Entry #11

Alone in the Dark
by Mike Martinez


For now, there was only the sound of the bike surging through the night. He had to keep going, head east, outrun the dark, and get to safety. How many hours had he been awake? Who knew any more? He had been awake since Topeka at least. It was days since he last slept well, and even then it was in the shelter of an old steel water tower.

This whole thing seemed more a nightmare than reality. It was late or early if you were precise. But his vision was clouded. His sight became fatigued and blurred the lines. The lines of the dials and the beams of the headlight merged with the lines of the road, and became the cold replay of what he had seen since it began. In real traffic he would be dead by now. Or maybe, undead was a better word.

Every twisting shadow was becoming a danger in his mind. The occasional house with lights blazing, only added to the feeling of being alone. He couldn’t trust they still contained people. It seemed as soon as he let his guard down they were there waiting.
Those dark things that logic said could not exist. They were the stuff of legends and bad movies, and they were here taking control. They were waiting to grab him, eat him, and savor each juicy bit of his brains. This damn bike better not run out of gas.

What the hell was with all the damned Zombie anyway?


[Mike Martinez is a life long Chicago resident. He writes in a number of genres, specializing in dark stories where Chicago is as much a character in the stories as it is a setting. He was most recently published by Killer-Works.com as part of their flash fiction section. Mike is currently the Scheduling Manager and organization Secretary/Treasurer for Twilight Tales, Chicago's longest running readers' and writers' series.]