| | Christmas Eve, and the print shop Natasha worked at was silent, save for the hum of the copiers. The lights were out and the doors locked - it was time to go home and forget about the demanding customers and enjoy the holiday season. Her winter vacation would be short, only Christmas Day, but for a young woman like Natasha, it was enough. A day with no responsibilities, a day free for her to enjoy with her lover, a caring man who even now was readying her modest apartment for her arrival. She thought of him hanging strings of popcorn throughout her living room and smiled warmly. She set the alarm and locked the doors and headed to her car.
Ol' Stretch, the neighborhood crackhead was out, even on Christmas Eve. He usually stayed clear of the shop due to Natasha's co-worker throwing him out of the store earlier in the year, and even tonight kept to the edge of the parking lot. He turned to Natasha as if he was going to ask her for change or a cigarette, but thought better of it and waved, smiling politely. Natasha hopped into her truck and started the motor, cranking the heater to full blast. She pulled out of the lot and into traffic, already heavy in the icy evening. She turned onto I-235 and drove through the center of Des Moines, daydreaming about the happy reunions awaiting her fellow commuters. As if to punctuate her thinking, her cellular phone rang, playing the tune of her boyfriend's number.
"Hi, darling," she sweetly answered.
"Hey hon. You headin' home now?" Tony asked.
"Yes, sir. Although I should have known that traffic would be disastrous going through the center of town."
"Be safe, baby. I can't wait to see you - I got a surprise for you."
"Ooh! Did my man put up the garland?"
"You'll see," he replied. "Be careful honey. I'll see you soon."
"I love you."
"I love you, too. Bye."
"Bye."
Natasha clicked her phone off, and tossed it into the passenger seat. Despite the density of traffic, the cars were moving quickly as she approached the I-80 intersection. In a few moments, she'd be sitting by a fire, sipping cocoa, kissing her love. She turned up her stereo, finding a sweet peace in Kelly Clarkson's carols.
She looked up from her stereo in time to see am 18-wheel truck blaring it's horn, its driver a dark-skinned man with a maniacal look in his eye, crossing the median, heading straight for her lane. Tires screamed as cars frantically swerved to avoid the oncoming truck, smashing into each other explosively. Natasha jerked the wheel sharp to the right, but to no avail, the truck was already upon her. The grill of the rig crashed into the driver's side of Natasha's truck, cleaving through the glass and metal, pounding bone and muscle into paste. Her truck bounced back and away from the rig, twisting across the highway, dragging 2 other cars onto the shoulder in a sparking, heaving mess. The 18-wheeler launched off a motorcycle following Natasha, climbing into the air on its side, only to crush onto the pavement, the psychotic driver falling from the sterring wheel, through the shattered window and ground into the pavement.
The big rig sprawled acoss the entire width of the 3-lane highway, effectively blocking the road. The aftermath of destruction spread from the oncoming lanes of traffic, also stopped for the utter carnage. The suicide driver of the 18-wheeler, the right half of his face hanging from his neck, impossibly rose from his crushed hip and legs to pull himself out the shattered windshield. At this moment, his brothers would be dying at other points on the highway system of Des Moines, blocking egress to and from the city, allowing their main plan to come to fruition - the detonation of a nuclear bomb in the heart of the city. In a few hours, their glorious leader would appear to the devils of America and let them know that their self-indulgent ways were at an end. That the evil of the western world would be felled by the righteousness of Allah.
The driver sighed contently as an inhuman flash consumed the skyline.
"Allah Ackbar," he gasped as his life left his body. The plan had worked to perfection. It was a Christmas miracle. |
| | Posted 12/10/2007 11:15 AM - 33 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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