Night-Owl Trucking

Wednesday, 10:02pm

The black Mercedes glistened like a shark in shallow water as it floated past Luz's door. It lunged across the dotted line and cut around the still-accelerating FedEx truck as if it were darting after prey. The white semi was practically standing still in comparison. It struck the rear-left corner of the mud-caked Aerostar, biting off a chunk of its rusty bumper as the speeding car ricocheted onto the shoulder. ALMANAC swung hard to one side, her stunned driver overcorrecting with a squeal of tires just in time for the foreign car to strike them on the passenger-side front quarter panel as it muscled its way back onto the road. The second blow sent the rickety minivan into a spin. There was a shriek, and a thud, and a bang! In a blur of headlights and a shower of sparks, the old Ford slid off the road and down the shallow grassy bank beside Interstate 80.

"Holy shit!" Luz gasped as she swung back into the right-hand lane. She squinted at her passenger door mirrors, struggling to see the minivan left behind in the dark. Dim, flickering headlights pointed up into the sky at a shallow angle, illuminating the drifting clouds of dust and smoke left in their wake. The black Mercedes roared away into the distance as Luz sent a worried glance up at Amity, "We gotta—"

Amity turned away from her window with a frightened, "Pull over!" Her eyes were wide rings of gold in the dim cabin; she was shaking like she'd just seen a ghost. The worry etched on the pale girl's face nearly matched the uncertainty and fear gnawing at her own stomach.

They shared a quick nod, and Luz turned back to the road with determination. "Hang on!" The tanned girl flipped toggles on the dashboard before she hit the brakes once more, pressing the pedal to the floorboard. Bright orange lights flared along the length of the double-brown big rig, flashing like the heartbeat thundering through her veins. She veered onto the narrow shoulder, setting Hooty at a slight angle away from the road. His front-right tire squelched into the grass in front of a small green sign as she centered the gear stick. She leaned over the aisle to grab the CB radio handset, broadcasting a quick, "Breaker breaker one-seven! Be advised, black Mercedes speeding away from collision, I-80 eastbound, mile marker one-nine-nine." Luz tossed the transmitter back on the dashboard, ignoring the squawk and crackling response that hissed from the squat gray receiver.

Amity fumbled with her seatbelt as Luz flipped a pair of switches on her headliner and killed the rumbling diesel engine. Luz pointed at Amity's knees, snapping out a quick, "First-Aid kit under your seat!" as she pulled the keys from the dashboard and unlatched her safety belt. The brown-haired girl checked her mirrors before she kicked her door open, waiting for two cars to fly past, and hopped out when the coast was clear. She pulled a mismatched pair of flashlights from under her seat, then clapped a hand over her hat to keep it on her head as a short train of big rigs rushed by on the moonlit highway, her sleeveless band tee fluttering in the wind. She slammed her door and scrambled around Hooty's nose to run back toward ALMANAC from the relative safety of the grassy bank, Amity on her heels.

Luz flicked the switch on her boxy orange-handled lantern, waving the wide, daylight-bright cone over the wind-blown grass that reached nearly to their knees. She ran, arms and legs pumping, her heart pounding in her chest. The air was still and silent aside from their footsteps shushing and crunching through the grass, and the occasional vehicle that streaked by with a Doppler howl. She sucked air between clenched teeth while she spared a look to her left. Amity easily paced her, somehow hardly out of breath, but her face was twisted in worry as she clutched the bright red First Aid satchel to her chest. "Hhuh— Here!" Luz gasped, holding out the smaller Maglite.

The green-haired girl plucked it from her hand like a runner's baton and found the button with her thumb. The narrow beam of light played over the side of the growling Aerostar as they approached the passenger side of the vehicle. It was buried to its rocker panels in the loosely packed earth, the rear tire slowly turning in the deep furrow carved by the minivan's sideways slide. The windshield wipers squeaked back and forth, a flitting shadow cast across the dim silhouettes in the front seats. "Y– You help Thalia," Luz wheezed, pointing at the passenger door.