Roadkill

By Leonard Kirke

A wandering, hungry dog.

A hamburger in the middle of the road.

A truck speeding through the night.

You can probably guess how it ends, but the end is only the beginning.

"Roadkill," the debut short story by Leonard Kirke, is the tale of four friends on a perfectly normal errand: going out for a late-night snack.

Less normal is the fact that all four are the spirits of dead animals, inexplicably able to think, talk, and feel just like humans. Even less normal is the fact that fast food might just be their only hope of continued existence. When they're pursued by a mysterious hooded figure, things start to get really weird.

Described by one reader as "what the movie 'Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle' would be if it was written by David Lynch," Leonard Kirke's "Roadkill" exists somewhere between the realm of classic on-the-road stories and the surrealism of Franz Kafka. Fans of the strange, the bizarre, the amusing, and the occasionally heartwarming will find themselves right at home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leonard Kirke
• Release date: Sep 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301075034

Leonard Kirke

Leonard Kirke resides in the hills of southern Ohio. Kirke spends the vast majority of his time doing nothing, but on occasion he writes things (usually words, arranged in what he deems an aesthetically pleasing manner) or creates short videos (usually about nothing, a tribute to his favorite pastime). He's an infrequent contributor/collaborator/ghostwriter for The Jeremy Kellerman Archive, with whom he released a short story collection in 2012. His blog, The Vertigo of Freedom, is a chronicle of meandering thoughts about things like writing, living, and soap. Recently he watched many episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Leonard Kirke is also a ukulele player, having learned to play a C chord more or less accurately.

Book preview

Roadkill

Leonard Kirke

First Smashwords Edition

Copyright Relinquished via Creative Commons Zero Waiver 2013

Public Domain

Please respect the hard work of this author by copying, sharing, modifying, or otherwise using this work, wherever and however possible.

Cover Illustration by Piti Yindee

Cover Illustration Copyright Waived via CC0 Waiver 2013 - Public Domain

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Special Thanks

Dedication

Author's Note

A Note About Copyright

About the Artist

About the Author

One

The dog walked underneath the lights by the side of the road. Its eyes darted between the horizon ahead and the surrounding darkness. The highway was nestled within the vast forest, but it was not very far from the city. If the dog continued on its course, it would eventually see the lights of homes and gas stations on the outskirts of the city limits. Bits of evidence of those places were all around the dog as it traveled, indicating that it was heading for civilization.

One such artifact caught the dog's attention. The dog could smell it. Meat.

In the very center of the highway was a crumpled, crinkled paper bag, the logo just barely legible. The faded red letters formed a single word: STUBBY'S. Spilling out from the bag, still partially wrapped up in thin foil, was a greasy, dirty hamburger. Only one or two bites had been taken out of it. Anyone with enough forethought might have come to the conclusion that either the person who'd thrown it away was incredibly wasteful, or that something was wrong with the food. The dog, however, had no such forethought. It only knew that it was hungry and that the hamburger smelled like something it could eat. It was something familiar and inviting, something very good.

Once it had identified the source of the scent, the dog rushed to the hamburger and began wolfing it down excitedly. It was so preoccupied with the meal that it didn't see the lights until they were almost upon it.

The truck's brakes made a wretched squealing sound. The impact was immense; bones were shattered and organs burst. The dog rolled back to where it first spied the hamburger, rolling seven, eight, maybe nine times or more.

The driver didn't bother to assess the situation. With the dog back by the side of the road, the truck regained its speed and was off into the night.

Two

The corpse of the dog, eyes wide open but unseeing, lay motionless beneath the pale yellow streetlight above. The moon cast a faint blue glow over the deep green of the trees all around. Everything was still and quiet. There was, in that moment, a nothingness in the air. All was unconsciousness, all was sleep, all was deeper than sleep. There was only the streetlight, the pale blue of the moon, and the breeze rustling gently through the leaves.

Suddenly, another light appeared. It was pale blue like the moonlight, but brighter, with a distinctive glow. It rose up from the corpse of the dead animal. Its shape was that of the dog, and it moved as if the dog was waking up from a disorienting dream, groggy and dazed. There was a difference now, however, in the exact way it moved. It moved now with a new kind of self-awareness, one might be tempted to call it purpose. Its movements more closely resembled those of a man, waking up after having long overslept, than a dog.

Using his paws to rub the sleep out of his eyes, he stumbled away from the spot where he had risen. The Dog looked at his corpse and blinked his eyes, at first unable to comprehend what had happened. He turned to look in the direction where the truck had gone, and then he looked at his corpse again.

Whoa, what the heck?

Three

The Dog, at a loss for any sense of purpose, and seeing nothing further to be gained from examining his remains, began traveling in the same direction as before. It was a clear night, and the stars were shining brightly above him. He didn't know where he was going, but he felt compelled to resume his earlier course. He had no better idea of where to go or what to do, so