Modern Day Folktales (3/?)
Many thanks again for the Beta advice from
madaboutms
“Like a Hardwoods Lorry…”
Rhys reached over and switched the radio off. He’d long ago gotten sick of that ad and right now he could have done without Harwoods Lorry.
He was supposed to be the manager, leaving the hard labour to his staff but a distinct lack of drivers had left him so short staffed he had resorted to covering some of the day shift and half the night.
Still, he shouldn’t have to do it for long, he had some new staff starting on Monday, finally enabling him to get back to the office and to the mountain of paperwork he had been neglecting from the past two weeks. It also meant that finally he would be able to spend some time with Gwen……well, that’s when she was there of course. He had long since given up on trying to track the crazy hours she devoted to Torchwood but it did help if he was at least able to be home for her when she did manage to get some free time. It had taken him some time to make his peace with Gwen and her new so-called secret life. It wasn’t easy letting her go out of the door everyday into untold danger but he was glad that he knew what was going on now. He understood why some nights she was quiet and reserved, why some nights she came home limping or in bandages. Why some nights she came home with eyes so full of lust he barely had time to draw breath before she had him stripped bare in front of her. It was incredible to think of all the possibilities, of alien life and new technologies, but it made him shudder at the thought of what that implied. He had seen what the greed of man had done to the helpless creature in that warehouse; it had put him off pies for months.
He yawned and rubbed the back of his head, shaking it for a moment to try and clear the fuzziness that had taken up residence on the edges of his brain. He had been up and driving since 6am and now thirteen hours later he was coming back to base, his final destination, with the empty lorry. He was about twenty minutes from base and then it was a quick ride home. All Rhys had on his mind was a shower and then bed. Oh maybe a quick cuddle with the wife, if she was home, but that was all he was capable of tonight, especially since he had to be back to work at 7am for morning meeting with the other regional managers.
Sighing he started to move to the inside lane as his exit was coming up. He watched cautiously as the car up ahead changed lanes at the same time, making sure he hung back enough to give them room. Suddenly from out of no-where a large car seemed to lose traction on the road, miles before they had been playing the hero, weaving in and out of traffic, times like that there’s never a copper around when you needed them. Rhys watched in horror as the car veered off directly into the path of the vehicle in front.
Instinct took over as he slammed on the brakes and as carefully and quickly as he was able to veered the lorry to the side of the road to a safe stop as he watched in horror as the car that had been in front of him flipped over once, twice and then a third, coming a halt with a skid on its side once it lost the momentum to flip anymore.
Rhys had lost track of the car that had started this chain reaction, he pulled out his mobile and dialed for emergency services.
The ambulance booked, Rhys slid his phone shut and pushed it into the pocket of his jeans as he leapt out of the lorry and ran to the prone vehicle. It looked like the offending vehicle had taken off as it was nowhere to be seen.
As he approached he yelled., “Hello in there, are you alright?”
Nothing but silence answered him back apart from a few sparks giving off by the still whirring motor. Rhys ran around to the front of the car and looked through the front windscreen.
There sitting in the front seats where a woman and man, both pretty out of it by the look of it. With the car laying on its side it was easy for Rhys to reach the front windscreen. It looked like it was half shorn off, a crumpled mess, but luckily for Rhys it made it easier to pull it out altogether giving him instant access to the couple in front who were now starting to rouse.
“Hey there, easy…”
Rhys leaned forward to the woman and checked her pulse. It had been a while since he had done a basic first aid course but the principle hadn’t changed that much. He checked her pulse which was strong and she was breathing. A nasty cut above her forehead which explained why she was so dazed.
“Hi there, my names Rhys, can you tell me your name?”
“Ah….um….Sarah, Sarah Graham.”
“Hi Sarah, can you move all your arms and legs Sarah?”
The woman groaned as she tested her limbs. “It’s ok, they don’t feel broken but my head…..”
“I know you’ve taken a nasty bump to the head.”
“Peter! Peter!” She turned her head to look over at the man behind the wheel.
Rhys reached over to check the unconscious man, the steady rise and fall of the man’s chest had already told Rhys he was alive.
“’S’ok love he’s alive, the ambos are on their way so we just sit tight ok?”
She nodded as she reached out for Rhys’ hand clenching it tightly. He smiled reassuringly at her and she half smiled back, closing her eyes.
Suddenly Rhys heard footsteps running over to them as he turned to see, not a paramedic like he expected, but a fellow motorist who had stopped to lend a hand.
“Hey mate, need a hand to get them out?”
“I called the ambulance so I didn’t want to move them.”
“Well I think we better this car is about to blow.”
Rhys had been too caught up in attending to the woman and her partner he had missed the hissing of the engine and the smell of the fuel. A small fire had started near the car and was travelling fast, making its way ominously to the fuel tank.
“Fuck! Come on love….I need you to wake up and we gotta get you out of here.”
Rhys turned to the man.
“Give us a hand”
“Ok love, on three, I need you to help us get you through the windscreen, ok.?”
She nodded as the other man took one side and Rhys tried to support the side that was laying against the unconscious driver. On Rhys’ count they collectively hauled her out of the window as quickly and gently as they could. Shouldering her weight between them Rhys and his helper aided the young woman to the side of the road as far away from the vehicle as she could.
Once she was on the ground Rhys bent over her, making sure she was comfortable. She gripped his arm tightly before making a desperate plea.
“Peter,… please you have to get my husband out.”
Rhys nodded as he started back toward the car before he felt an arm on his shoulder, pulling him back.
“Hey wait, that things gonna blow any moment, it’s too late.”
Rhys turned his head to come nose to nose with his fellow Samaritan.
“We can’t just leave him in there, I need your help.”
Rhys shook the man’s hand off his shoulder as he ran back to the vehicle where flames had gotten higher and ever closer to the fuel tank. Thankfully the man followed him.
“Hey mate, I need you to wake up, we gotta get you out of here.”
The man groaned, trying to shake himself back to awareness.
Rhys reached in to unclip the seatbelt.
Rhys gripped his shoulders while the other took the other side as they maneuvered him out of the window. It was proving a bit trickier given the size and weight of the injured man.
“We gotta get out of here, it’s gonna go,” the other man said fretfully.
“We have to get him out first.,” Rhys insisted.
“Look mate I got a family, we’ll never get him away in time. Just leave him”
“We can’t just leave him.”
“You maybe, not me.”
Rhys watched helplessly as his fellow rescuer hightailed it back to his car and took off.
Cursing under his breath he could feel the heat of the fire as it got closer. He wedged his arms under the man’s arms and with one last effort he pulled with all he had, muscles and voice screaming with the effort.
Finally he found the purchase he was looking for as he felt the body come free as they both fell to the ground, the man’s body on top of him.
Rhys didn’t have time to celebrate as he could still feel the heat from the fire and they needed to get away from the car before it blew. The man seemed to rally as Rhys rolled him off and helped him to stand. He was still hideously unsteady on his legs as he guided him as quickly as possible away from the wreck. They had only gone about halfway when Rhys felt a roar and then an intense heat that knocked both him and the man to the ground as the car blew and threw a fireball into the night sky.
When they had recovered enough, Rhys helped the man over to his wife as they wrapped arms around each other.
Rhys, totally spent, collapsed on the grass and watched the car burn as the emergency services appeared on the scene.
*****************
After Rhys had given his statement to the police he was allowed to go.
He walked past the ambulance on his way back to the lorry as he did they were loading the woman into the back.
“Wait!” she cried, enough for Rhys to turn around.
“I…..I don’t know your name.”
“It’s Rhys.”
“Rhys, thank you. You saved our lives. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome love. It was nothing.”
“No it wasn’t, thank you.”
Rhys felt tears burn in his eyes as he nodded.
He kept his eyes on the ambulance as it sped away before climbing back to the lorry, as he did his mobile starting ringing, the caller ID flashed Gwen.
“Hiya.”
“Don’t you hiya me Rhys, where the bloody hell are you?”
“Sorry Gwen, I got caught up, there was an accident on the motorway.”
“Are you OK?”
“Fine love, be home in twenty.”
“OK, love you, drive safe.”
“Ok, love you too.”
Taking a deep breath he started the lorry and pulled back on the motorway, back on track to be back in the arms of his wife.
Chapter Four