The Getaway

Chris yanked on the steering wheel, sending the pick-up truck skidding around the corner. Simon, in the passenger seat, and Kathy in the back, slid and swayed with the rocking of the vehicle. The bank robbery had gone well. They had made it away with the loot. Now, they just had to make their escape. While Chris concentrated on speeding along the roads out of the city, and into the Lancashire countryside, Simon drummed his fingers on the dashboard. Would they get away with one of the biggest heists of all time? Their names would go down in legend. Books would be written, films would be made, telling of the escapades. But what would their ending be?

Kathy grinned from the back seat, clutching her shot-gun. Chris eyed her in the rear-view mirror. 

‘You shouldn’t have shot the bank teller.’ He said. 

‘He was refusing to co-operate, and I didn’t shoot him. I shot at him. And he moved quickly enough after that. Did you see the look on his face?’ she laughed.

Simon laughed along, turning in his seat to high-five his friend. He glanced over his shoulder, looking out at the road behind them. 

He swore.

‘Cops.’ he growled.

The sound of sirens interrupted him.

‘What do we do now?’ Chris asked.

‘Pull over, and when they come to arrest us, I’ll blast them.’ Kathy said.

‘Floor it. Get us out of here.’ Simon insisted.

Chris nodded. A getaway chase sounded better than a road-side shoot-out. He slammed his foot down on the accelerator, dashing along the black tarmac.

‘They’ll never take us alive.’ Chris said.

The chase continued across the city. Chris pushed the truck as hard as it would go. He took sharp lefts and rights, flew the wrong way down one-way streets. They were outlaws, fugitive bank robbers, so the highway code went out of the window. 

The police car, a blur of blue flashing lights and wailing high-pitched sirens, was keeping up with them.

Kathy wound the window down and leaned out, aiming the shot-gun. She fired off a couple of rounds, aiming for the tyres of the pursuing police car. 

‘Keep it still, will you?’ she called out to the driver.

‘Do you want to drive?’ Chris replied.

‘Okay, pull over and we’ll change places. I’m sure the police will give us a head-start.’ She yelled, firing another shot. 

Chris veered left at a fork in the road. They darted on and on, the police closing in behind. Chris groaned when he saw the sign at the road-side. 

‘The bridge is closed. We can’t cross it.’

All three bank robbers looked back at the police car gaining on them, their faces framed in the flashing blue lights and the sirens ringing in their ears.

‘What do we do now?’ Chris hollered.

‘Keep going. Never take us alive, remember?’ Kathy said.

‘Do it.’ Simon agreed.

Chris gritted his teeth and revved the truck on towards the collapsed bridge and their inevitable watery grave.

At that moment, Chris’ father opened the passenger door and peered in at his ten year old son and his two friends. 

‘Right, you lot, get out. I’ve told you before about playing in my work truck.’

Chris, Kathy and Simon moaned as they climbed out of the trick and headed for the park across the street.

By Chris Platt

From: United Kingdom