National Asset: The Marvelous Tyler Wood

Chapter 4

At that moment the lady's mouth fell open in shock, her perfectly applied lipstick trembling as her mind raced back to Tyler's warning. Immediately Sweat beaded on her forehead as she watched more yellow liquid drip from her father's mouth.

“How could that dirty stranger have predicted this exact moment?”

She said to herself, cold fear crept up her spine.

“How long?” she screamed at the driver, her voice cracking with panic. Her hands gripped the leather seat so hard her knuckles turned white.

“How long until Dapplewood?”

As asked again.

The driver's shoulders tensed as he gripped the steering wheel tighter.

 “10 minutes,” he said, then glanced again at the sick man in the mirror.

“Maybe 15 minutes to be safe.”

At that moment her heart jumped with hope for a second - they could make it! But when she turned back to her grandfather, that hope shattered like broken glass. More Dark spots were appearing on his skin, spreading like ink drops on paper. Again Tyler's words echoed in her mind: “ten minutes left.”

“Turn around!”  she barked, her perfectly styled hair falling loose as she jerked forward.

At that moment the driver shook his head, as he tried to sound confident.

“Don't listen to that crazy man from the forest road,” he said, his fingers drumming nervously on the steering wheel.

“He's just a madman. Nobody can predict–”

Her words died in her throat as her father's cold hand suddenly gripped hers with surprising strength.

“TURN THIS CAR AROUND RIGHT NOW!”

Immediately the car's tires squealed against the dirt road as they made a sharp turn, hearing towards the location they met Tyler.

Not long after the arrived at the spot they meet Tyler.

The lady didn't even wait for the car to fully stop - she flung the door open and stumbled out. Her designer heels sank into the soft earth as she ran, her perfectly styled hair coming loose in the wind. Her heart pounded so hard she could hear it in her ears.

Reaching the spot where Tyler had stood before dropping the drugs, she dropped to her knees, her expensive dress be damned. Her manicured fingers clawed at the dirt, searching desperately. But the black pill was gone.

At that moment her chest tightened with panic until a movement caught her eyes.

Under a gnarled old tree sat a man who made her stomach turn. His clothes were more holes than fabric, dark with years of dirt. Matted hair hung in clumps around his face like dead vines.

From distance the smell hit her like a wall - a horrible mix of unwashed body, rotting food, and something worse she couldn't name.

In his filthy, trembling hands, he played with two black pills, giggling as he rolled them between his fingers.

Seeing it was the same drugs Tyler had dropped.

Without wasting anymore time the lady immediately ran to the man.

“I'll pay you,” she said, her voice shaking as she pulled out her designer wallet. Her hands trembled so badly she almost dropped it.

“Five thousand dollars!” But the man just rocked back and forth, humming to himself.

“Ten thousand dollars!”

She offered more money, her voice getting higher with desperation, but his vacant eyes showed no understanding.

Time was slipping away.

She could hear the sound from her her  grandfather's gasps from the car grew weaker.

 Fighting every instinct that screamed at her to stay away, she stepped toward the man. The smell made her eyes water and her stomach heave. Her throat closed up as she forced herself to wrap her arms around his filthy body. Her silk dress - worth more than most people made in a month - pressed against his rags. She could feel things crawling on his clothes. With a quick motion that made her want to scream, she snatched the pills from his dirty hands and ran back to the car.

Her father's face was now completely black, his skin looking like polished coal.

At that moment her hands shook so badly she almost dropped the pill as she put it in his mouth.

For one horrible moment, nothing happened. Then, like sunrise breaking through storm clouds, color began returning to his face. The black spots faded away like morning dew.

And his breathing grew stronger, more regular.

When his eyes opened, they were sharp and clear. The weakness that had clouded them was gone.

 His voice came out rough but firm, carrying the strength she remembered from before his illness.

“Find him, that man from earlier, find him!.”

The lady grandfather said.