludge, gravel and wet grass that cradled a steep drop into pure blackness.
‘If I stop now we’ll get stuck…probably till morning.’ I teased Eleanor to the point she leaned over and jabbed me in the ribs.
‘You just want your wicked way, don’t you?’ She purred.
Yes I did, she was right, I did want my wicked way, more now than any time before this moment. She was looking so beautiful that I was hard within seconds, the half-mast bulge pointing its way into the air and attracting Eleanor’s attention.
‘Wow! Maybe we should pull over and…’
At that very moment there was a huge bang from Eleanor’s side of the car, the glass from the door cracked, shattered and imploded into the passenger seat and all over the both of us. My control over the steering wheel failed – I had no control. The car rolled at least four times down the steep 220 feet gauge that I remember, until I was suddenly knocked unconscious by the final impact where we came to a stop – or paused before continuing to roll on into the darkness below us.
(excerpt from "City Limits: The Long Road Out)
For Further info can be found @NorthGableProductions on Facebook, @CasanovaDaVinci Thank you.
Comments