Road Rage
The final moments of March, 20, 2020
Transmigrated Teri is a WIP that is part of a “post 200 words a day during July” challenge issued by
. Episodes posted daily will be of various lengths and sometimes will stop in the middle of the scene. You have been warned!The set up:
Teri Travers, a nearly-50 bitter “office lady” who has not led a happy life gets in a massive car accident after being sent home on the first day of COVID lockdown in 2020. She (and her dog) wake up in a strange new world that is also strangely familiar…that’s right, she’s been transmigrated into the world of her favorite 1990s fantasy novel series, the massively popular, critically disdained, and incredibly tropetastic Allisar Fireborn Chronicles by the infamous Chadwick Jarvaldson, aka “Fuckin’ Chad” to all his very annoyed fans who are still waiting for the final book to be published.
Previously: Her phone chimed and she looked at the screen.
“HI, Ms. Travers. It’s Louis at Barkingham. We’re closing in fifteen minutes and Theo is ready to go.”
Startled, Teri realized that she had been sitting in the car listening to the audiobook of the Allisar Chronicles for nearly forty-five minutes.
March 16, 2020, comes to an abrupt end while Teri listens to a scene from the book series she hates to love…
She stumbled out of the door, clattered up the stairs and into the lobby to find a very exhausted Louis holding Theo’s leash like the last soldier standing. He all but tossed the leash at her.
“Good-bye and good luck,” he said and spun around to disappear into the back again.
The front desk was empty, and as she stood there, the lights were shut off.
Theo was just smart enough to realize that things were not going as they normally did, and walked all hunched up with worry and whined when Teri buckled him into his security harness in the front seat. She might have felt worse about it if he weren’t so dumb. As it was, she just slammed the door in his sad face.
Getting home was the priority, and fortunately she was not even worried about their toilet paper stash since she had grabbed as many as she could the previous Friday, when it had finally sunk in that a lockdown was likely to happen.
Unfortunately, the traffic situation had not calmed down at all. As the clock ticked closer to 4:00 pm, it was clear that more and more businesses around town were sending people home. Teri drove along the main drag back to her subdivision but it was moving at a crawl. Despite the AC running on high, Theo was panting heavily, his eyes a little wild as he strained at his harness, getting more and more freaked out by the chaos of the day.
Seeing an opportunity, Teri took a turn and went into a maze of back roads through older parts of the city. Harold McGuire was still talking through the car speakers, and she found herself pacing her turns and speed to his voice somehow.
In that pivotal moment, amidst the swirling chaos of battle, Gervyn felt a surge of energy welling up from deep within his very core…
She ended up on the two-lane frontage road that ran parallel to the highway and gunned it. There were a few other locals who had the same thought she did, and everyone was jockeying to get ahead. She managed to speed around one slower car, but found that just ran her up against another one.
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” She slapped the wheel with the flat of her hand and Theo startled. “Oh, stop it,” she snarled at him.
The air crackled with anticipation as his trembling fingertips reached towards the heavens, their tips igniting with an ethereal flame. The sheer intensity of the power coursing through his veins sent shivers down his spine…
She hit the brakes as the car she was tailing suddenly slowed down to take a turn. Theo panicked, bouncing in his harness and trying to jump around.
“Would you STOP?” she shouted and pushed him into the seat with her free hand.
He stood unwavering, his eyes blazing with a newfound resolve. The forces of fire answered his call, bending to his will like loyal subjects. With a single gesture, Gervyn unleashed a torrent of scorching flames…
Theo barked and jerked away, and Teri heard a tight, plastic snap. She only had a moment to realize something was wrong before she had 80 pounds of panicked dog in her lap, yanking her hands off the wheel, making the car veer wildly. Time slowed down as she made a grab for the steering wheel. Her eyes darted up over Theo’s back and she saw a large delivery truck barreling towards them, its horn blaring. Her breath caught and a surge of terror overwhelmed her as realized what was happening.
The forces of Emperor Nikodosis’ army were engulfed in a blazing inferno, heralding the dawning age of Gervyn’s destined greatness. The howls of the dying surrounded him but he held strong, determined to wring justice from the blood of his enemies…
Everything went black.