Deliverance - Short Story

RUN! RUN, KID!!!

I panic when I hear the screams, ducking behind the wastebin to watch. Life has been this way since the auto-crash snatched my sons from me. My will to live dissolved, and my home became a prison of memories. Estranged, miserable. Pillaging backyards for scraps is the only means of sustenance, and avoiding trigger-happy vigilantes is a must to survive.

The screams—fever-pitched—from down the street surge again.

I bound forward. The screams grow louder with each stride. What I see stops me cold.

People, running, tumbling over one another, screaming.

Cutting through the running mass, crushing, leaving behind motionless bodies is a huge delivery truck. Behind the wheels is a bearded man. Steely eyed; cold like the man who’d killed my boys.

It yaws suddenly. I gasp. Ahead, in its path, is a toddler, crying.

I run like mad.

Time slows. I feel my strength ebb as I dart towards the kid. Not eating in days does have its perils but I give it all my all.

The truck blunders forward inching close to the kid. I leap over bodies barking, “Run! Run, kid!” But she stands there, bawling.

“Run!!”

Anytime now…

“NOO—“

THUD!

The sickening crack reverberates through my body. My legs go numb, and the tangy taste of blood fills my mouth. I hear the kid still crying; now safe on the curb. People begin to surround us. They cradle the child and stroke me. I feel peace and a gathering darkness engulf me. I smile. But people can't tell when stray dogs do smile.