Jubilee Year: A Novel (Erelong Trilogy Book I) - An Extended Sample

Chapter 11: KILLER RIDERS

"It's a dead wombat," Penny informed him, and she quickly closed her window. Storm gazed into the rear vision mirror at the still form of the marsupial lying on its back, all four feet rigid in the air and bloated with gas to the size of a fattened calf. "I told you not to do that. It stunk up the car."

"The poor thing," she said. "They don't move fast enough to cross a busy road."

She watched lightning leap across the line of jagged hills that ran like a row of broken teeth along the horizon.

"I wish we were home," Penny muttered.

"Why? Are you afraid?"

"I usually like storms," she said adding emphasis to the last word. She glanced at him and smiled before turning back to stare through her side window at the peaks, which for all the world looked to be lit by flickering spotlights.

"I've had quite enough of the kind we've been getting lately."

He tapped a beat on the steering wheel, rapping broken and yet familiar lyrics. "Riders... killaa..."

"That sounds strangely familiar," Penny said, giving him a pained look.

"Didn't you ever play Need for Speed?" he asked in reply.

"I know the game. It has Snoop Dog's version of the song by Jim Morrison and the Doors."

"Never heard of that group, but, yeah, Snoop Dog is da man!" He said and he began singing again.

"Has Stella got anything good to listen to in here?" She said, opening the glove box and fossicking around inside.

"Wait-wait! I'm getting to the best bit."

"Hell no!" She protested. "Anything but your singing."

"Try this one," he said, reaching past her into the glove box and pulled out a disk. "You like them, right?" He waved it in front of her.

"Hey, look out!" She yelled, grabbing the steering wheel from him and turning it just in time.

"Bloody useless roos!" Storm exclaimed as he braked hard.

The back wheels of the car locked on the loose metal of the verge and spun across the road. When they opened their eyes, they saw they were facing the way they had come.

"Shit, Storm!" She yelled. "We're really lucky there was no one coming the other way."

Storm breathed in deeply. He knew how close he had come to rolling the car. He gazed at her in stunned silence for a moment before he finally spoke. "Why were they on the road?" It was a lame attempt to distract her from continuing the attack.

"I suppose they must have been spooked by the lightning," she sighed. She pulled her fingers through her hair. It was becoming a bad habit.

"God!" She exclaimed, angry all over again. "You know, you almost killed us!"

Storm felt his cheeks flush, but he didn't reply. He started the engine and turned the car around. "Looks like one of them wasn't fast enough," he said, peering into the side mirror.

Penny opened her window and looked at the road behind them.

"The poor thing," she said, turning to glare back at him once again. "What is wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry—Okay?"

He unfastened his seatbelt. He knew it wasn't okay at all. That he had almost killed the two of them, and the thought horrified him.