So what’s the dumbest thing you’ve done for charity I’d bet it’s having dressed up in a stupid outfit or had something disgusting thrown at you, know me I’d sighed up for this Against Urban Decay group’s promotional stunt where I was tasked to making from east to west coast starting with just $50.
Made sense why so many companies sponsored the stunt, they didn’t have to bay if I died in the middle of nowhere.
At the point things started going wrong I was making good time to a motel before the sun would start baking me alive thanks to, I bike I’d managed to buy cheap and I’d reached Kansas, maybe Nebraska long before I’d expected. Then my bike chain broke, didn’t even make a show of it so I didn’t even notice till I realised I had stopped and collapsed over when I tried to start up again.
Now I was standing there in a dust bowl at 3 am praying to a god I don’t even believe and a guess something must have heard me cause a car straight out of the 1950s decided to take pity on me and pull over. “What are you doing out here y’ill step on a copperhead”, so I was in Kansas, and before I had the chance to think any more the man had contorted himself around his seat to open the back door for me, I sheepishly accepted the offer and sat down.
It took considerable effort to fit myself in around all the bags and boxes enough to fit a life in, I ended up blanketed in air pillows with my feet rested atop a collection of books. There was a lady in the other front seat her and the man appeared to be in their mid-40s she’d asked my “What on god’s green earth could be so important that you’d be out there in the dark and cold”. I told them everything thing about the charity and how by bike had fallen apart both of them looked at me like I was an idiot, but I noticed a glint of pride in the man’s eye.
It was around this point I’d noticed that the dusty wastes had long since passes and now we were travelling long a more defined road enclosure by an expanse of grey jagged rocks which would tear up tiers as well as they would break your ankles if you weren’t careful.
After a considerable amount of silence, I decided to ask where my hosts were travelling to. The man responded, “Me and Jane are off ta Vegas home an’t got anything left for us, want to see the lights.” Jane had said they wouldn’t mind if I accompanied them however an idiotic yet prideful part of my denied this offer only letting them take me as far as the nearest town.
A few hours had passed, and Jane was staring out the window when she drew our attention to a figure in the distance a figure whom I’d be impressed if they hadn’t destroyed their feat considering how carelessly they were running across those rocks. The man had started to slow down, and I was unsure on how we would fit another passenger and
Then we heard a gunshot. At least that’s the best I can describe it a sudden booming sound and then the figure was on the ground. Over the next few seconds the car’s speed doubled, there were more figures and every time we heard that horrible booming sound another one would fall.
I don’t fully remember what happened next, but what I can recall were a collection of confused words “they’re mad” “they’re desperate”. I remember trying to force my way out as they swarmed us the remember how they grabbed at my not to pull me away but to pull themselves in, I accidentally crushed one of the air pillows the sound seemed to scare them and I was successfully able to pull myself out a broken window, yet I drew considerable amounts of blood from the glass lodged in my arms.
I didn’t know what they’d hoped to achieve with a car that’s axles were mangled with flesh maybe it was just a simple covering but I didn’t care I was just running. In my panic, I responded to every last thing I’d drop when I heard the sound, drop when another lost soul fell and brock his neck next to me drop when by clothes started to tear. I’m thankful for the quality of my boots preventing my feet from being torn apart, more so than they already were, by my mindless running and that thoughtless prayer.
Whatever kind of gift it was I saw another car I the distance I tried not to not to panic. Tried not to do anything stupid, with whatever focus I had I managed to make myself appear somewhat calm and using whatever extra clothing I could to disguise my blood covered body Now I can’t tell you what forces took over me but when the car stopped I crawled through the open window and told the driver if he didn’t keep driving I would cut this throat, he made all kinds of please and offers but I wasn’t in a state to listen, I’d actually only had a padlock key to his neck but for his own sake and mine he didn’t have to know that he just had to keep driving.
I don’t know how long we were driving for but eventually those rocks gave way fir trees I found myself starting to relax at which point the adrenaline finally caught up with me. When I came to, I’d been dumped on the side of the road just outside Paisley Oregon I guess I deserved that. A few days later I made it to to the west coast and after all that I didn’t even get the money since “one just doesn’t travel 1,500 miles in a few minutes.” Didn’t even almost die for a good cause.