The warm, humid, dark night revealed a starless, cloudy sky. Surrounded on this lonely road by trees, I wondered if my decision to skip the service station with the overpriced gasoline really was that wise. Should I call for help? I reached into my pocket to pull out my cell phone. No signal. I pounded the dashboard in frustration with a closed fist. I unlocked the car door and stepped outside. After looking down the long road I determined that there must be no other vehicle headed my way for a while. I pulled out a half-used box of cigarettes from my backpack on the passenger seat and rolled down my window. I lit the first one I saw with a lighter that I stored in the glove compartment and waited.

After about ten minutes, I threw my used cigarette on the floor and began to become impatient. I browsed through my two paper bags of groceries for entertainment and to remember what I bought until I became bored of that too and returned to sitting silently. Until this point I never got worried that help would come. That's when the electricity in the car died. Surrounded by darkness I rolled up all of the windows and slid lower into my seat in fear. Here I was, in the middle of nowhere, without a signal and in a car with no gas or electricity. My heart furiously pounded as I looked out the front of the car into the darkness.

I laid back in my seat continuing to stare straight ahead. Audible, clunky, inhuman-like footsteps came from behind me. I panicked and was too scared to look back, instead choosing to hide under the steering wheel. Next came knocking, horrible infrequent taps on my closed window. What little moonlight I had wasn't enough to make out what was making these sounds. The knocking continued, and then abruptly stopped. After patiently waiting, cowering next to the emergency brake, I once again pulled out the lighter and lit it to see outside.

Nothing was there. I lifted up my head to look out the window. Still nothing. My heartbeat slowed as I rested once again in my chair. Could I have been imagining this whole thing? Suddenly my seat was jerked backwards. My arms were held down as I choked on a tomato forced down my throat.

Then, I became the tomato.