20 minute writing prompt fiction.
As well as the usual deletions and typo and punctuation corrections I had to re-type one of the sentences. I had deleted an entire final clause as unnecessary and slowing the pace then realised that it included one of the prompts. I tried to put it back from memory as best I could.
The prompts are below the piece. Can you work out which clause was deleted and had to be re-inserted again? What would YOU have done?
He kept the needle pointing to 60. Time to get out. His lights were off, only the faintest grey light near the horizon. There was the sound of a shotgun behind him. A howl. He’d been missed.
The village was one street, barely large enough for the lorries that thundered through it. He prayed he wouldn’t meet one coming the opposite way. There was a slope, every time he went around a bend the air felt fresher. The motor was straining. Jeff’s hatchback was the only vehicle he could get at such short notice. Another hum. More vehicles. He navigated the hairpin bend – called the Scissors locally – and looked back. No lights. They wouldn’t need them, they knew the area. Probably knew where he was going too. Would there be someone there already? Villagers with pitchforks now had mobile phones too. He had no choice but to move. While he could.
Another twist and he couldn’t see anything, the hill had risen up to blot out the sky. Almost there.
His heart thumping fast, his breath shallow. His body urged him to hurry but he needed to ditch the car. It would buy time later. There. He’d left a white painted signpost opposite it. He pulled in, branches snicked and whipped at the car, scrabbled at the metal,scraped along the windows. The car bounced into the gully and he grabbed the signpost, threw it under the car so no one else could use it.
The whine of the other engines was getting closer. He kept his arms in front as he looked for a way around the trees. If he could get past them into the field he’d have a clear run almost up to the cairn. Just had to make sure he didn’t take a tumble on the rough damp ground or get his eyes poked out by one of these branches.
He found the dry stone wall, flopped over and ran to the next, the slope the only indication of direction.
He heard the cars go past. The road got worse and they’d slow down more and more. He could still outpace them. If they caught him it was over.
He paused, the moon was returning. He could see the ground better but it made him more visible. No matter, they were coming anyway. Would they kill him or just blow a hole in his leg? Nobody was innocent in this game but things had gotten out of hand. He ran, expecting to feel the blow of a bullet. He cracked a twig underfoot and almost fell.
Just meters away and he could taste victory. There was the old Celtic cross where it was buried.
Extreme geocaching, best sport in the world.
The prompts are:
move
twist
innocent
use
tumble
