Horror Stories

00:05 Hello everyone and welcome back to Horror Stories. I know many of you use these episodes to fall asleep, so before you drift off, I'd love it if you could leave a comment letting me know where you're listening from around the world. 00:17 Also, don't forget to like and subscribe if you're enjoying the episodes. 00:26 Story 1. 00:28 The fatigue felt different that night. 00:31 You know the kind that settles into your bones after you've spent 16 straight hours running on empty at the hospital. 00:37 I was only 29, but I already felt 50, and working as an emergency room nurse in Cleveland had pretty much taken over my entire existence, especially after my divorce became final earlier that year. 00:50 The highway unrolled in front of me like a strip of black ribbon, nearly deserted except for the occasional semi-roaring by in the opposite lanes. 00:59 It must have been close to 2 o'clock in the morning on a Wednesday near the end of October when everything suddenly went wrong. 01:06 The radio kept fading into bursts of static, and looking back, maybe that should have been the first sign that something was off. 01:14 At the time, though, I blamed it on the aging antenna on my battered Ford Explorer acting up again. 01:21 All I wanted was to make it home, stand under the hottest shower I could tolerate, and fall into bed before I had to return from my next shift in ten hours. 01:30 The figure came into view in my headlights about three miles before my exit. They were standing at the very edge of the shoulder, right where the asphalt gave way to gravel. 01:40 My immediate assumption was that someone's car had broken down. That happened constantly on that section of Interstate 71 between downtown Cleveland and the suburbs. 01:51 The person was throwing both arms over their head, waving with the frantic urgency of somebody who genuinely needed help. 01:58 They seemed to be wearing a dark jacket with the hood pulled over their head. 02:02 My instincts as a nurse took over without hesitation. 02:06 That automatic urge to assist a person in trouble that gets ingrained in you during training. 02:11 But just as I began lifting my foot from the accelerator and guiding the Explorer toward the shoulder, something compelled me to check the rear-view mirror. 02:20 That was when I realized the highway behind me had become unnaturally dark, as though every streetlight had gone out at once, despite the fact that they had all been working only seconds earlier. 02:31 And then I noticed them. 02:33 Two silhouettes were coming out from behind the concrete guardrail on the passenger side. They moved with such strange synchronization that every warning signal in my mind began shrieking. 02:44 They weren't walking or running in any normal sense. 02:47 It looked more as if they were sliding forward, remaining perfectly even with each other and separated by maybe 15 feet. 02:55 At the same moment, the person who had been signaling me abruptly lowered their arms and became completely motionless. 03:01 They didn't even turn their head to follow my vehicle as it slowed. 03:05 For what seemed like an eternity, but could only have been one or two seconds, my foot hovered uncertainly between the brake and the accelerator. 03:15 The two people who had emerged from behind the guardrail wore matching outfits, dark pants and what appeared to be grey hoodies. 03:22 They advanced toward my SUV with a horrifying sense of intention, as if they had rehearsed and carried out this exact setup a hundred times before. 03:32 My nursing education covered aggressive patients and taught me how to respond in hazardous situations. 03:38 This wasn't anything like that. This felt deliberate, organized, and deeply wrong in a way I still struggle to explain. 03:47 I stomped on the accelerator so violently that the tires shrieked against the road. 03:52 The Explorer fishtailed a little as I yanked the steering wheel back into the travel lane. 03:57 When I glanced into the side mirror, I saw all three figures arranged in a flawless line along the shoulder, doing nothing except watching my taillights recede. 04:07 My phone was sitting in the cup holder. I snatched it up while fighting to keep the Explorer under control at 90 miles per hour and fumbled for the emergency call button. 04:17 The dispatcher initially sounded doubtful, probably because she dealt with plenty of false reports and frightened or paranoid motorists. 04:25 But she must have heard something convincing in my voice, because she told me patrol units were already nearby and would investigate right away. 04:33 I drove far too fast the entire way home, looking into my mirrors every few seconds and deliberately using a different exit in case someone had followed me. 04:42 The adrenaline only began to fade after I entered my apartment complex and remained in the parking lot with the motor running. searching every dark space between the buildings. 04:52 My neighbor Frank, a retired police officer who always sat on his balcony smoking cigarettes, even at that hour, waved and shouted down to ask whether I was alright. 05:02 I must have appeared badly shaken because he actually came downstairs wearing his bathrobe and slippers to make sure I was okay. 05:10 The moment I explained what had happened, his attitude changed completely. 05:14 He told me that similar incidents had been reported along that section of highway over the previous several weeks. 05:20 They always occurred late at night and followed the same routine. 05:24 One person tried to flag down passing vehicles while other people waited out of sight nearby. 05:30 The police called me roughly an hour later. 05:33 By then I had finally gone inside and was sitting on my couch, still dressed in my scrubs and gripping a mug of coffee between both hands. 05:41 The officer introduced himself as Sergeant Brennan and told me the responding units had discovered something troubling at the spot I had described. 05:49 They found fresh tire marks matching the tread of my vehicle exactly where I had accelerated back onto the road, confirming that I really had slowed or stopped there. 05:59 But what he said next made fear wash through my entire body. 06:03 About 50 yards farther along the shoulder, concealed behind a group of trees, officers had located a burned-out sedan. 06:11 The vehicle had been reported stolen from a shopping mall parking lot three days earlier. 06:16 Inside it, they discovered belongings indicating that someone had been staying in the car, as well as maps of the highway network with particular locations circled in red ink. 06:26 My exit was among the marked places. 06:29 Sergeant Brennan asked me to come to the police station the following morning to review footage recovered from a traffic camera positioned around a mile before the place where I had pulled over. I arrived still completely drained, yet far too unsettled to have slept. 06:43 The officers showed me grainy black and white video recorded at approximately midnight that same evening, about two hours before I encountered the figures. 06:52 The footage appeared to show three individuals hauling something heavy out of a van and into the woods near the exact location I had reported. 07:00 The van had no license plates, and the picture was too indistinct to reveal anyone's face, but it clearly showed the group going back and forth several times. 07:10 Then, approximately 30 minutes before I passed through the area, the camera recorded them taking up positions along the shoulder. 07:17 One person stood precisely where I had seen the individual waving, while the other two crouched behind the same guardrail from which I later watched them emerge. 07:26 What disturbed me even more was what Sergeant Brennan revealed afterward as we sat in a sterile interview room beneath the buzz of fluorescent lights. 07:35 Police had been monitoring a group they believed was operating an elaborate carjacking ring. 07:40 Their targets were people driving alone on remote sections of highway. 07:45 The charred sedan hadn't belonged to the suspects. It was owned by Jennifer Huang, a woman who had been reported missing five days earlier after finishing a night shift at a warehouse 40 miles to the north. 07:57 Her credit cards had since been used at several gas stations along a route heading south. 08:02 Every charge occurred late at night, and the card was used for only a single purchase at each location before whoever had it continued moving. 08:11 Investigators believed the group drove stolen vehicles until they needed to dispose of them. Then they literally burned the cars to eliminate evidence and obtained replacements by taking them from motorists who pulled over to assist the person pretending to be stranded. 08:26 The detective assigned to the investigation was Carla Donovan. A woman with weary eyes and coffee stains across one sleeve. 08:34 She showed me the photograph from Jennifer's missing person report. 08:38 Jennifer appeared to be around my age, and she was wearing scrubs in the picture because she had also been a nurse. She worked overnight shifts at a regional medical center. 08:48 That fact affected me more powerfully than anything else I had learned. She and I had probably traveled that same stretch of highway hundreds of times, each of us worn out after a long shift, each of us driving alone through the darkness. 09:03 Detective Donovan said the investigators didn't believe I was the first motorist to get away from the trap. 09:09 Two other drivers had reported comparable experiences during the preceding month and had managed to speed off. 09:16 The crucial difference was that neither one contacted the police immediately, as I had. 09:21 They waited several days to report what happened, and by that point, every piece of useful evidence had disappeared. 09:29 The police kept me at the station for another three hours. They made me recount every detail repeatedly and asked me to indicate on a map exactly where each person had been standing and the direction in which each one had moved. 09:42 Forensic investigators had discovered footprints in the gravel showing that at least four people had been at the scene. Not merely the three I saw. 09:51 That meant a fourth person had been observing me from a position I never even noticed. 09:56 Detective Donovan also explained that investigators had identified a pattern in the timing. 10:02 Every incident took place on a weeknight sometime between midnight and four o'clock in the morning, when there were fewer cars on the road and it took emergency responders longer to arrive. 10:12 She gave me her personal number and instructed me to call at once if any other memories surfaced or if I ever suspected that someone was following me. 10:20 Groups like this, she warned, sometimes became obsessed with the people who escaped them. 10:25 For the following two weeks, I overhauled my routine. I took a different route home, adjusted my schedule whenever I could, and never left the hospital without at least one coworker accompanying me to the parking garage. 10:39 Frank began watching for me and checking on me each night when I returned. 10:44 I also texted Detective Donovan every time I made it home safely. 10:48 That may have seemed like an overreaction, but it gave me a small measure of reassurance. 10:54 Then on a Monday afternoon I received a call informing me that arrests had been made. 10:59 Police had stopped a van on that same portion of the highway because one of its taillights was broken. 11:05 Four individuals were inside, including a woman who fit the description of the person I had seen waving that night. 11:11 Officers also discovered rope, zip ties, and three separate stolen license plates in the vehicle. 11:18 Beneath the spare tire, they found Jennifer Huang's hospital identification badge, together with personal belongings connected to at least six other missing person investigations across three states. 11:29 The trial is not expected to begin for another few months. 11:33 Detective Donovan says my testimony will be essential because I am the only witness who notified the police immediately and supplied real-time evidence showing exactly how the group carried out its scheme. 11:45 Jennifer Huang remains missing, as do two additional victims whom investigators have linked to the same group. 11:52 Honestly, that is the part of the entire ordeal that continues to haunt me most. 11:57 I still work night shifts at the hospital, because being afraid doesn't make the bills disappear. 12:03 But now I travel through the city instead of taking the highway, even though it adds another 20 minutes to my commute. 12:10 Sometimes when I notice anyone standing beside the road, even in full daylight, my chest constricts and I have to consciously tell myself to breathe. 12:21 What stays with me more than anything is the knowledge that if I had remained there only a few seconds longer, if I had actually stepped out of my vehicle to help as my first instinct urged me to do, I would have become one more missing person case. 12:36 One more burned out car abandoned along the shoulder. 12:39 One more nurse who left work and never made it home. 12:47 Story two. 12:49 By the time I was 31, I had spent almost six years driving routes across the country for my job as a medical equipment sales representative. 12:58 Until then, the most serious problem I had ever dealt with on the road was a flat tire in the middle of the day. 13:04 What happened one night in early September 2022 completely changed the way I travel. 13:10 I had just wrapped up a late presentation at a hospital in Des Moines and was on my way to another appointment in Kansas City. 13:17 My plan was to drive through the night, reach the city at around 4 in the morning, and find a motel room once I arrived. 13:25 My silver Toyota Camry had been giving me trouble recently. Whenever I made a sharp left turn, it produced a strange grinding sound. 13:33 A friend of mine who worked as a mechanic said it was most likely nothing more serious than low power steering fluid, and that there was no immediate reason to panic. 13:42 I kept telling myself I would have the car inspected properly, but between one sales trip after another and the divorce proceedings I had recently begun with Brian, I continued putting it off. 13:55 The highway ahead of me was completely vacant. It was one of those endless rural sections where the closest town lies 40 miles away in either direction, with nothing but cornfields and darkness stretching along both sides of the road. 14:09 At around half past midnight while I was traveling through the absolute middle of nowhere on Highway 169, the temperature needle began to rise. 14:18 At first it moved only slightly beyond the center line, which can happen during a long drive. 14:24 Within five minutes, however, it was heading for the red zone and the unmistakable burnt sugary smell of overheated coolant filled the air. 14:33 I guided the Camry onto the shoulder, listening to the hazard lights click in time with my rapidly accelerating pulse, and shut off the engine before it could suffer major damage. 14:43 Steam began hissing from beneath the hood almost at once. 14:47 In the beams from my headlights it curled into pale spectral strands before dissolving into the night. 14:53 Once the motor stopped ticking and pinging as it cooled, the silence seemed to press against me like something solid. 15:00 There were no crickets chirping and no breeze stirring the corn. 15:04 Everything was perfectly still apart from the metallic noises coming from my cooling engine. 15:10 I looked at my phone and naturally had no signal at all. 15:14 Not a single bar, not even emergency coverage. 15:18 That felt almost impossible, but the words no service were right there on the display, seeming to taunt me. 15:25 For perhaps 20 minutes I remained inside the car with the doors locked and the windows lowered only enough to stop the glass from misting over. 15:33 I scrolled aimlessly through offline apps that couldn't help me, simply because I needed somewhere to direct my anxious energy. 15:41 Every few minutes I pulled the hood release, stepped outside, and walked around to see whether the steam had subsided. 15:48 The engine was still much too hot for me to consider touching the radiator cap. 15:53 According to the owner's manual in the glove compartment, I needed to wait a minimum of 30 minutes before trying anything. 16:00 Even then I was supposed to have water or coolant available to pour in. 16:04 Of course I had neither, because apparently it had never occurred to me to keep emergency supplies in my car like a responsible adult. 16:12 That portion of Highway 169 had a reputation for being deserted after dark. 16:18 Truck drivers mostly traveled it during daylight, and people from the area apparently knew better than to use it at night. 16:25 I had seen maybe three other vehicles during the hour before my breakdown, and that had been during the supposedly busier midnight period. 16:33 As the clock crept toward one in the morning, the odds of another motorist appearing seemed to shrink with every passing minute. 16:40 My first flicker of hope appeared as a dim glow on the horizon behind me. I could barely see it in the side mirror, just a faint patch of darkness becoming lighter, signaling that headlights were approaching from several miles away. 16:54 I actually said, thank God, aloud to myself. 16:58 I began practicing what I would tell whoever pulled over and decided I would offer them $50.00. 17:03 merely to follow me to the closest gas station once the Camry had cooled enough to limp that far. 17:09 The lights intensified little by little, taking an incredibly long time to reach me. 17:15 Given how straight and level the road was in that area, the delay made sense. 17:20 As the vehicle drew nearer, I could tell it was large, definitely bigger than an ordinary car. 17:26 Judging by the height and wide separation of the headlights, I guessed it might be a pickup or an SUV. 17:33 I switched on the flashlight on my phone, climbed out, and stood beside the open driver's door, preparing to signal the vehicle. 17:41 I assumed no one could possibly overlook a woman standing next to a disabled car with its hazard lights flashing on an otherwise abandoned highway. 17:50 The approaching driver began reducing speed from about a quarter mile away. 17:54 Relief rushed through me because for a moment I had been afraid the vehicle would speed past as though neither my car nor I existed. 18:02 But it continued slowing far more than the situation required. For roughly the final 100 yards, it crawled toward me at perhaps 5 miles per hour. 18:12 By then the headlights were aimed straight into my eyes, and their glare prevented me from seeing almost anything about the vehicle. 18:19 I could tell only that it was a van, one of those high-roofed commercial models, possibly white or pale grey based on the small portions I could distinguish around the brightness. 18:30 It finally pulled ahead of the Camry and stopped in front of it, partially blocking the shoulder. 18:36 Its engine remained running and sounded harsh and unusually loud, as if it needed a replacement muffler or had been deliberately altered to seem more menacing. 18:46 The headlights stayed at full intensity, directed at both me and my Camry. 18:51 I raised a hand to protect my eyes and waited for a window to lower or a door to open. 18:57 Neither happened. The van simply remained there, around fifteen feet away. 19:02 Its engine pulsed in a low, uneven cadence that seemed to travel through the deserted road and vibrate inside my chest. 19:09 Thirty seconds went by, then an entire minute. 19:13 Still nobody moved. The lights did not dim, no window came down, and no one made any attempt to speak to me. 19:21 I couldn't see through the windshield at all. 19:23 The angle of the van's headlights combined with their reflection across my windows and the Camry's chrome formed a solid barrier of severe white light between us. 19:33 I moved my phone's flashlight in what I hoped looked like a friendly wave and called, Hey, thank you for stopping. 19:40 Against the deep growl of the engine, my voice came out frail and insubstantial. 19:45 When no one answered, I advanced a few steps, wondering whether the driver simply couldn't hear me. 19:50 Then I made myself stop. 19:52 Something about the encounter had begun to feel wrong, although I couldn't yet explain exactly why. 19:59 The rational side of my mind insisted that the driver was probably exercising caution. 20:04 Maybe it was an older person who was nervous about leaving the van to help a stranger in the middle of the night. 20:10 Maybe whoever was inside was using a phone to summon assistance for me. 20:15 But another part of my mind, the primitive survival reflex buried in all of us, was demanding that I return to my car immediately. 20:23 I backed toward the Camry at a deliberate pace, never taking my gaze off the van, even though the glare kept me from seeing anything useful. 20:32 Without turning my back to the other vehicle, I lowered myself into the driver's seat. 20:38 My hand located the lock control and I pushed it. 20:42 All four doors secured themselves with a firm thunk. 20:45 The sound offered a tiny sense of protection, even though I understood that the locks would accomplish very little if someone truly intended to force their way inside. 20:55 The pitch of the van's engine shifted. It revved slightly, as though the driver had pressed the accelerator while the transmission was still in park. 21:04 Then I witnessed something that made every muscle in my body stiffen with terror. 21:09 The driver's door began to open. At first it moved only two or three inches, but that narrow opening was enough for me to realize that the van's interior light had either been taken out or switched off permanently. 21:21 No light appeared inside when the door opened. It remained that way for at least 10 seconds, barely ajar. 21:28 I could have sworn something shifted within the black gap, as if a person were peering at me through the opening. 21:35 Then, with no warning, the door was pulled closed again. 21:38 It struck the frame with a heavy thud that reached me even through the noise of the running engine. 21:43 I already had my car key clenched in my hand. I rammed it into the ignition and turned it, fully aware that the engine was still dangerously hot and that starting it could cause extensive damage. 21:56 The starter whined as if in pain. The engine struggled to turn over but never quite caught, producing awful grinding noises that I knew would translate into a costly repair bill. assuming I made it out of there at all. 22:09 The temperature gauge still showed a dangerously high reading. 22:13 At that point I no longer cared. The moment that van door cracked open, the nature of the situation had changed completely. 22:22 I tried the ignition a second time, pressing the accelerator repeatedly as if doing so might somehow help. 22:28 This time the engine caught and ran for perhaps two seconds. Then it died with a violent shudder that rocked the entire car. 22:36 Throughout my attempts to start the Camry, the van never moved. It stayed exactly where it was, its headlights continuing to sear my vision. 22:46 Then I spotted something else that made my circumstances even more frightening. 22:51 A second pair of headlights had appeared in my rearview mirror. They were coming toward me from behind, advancing slowly in the same manner the van had. 23:00 From what I could see, this was another large vehicle. It crept forward and stopped roughly as far behind me as the van was positioned in front, trapping me completely on the narrow shoulder. 23:11 Its high beams were also on. Light flooded the Camry from both directions, and I felt like a performer stranded on a stage beneath two sets of spotlights. 23:21 I seized my phone once more and searched frantically for any trace of reception, even one bar that would allow me to place an emergency call. There was still nothing. 23:32 I raised the phone toward the window and moved it from place to place, desperately hoping it might catch a signal. 23:38 That was when I heard vehicle doors opening. 23:41 They didn't slam afterward. I heard only the doors of both vehicles opening at precisely the same time. 23:48 Through the blinding glare I could barely distinguish human forms. Two people coming from the van ahead of me, and at least one emerging from the vehicle behind. 23:58 They advanced in a slow, intentional manner. None of them rushed, but none showed any uncertainty either. They remained beyond the direct reach of their own headlights, moving through the dim margins of the beams, where all I could perceive were silhouettes and hints of motion. 24:14 One person approached my passenger side window and stopped. They were close enough for me to make out dark clothing, possibly jeans and a jacket, but their face was completely obscured in the shadow above the level of the window. 24:27 They didn't tap on the glass or test the door handle. They simply stood motionless, as if awaiting a signal. 24:35 A second individual took a position beside my driver's door. They maintained the same distance and adopted the same perfectly still posture. 24:43 I realized the two of them had placed themselves so that I couldn't open either front door without striking one of their bodies. 24:50 The third person moved around my car, and then I saw that there was unquestionably a fourth person as well. 24:57 They took positions at the front and rear of the Camry. 25:00 I was surrounded from every direction. 25:02 All four remained utterly silent. 25:05 They issued no orders, made no demands, and offered no explanation. 25:10 They merely waited. 25:12 The idling engines were the only sounds apart from my uneven breathing. Despite my efforts to calm myself, each breath was beginning to cloud the windows. 25:21 I held my phone in a position that would allow me to use it as a weapon. 25:25 That sounds absurd to me now, but at that moment, it was literally the only object I had to defend myself with besides my keys. 25:34 The person outside the passenger window finally raised one hand. 25:38 Using a single knuckle, they tapped the glass exactly twice. The knocks were gentle, almost courteous. 25:45 I didn't move. 25:47 I remained rigid in the seat, gripping the phone so tightly that my knuckles had turned white. 25:52 The person tapped twice more, repeating the same sequence with the same unsettling softness. 25:58 At that precise instant, the figure beside my driver's window copied the action. 26:03 Two quiet taps sounded from both sides in flawless unison. as though the timing had been practiced beforehand. 26:11 That was the moment I understood this could not be accidental. 26:14 These were not simply opportunistic criminals who happened to discover a woman beside a disabled vehicle. 26:20 Whatever was occurring had been designed and coordinated, and they had almost certainly done it before. 26:27 My thoughts raced through every possible escape. 26:30 I considered using the overheating Camry to ram the van in front of me. 26:34 I imagined steering off the road and forcing my way through the cornfield. 26:39 I even thought about screaming despite knowing there was nobody nearby to hear me. 26:44 I was ready to try anything that might break the trap. 26:47 Before I could commit to any of those desperate plans, all four figures moved backward at exactly the same moment. 26:55 Each took only one step and kept their relative position around the Camry, but the movement created just enough room for me in theory to open one of the doors. 27:04 The person standing in front raised a hand and rotated it in a circular gesture, signaling that I should start the car and drive away. 27:13 I had no intention of waiting for the instruction to be repeated. 27:17 I turned the key again and begged the universe to let the engine start one final time. 27:22 In my head, I promised I would never postpone maintenance again, never dismiss an unfamiliar noise, and never travel alone at night on an empty highway. 27:33 The motor turned once, then twice. 27:35 Miraculously, it caught and continued running. 27:39 It sounded rough and made dreadful mechanical noises, but it was running. 27:43 The temperature needle immediately leaped into the red zone. 27:47 I shifted into drive anyway, fully prepared to ruin the engine if that was the price of escaping those people. 27:54 When I pushed the accelerator, the Camry jumped forward perhaps three feet before shutting down altogether. 28:00 Every light on the dashboard vanished. Even the rhythmic clicking of the hazard light ceased. The electrical system had failed completely, and this time I understood that the car would not start again. 28:13 The two vehicles hemming me in abruptly turned off their headlights as well, dropping the entire scene into total darkness. 28:20 For several seconds I saw nothing. 28:23 I heard nothing apart from the pounding of my own heart inside my ears. 28:27 The screen of my phone became the only source of illumination, spreading a weak blue light through the interior. 28:34 I lifted it and tried to determine what was happening beyond the windows. 28:39 The four people had vanished, or at least the darkness prevented me from seeing them anymore. For approximately thirty seconds the world remained still. 28:48 Nothing shifted. Nothing occurred. 28:52 I sat alone inside my powerless car in complete blackness on an empty highway. 28:57 Then both vehicles started again in perfect synchronization. Their engines burst loudly to life, but neither vehicle switched its lights back on. 29:06 I heard one pull forward and the other reverse away, their tires grinding over the gravel beside the road. 29:13 Seconds later they accelerated in opposite directions, traveling along the highway in total darkness. 29:20 I stayed in the Camry trembling, unable to comprehend what had just taken place. 29:25 Part of me still expected them to return. 29:28 I kept anticipating some final horrific event that never occurred. 29:33 Another ten minutes passed before I managed to force myself out of the car. 29:37 Using the flashlight on my phone to follow the shoulder, I began walking. 29:42 Every few steps I turned to search the road behind me. I walked for nearly two hours before a state trooper finally found me. 29:50 After I described what had happened, he simply nodded in a way that suggested my story was familiar. 29:55 He told me that comparable incidents had been reported on that portion of Highway 169 during the previous several months. 30:03 Authorities never uncovered any evidence identifying the people involved. The trooper said I had been fortunate because two other motorists whose vehicles broke down along the same stretch during the prior year had disappeared for days. 30:16 Both were eventually located inside their locked cars. 30:20 Each was suffering from a different degree of severe psychological trauma and neither could or would. 30:28 Describe what had occurred during the unaccounted for period between the breakdown and the moment they were discovered. 30:35 Investigators believe some kind of organized group targets drivers who are stranded and vulnerable. Perhaps the purpose is simply to terrorize them. 30:43 Perhaps the motive is something far worse, something I escaped only because my Camry became completely inoperable. 30:51 I needed therapy afterward to cope with the nightmares. 30:54 Even now, two years later, attempting to drive after dark can trigger a panic attack. 31:00 Whenever I can, I fly instead. 31:03 If driving is unavoidable, I arrange my road so that I travel only in daylight and remain in areas where plenty of other people are nearby. 31:12 The part that torments me most is not what actually happened. It is everything that didn't happen, and everything that might have happened if the car had continued running or if I had stepped outside while those four figures surrounded me. 31:25 Sometimes I still wonder whether they remain somewhere along that lonely section of highway, waiting for the next vehicle to break down and carrying out their bizarre ritual for reasons I will never understand. 31:42 Story 3 For the previous 100 miles, the engine in my Peterbilt had been producing an odd rattling sound. It didn't seem serious, but it was noticeable enough to keep my nerves tight during that haul in November 2023. 31:57 At 39, my body already felt as if it belonged to a man twice my age. 32:02 That's what too many years of being bounced around inside truck cabs, living on food from gas stations and sleeping at rest areas will do to you. 32:11 I was hauling agricultural machinery from Omaha to Denver, a run that normally took around 10 hours when everything went smoothly. 32:19 Nancy had made the beef sandwiches she always packed for me, the ones spread with just enough horseradish to burn in exactly the right way. 32:27 and wrapped them securely in aluminum foil. 32:31 Mostly I kept thinking about getting home in time for my daughter Megan's basketball game on Saturday morning. 32:36 She had spent the entire month working on her free throws, and I had promised her that this time I would be there. 32:43 The Nebraska rest area near Mile Marker 287 is located about 40 miles west of Grand Island. It's one of the newer places constructed with federal money, the kind that has surprisingly good lighting and vending machines that don't swallow your dollar without giving you anything. 33:00 I pulled off the highway at around 3 in the morning. I needed to loosen up my legs and buy a cup of coffee before pushing through the final stretch toward Denver. 33:10 The number of vehicles in the parking lot immediately struck me as unusual. 33:14 At least 15 cars were spread through the section reserved for ordinary passenger vehicles, far more than anyone would expect at that time of night. 33:23 There were sedans, SUVs and a couple of minivans in an assortment of colors, with license plates from several different states. 33:33 Every so often you encounter a strange concentration of people traveling at once. 33:38 I assume they might all be avoiding bad weather or a construction delay somewhere farther along the highway. 33:44 The truck parking section by contrast was almost vacant. 33:48 Apart from my Peterbilt, only two other rigs were there, both sitting at the distant end of the lot with their orange running lights shining in the dark. I reached behind my seat for my jacket, a heavy Carhartt with a quilted interior that Nancy had given me two Christmases earlier, and started toward the main building. 34:08 The cold felt especially severe that night, dry and razor sharp, the sort of air that freezes the hair inside your nose the instant you breathed it in. 34:17 While passing the parked cars, I became aware of a nagging sensation that something wasn't quite right. 34:24 It felt like trying to remember whether you locked the front door before leaving home and being unable to summon the memory. 34:30 Every windshield was coated in frost, the delicate layer that forms after a vehicle remains outside for a while in cold weather. 34:39 Yet beneath that frost, the glass looked misted over, as though all the cars had recently been running with occupants inside them. 34:46 The parking lot lamp strained the color from everything and gave the scene a sickly yellow cast. 34:52 Long shadows extended between the vehicles like black fingers stretching over the pavement. 34:57 The automatic entrance doors slid apart with a rush of air. 35:01 I stepped into the manufactured warmth of a building that carried the familiar rest stop odor of stale coffee and commercial cleaning chemicals. 35:09 Inside, the silence was complete except for the electrical drone of the vending machines against the far wall. 35:15 Their lights fluttered faintly, the way vending machine lights always seem to do in places like that. 35:21 I went directly toward the men's room. My boots rang against the polished concrete flooring that seems to be standard in every modern rest area. 35:29 The bathroom door had been wedged all the way open with a yellow wet floor cone, although the floor itself was entirely dry. 35:37 Every faucet inside was dripping. 35:40 Stranger still, they all leaked in the same synchronized tempo, as if someone had deliberately adjusted each tap until the drops fell at an identical rate. 35:50 Condensation covered the mirrors and cloudy patches positioned at roughly the height of a person's face. 35:56 It looked as though a crowd had stood in front of the glass and breathed onto it only a short time earlier. 36:02 I finished what I needed to do as quickly as possible. That feeling of unease climbing my back like icy fingertips. 36:09 When I tried to wash my hands, I discovered that every soap dispenser was empty. 36:14 Yet fresh bubbles were still traveling down the sides of the sinks. 36:18 Pink suds from the inexpensive industrial soap used in facilities like that. 36:24 The paper towel dispensers had also been forced open. 36:27 Long ribbons of brown paper spilled from them and reached the floor, as though people had torn at the rolls while rushing to leave. 36:35 I wiped my wet hands and my jeans and got out of the bathroom. 36:39 Once I returned to the main lobby, I noticed the visitor information display near the front doors. 36:44 Every brochure advertising nearby hotels and tourist destinations had been removed from its slot. 36:50 Pamphlets littered the floor, forming a scattered trail toward the exit. 36:55 The vending machines were what truly disturbed me though. Every product button appeared to have been pressed. All the metal spirals had rotated to their final positions, but none of the merchandise had fallen into the collection trays. 37:10 Chip bags, candy bars, and soda bottles remained suspended at absurd angles. 37:15 seeming to ignore gravity. 37:17 Something drew me toward the windows overlooking the parking area. 37:21 Maybe I needed to verify what my mind had already begun shouting at me to accept. 37:26 The same 15 vehicles waited beneath the yellow lamps, but from inside the building I could examine them more clearly. 37:33 The driver's seat in every car had been pushed as far backward as it could go. 37:38 It looked as if each driver had either been exceptionally tall or had scrambled out too quickly to bother adjusting anything. 37:45 Then I noticed the doors. 37:47 I hadn't paid attention to them on my way inside, but from the window it was obvious that every door was slightly ajar. 37:54 None stood wide open. 37:56 Each had been left cracked by only an inch or two. 37:59 Despite the open doors, all the interior dome lights were dark. That was when I spotted the keys. 38:06 Every vehicle still had a key in its ignition, catching flashes of light from the lamps above. 38:11 Some hung from bulky key rings decorated with the ordinary objects people carry around. 38:17 Rabbit's feet, bottle openers, and tiny photographs enclosed in plastic frames. 38:22 They all dangled there unattended. 38:24 My mouth lost every trace of moisture. My heartbeat thuddered against my ears like a drum. 38:31 I stepped away from the glass and began heading for the exit while trying to appear relaxed, even though there was apparently no one around to observe me. 38:40 I no longer cared about the coffee. Nothing else mattered. 38:44 I only wanted to reach my truck and leave. 38:47 When I passed through the automatic doors, a wave of freezing air struck me, carrying another sensation with it. 38:55 It was a smell resembling scorched rubber blended with something sugary, almost caramel-like, but the sweetness was unnatural. Synthetic. 39:05 Wrong. 39:06 The lot seemed dimmer than before, although the lighting hadn't actually changed. I also became aware of a deep humming sound at the edge of my hearing. It was so faint that I could barely detect it, like a hundred people holding the same note just beneath the range a person should normally be able to hear. 39:25 Something cracked beneath one of my boots. 39:28 The pavement was covered with fragments of cell phones, dozens of smashed pieces scattered as if someone had attacked an entire phone store display with a hammer. 39:38 I quickened my pace until I was almost running toward the Peterbilt, trying to locate my keys with fingers that had gone numb from the cold. 39:46 The two trucks I had noticed earlier remained at the opposite end of the lot. 39:50 Now, however, I saw that their doors were open too. 39:54 Both cabs were unlit, and neither driver was anywhere in sight. 39:59 As I passed the cluster of abandoned passenger vehicles, additional details became visible, each one tightening the knot in my stomach. 40:07 There were purses lying on passenger seats. Cups of coffee were still releasing steam from their holders. 40:14 A baby's car seat sat empty with its straps released and hanging loosely. 40:19 Inside one minivan, a rear DVD player was still running. The same cartoon played over and over while the screen's glow cast blue shadows through the windows beneath the frost. 40:30 The plates came from Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, and other places. 40:36 Yet every vehicle had one identical item. A receipt from that rest area tucked beneath a windshield wiper. 40:43 Every receipt showed a time within the previous hour. How could 15 separate groups of travelers vanish from one place in less than an hour? 40:52 I reached the Peterbilt and closed my hand around the door handle, ready to pull myself up into what felt like safety. 40:59 That was when I heard it. 41:01 An engine turned over, then a second one, then another. 41:05 The cars started one after the next, like a row of falling dominoes. 41:10 But there was nobody inside any of them. 41:13 I slowly turned around, my breath forming quick white bursts in the frozen air, and watched every abandoned vehicle in the lot come alive. 41:21 They didn't explode into loud revving. They merely began to idle, filling the darkness with the soft vibration of engines warming up. 41:29 Their headlights remained off. 41:32 The car stayed exactly where they were, running in the dark as if waiting to receive a command. 41:38 Then vapor began pouring from the exhaust pipes, building into dense white clouds in the freezing air. 41:44 It didn't disperse the way exhaust should. 41:47 Instead, the vapor traveled sideways and slid over the pavement toward my truck like fog rolling in at sunrise. 41:55 Except ordinary fog doesn't move as though it has an objective. It doesn't appear to stretch out and reach for you. 42:02 Next, the radio switched on. 42:04 Every radio and every car activated at the same instant. 42:08 None played music, news or talk programs. Voices came through them instead. 42:13 Dozens of different people speaking simultaneously, though not speaking to one another. 42:19 It sounded like recordings of unrelated conversations being played over each other. 42:25 I stood frozen and began identifying fragments. Someone was placing a lunch order. A woman was singing Happy Birthday. A man was arguing over a football game. A child was asking to stop and use the bathroom. 42:39 They were perfectly ordinary pieces of everyday life, chopped apart and layered into a hideous mass of sound that made my teeth hurt. 42:47 The odor of burned rubber and artificial sweetness intensified until I felt close to vomiting. 42:53 Beneath the flood of voices coming from the radios, another noise emerged. Breathing. 42:59 It was measured and synchronized like the moment in a silent room when you suddenly notice the sound of your own lungs. But this breathing came from inside the deserted cars. From seats I could clearly see were empty. 43:12 At last, my hands managed to work the truck's door handle. 43:16 I hauled myself into the cab and threw the door shut with enough force to shake the entire Peterbilt. 43:21 My fingers couldn't seem to control the key. 43:24 I missed the ignition twice before finally inserting it. 43:28 The engine thundered awake. 43:30 Normally, the well-known rumble of that diesel motor made me feel secure. 43:35 Now it seemed far too noisy, advertising my exact location to everything in the parking lot. 43:42 Through the windshield I saw every headlight switch on at precisely the same moment, each one aimed directly at my truck. 43:49 And it wasn't merely the headlights. Brake lamps, reverse lamps, fog lamps. 43:55 Every light those vehicles possessed suddenly burned at once. 43:59 A punishing combination of white and red flooded my cab. throwing shapes across the dashboard that moved like living shadows. 44:07 The voices from the radios increased in volume and urgency. 44:11 They merged into a solid barrier of human noise that forced its way through the closed windows of my truck. 44:18 As I shoved the Peterbilt into gear, I glanced at the side mirrors and saw them. 44:23 People stood behind every car. They were absolutely still, and every one of them faced my truck. 44:30 When I turned my head and looked directly at the vehicles, no one was there. I checked the mirror once more. The figures had returned. 44:39 I looked back with my own eyes. The lot was empty again. I drove out of that rest area with the accelerator down, taking the exit curve faster than any 18-wheeler should ever attempt it. 44:51 The tires shrieked against the roadway. 44:53 In the rearview mirror, the lights followed me. 44:56 The cars themselves weren't following, only the lights. 45:00 They stayed precisely the same distance behind me, regardless of how much harder I pressed the accelerator. 45:07 They pursued me for roughly five miles along Interstate 80. Then at the same instant, every one of them disappeared, leaving only my own headlights slicing through the black Nebraska night. 45:19 I didn't bring the truck to a stop again until I reached Denver. 45:23 I didn't even pull over to investigate the engine rattle, although it had become worse during my escape. 45:29 At the delivery location, I described the entire incident to my dispatcher. He laughed and told me I must have fallen asleep for a moment and experienced a nightmare, but I know what was in front of me that night. 45:41 I know the people visible in the mirrors were real, and I know what I read three days later when I searched for news from that area. 45:49 Reports said that 17 vehicles had been discovered abandoned at the same rest area. 45:54 Every engine was running, every key remained in the ignition, and there was no trace of any driver or passenger. 46:02 The articles suggested human trafficking or some other coordinated criminal operation as the most likely explanation. 46:09 but nobody was ever located. No bodies were recovered. No explanation was found. 46:16 I never drove that route again. 46:18 I informed my dispatcher that I would resign before accepting another trip through Nebraska after nightfall, and I meant every word. 46:26 Nancy believes I suffered some type of mental collapse, perhaps a panic attack caused by spending too many hours behind the wheel. 46:35 I allow her to think that because it is easier than attempting to tell her what truly occurred. 46:40 Still, when I'm traveling at night on any deserted highway, I sometimes catch headlights in the mirror that seem to remain at exactly the same distance for far too long. 46:50 Whenever that happens, I stop at the next truck plaza and stay there with other drivers nearby. 46:57 I pretend I need to review my logs or purchase coffee, waiting until the sensation finally fades. 47:03 I continue driving for a living because the bills won't pay themselves, but I organize my routes differently now. 47:10 I always make certain that I am close to a populated area when 3 o'clock in the morning arrives. 47:16 And I never ever pull into a rest area when there are too many vehicles and no people. 47:21 That is the part that still steals my sleep on certain nights. 47:25 I turn it over repeatedly in my mind, like a puzzle from which several pieces have been removed. 47:32 Where did all those travelers go? 47:34 What were the figures behind the cars? Those things that existed only in reflections. 47:40 About a month ago, I spoke with another driver named Glenn at a Flying J outside Denver. What he told me made my blood feel as cold as ice. 47:49 Glenn said his cousin also drove that section of Interstate 80. 47:53 One night, at approximately 3 o'clock in the morning, the cousin passed the same rest area and saw numerous abandoned trucks there. 48:00 They were large rigs just like mine, sitting with their engines running and doors open, but no drivers anywhere nearby. 48:08 What Glenn told me next was the part that truly disturbed me. 48:11 His cousin looked into his mirror and saw someone walking between the trucks, examining one cab after another, as though searching for something in particular. 48:21 Whenever he turned and viewed the parking area directly, it appeared empty. 48:26 Yet in the mirror, the person remained perfectly visible, continuing the search and proceeding from truck to truck with such deliberate patience that Glenn's cousin stepped on the accelerator and escaped without looking behind him again. 48:39 Glenn and I compared the dates. His cousin's encounter had occurred exactly one month after mine, down to the very day. 48:46 Glenn's cousin refuses to travel that route now as well. 48:50 It makes me wonder how many other drivers have encountered something at that rest stop, and how many have remained silent because they already know no one would believe them. 49:00 The only thing I know for certain is that there is something deeply wrong with that place. 49:05 And whatever is taking place there hasn't ended. 49:08 It is still hunting, still collecting. 49:16 Story 4. 49:18 My headlights found her in that peculiar way where the person they illuminate becomes the only visible thing, and the rest of the world dissolves into blackness. 49:26 She stood on the shoulder of Route 47 with both arms stretched high over her head, swinging them in enormous arcs as though she were signaling an aircraft, rather than trying to stop a passing car. 49:39 The clock on my dashboard read 3.17am. 49:43 I had been on the road for around 20 minutes since pulling out of the hospital's parking garage. 49:48 My scrub still carried the odor of disinfectant and the strange metallic smell that settles into the fabric after a 12-hour shift in the respiratory unit. 49:57 When you're 29, part of you still believes you're indestructible. You assume nothing truly terrible can happen to you, particularly after you've spent the entire night handling matters of life and death. 50:09 Even so, something tightened in my chest when I saw that woman completely alone beside a highway bordered by abandoned warehouses and fields choked with weeds. 50:19 I remember squeezing the steering wheel until my knuckles turned pale as I argued with myself about what to do. 50:25 The sensible part of my mind demanded that I continue driving, get farther down the road, and call 911. 50:32 Someone else could handle it. 50:34 But the woman looked genuinely frantic. 50:37 I couldn't stop thinking about my sister Katie, whose car had failed on a similar road the year before. 50:43 She had waited three hours before anyone finally stopped. 50:47 The stranger wore dark clothing, including a navy blazer that appeared expensive even from where I was driving. 50:54 Her jeans were nice as well. 50:56 Nothing about the outfit suggested someone dangerous. 50:59 Her blonde hair reached her shoulders and remained surprisingly orderly despite the gusts created by passing semi-trucks. 51:06 So I made the choice I probably shouldn't have made. 51:09 I reduced my speed, searched every mirror for another car that might be hiding nearby, and stopped about 50 feet beyond her. 51:18 I left the engine running. 51:20 My phone rested in my lap with 911 already entered on the screen, though I hadn't placed the call. 51:26 She hurried toward the passenger side. 51:29 I lowered the window only about three inches, enough for us to hear one another, but not enough for her to reach through easily. 51:36 At close range, I guess she was around 45. She had the sort of face that would probably appear younger, under more flattering light. 51:44 Her makeup was flawless, which seemed strange for a person supposedly stranded at three o'clock in the morning. 51:51 There was no mascara streaked by tears and no visible evidence of fear or distress. 51:56 She smiled. 51:58 It was a composed, almost peaceful smile that didn't fit the desperate way she had been waving only moments earlier. 52:04 I'm so grateful you stopped, she said. 52:07 Her tone was pleasant and completely controlled, as though we had met in a cafe instead of on an isolated highway in the middle of the night. 52:16 My car quit about a mile from here and my phone is dead. I only need a lift to the next exit so I can call somebody. 52:23 The story was plausible, yet her manner activated every internal warning I had. 52:29 I unlocked the passenger door anyway. 52:32 God only knows why. 52:34 Maybe refusing to help someone who seemed so ordinary and well put together felt unnecessarily heartless. 52:41 She entered the passenger seat with effortless, almost liquid grace and closed the door softly. 52:47 Her perfume instantly filled the car. 52:49 It was a dense floral fragrance that made me think of funeral parlors. 52:53 I returned to the highway and accelerated gradually, trying to calm myself by starting a conversation. 53:00 When I asked what had gone wrong with her vehicle, she offered a vague answer about the engine making unusual sounds before suddenly shutting down. 53:08 I asked where she had been traveling before the breakdown and she said she was on her way to see relatives but never identified where they lived. 53:16 Every response followed that pattern. Her answers sounded courteous and believable at first, but they contained no actual information. 53:24 The next exit was approximately 10 miles away. 53:28 I already knew those would feel like the longest 10 miles I had ever driven. 53:32 I watched her from the edge of my vision. 53:35 She sat perfectly upright with her hands arranged neatly in her lap and her gaze fixed on the road ahead. 53:41 The trace of that same restrained smile remained at the corners of her lips. 53:46 Roughly five minutes into the drive, a semi approached from behind with its high beams glaring. 53:52 I reached up to reposition the rearview mirror and my eyes shifted toward the mirror on the passenger side. 53:59 That was when I saw it. 54:01 The reflection showed an empty passenger seat. I could see only the beige upholstery inside my car and the unused seatbelt hanging loosely beside it. 54:10 There was nothing else in the mirror. 54:12 Yet she was sitting beside me. 54:15 I could see her through my peripheral vision. 54:18 Her overpowering perfume still surrounded me. 54:21 I could hear her breathing in a slow, controlled rhythm. 54:24 My mind immediately searched for a logical explanation. Perhaps the viewing angle was wrong. Maybe the darkness was distorting the reflection. 54:34 Maybe I was far more exhausted than I realized. 54:37 I shifted the mirror a little and tilted my head in several directions. 54:41 Nothing changed. 54:43 Every angle reflected the same vacant seat. 54:46 My heart began striking my chest so violently that the sound filled my ears. It was a heavy, almost wet pounding that made concentrating on the highway difficult. 54:56 Is something wrong? The woman asked. Her voice had changed. It sounded deeper now and carried an unnatural echo, as if it were rising from the bottom of a well. 55:07 I tightened both hands around the steering wheel and made myself face the road. 55:12 I told her nothing was wrong, that I was simply worn out after my shift. 55:17 She produced a low humming noise. It didn't sound like agreement or any recognizable response. It was merely a deep vibration that seemed to spread through the entire vehicle. 55:28 The temperature inside the car suddenly plunged. Perhaps it was only fear turning my blood cold, but I could see each breath leaving my mouth in a small white cloud. 55:38 It was August, and the air conditioner wasn't running anywhere near high enough to cause that. 55:44 I began calculating the remaining distance. Five more miles. Perhaps six minutes if I increased my speed slightly. 55:52 I pushed the accelerator farther toward the floor, but the needle on the speedometer didn't move. 55:57 The car remained locked at exactly 55 miles per hour, regardless of how much pressure I applied. 56:04 Then the woman began to speak. She wasn't exactly addressing me. 56:09 She stared through the windshield and delivered the words in a flat, emotionless tone. 56:14 People leave parts of themselves everywhere they travel, she said. 56:18 In their vehicles, in their houses, in the places where they work. 56:22 Small fragments of who they are, what they have done, and what they will do. 56:27 Sometimes another person finds those fragments. Sometimes they are carried onward. 56:32 I couldn't think of a response. I kept the car moving and watched the mile markers creep past with unbearable slowness. 56:40 She continued without turning her head. 56:43 You left something at the hospital tonight. Not equipment. Not a possession. 56:49 Something different. 56:50 And now you're transporting something that doesn't belong to you. 56:54 Every trace of moisture vanished from my mouth. 56:57 I wanted to demand an explanation. 57:00 I wanted to order her out of the car or simply scream at her to leave. 57:04 But no sound emerged. 57:06 It felt as if my throat had closed and sealed itself. 57:10 At last, a sign for the exit appeared ahead. 57:13 Exit 42. 57:15 It displayed a gas station symbol and promised food and lodging. 57:19 Relief hit me with such force that I nearly began to cry. 57:23 I activated the turn signal and started moving toward the exit lane. That was when she placed one hand against the dashboard. 57:31 She didn't touch my arm or reach for the steering wheel. She simply pressed her palm flat against the surface in front of her. 57:38 Her hand was not right. The fingers were far too long and bent at angles no human joints should allow. 57:45 Her skin had become almost transparent, revealing dark veins that pulsed beneath it. 57:51 Not this one, she said with perfect calm. 57:54 Take the next exit. 57:56 But the following exit was another 15 miles away. 57:59 I knew Route 47 as well as I knew the back of my own hand. 58:04 I had driven it hundreds of times. 58:06 My foot moved to the brake anyway, reducing our speed as the exit approached. 58:11 She clicked her tongue. 58:13 The sound was sharp and disapproving, the way someone might reprimand a dog that refused to obey. 58:19 I wrenched the steering wheel to the right. The tires screamed as I forced the car into the exit lane despite her objections. 58:27 The instant I crossed into the lane she became utterly silent. 58:31 It went beyond her merely becoming quiet. 58:34 Every sound inside the car seemed to be pulled away at once, leaving behind a vacuum that made my ears pop with pain. 58:42 I dared to glance toward the passenger seat. 58:44 It was empty. 58:46 Entirely, unquestionably empty. 58:49 Somehow the seatbelt was now fastened, stretched across an invisible body. The suffocating floral perfume had disappeared in the same instant. 58:59 The passenger door, however, was hanging completely open. It swung forward and backward in the rushing air, even though the car was still traveling at 40 miles per hour. 59:08 The interior light shone down on the vacant seat. Something was resting there. 59:14 A phone. 59:15 At first I assumed the woman had forgotten her own device, but as I entered the gas station lot with my legs trembling, I realized that it was identical to mine. 59:25 It had the same protective case, the same crack in one corner from when I dropped my phone the previous month. 59:32 The same hospital parking decal attached to the back. 59:36 I hit the brakes beneath the bright lights of the station's canopy. My actual phone was still in the cup holder where I had placed it. 59:43 The duplicate device on the passenger seat was illuminated and operating. 59:48 Its screen displayed my GPS application, monitoring my current location as it changed in real time. 59:55 The small blue marker corresponding to my car moved across the map. 60:00 The location history contained every place I had visited that night. The hospital, the route home, and even the exact point where I had allowed the woman into my vehicle. 60:10 but the record included additional destinations as well. 60:14 Locations I had never visited, accompanied by timestamps that hadn't happened yet. 60:20 Some were scheduled for later that day. 60:23 Others were marked for tomorrow or the following week. 60:26 The names included Riverside Memorial Gardens and Bennett Funeral Home. 60:31 Other destinations were identified only as numbered burial plots rather than by names. 60:37 My throat tightened as I lifted the duplicate phone with unsteady hands. 60:41 Then I noticed the final program destination. 60:44 It was scheduled for 4.47 a.m., approximately one hour and 15 minutes in the future. 60:51 The address was my apartment. 60:53 Its label consisted of two words, collection point, I hurled both phones onto the floor in front of the passenger seat and sprinted into the station. 61:04 In my panic, I nearly ran straight into the glass entrance doors. 61:08 The teenager working behind the counter looked up from his own phone. Startled by the sight of a woman increased hospital scrubs charging into the store like a lunatic. 61:18 I must have sounded completely irrational as I tried to explain that someone had been inside my car but hadn't really been there, and that she had left behind a phone that belonged to me and simultaneously didn't belong to me. 61:30 The teenager only stared. 61:32 Eventually, he suggested that I contact the police. 61:36 I did. 61:37 Two officers arrived roughly ten minutes later. They were probably expecting a psychiatric emergency or someone under the influence of drugs. 61:46 They searched the car and discovered the duplicate phone exactly where I had thrown it. Their faces changed as soon as they saw it. They had apparently received comparable reports throughout that week. 61:58 Women had been stopping to pick up other women on different highways across the state. 62:03 The incidents always happened late at night, and the passengers always claimed that their cars had broken down. 62:10 Then the passengers vanished, leaving duplicate phones containing disturbing GPS records. 62:15 Three women who reported these encounters died within a matter of days. 62:20 One suffered a sudden brain aneurysm. 62:22 Others experienced unexplained organ failure. 62:26 These were conditions that shouldn't strike healthy women in their 20s and 30s. 62:30 The officers collected the second phone as evidence and escorted me home. They insisted on searching my apartment before allowing me to enter. 62:39 Nothing appeared unusual. Every object remained where it belonged. 62:44 Still, I couldn't rid myself of the conviction that something basic and permanent had shifted. 62:49 I called the hospital and took the following week off. I stayed with my sister Katie in another state while attempting to understand what had happened. 62:58 No one ever explained the duplicate device. 63:01 Police said its GPS information was impossible because a phone couldn't predict locations that had not yet been visited. 63:08 They never located a woman who matched the description I provided. They also found no disabled or abandoned vehicle anywhere along that section of Route 47. 63:18 Six days later, the police contacted me again. 63:21 Another woman had picked up the same passenger, or something that looked exactly like her, on an entirely different highway three states away. 63:30 That driver never reached a gas station. 63:32 Her car was discovered beside the road with the engine still running and both doors standing open. 63:38 Two phones rested on the front seat, each displaying the same impossible kind of GPS information. 63:45 The woman remained behind the wheel, alive but unconscious. 63:49 When she regained consciousness at the hospital, she could no longer remember the previous three years of her life. 63:56 Those years were simply gone, as though someone had erased them. 64:00 I continue working at the hospital, and I still have to travel home late at night. But I no longer stop for anyone under any circumstances. 64:09 Sometimes when I check my GPS, unfamiliar destinations flash on the display for a fraction of a second and vanish before I can study them. 64:19 They are places I pray I will never have to visit, at least not while I am still alive. 64:29 Story 5. 64:31 Five months ago, when I turned 36, I came to the uncomfortable realization that my life had become an endless ribbon of asphalt, accompanied by the constant vibration of 18 wheels against the road. 64:44 Driving a truck covered my expenses and kept me moving across state lines with loads that ranged from household furniture to frozen food. 64:52 During that particular week in early May, I was transporting electronics from Phoenix to Chicago, a run that carried me through several extremely isolated sections of highway. 65:04 My marriage had collapsed six months earlier, and if I'm being honest, the isolation of long-distance driving felt like exactly what I needed. 65:12 The cab of my Peterbilt had begun to resemble a real home more than the apartment I technically lived in back in Tucson. 65:19 That night, the one that still causes me to check my mirrors more often than I should, began like any ordinary long haul across the desert. 65:28 My fuel needle had been sitting close to empty for the previous twenty miles. and locating an open station on Highway 89 at 2 o'clock in the morning was no simple task. 65:39 When a weathered shell sign finally emerged from the dark, shining against the black desert sky like a signal fire, relief moved through me. 65:48 The station appeared ancient, one of those places that looked as though no one had updated it since the 1970s. 65:55 It consisted of only two fuel pumps and a small attached convenience store. 66:00 There wasn't another vehicle anywhere in the lot but at that location an hour, the emptiness didn't strike me as unusual. 66:07 Fluorescent fixtures crackled and blinked above the forecourt, spreading an inconsistent wash of light over the fractured concrete. 66:15 I maneuvered the rig into the cramped area with care and turned off the engine. 66:20 The silence that followed seemed unusually dense. 66:23 Only the soft ticking of cooling metal and the faraway drone of the store's aging air conditioner disturbed it as the unit struggled against the desert heat. 66:32 I retrieved my wallet from the center console and lowered myself from the cab. 66:37 My joints complained after four continuous hours behind the wheel. 66:41 The desert air struck me immediately. 66:44 Although morning was only a few hours away, the night remained warm and smelled unmistakably of creosote and dust. 66:51 Loose gravel cracked beneath my boots on the way to the pump, and every step sounded unnaturally loud in the surrounding stillness. 66:59 Through the convenience store window, I could just make out the shape of a person standing behind the register. 67:06 The silhouette was barely visible through the glass, which was coated in grime. 67:10 The fuel pump seemed older than I was. It was an analog model, the sort where you could actually hear diesel traveling through the hose. 67:19 I began filling the tanks and leaned against the truck while the numbers advanced at a slow pace. 67:24 Forty gallons. Then fifty. Then sixty. 67:29 Nothing consumes fuel quite like a big rig, and I expected the final charge to approach $300. 67:36 Inside the building, the clerk hadn't changed position once since I pulled in. 67:41 Even from the pumps, I could see something unsettling about the way he held himself. 67:46 He stood rigidly behind the counter with his head turned at a slight angle, like he was concentrating on a distant sound. 67:53 The fluorescent tube above him failed for a fraction of a second at irregular intervals. 67:58 Each time it did, his body vanished and reappeared like missing frames in an old strip of film. 68:05 The pump eventually stopped at 78 gallons. 68:08 I returned the nozzle and walked toward the entrance. 68:11 As I drew closer, the dirty window revealed more about the cashier. 68:15 He was a young man, perhaps in his early twenties, dressed in a faded red shell uniform that hung loosely from his narrow body. 68:24 Under the severe indoor lighting, his skin appeared pale enough to be almost gray. 68:29 His eyes kept moving toward the entrance, dropping to the counter, and then darting back to the door. 68:35 The bell mounted above the entrance produced a feeble chime when I stepped inside. The kid reacted as though he had been struck by an electric current. 68:44 Only the diesel, I told him, attempting to sound relaxed despite the deeply uncomfortable atmosphere. 68:51 The store carried the stale odor of old coffee mixed with something else. 68:55 Something metallic that made me think of blood, although it might have come from corroded plumbing. 69:01 The young man nodded too quickly. His hand shook as he entered the purchase into an obsolete cash register. 69:08 The letters on his worn name badge spelled Aaron. 69:11 At close range, dark shadows beneath his eyes made it look as if he hadn't slept for several days. 69:17 A security screen behind him displayed coarse black and white footage of the parking lot. 69:23 The image continually skipped and twisted, preventing me from seeing anything in detail. 69:29 $312.47," Aaron murmured, barely loud enough for me to hear. 69:35 His gaze jumped to the door, then to my face, and back to the door once more. 69:41 I gave him my credit card. 69:43 Our fingertips touched briefly during the handoff, and his skin was freezing despite the warm desert night. 69:50 As he processed the payment, I noticed that his free hand clamped the counter so tightly that every knuckle had gone white. 69:57 The receipt printer suddenly shrieked into motion, and Aaron recoiled violently. 70:02 Every noise frightened him, the refrigeration units humming, the lights buzzing overhead, even the sound of his own breath arriving in quick, shallow gasps. 70:12 You out here by yourself? He asked abruptly, looking directly at me for the first time. 70:18 Before I could respond, he bent toward me slightly and glanced once more at the entrance. 70:23 Doesn't matter. When you leave, drive fast. Don't stop for anything. 70:29 He slid the receipt toward me with trembling fingers. 70:32 I was opening my mouth to ask what he meant when he seized my wrist. 70:36 The grip was urgent and desperate. 70:39 And don't open that door again, he whispered, his voice beginning to break. 70:44 Once you're outside, just go. 70:46 Please. 70:48 The raw intensity in his expression tightened my chest. 70:52 This wasn't a prank, and he wasn't some bored local trying to scare a driver from out of town. 70:58 I freed my wrist, placed the receipt in my pocket, and walked toward the exit without saying anything further. 71:05 I didn't know what was occurring there, but Aaron's terror was genuine enough to make me want to return to the highway immediately. 71:12 The bell sounded weakly behind me as I stepped outside. I heard Aaron release a noise that fell somewhere between a prayer and a whimper. 71:20 The return walk to my truck seemed to take far longer than the trip to the store. 71:25 Beyond the boundary of the station lights, the desert darkness felt as though it were closing around me from every side. 71:31 I climbed into the cab as fast as I could, secured the locks and started the Peterbilt. 71:37 The diesel engine came alive with a reassuring growl after everything strange inside the shop. 71:43 I was shifting the truck into gear when the sound reached me. 71:47 A gentle knock against the passenger side window. 71:50 Three distinct taps, slow and deliberate. 71:53 my head whipped toward the passenger door the station lamps didn't extend to that side of the cab and the window revealed nothing except absolute blackness then a voice spoke from outside perfectly clear despite the truck's running engine come on richard let me in we need to have a conversation every muscle in my body locked Richard. 72:17 The person outside had used my real name, a name I hadn't given to anyone at that station. 72:23 There was no visible document inside the cab that displayed it, and Aaron certainly hadn't spoken it. 72:29 The card I used belonged to the trucking company and showed the firm's name, not mine. 72:35 My commercial driver's license remained hidden inside my wallet. 72:39 Nobody there could possibly have known who I was. 72:42 The knuckles touched the glass again, maintaining the same mild, almost sociable rhythm. 72:48 Richard, you can hear me. Open the window just a little. Give me five minutes. That's all. 72:55 The speaker sounded like an ordinary man, perhaps middle-aged, and he had no accent I could identify. 73:02 But something beneath the normal quality of his voice sent every instinct in me the same command. Don't look, don't answer, and drive. 73:09 I forced the transmission into first and began pulling away, my heart battering the inside of my ribs. 73:16 In the side mirror, I glimpsed a person stepping away from the Peterbilt. The figure was tall and narrow and appeared to be wearing a dark business suit. 73:25 Who wears a suit in the middle of the desert at two o'clock in the morning? 73:29 He made no effort to run after me. He simply remained in place and watched my truck leave. 73:35 Richard, you're complicating this unnecessarily, he called. 73:40 Somehow I heard every word over the diesel engine. 73:43 I'll meet you at the next stop. Mile marker 277. You already know you have to pull in there. 73:51 My throat became dry. 73:53 The facility at mile marker 277 was a mandatory way station for all commercial traffic. 74:00 If I drove past it, the DOT would be after me within hours and I could easily lose my commercial license. But how could that man know the route I was following? 74:10 How could he know that the stop was compulsory? 74:13 I accelerated onto the highway at 70 miles per hour. much faster than the legal limit for a fully loaded tractor trailer. 74:21 At that point, I didn't care. 74:23 In the rearview mirror, the lights of the Shell station receded until the desert consumed them. 74:28 The phone fixed to my dashboard showed 2.23 am. 74:32 The way station lay approximately 40 miles ahead, less than an hour away at my current speed. 74:39 I inspected the mirrors over and over, certain that headlights would eventually appear behind me. 74:45 None did. 74:46 The highway remained vacant. Only my trunk, the yellow center markings, and mile after mile of emptiness. 74:53 Then I saw something on my phone that made my hands clamp harder around the steering wheel. 74:59 My name had appeared across the top of the GPS display. 75:02 Richard's route. 75:04 I had never entered that title. I had never seen it on the device before. 75:09 I reached toward the phone to examine the settings. That was when I noticed that the recent search list contained entries I hadn't made. 75:17 There was the address of my former wife's new apartment in Flagstaff. My mother's nursing facility in Albuquerque. my daughter's dormitory at Arizona State University. 75:27 They were places this man, whoever or whatever he was, wanted me to understand he knew about. 75:34 The numbers on the mile markers fell like the countdown on an explosive device. 251, 252, 253. Each one carried me closer to the way station where the stranger claimed he would be waiting. 75:50 I attempted to dial 911, but the phone now reported no service even though it had displayed full signal only minutes earlier. 75:58 Every station on the truck's radio produced static. 76:02 The CB was also silent, although it would ordinarily be full of late-night conversations among other drivers. 76:09 It felt as if the Peterbilt and I had entered a sealed pocket separated from the rest of the world. 76:15 At mile marker 265, I settled on a plan. 76:19 Exit 38 had a large flying J truck stop. There would be people there, possible witnesses, and perhaps security personnel. 76:28 I could park among them, remain until the sun came up, and decide what to do next. 76:33 But as the exit approached, I couldn't make my foot move to the brake. I forced it down with all my strength. 76:40 The pedal felt completely ordinary and pushed back with normal resistance, yet the truck continued at precisely 70 miles per hour. 76:48 The steering still responded. 76:51 I could guide the truck between lanes, but I couldn't reduce my speed enough to take the exit. 76:57 Fear crawled along my spine while the flying jay became a smear of lights beside me and disappeared. 77:03 Whatever was happening, this man had somehow seized control of my truck. He had access to the electronic systems, the braking mechanism, and probably the accelerator as well. 77:14 Modern trucks rely heavily on computers, and a person with enough technical ability could potentially compromise those systems. 77:22 But remotely doing it to a moving truck was something entirely different. 77:27 The sign for mile marker 277 rose in the headlights like a gravestone. 77:33 The way station waited just ahead. Every inspection lane was vacant, and the office stood dark except for one illuminated window at the front. 77:42 My truck began decreasing speed without any action from me, finally behaving as though all my frantic pressure on the brake had reached it. 77:50 Then I saw him. 77:52 The tall man in the dark suit stood beside a black sedan parked near the scale house. He lifted one hand in a relaxed greeting, as if two old friends had arranged to meet for coffee. 78:03 The Peterbilt rolled to a halt in exactly the correct position for weighing. 78:07 Without my touching the key, the engine shut down. 78:10 The man approached with evenly paced steps. 78:14 His face became more distinct beneath the overhead fixtures. He looked to be in his mid-forties. 78:20 He was clean-shaven, and every feature seemed forgettably ordinary except for his eyes. 78:26 They were the palest shade of blue I had ever seen, nearly white. 78:31 He stopped beside my door and tapped on it three times, repeating the same patient rhythm from the gas station. 78:38 Richard, please leave the vehicle. We need to discuss a matter involving your cargo. 78:43 My cargo. 78:45 I was transporting electronics, nothing unusual. Televisions and computers destined for a Best Buy distribution center. 78:53 In the mirror I watched the man remove a small object that resembled a tablet. 78:57 Its screen shone green against the darkness. 79:00 Your paperwork lists electronics, he continued, his voice reaching me perfectly through the sealed door. 79:08 But we both know an additional package is inside. 79:11 Serial number X74429. 79:14 You weren't meant to learn about it, but the plan has changed. 79:18 I didn't understand what he meant. 79:21 Still, something in his delivery made me turn and inspect the sleeper section behind my seat. 79:26 A metal briefcase I had never seen before was wedged between my duffel bag and the rear wall. 79:32 Electronic locks secured it, and a small red indicator blinked at a constant rate across its surface. 79:38 The man must have noticed the change in my expression because he smiled. 79:42 It was a thin extension of his lips that never reached those nearly colorless eyes. 79:48 The previous driver placed it there yesterday when you stopped in Phoenix. 79:52 You've transported it for 300 miles without realizing it. 79:56 Now you have two options. Hand me the case and leave. Forget this happened and return to your life. 80:03 Or refuse and then... 80:05 He removed a phone and held the screen where I could see it. 80:09 Security camera video showed my daughter entering her dorm room. The footage was timestamped three hours earlier. 80:16 Rebecca is studying for her chemistry midterm right now. Room 314, Preston Hall. 80:22 She leaves the window slightly open because the heater makes the room too warm. 80:27 My blood seemed to freeze. There had never been a genuine choice. 80:31 With trembling hands, I reached into the sleeper, lifted the briefcase, and descended from the cab. 80:38 The instant my boots touched the pavement, the Peterbilt's engine started on its own and every door locked automatically. 80:45 I gave him the case. He inspected it for a moment, examining the seals and confirming something on the tablet. 80:52 Intelligent decision, he said as he began walking toward the sedan. 80:57 Your vehicle will behave normally after I leave. 81:00 And Richard, don't pull into another gas station tonight. Stay on Interstate 40 all the way to Amarillo. 81:07 Aaron the clerk at the Shell station won't survive his shift if you return. 81:12 The black car drove away and vanished into the desert night. 81:15 As promised, the Peterbilt's controls returned to normal. I continued all the way to Chicago, handed over the legitimate electronic shipment, and told no one what had occurred. 81:26 But three days later, I searched the news. A 23-year-old shell clerk named Aaron Vasquez had been found dead at a station on Highway 89. 81:36 Authorities listed the apparent cause as a heart attack despite his age. 81:41 That took place five months ago. 81:43 Since then, I have changed my roads and restricted my driving to daylight hours. 81:48 Sometimes I wonder what the briefcase contained or who that pale-eyed man actually was. 81:53 Mostly though, I'm simply thankful that my daughter remains safe. 81:57 She still calls me every Sunday, and she still complains that her dorm room is too hot. 82:08 Story 6. 82:10 For hours, the CB in my Ford pickup had failed to catch a single other driver. 82:15 Nothing came through except static bouncing around the twisting roads of Copper Canyon. 82:20 Sandra had phoned me two days earlier and told me to remove the last of my belongings from her home in Utah. 82:26 Apparently, the man she was seeing now wanted the space in the garage. 82:31 That was fine with me. 82:33 Ever since the divorce became official, I had made one of these furniture trips every few months. 82:38 This Monday night in March was supposed to be no different, just one more drive with a fully loaded trailer shifting behind the truck. 82:46 The canyon walls towered along both sides of the road, ancient formations of rock that concealed nearly all the sky. 82:54 Only a thin opening remained overhead, and clouds covered whatever moonlight might otherwise have reached the highway. 83:01 My warehouse supervisor had given me until Wednesday to return. That gave me enough time to follow the older route through the canyon rather than fight my way through all the interstate construction. 83:12 After 14 hours behind the wheel, surviving entirely on gas station coffee and whatever energy drinks I could buy, I kept glancing into the mirrors to be certain the trailer remained aligned through each severe bend. 83:26 Then a woman's voice abruptly broke through the static on channel 19. 83:31 Her words arrived clearly, even though interference hissed around their edges. 83:36 Hello? Is anybody receiving this? 83:39 We've had an accident and we need assistance. 83:42 Please, if someone can hear me, we're near mile marker 17, approximately 50 feet down the embankment on the north side. 83:50 My husband is unconscious. 83:52 I think his leg is broken. 83:54 Our car rolled two times before stopping. 83:57 Please help us. 83:59 Something in her delivery raised the goosebumps across my skin. 84:03 She spoke as if she were calmly placing a takeout order, not telling strangers that her vehicle had rolled down a mountainside. 84:11 There was no panic in her voice and no sound of tears. 84:15 The ease with which she listed each precise detail made the message feel practiced. 84:20 Still, we were 40 miles from the nearest town, and the canyon walls eliminated almost every possibility of cell reception. 84:28 I couldn't simply ignore a request for help and continue driving. 84:32 I took the handset while guiding the truck around another hairpin. Based on the last roadside sign I had passed, mile marker 17 was roughly three miles away. 84:43 Every internal warning told me not to respond, but I pressed the transmission button anyway. 84:49 Eastbound traffic on channel 19. I'm receiving you clearly. I'm about three miles from marker 17, so hold on. I'm coming. 84:58 What color is the vehicle? Is anybody injured other than your husband? 85:03 My voice repeated from the speaker for a moment before she answered. 85:07 there was a peculiar pause first as though she needed to consider every word individually before speaking it thank you for answering it's a silver sedan a recent model toyota the entire front is crushed i'm all right only cuts and bruises but my husband won't regain consciousness his head is bleeding and his left leg is bent at an unnatural angle please get here quickly the signal ended with an abrupt click. I pressed the accelerator harder, causing the trailer to swing dangerously as I entered the following curve. 85:43 Yet something about the exchange continued to trouble me. 85:47 She had never offered her name. 85:49 She hadn't mentioned attempting to attract the attention of other motorists. 85:53 She also hadn't asked me to call an ambulance as soon as I reached a place with a signal. 85:58 Mile marker 16 flashed past the side window. 86:02 I activated the high beams and began searching the edges of the road for evidence of a wreck. 86:07 When marker 17 finally appeared, I pulled over as far as possible without letting the trailer slip from the narrow shoulder. 86:15 I removed the flashlight stored beneath my seat and climbed out into the freezing mountain air. 86:20 The quiet struck me immediately. 86:23 I heard no damaged metal shifting and no radiator releasing steam. 86:27 The only sounds were my own cooling engine ticking behind me and wind passing through the canyon. 86:32 I followed the guardrail and directed the flashlight down the north side embankment. That was when I found the evidence. Tire tracks that looked fresh crossed the pavement and ran directly toward the drop. 86:44 A fairly large dent marked the guardrail, along with a streak of white paint that also appeared recent. 86:51 When I leaned over the barrier and shone the light downward, pieces of shattered glass sparkled among the rocks around 20 feet below. 86:59 Beyond the glass there was nothing. No silver Toyota, no wounded couple, only vacant darkness extending into the canyon. 87:08 For the following 20 minutes, I worked my way down the slope, sweeping the flashlight across every location where a vehicle might have come to rest. 87:16 The fragments created a trail descending roughly 50 feet, precisely the distance the woman had reported. 87:23 Then the glass ended without explanation. 87:26 There were no tracks carved into the soil, no flattened vegetation, no lubricant staining the stone, and no other sign that a two-ton vehicle had traveled down that embankment. 87:38 Loose gravel repeatedly slid beneath my boots. 87:41 Twice I caught hold of the thin struggling pine trees protruding from the cliff to keep myself from falling. 87:47 Throughout the search, I couldn't stop thinking about the extraordinary precision of the woman's account, how she knew the exact distance the car had supposedly traveled. 87:57 By the time I climbed back to the highway, I was breathing hard and covered with dirt. 88:03 Another driver had stopped behind my pickup. He was an older man operating a Peterbilt who had noticed my hazard lights. ''Everything okay, friend?'' he shouted while approaching with his own flashlight. 88:16 Saw your truck on the shoulder and figured that trailer might have given you trouble. 88:20 I told him about the radio message and the woman begging for assistance. 88:24 The expression that crossed his face tightened my stomach. 88:28 A silver Toyota? He asked. 88:30 Young woman with a calm voice? Said her husband's leg was broken. 88:35 The way he recited the facts told me he had received the same broadcast. 88:39 I heard it about an hour back while I was traveling west, he explained. 88:44 Came through channel 19, clear as daylight. Right after that, I spoke with my dispatcher on another frequency. 88:51 He told me three more drivers had reported that exact message tonight, each at a separate time. 88:58 Every one of them stopped, searched, and saw what you did. 89:01 Proof of a collision, but no automobile. 89:05 He used his flashlight to indicate the tracks and then the damaged guardrail. 89:10 These were already here when I passed this afternoon before the sun went down. 89:14 Whatever occurred at this spot, it didn't occur tonight. 89:18 We stood together trying to understand it. 89:22 Then the CB in my truck returned to life with a burst of static. 89:26 The woman's voice traveled through the open window, but it no longer sounded the same. 89:31 It was softer and strangely intimate, like her mouth was directly against the microphone. 89:37 Thank you for coming, but you arrived too late. We've been trapped here for such a long time, waiting in the cold. 89:44 The metal is curled around our bodies like fingers, and the engine is crushing his chest. 89:50 Do you hear him breathing? Listen closely. 89:54 A wet, broken respiration followed. Both of us instinctively moved away from my truck. The sound continued for approximately 10 seconds. 90:03 It was uneven, labored, and horribly moist before ending in complete silence. 90:09 The other driver closed a hand around my arm, his fingertips digging through the material of my jacket. 90:15 That noise isn't coming from a crash site, friend. I've pulled victims from wrecks before. Nobody trapped beneath an engine block breathes that way. 90:25 We have to leave. 90:27 The woman spoke again before either of us could move. 90:30 This time her words caused every hair on my body to lift. 90:34 Jerome, I know you're there. You can't abandon us again, Jerome. Not the way you did in Utah. 90:41 Sandra tried to stop you from using this road, didn't she? 90:44 She knew what took place here. Look in the glove compartment, Jerome. See what she put there for you. 90:51 My knees nearly collapsed when she used my name. 90:54 Not my CB handle. Not Eastbound Driver. 90:58 My actual name. 91:00 The trucker had already begun retreating toward his Peterbilt, shaking his head and muttering that he wasn't paid enough to deal with anything like this. 91:08 I remained frozen. 91:10 No one on that highway knew my identity. 91:13 I hadn't spoken my name over the CB, and I had made no stop since entering the state. 91:19 Sandra had insisted that I take several old possessions from her garage. She had practically pushed a box of miscellaneous junk on me, and I had dropped it onto the passenger seat without examining it. 91:31 My hands shook as I reached for the pickup's door. Behind me, the other Peterbilt's engine thundered awake. 91:37 The driver left without saying another word. 91:40 Inside my cab, the dome lamp seemed weaker than it should have been. 91:44 The shadows it cast moved incorrectly across the dashboard. 91:48 The glove compartment handle was cold beneath my fingertips. 91:52 When I opened it, an unfamiliar manila envelope dropped to the floor. 91:56 Sandra's handwriting covered the front. 91:59 Jerome, you need to learn the truth about Copper Canyon. 92:03 The envelope contained brittle yellowed newspaper articles dated six years earlier. 92:08 The first headline read, Couple Missing After Canyon Crash. 92:12 Beneath it was a photograph that knocked the air from my lungs. The man in the image was me, only younger. 92:19 I stood beside a silver Toyota with a woman I had never seen before. 92:24 According to the article, Jerome Hutchinson and his wife Valerie had disappeared when their vehicle left the highway at mile marker 17. 92:32 Neither body had ever been recovered. 92:35 That couldn't be true. 92:37 Six years earlier I had lived in Colorado and worked in construction. 92:41 I had never visited that canyon before meeting Sandra. 92:45 With numb hands I picked up another clipping. 92:48 Search called off for missing couple. 92:51 This story included a still frame from a gas station security camera. The image clearly showed me putting fuel into the same silver Toyota. 93:00 Its timestamp was dated three days before the crash. 93:04 Valerie, the woman from the first picture, was visible through the passenger window. 93:08 There were additional articles and still more evidence documenting a life I had never experienced, a marriage I had never entered, and a death that had never happened to me. 93:19 The final object inside the envelope was a handwritten note from Sandra. 93:24 I discovered these among your belongings after we met. You told me you couldn't remember them. That entire sections of your past were simply absent. 93:33 I should have explained sooner, but I was frightened. 93:36 Don't travel through Copper Canyon, Jerome. She is still there, waiting for you. 93:41 The CB crackled once more. Now the woman spoke in a near whisper, so close and private that I imagined her lips touching the microphone. 93:51 Jerome, stop looking at those lies. You know me. 93:55 You remember that my hair smelled of vanilla. 93:58 You remember the scar across my palm from the night I tried to make dinner for our anniversary. 94:03 Do you remember which song played when we crashed? 94:06 Our song. Switch the radio to FM 93.5. It's on right now. 94:13 My hand began traveling toward the tuner before I made the conscious decision to move. 94:18 It felt like a memorized reflex had seized control. 94:22 I caught my moving wrist with the opposite hand and physically restrained it. 94:27 The logical part of me shouted that none of this could exist and that I needed to drive away immediately. 94:33 Still my fingers continued straining toward the dial. 94:37 At last I changed the radio over. 94:39 Static filled the truck briefly. Then a song surfaced through it. 94:44 Wonderwall by Oasis. 94:46 The opening chords had barely begun when something inside my skull fractured like ice across a frozen lake. 94:53 Memories that should not have existed rushed into me. 94:57 Valerie laughing from the passenger seat and singing out of tune. The fight about her sister. 95:03 The deer leaping onto the road. The guardrail folding like paper when we struck it. 95:09 Valerie shrieking my name as the Toyota dropped over the edge. 95:13 The silence after the rolling finally ended. But beneath those recollections, another life remained just as vivid. 95:20 I remembered meeting Sandra at an Albuquerque bar two years earlier. 95:24 Our wedding, our divorce, my position at the warehouse. 95:29 Two complete pasts occupied the same mind, and I could no longer determine which one belonged to reality. 95:36 The woman transmitted one final time. 95:39 I'm still inside the car, Jerome. I never escaped. 95:43 You did. 95:44 You crawled free, walked away, and forgot that I was there. 95:49 Every time you pass through this place, I try to return you to me. 95:52 Come down to the vehicle. Come back to me. 95:55 This time we can leave together. 95:58 I lowered my gaze to my hands. Dark blood had appeared beneath my fingernails. It was old, dry and beginning to flake away, though it hadn't been present moments earlier. 96:10 The clippings began dissolving across my lap. Their ink spread like water and rearranged itself into new sentences. 96:18 You left her to die. 96:20 You left her to die. You left her to die. 96:23 I threw the truck into gear and buried the accelerator. 96:27 The trailer swung violently from side to side as I raced away from mile marker 17. 96:33 Valerie's voice continued breaking through the CB, first begging, then sobbing, then turning furious and screaming my name. 96:41 I reached across the dashboard and tore the radio's power cable free. 96:46 The silence afterward was somehow even more frightening. 96:49 In the rearview mirror, I swear I saw headlights climbing from the embankment. 96:54 They were impossible lights belonging to a vehicle that could not exist, and they followed me around every bend. 97:01 I drove for three consecutive hours without stopping, forcing the old Ford harder than I ever had before. 97:08 Eventually, the illuminated sign of a 24-hour diner appeared close to the state line. 97:13 I pulled into the lot, chose the brightest lamp I could find, and stayed beneath it until morning. 97:20 While waiting for sunrise, I searched my wallet and phone for evidence of my true identity. 97:25 Every picture of Sandra and me was genuine. 97:28 My driver's license was authentic. The divorce documents were real. But so were several scars across my ribs that I had never noticed. 97:37 Marks shaped like injuries from striking a steering wheel. 97:41 I reached my home in New Mexico that morning and immediately visited the courthouse to request public records. 97:47 Jerome Hutchinson, my name and my social security number, had no death certificate. no active or historical missing person report, and no documented marriage to a woman named Valerie. 98:00 But the newspaper archive contained something else from six years earlier. 98:04 A short story reported that hikers had discovered the unidentified body of a woman in a ravine near Copper Canyon, months after what appeared to be a vehicle collision. 98:14 The wreck involved a silver Toyota with a partial license plate that matched what mine would have been if I had lived in Utah at the time. 98:22 The dead woman wore a wedding ring, but authorities never established who she was. 98:27 According to the article, investigators believed a passenger may have escaped the crash and walked away. 98:33 Blood evidence created a trail from the vehicle toward the roadway. They never found the person who left it. 98:39 I have never used the Copper Canyon route again, and I never will. 98:44 I traded the pickup, disposed of the CB, and relocated to another apartment. But some nights when everything is quiet... I still hear static that resembles someone struggling to form words. 98:56 And sometimes when I look into a mirror, dried blood appears beneath my fingernails and takes an impossibly long time to wash away. 99:08 Story 7. 99:10 By the time I clocked out at the hospital, the night had already begun bleeding into morning. 99:16 My mind felt clouded after 12 uninterrupted hours of trauma cases, and all I wanted was a cup of coffee followed by a hot shower. 99:25 The city remained asleep when I began the drive home. 99:28 For the first several miles, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. 99:32 Then the GPS display flashed, locked up, and restarted with the quiet chime I had heard countless times. 99:40 On every previous occasion the system came back online. 99:43 This time it didn't. 99:45 I knew the general road well enough, or at least I thought I did. 99:50 Somewhere beyond the second intersection though, I must have made an incorrect turn. 99:54 The road ahead was completely unfamiliar. 99:57 Smooth asphalt deteriorated into fractured pavement and eventually became gravel. 100:03 Tall weeds bordered both sides, brushing against the car as I passed. 100:08 The sky was beginning to grow lighter, but there was none of the warmth that usually comes with dawn. 100:14 Everything sat beneath a flat bluish glow that made the landscape appear deserted. 100:19 The radio had stopped working as well. 100:22 Every station gave me nothing but static. 100:25 I repeatedly assured myself that there was no problem and that the road would reconnect with the highway soon. 100:32 After 20 minutes of passing turns without names and crooked collapsing mailboxes, I had to admit that I hadn't encountered a single other vehicle. When the low fuel warning illuminated, a small gas station finally appeared farther ahead. 100:46 It had one line of pumps, a sign that flickered irregularly, and an attached convenience store with metal security shutters lowered halfway over the windows. 100:56 The parking lot was vacant. 100:59 I entered it anyway, stopped beside the pumps and climbed out to loosen my stiff legs. 101:04 The air was much colder than I anticipated. 101:07 It carried the sort of wet chill that reaches your skin even through the hospital scrubs. 101:12 I attempted to open the map on my phone once more, but the screen placed my location in an empty gray space. 101:19 It showed no highways, side streets, or recognizable features. 101:24 That was when the houses behind the station caught my attention. 101:28 They stood along the opposite side of the road, perhaps six of them in total, with wide gaps separating one property from the next. 101:36 Every house was illuminated, porch lights shone above the entrances, living room windows glowed, even the bedrooms were lit behind closed curtains, and every front door visible from the station stood completely open. 101:51 My first assumption was that this was merely some unusual habit in a small community. 101:56 Maybe the residents woke exceptionally early, or perhaps they were night shift employees like me arriving home from work. But there was no noise anywhere. No passing cars. 102:07 No barking dogs. No movement. 102:11 The air itself seemed unnaturally motionless, as if the entire world had stopped midway through a breath. 102:18 For a full minute I remained near the pumps and stared at those houses. 102:22 My immediate impulse was to shout and find out whether anyone would respond. 102:27 Something deeper inside me insisted that I remain silent. 102:31 I chose to return to the car and continue forward, reasoning that this road would eventually meet a larger one. 102:38 As I left the station, I looked toward the houses again. 102:41 Only then did I understand that the street continued much farther than I had initially seen. 102:46 Additional homes extended beyond a curve, and all of them followed the exact same pattern. 102:52 Every light burning, every front door open, and no sound at all. 102:58 The farther I traveled, the more disturbing the scene became. 103:01 Every mailbox was empty. 103:04 No vehicles occupied the driveways. There weren't even garbage containers waiting beside the curb. A strange pressure began forming in my chest. 103:13 It felt as though the air gained weight with every mile I moved deeper into that place. 103:18 My phone still couldn't find a signal, and its battery percentage was dropping much faster than it normally should. 103:25 I lowered the window halfway, hoping to catch any evidence of ordinary life, an insect, a breeze, anything. 103:33 The only sound was the low drone of my engine repeating between the empty houses. 103:39 Eventually I reduced my speed near an intersection where the road divided into three separate directions. 103:45 A small white home stood on one corner. 103:48 Its paint was flaking and a swing set occupied the yard. 103:52 One of the swings moved gently. 103:54 It wasn't swinging quickly. It simply traveled back and forth with a slow, consistent rhythm that never seemed to lose momentum, even though the air remained perfectly still. 104:06 I watched long enough to realize that its chain made no sound whatsoever. 104:10 I tried to blame the movement on a breeze playing tricks on me, but there was no wind. 104:16 Ignoring my own better judgment, I shifted into park and got out, hoping I might discover someone inside the house. 104:23 With every step toward it, the details looked increasingly wrong. 104:27 The porch light pulsed faintly. 104:29 Through the open entrance, I could see a television displaying static. 104:34 A bowl of cereal waited on the counter. Milk remained inside it with a spoon balanced along the rim. 104:40 The scene looked as though someone had stood and walked away in the middle of breakfast. 104:45 Hello? Is anybody home? 104:48 I called. The volume of my own voice made me recoil. 104:53 It sounded too loud and too real, as though a human voice had no right to exist in that place. 104:59 Nothing answered. 105:01 Behind me the swing had stopped. I moved only far enough through the doorway to look into the living room. 105:07 The carpet appeared clean but it was wet to the touch, as if it had been absorbing dampness for several weeks. 105:14 A clock on the wall produced a quiet ticking noise, yet the space between each second seemed extended and late. 105:21 I remember detecting a weak metallic scent in the air. 105:25 For some reason that particular detail remained with me more strongly than almost anything else. 105:30 I called into the house a second time, lowering my voice. The sound barely traveled beyond where I stood. 105:37 Family photographs decorated one wall. They showed two children, a man wearing work clothes and a dark-haired woman. 105:46 Every frame tilted slightly downward, as though someone had deliberately adjusted each photograph to face the floor. 105:52 A sound came from somewhere farther inside. 105:56 It was light and dragging, like the sole of a foot scraping across a linoleum. 106:01 I became motionless in the entrance and listened. 106:04 The noise repeated, this time more slowly, with an almost intentional quality. 106:10 My first thought was still that someone inside might be injured and require assistance. Then the lights in the hallway began switching off. 106:18 They went dark one after another, starting at the distant end and moving in my direction. 106:23 Each bulb dimmed with a weak popping sound until only the lamp in the living room remained illuminated. 106:29 My pulse slammed against my ears. 106:32 I carefully stepped backward toward the porch, concentrating on making no noise. 106:37 That was when movement appeared in the reflection on the television screen. The image was too indistinct to identify as a person. 106:45 It looked more like a dark shape positioned halfway along the hallway. 106:49 It didn't approach me. It merely stood there, defined by the last trace of light from behind it. 106:56 Then the living room lamp went out as well. 106:58 I staggered onto the porch, nearly falling over the steps, and sprinted toward my car without allowing myself to glance back at the doorway. 107:07 When I threw myself inside and slammed the door, the automatic headlights washed over the front of the White House. 107:13 Its porch lamp was now dark. 107:16 Every other house farther along the street remained brilliantly lit. 107:20 I accelerated hard enough to throw gravel behind the tires. 107:24 The road curved and turned for miles but every few bends revealed another group of homes with the same impossible arrangement. 107:31 Lights glowing inside, entrances standing wide open, and not one person visible. 107:37 I continued expecting a patrol car, a barricade, or anything else that could provide a rational explanation. 107:44 Instead, the road carried me farther between black vacant fields. When the fuel light began flashing again, panic nearly overwhelmed me. 107:52 I started to believe I might never escape that place. 107:56 Then a highway sign materialized ahead without warning, illuminated against the darkness. 108:02 The name on it was unfamiliar, but merely seeing an official road sign made me pull over and breathe for a moment. 108:09 Sweat made my hand slide against the steering wheel, and my throat felt scraped raw. 108:14 Behind the car, the road disappeared into total blackness. There were no approaching headlights and no distant glow from all those illuminated homes. 108:23 I turned the vehicle around to check, needing to know whether the houses were still behind me. 108:29 The instant I faced that direction, I found only an empty road. It was as if the entire neighborhood had collapsed inward and erased itself. 108:37 Once I entered the highway, normal traffic immediately surrounded me again. 108:42 Trucks passed, headlights moved in both directions. 108:46 The familiar sound of ordinary life returned. 108:49 I left at the next exit where an open diner stood and stumbled through its entrance, still dressed in my scrubs and carrying the combined smell of antiseptic and fear. 108:59 The waitress watched me with concern and asked whether I was alright. 109:03 I explained that I had made a wrong turn near a gas station a few miles away. 109:08 Her expression tightened into a frown. 109:10 She said no station had operated in that direction for many years. She even asked a man seated at the counter, a local driver, to join the conversation. 109:20 He confirmed that a gas station had once stood there, but it had burned down sometime during the early 2000s. 109:27 I tried to convince myself that I had confused the location. 109:31 Maybe 12 hours at the hospital had finally pushed my exhausted mind beyond its limits. 109:37 After finishing my coffee, I returned to the parking lot. A thin coating of grey powder covered the hood of my car. 109:44 It looked like ash. 109:46 When I touched it, the substance smeared across my fingertips in a dark, oily streak like soot. 109:52 My shoes tracked faint marks of the same material onto the floor mat during the final drive home. 109:58 I washed the car the following day, but I swear the odor never disappeared completely. 110:04 It was that same mild metallic smell I had noticed inside the vacant house. 110:09 I have never located the road again, despite repeatedly attempting to reconstruct the road I took. 110:15 Once I showed the region on a map to a coworker. 110:18 She told me the entire area was farmland and that there was nothing else there. 110:22 Still uncertain drives home after a night shift, I glimpse porch lights shining far beyond the trees. They look like small, unwavering points in the darkness. 110:32 And every time I see them, I make absolutely certain that I remain on the highway.