'What is that smell?'
Max sniffed and swivelled his head round to check it wasn't him.
'Watch the road!' Miranda shrieked.
'Ok ok, I can see it' he muttered.
'Has something died in your car? Other than your lack of coolness with the kids' she sniped.
Max scowled. He'd been cheeked by some street savvy kids the day before and they'd gotten the better of him. Marginally.
'It's for Carmen's aunt's birthday.'
'What is?'
Max pulled over and got out to show her. His usual show-offy car was with the mechanics. This replacement for the week looked like a Land Rover and a pickup truck had spawned. One with enough space in the back that could hide a few bodies. There was in fact, a body in the back.
'Max' she gasped. 'What did you do?'
'I got the celebration meat' he grinned. He launched into an explanation about how he had been driving along minding his own business when the boar had come charging along. He'd accidently hit the creature and had decided that it would be the biggest piece of meat he could find to give to Carmen. Miranda kept an ear out on the story and an eye out on the thing. It reminded her of her first one-night stand. The hairy back did it. She grimaced.
'What? Don't you appreciate how I could have thrown my back out over it?'
Miranda explained the reason for her revulsion. Max scrunched up his face in sympathy.
'It was dark, I didn't see him properly until morning.'
'That's what Carmen said about me the first time we met' he joked. 'Luckily she had nothing to complain about afterwards.'
Miranda rolled her eyes. Thought she sensed some movement. She whipped her head around. The beast twitched. She was sure of it.
'Max' she warned.
He looked at it, saw nothing. The bulk seemed still enough.
'It's fine, let's go.'
They climbed back in the car and started off. It wasn't long before Max complained of cramp in his foot. He stopped the car to stretch out his legs, Miranda eager to follow, only to get out of the fug of Carmen's aunt's celebration meat. They waited until the cramp was sorted and was about to get back in the car when a bellow and a splintering crash caught their attention.
'Max!'
The boar was not dead. The boar was in fact alive and kicking.
I fucking knew it she thought.
It reared up and shrieked like a banshee. They backed away, ready to climb a tree if needed. They looked around. There were not as many climbable trees as they would have liked. Shit.
'Ok stay still' Max instructed.
The boar tore its way out of the back and ran in the opposite direction. Nowhere near them. They breathed a sigh of relief and went to inspect the back of their transport.
Ruined. Utterly ruined. It looked as if a spaceship had destroyed it.
'Aren't you lucky your car is with the mechanic for something other than being destroyed by boar?' She goaded. She'd never seen Max so gobsmacked. It really made her day.