The sun was setting on the dusty plains of the outback. The sound of a car kicking up dust and sand broke the deadly silence of the desert stillness. Inside the car however, it was far from silence.
"I can't believe you've gotten us lost, how bloody hard can it be to follow a map!" The woman in the car fumed, as she swept her long blonde hair out of her face that was blowing around from the air conditioning.
"Well next time, how about I sit in the passenger seat and whinge, while you try and read the map and drive and figure out where we're going" Her partner growled under his breath fighting with the map that was spread out over him.
"You know I can't read maps" She said, rolling her eyes.
"Well you know what Ellie, don't pissing moan then if you can't do any better than I can" He snapped.
"You know what Gavin, I wish I'd never agreed to come on this trip with you! It was stupid and boring, and you've turned this holiday into something from the hills have eyes. Any minute now I'm expecting some mutant inbred creature to come out from... From...From wherever mutant Inbreds come out from and kill us all, and you know what it would be entirely your fault!" Ellie snapped, crossing her arms angrily and looking out the window away from him in anger. The man sighed in frustration, that was the sign that the argument was over.
They both didn't speak for hours after that and the sunset had now turned into darkness. Ellie was asleep with her head resting on the passenger side window, a bump in the road caused her head to bang against it and woke her up.
"Ouch!" She moaned, rubbing the side of her head. She frowned when she realised that it was dark and they were still driving.
"Urgh are we still not there?" Ellie moaned.
"No, and in this dark I'm surprised we're even still on the road, can't see a thing" Even with the headlights on they were that isolated from civilisation that their pathetic lights barely cut through the darkness.
"Brilliant" Ellie said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Look babe, I know it's not ideal, but maybe we should stop for the night. I can't see a thing we'll only end up even more lost" Ellie sighed even though what Gavin was saying was true. Reluctantly she nodded.
Gavin reached round and pulled his jacket out from the backseat and laid it over her.
"I'm sorry OK, I didn't get us lost on purpose" He sighed.
"I know, I'm sorry I didn't mean to shout, I'm just tired and I need a shower" Ellie snuggled up to Gavin and he wrapped his arms round her knowing they were in for a chilly night.
"Love you babe" Ellie sighed, closing her eyes and hugging him closely.
"Love you too, don't you worry. Things will look better in the light of day" Ellie nodded and they both drifted off to sleep.
In the early hours of the morning, drifting between being asleep and awake. Ellie could have sworn she heard a jingling sound in the distance, like the sound of metal tapping together. It was an eerie and sinister sound. She awoke startled, Ellie looked out of the window and kept her ears pricked for any sound of noise. But she could hear and see nothing in the darkness. Shaking her head thinking it was all in her imagination, she cuddled back up to Gavins' warm body and fell back to sleep.
The bright glare of the sun woke them both up early the next morning. Gavin groaned and rubbed his eyes and gently moved Ellie away from him so as not to wake her. He turned the key to start it, hoping that by the time Ellie woke up he would be back on track to where they were heading. The car however responded with an unhappy whirring sound as the engine failed to start. Gavin turned the key again it made the same sound. He swore under his breath causing Ellie to wake up.
"Babe what's wrong?" She asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
"The shit piece car won't start" Gavin growled.
"What!?" Ellie panicked. "You made sure we had enough gas didn't you?"
"Yeah, yeah I checked, I was sure we had enough. But then we didn't expect to get lost did we?"
"No you didn't expect to get us lost! Did we have petrol before we stopped?"
"Obviously otherwise we wouldn't have been fucking moving nowhere would we, we'd have broken down before I'd stopped"
"Maybe we've got a leak?" Ellie suggested.
"Doubt it" Gavin suggested.
"OK then either we've got a leak, or you messed up like you always do!" Ellie snapped, crossing her arms and pouting with irritation.
Their argument was suddenly disrupted by the sound of tires and metal jingling. They both whizzed round in their seats and saw a blue Ford F100 rattling up to them.
"Someone's coming quick!" Ellie gasped, jumping out of the car and waving her arms. Hoping whoever was in that truck could help them.
The truck stopped and kicked up a load of dust when the driver noticed the gorgeous, curvy blonde woman, causing Ellie to cough. A man jumped out of the truck wearing a red chequered top, brown trousers, a brown hat and carrying a rifle.
"What the bloody hell are you buggers doing out here?" His deep gravely voice said.
"Someone got us lost and didn't carry enough petrol" Ellie said rolling her eyes towards Gavin.
The man laughed "Oh dear caught in the middle of nowhere with no juice are ya?" Gavin nodded and moved closer to Ellie, feeling suddenly protective of her. It didn't take a genius to figure out the couple were tourists, the man could see that a mile off. "The names Mick, Mick Taylor pig shooter and outback legend. Pommies are ya?" The man grinned.
"We're from England" She frowned.
"Yeah, they usually are" He laughed. Ellie had a shiver go down her spine, she didn't like this man there was something sinister about him.
"Well I've got some gas back at my place how 'bout I take your little Sheila here back to my place and I can grab the gas and we can get this piece of shit back on the road while she's relaxing in the air conditioning, bet you're dying for a drink ain't you love?" He said giving her a wink.
Ellie pulled Gavin away from Mick to discuss it.
"Babe I don't think this is a good idea" She whispered in his ear "I don't trust him, he gives me the creeps"
"Ellie it could be days before someone else drives by, he's offering to help what choice do we have?" Gavin explained and Ellie sighed with frustration realising they had no other choice.