The Tram
The St. Kilda Beach 96 tram rumbled and squeaked along its tracks, approaching the bustling Bourke Street Mall as throngs of people crowded the popular shopping precinct during the busy lunchtime rush.
As the tram driver shifted uncomfortably in his seat he rubbed his chest, frowning. He wondered what was happening when a sharp pain suddenly wracked his hulking, obese mass. He took his hands off the controls and clutched his upper left arm, as if the futile action would somehow ward off the oncoming heart attack. In a final spasmodic fit, the driver bucked and writhed in his seat, struggling for air, enduring agony until he went limp, his head lolling against the windscreen, bobbing with the rocking motion of the tram.
Across the Mall at HMV, a man clad in black wearing a balaclava came rushing out of the store, bowling people over. He was clutching an armful of stolen DVDs. He sprinted out into the busy Mall, dodging people, looking for any means of escape.
By now, a security guard had been dispatched and was in pursuit. As the thief kept running, he glanced back over his shoulder and failed to see a student’s schoolbag lying on the hot clay paving. He tripped and went sprawling onto his stomach, his stolen cache sliding along the ground in every direction. He landed, hitting his head on the tram tracks. He was unconscious, oblivious to the approaching tram.
Curious onlookers stared in horror at what was happening. People screamed. Someone yelled, “Get him off the tracks!” Another pointed and said, “The tram driver’s unconscious!”
The tram advanced. The security guard dashed out onto the tracks in a desperate attempt to drag the thief out of its path.
It was too late.
The security guard dived clear. The runaway tram impacted with its fallen victim. The tram instantly popped the thief’s head like a melon under its wheels, crushing the skull, spurting a bright crimson stream of blood, spattering nearby witnesses.
They gaped, horrified at the pulpy mass of gray matter and bone fragments strewn across the tracks in the tram’s wake. A huge crowd had gathered by now, gazing in stunned disbelief at the atrocity of the event. The tram eventually came to a stop sometime later when a passenger took action, breaking into the driver’s compartment and jamming on the emergency brakes.
Sirens could be heard in the distance as the ambulances and police cars were on their way to the scene. That evening, the whole nation was shocked as they watched the news reports, not believing that something like that could ever happen.