Revving Her Engine

Today definitely isn't the best day for Winnifred J. Vandamere, the wealthy and successful daughter of a corporate giant. It's always been bad enough that her father never seemed to respect her as an equal in his company, when she was top of her class and easily is smarter than the CEOs of many rival corporations. Today though is worse.

Winnifred finds herself stuck in the breakdown lane on Interstate 13, having dressed in her best distracting outfit, talked into yet another lunch meeting with rivals where her father would handle the business side of things as Winnifred was relegated to just serving as eye candy.

It's icing on the cake of her horrible day that she has repeatedly told her father about this damn SUV and how it seems to have constant issues. As with pretty much anything practical and informative that Winnifred brings to the table, her father never paid much attention, focused on his business dealings and seeing her only as a tool of distraction, something to use and not a real person who can contribute.

The fact it's Interstate 13 is just the topper to everything, the stretch of road rumored to be the site of mysterious lights, strange electrical fields, abductions, and disappearances over the years. It's any girl's worst fear to be stuck alone on the side of the road, but especially this road, which is dangerous enough simply from the passing big rigs and speeding traffic.

What seems destined to be the most unlucky day ever has a turn though when an old truck pulls up to help, a very friendly giant of a man named Theo offering to provide Winnifred with a jump, at least to see if it might get her started so she can get off the dangerous road.

Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and Theo is pretty much the size of a horse, Winnifred quickly agrees, getting inside the car and waiting for Theo to give her the sign to crank the engine.

All the urban myths about Interstate 13, about strange electrical phenomena, everything comes to mind as Winnifred turns the key. It isn't simply a static charge that startles the bright young business woman, it's a downright electrocution and Theo isn't aware at all, head under the hood of the stalled SUV, making sure the cables are good and using his mechanic knowledge to rev the engine, make sure it's running well.

With every rev, jolts of electricity surge into Winnifred, thoughts popping away inside her, memories fading, her mind dulling quite literally from the brilliant intelligence she once had.

They say strange things happen on Interstate 13, and Winnifred J. Vandamere is about to become one of them. But is there more to her being there? Was this all planned and was she set up? Will she get her engine revving in more ways than one?

Find out in the Readers Scare Month tale that demonstrates just how terrifying it can be to break down on a stormy afternoon with that certain charge in the air.

Dettagli