momentary thrill of being on the bike as it vibrated between her legs. She opened the throttle and gave the beast its head.
She rounded a long curve and the elation disappeared as the first of two tunnels she would have to negotiate came into view.
It wasn’t that she had forgotten about the East River Tunnel, it just hadn’t crossed her mind. When they went to the beach on summer vacation, the kids used to try to hold their breath the entire length of the tunnel. Ryan would sometimes slow down just to mess with them, or speed up if he was feeling charitable. The first time Auddy successfully made it all the way through, he’d been doing about eighty.
She slowed as she approached the gaping black maw of the tunnel’s mouth. The lights were not on and she could only see about a hundred feet into the mountain. She sat astride the Harley, peering into the darkness and trying to see the other end. The tunnel was more than a mile long and changed elevation. “So, no light at the end of this tunnel!” she said aloud. Then she sat there thinking. I could go down Route 52, but it would add at least a couple of hours to the trip. Oh, quit being a pussy! She put the bike in gear and slowly entered the man-made cave.
The beam of the Harley’s light didn’t capture any glowing eyes staring at her from the blackness. Why don’t people’s eyes reflect light like an animal’s? she wondered. The reverberation of the engine growled at her loudly, blocking out any other noise there might be. The temperature dropped, but she could feel the sweat run down her back under the leather jacket. She tensed when the headlight picked up a red reflection ahead. It was a vehicle in the slow lane.
Jay’s head began to buzz; she was having trouble catching her breath. The darkness was so utterly black that without the headlight it would be absolute. Get ahold of yourself girl. Panic is your worst enemy right now. The voice in her head helped, but she still felt the crazies reaching out, grasping at her from behind. She shook her head and sped up, trying to outrun the feeling.
As she got closer, she could see that the vehicle’s door was open. She steered as far left as she could without catching the handlebars on the side of the tunnel. She was doing about twenty miles an hour when she passed the car. She focused on it, waiting for something to jump out at her. Her attention stayed on the abandoned vehicle for an instant too long; she looked back to the road in time to see a body lying in her lane. She didn’t have time to react, which probably saved her from dumping the bike. The Harley lurched and bucked as she ran over the body’s outstretched legs, but the bike stayed upright. More taillights reflected ahead of her, now in both lanes. Her brain screamed at her to turn around and get the hell out of this nightmare, but she figured she was close to halfway through at this point. She fought back the mounting instinctual urge to flee coursing through her body. Slowing even more now, maintaining just enough momentum to keep the bike from tipping over, she concentrated on what was ahead of her.
She wove in and out of the vehicles, afraid that now she wouldn’t have room to turn the bike around even if she wanted to. She came to the reason for the traffic jam. An overturned car sat in the middle of the tunnel, a mangled pickup truck mashed between it and the far right wall. The smell hit her just as the wreck came into view. Her stomach rolled, and she tasted the burn at the back of her throat as her breakfast threatened to come up. She came to a stop and put her feet down, standing up to see if there was a way through this mess. She turned the front end of the bike back and forth, panning its headlight across the scene. A headless body hung upside down in the car, its arms hanging down to the roof. It looked like it was riding a roller coaster. Jay killed the engine but left the key in the auxiliary position to provide light. She was
She rounded a long curve and the elation disappeared as the first of two tunnels she would have to negotiate came into view.
It wasn’t that she had forgotten about the East River Tunnel, it just hadn’t crossed her mind. When they went to the beach on summer vacation, the kids used to try to hold their breath the entire length of the tunnel. Ryan would sometimes slow down just to mess with them, or speed up if he was feeling charitable. The first time Auddy successfully made it all the way through, he’d been doing about eighty.
She slowed as she approached the gaping black maw of the tunnel’s mouth. The lights were not on and she could only see about a hundred feet into the mountain. She sat astride the Harley, peering into the darkness and trying to see the other end. The tunnel was more than a mile long and changed elevation. “So, no light at the end of this tunnel!” she said aloud. Then she sat there thinking. I could go down Route 52, but it would add at least a couple of hours to the trip. Oh, quit being a pussy! She put the bike in gear and slowly entered the man-made cave.
The beam of the Harley’s light didn’t capture any glowing eyes staring at her from the blackness. Why don’t people’s eyes reflect light like an animal’s? she wondered. The reverberation of the engine growled at her loudly, blocking out any other noise there might be. The temperature dropped, but she could feel the sweat run down her back under the leather jacket. She tensed when the headlight picked up a red reflection ahead. It was a vehicle in the slow lane.
Jay’s head began to buzz; she was having trouble catching her breath. The darkness was so utterly black that without the headlight it would be absolute. Get ahold of yourself girl. Panic is your worst enemy right now. The voice in her head helped, but she still felt the crazies reaching out, grasping at her from behind. She shook her head and sped up, trying to outrun the feeling.
As she got closer, she could see that the vehicle’s door was open. She steered as far left as she could without catching the handlebars on the side of the tunnel. She was doing about twenty miles an hour when she passed the car. She focused on it, waiting for something to jump out at her. Her attention stayed on the abandoned vehicle for an instant too long; she looked back to the road in time to see a body lying in her lane. She didn’t have time to react, which probably saved her from dumping the bike. The Harley lurched and bucked as she ran over the body’s outstretched legs, but the bike stayed upright. More taillights reflected ahead of her, now in both lanes. Her brain screamed at her to turn around and get the hell out of this nightmare, but she figured she was close to halfway through at this point. She fought back the mounting instinctual urge to flee coursing through her body. Slowing even more now, maintaining just enough momentum to keep the bike from tipping over, she concentrated on what was ahead of her.
She wove in and out of the vehicles, afraid that now she wouldn’t have room to turn the bike around even if she wanted to. She came to the reason for the traffic jam. An overturned car sat in the middle of the tunnel, a mangled pickup truck mashed between it and the far right wall. The smell hit her just as the wreck came into view. Her stomach rolled, and she tasted the burn at the back of her throat as her breakfast threatened to come up. She came to a stop and put her feet down, standing up to see if there was a way through this mess. She turned the front end of the bike back and forth, panning its headlight across the scene. A headless body hung upside down in the car, its arms hanging down to the roof. It looked like it was riding a roller coaster. Jay killed the engine but left the key in the auxiliary position to provide light. She was
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