Flat Tire

by Madrea Marie


After the fact, they spun out of the cul de sac, their nostrils filling with the smell of burnt rubber.
"Why the fuck did you do that?" Asked the guy riding shotgun. "Now they'll be marks."
"Simple to fix," Said the wild eyed driver. "You worry too much."
They rode in silence for a while, each lost in his own thoughts.

Mary was late leaving for work. She was exhausted from working overtime yet again. She just wanted to get home to her nice warm bed and her mystery novel. She was traveling down the desolate country rode, wishing she didn't have to drive an hour each way to and from work. It made her long for her bed even more. Suddenly there was a BANG! and tires began to wobble. She pulled off to the side of the road and got out. She walked around the front of the car and sure enough, she had a flat tire. Flat as could be.
"That's strange," She thought. "I just had my front tires replaced. Guess they don't make them like they used to."
She pulled her cell phone out of her purse to call a friend, a tow truck, a cab, whatever, but it had no signal.
"Dammit!" She said out loud. "Of course I had to get a flat in the middle of nowhere where my stupid cell gets no signal! These things are no good when I need them!".
She locked the doors, slung her purse over her shoulder and stepped away from her car. She had hardly taken three steps when a small car, similar in make and model to hers, pulled up beside her.
"Need a ride?" Asked a man with killer blue eyes. Another man sat beside him, with his head lowered, out of her sight. Mary was very nervous. She normally would never accept rides from
strange men, but she was stuck with a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, with no lights anywhere in site. She sighed, crossed her fingers along her spine, and got into the back of the car.
"Where you headed?" The driver asked, his startling blue eyes flashing
in the rear view mirror.
"J-Just the closet convenience store would be fine." She replied softly.
Amazingly enough, she arrived at the next store, unharmed and alive. She thanked the men for giving her a ride and went inside the safety of the little store, where she was able to receive a signal on her cell phone.

The next day Mary and a friend returned to her car with the flat tire. When they pulled up beside the car, Mary immediately felt a sense of wrongness. She hopped out and ran to her car, unlocking the doors and making she her radio and other belongings were intact. They were.
"I thought you said you had a flat tire?" Smirked her friend as she leaned over the left side of the car. Mary walked over beside her. Sure enough, the tire was no longer flat. She bent down closer. Someone had replaced her tire! Very weird. She noticed it wasn't a very new tire, not quite the same as the one she had gotten the flat in, and a bit more worn down. She walked to the right side to compare it with her other tire. It had been replaced as well, with another worn tire, just like the one replacing her flat!
"Both my front tires have been replaced..." She said softly, fearfully.
"Oh, don't sound so freaked out! You just had a good Samaritan come to your rescue, that's all. Come on, hop in and let me follow you back to the main road."
Mary did as her friend suggested, but the feeling of wrongness never left her.