No Way To Escape | Novel

CHAPTER 30: THE TREPIDATION

Then I heard a scream, a muffled but utterly terrified scream. It did not take me much time to realize that whose petrified shriek it was - it was of my nephew, Rick. This was enough to get me even more impatient. I kicked the corpse hard and yelled, 'What the hell have you done to Rick, huh? Don't you dare touch him, don't you -'. Suddenly I noticed that the corpse was moving back, not walking back, but moving back. He disappeared there in the farthest and darkest corner of the cabin. I yelled and ran in his direction but collided hard with the wall.

'No! No! Don't do anything to him. Free me from this hell!'. I shrieked and went on banging the wall continuously and then - whoomp!
I found myself lying there on the road. I had fainted.

What?!

I got up to my feet and realized that there was still no one around. At that time of the day, that too at a place which is sparsely inhabited, perhaps not a single soul hangs in around in there. I could only see a house at a distance. A not-too-big house painted all white. The giggling of children was probably coming from that house.
But how come they didn't notice me lying there?

Then came another scream, a more terrified one. I looked back swiftly in shock and found that my car was moving fast backwards - towards me with a great speed. I hadn't noticed that the street was in the form of a gentle slope with the lower side in the direction in which the car was moving, i.e. backwards. And not pulling the handbrake was the biggest mistake I had made here.

I leaped out of the direction of the car and landed safely, rolling over the road. Then I saw Rick was yelling and screaming with fright. He was sitting there on the passenger's seat, with the seat-belt tied around him. He looked extremely flabbergasted and terrified. He was smashing the closed window glass continuously with his tiny hands in desperation, with tears of fear rolling down his cheeks.

I gasped and getting up to my feet, started chasing the car. The car was slowly catching up more speed down the declivity and I was trying to chase it with all the speed I could at that time.

Then the car crossed that house from which the giggling sound was coming. But this time I saw someone - A man probably in his mid-30s. He was just out of his dwelling, to have a look at his small, but beautiful garden perhaps, and as soon as he saw a man running wildly and chasing a car, the relaxing look on his face changed to horror as he fumbled upon the cigarette which he was just going to put on his mouth.

But none of it mattered to me that much. It was all which I saw almost in a single glance and then back forward - where I could see my sweet little nephew, crying as if the world fell on him.

But the horror started for me now when I noticed that almost a hundred and fifty yards from the car was a railroad crossing and -

'Ohh No no no NO!!', I shouted as I realized that a train was approaching the crossing -almost twenty-five seconds far. I tried to run faster but the car was still about twenty yards in front of me. Now my eyes were also filled with tears. The distance between me and the car was increasing while that between the latter and the train was decreasing.
It was when the man came running up to his gate, with a grappling rope in his hands, while I was just about to pass by his house. 'Hey you! Take this', he cried as he threw the rope to me. I slowed down a bit and then grasped the rope, which was really long and seemed strong. Starting to run again, I swung the rope in my hands and threw the hook at the car. It hit the hood and bounced back.

'Arghh!! NO!!', I screamed in vexation and fear. The distance between the crossing and the car was almost seventy yards now. Almost ten seconds left.

Collecting back the rope and running at the same time, I shifted my palms back a little on the length of the rope - as the car was farther to me now - swung it and threw it again at the car, knowing in my mind that this was the last chance. Trepidation had now taken over me. It flew and swung in the air and then finally got the bumper.

'Ah!', I sighed in relief and tightened my grip across the rope. After a while, the rope stretched full-length and reached its maximum extension, giving me a sudden jerk. I tried to hold myself up on the road, trying to pull the rope with all my strength. For the next few seconds, it felt as if the car was pulling me - as its speed was very difficult to overpower and after a while, I could sense the car was slowing down - but not as slow to prevent it from hitting the crossing.
I was yelling and shouting with the strain, with my feet ramming over the asphalt. It felt as if the soles of my shoes were shouting among themselves because of the tension. I was trying my best to slow down the car, fearing at the same time that the bumper might come off.

Just a couple of seconds now. Anytime now. The train was just about to get to the crossing. The car had slowed down considerably but still I had now known that it's late.

The car had now almost reached the crossing with the train just passing through it when I left - I left the rope in despair and dropped down on my knees, hopeless and weeping fretfully. There was a sound of a bang but I didn't have the courage to look up. A darkness had fallen over me. I had now become unaware of my surroundings. Despair and dejection had got the better of me. I just sat there on my knees with my palms on my lap and was going on weeping profusely, not having the slightest of courage to look up.