“What can we do?” asked Kristy.
“We can’t stay parked here,” said Mateo. “That’s for sure.” They were barely off the road, with a rocky slope just a couple feet to their right. In the darkness they could easily get clipped by other vehicles approaching from behind. He checked over his shoulder and pulled back onto the highway.
“What happened to the truck?” asked Priya. “Did anybody see?”
“Not me,” said Kristy.
Carl looked back at the girls. “It disappeared,” he said. He let his comment hang in the air for a few seconds. “Right after it passed us.”
“Stop saying that,” said Kristy. “That’s impossible.”
“I’m only telling you what I saw with my own two eyes,” said Carl.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” said Mateo. He had the jeep back up to fifty-five. “We’re going to drive. There’s gotta be a gas station or a restaurant or something up ahead. We’ll pull in, call the cops, report the truck, and get this taken care of.”
“Report what truck?” said Carl. “The disappearing one? The phantom tan pickup truck that’s been trying to kill us? Is that what we’re going to tell the police?” Kristy punched Carl in the shoulder. “Ouch!” He rubbed his arm. “What was that for?”
“Why’d you make us leave our phones at home?” She hit him a couple more times. “How stupid can you be?”
“Let’s try to calm down, everybody.” said Mateo. Good one, he thought. Tell them to calm down. Maybe you should try taking your own advice. You’re the one whose heart is nearly beating out of your chest.
“Mateo’s right.” Priya slid over to Kristy and began to rub her back. “We’re going to be fine. We’ll pull over up ahead, call someone, and this will all be over.”
“Then can we go home?” asked Kristy. She started to weep.
“Of course,” said Priya. “Then we can go home.”
Mateo looked over his shoulder. He and Priya locked eyes and nodded.
The stereo was off, and the girls were no longer dancing. No one was even talking. We’ll put this night behind us, Mateo thought. We’ll get home safely, let some time pass, and then make plans to drive back up the coast another day. Sure, there won’t be another blood moon, but we’ll still enjoy a drive up the PCH—one devoid of whack-job drivers and mysterious pickup trucks.
He was driving fast. Faster than before. Probably a little faster than he should have been. He was also keeping a keen eye on all his mirrors. If the truck returned, he wanted to know about it right away.
“Watch out!” Carl screamed.
Mateo stomped the brakes and heard the screeching of rubber as he slid around a bend in the road. With his eyes on the mirrors, he had missed a sign warning cars to reduce their speed to forty for the oncoming corner. The jeep shimmied a little bit in each direction, but Mateo quickly righted it. “Sorry, guys.”
“You drive and get us where we’re going,” barked Priya. “And you get us there in one piece. We’ll watch for the truck.”
“Will do,” said Mateo. “Sorry.”
His heart was pounding again. He followed Priya’s orders, keeping his face forward and his eyes on the road. Mateo maintained the proper speed around the next few corners and kept the jeep solidly between the centerline and the white line to his right.
He approached another sign. Relief came over him. This one read, “Driftwood Point—6 miles.”
“Six miles,” reported Mateo. He gave a smile to everyone. “There’s a store in Driftwood Point. We’ll be there in five minutes.”
“Thank God,” said Priya.
Carl patted Mateo on his arm. “Good job.”
“It can’t be!” shouted Kristy. “It can’t be!”
“What?” shouted Carl.
“The truck!” she screamed. “It’s back!”
Mateo checked the rearview mirror. Sure enough, there it was: the tan truck, headlights off, on his bumper once more. Where on Earth did it come from? he thought. He did some quick calculations in his head. What else can I do to shake that truck? Slowing down wasn’t the trick. He had already tried that twice. And letting it pass had clearly been a mistake.
Then he remembered the sign. Driftwood Point was just a little more than five miles away. That was nothing. He could keep the truck at bay for five miles, no problem. This jeep, with its new engine and amped-up exhaust system, could easily outrun that old beater. He would gun it. He would outrun that old piece-of-crap truck and get them to safety. Without giving it another thought, Mateo pushed the gas pedal to the floor.
“What are you doing?” shrieked Carl.
“I’m getting us to Driftwood Point,” said Mateo. His foot remained heavy on the accelerator. Sixty miles per hour, then sixty-five. The needle on the RPM gauge pointed steadily to the right as the jeep’s motor grew louder. “Am I losing him?”
“Not really,” said Priya.
Mateo dipped the jeep over a hill and slid into the left lane as he navigated around the corner. Can’t this road run straight or flat for just a little while? he thought. The twists and turns that made the highway so spectacular and unique also made their escape perilous.
“Be careful!” shouted Carl.
Mateo tried to get the jeep back into the correct lane as they reached another corner, but he overcompensated and took the jeep a few feet off the road to the right. Pebbles clanged around inside the wheel wells as the jeep kicked up clouds of gravel.
“You’re going to get us killed!” shouted Priya. “We’re never going to make it to Driftwood Point like this!”
“He’s still back there!” shouted Kristy.
Fearful that he might lose all control and take them all plummeting into the Pacific, Mateo slowed down. His plan to outrun the truck had been a poor one, anyway: the truck had barely flinched. It remained on their bumper. He slowed down to fifty-five again.
“Now what?” asked Carl.
Mateo looked ahead. The shoulder looked safe. “I’m pulling over.” He gently slowed down and eased the jeep into some grass along the highway. The truck barreled past.
“Watch the truck, everyone,” said Carl. “Watch. Don’t take your eyes off it.”
All four of them locked their eyes on the truck. No doubt about it, the truck went from being on the road just in front of them to nowhere—it vanished before their eyes. The fog had lifted over an hour ago. They were on a straight stretch of highway. There was no mistaking it this time: the truck had disappeared like some Las Vegas magic trick.