The group stood, looking over the Pacific, their bodies butted up to the guard rail as water lapped against the rocky shoreline far below them. After the truck disappeared, they had turned around and driven a few hundred yards south to a scenic overlook Mateo had remembered passing earlier. They were done driving. The plan was to park the jeep and flag down the first car they saw. The full moon was higher in the sky now, still just as bright as ever. “The eclipse is going to start soon,” said Priya.
“Not the night we were expecting, huh?” said Mateo.
“Not really,” said Carl.
They watched the road. No signs of any cars in either direction, but thankfully, no sign of the tan pickup truck either.
“I feel like I should tell you something,” said Priya. “Something else I know about the blood moon.”
“What?” asked Mateo.
“There are people who believe in certain types of spirits. Spirits that only come out on the night of a blood moon.” Priya looked at each of them. “People have spotted them dancing under the red light of the moon. Legend has it that during the blood moon they steal the souls of the living to join their circles.”
“And you were planning on enlightening us with this information when?” asked Carl.
“I was going to tell you,” said Priya, “but then Kristy was getting so scared. And, anyway, I thought it was just a silly ghost story. Nothing more than that. I didn’t really believe the legend was true.”
“Great,” said Kristy. “Just great.”
“Is there anything else you haven’t told us?” asked Carl.
“Well,” said Priya, “the story goes that there are certain mystical places hidden in these hills where the spirits lure new souls. If you’re in one of these places and you allow the scarlet light of the blood moon to shine on your face, your body disappears and your soul becomes a blood moon spirit for all eternity.”
“Really?” said Mateo. He shook his head and paced back and forth. “Really?”
“I’m sorry,” said Priya. “Like I said, I thought it was a silly legend.”
Just then a set of headlights appeared from the north, driving toward them.
“Finally,” said Carl. He bolted for the highway, toward the entrance to the parking lot, his hands waving wildly in the air.
“It could be the truck!” shouted Priya.
“Can’t you see?” he yelled back, still flapping his arms. “Its headlights are on!” Carl ran for the entrance.
Mateo looked at Priya and shrugged his shoulders. Carl has a point, he thought. Not once since we’ve seen the pickup has it had its lights on. Still, running blindly toward a car we can’t really see isn’t the brightest move in the world. He and the girls walked more cautiously toward the road.
Carl had made it to the parking-lot entrance. Mateo could hear him shouting at the oncoming car to stop.
The vehicle was approaching fast. Mateo squinted at the lights. They were far apart, and several feet off the ground. Whatever was coming toward them was big. Bigger than a car. It had a square top . . . and a light-colored paint job . . ..
His mouth dropped. “It’s the truck!” he screamed.
Priya saw it too. “Carl!” she yelled. “Come back! It’s the truck!”
But it was too late. The truck bore down on Carl, who stopped dead in his tracks as it drove straight at him.
“Watch out!” shrieked Kristy.
Carl crouched in fear, seemingly unable to do anything else. It’s over for him, thought Mateo in an instant. The truck is going to run him down and that’s going to be it. In a few days we’ll be attending his funeral.
If we’re not at our own funerals.
But instead of crashing headlong into Carl and splattering his body across the pavement, the truck passed right through him, as if he wasn’t even there. Mateo watched in amazement as Carl remained untouched, unmoved, as the truck skidded to a halt between them and Carl.
Carl stood up. Mateo, Priya, and Kristy could only stare in blind horror at the truck. Carl was a statue too. They were waiting for the truck to make a move.
Then something happened—something Mateo had no way of wrapping his head around. Jet-black smoke oozed from the driver’s side window and rose up and away from the pickup. Slowly, more and more of it flowed from the truck. It collected in a cloud and hung in the air for several seconds.
Then, before their eyes, the smoke began to transform. “What is that?” said a panicked Kristy. She gripped Mateo’s arm. All he could do was shake his head in disbelief. I have no freaking idea, he thought. The smoke was taking a more defined shape, a human-like form.
The beast or spirit or phantom or whatever it was hung in the air above them, maybe fifteen feet up, now draped from head to toe in flowing, black robes and outlined in a strange glow. The face of the thing was shrouded behind a deep hood.
Carl was apparently done waiting. His voice rang out into the night. “Run!” he shouted. “Into the woods!” He darted away from the creature, toward the road. Mateo watched. Does Carl want us to follow him across the highway? Past that . . . thing?
“Let’s go!” shouted Priya. There were two exits to the overlook, the one Carl had taken and another one behind them. Priya ran away from the spirit, toward the other exit, and Kristy followed her. Mateo wasn’t sure running into the hills, away from the road and into the dense forest, was such a good idea. But he was happy to put some distance between himself and that spirit, or whatever it was. He took one last look at the creature and ran after his friends.