Mile 15

Chapter 7: In Which Bill and Marty Pick Up Hitchhiker Number Three

"Is there any way you could step on it a little?" Marty asked.

A heavy veil of darkness had settled over the narrow, unmarked road. The silhouettes of thick pine trees parted ominously in the headlights, as though the forest itself was twisting and warping around the little car. Even though warm air was wafting through the vents, Marty couldn't ignore the chills running down his spine.

Shortly after Marty's phone call with Russ, they had found a small town worth stopping in. After a quick bathroom break and a heavy meal at an empty Mexican restaurant, they had continued along the highway towards the green line of trees that marked the Eastern mountains of California. Marty had consulted the map, while Bill dutifully followed his directions.

But somehow despite their teamwork, they had ended up on some backroad, barreling through the darkness to regions unknown. Marty kept glancing between the map and the road in front of them, his face growing more and more concerned with each passing second.

"I'm already going ten over the speed limit," Bill said, "Are you sure this route can get us to California in time?"

"It was supposed to..." Marty frowned.

"Well don't blame me if you're late for the recording,"

"You did turn left at that last intersection, didn't you?"

"Yes! I already told you. I'm sure I turned left,"

"I woulda thought we'd've made it somewhere by now..." Marty trailed off, eyes hovering over the blurry trees. "All this fog is making me nervous,"

"What fog?"

As if on cue, a large white cloud drifted overtop of them, creating a blurry haze in the beam of the headlights. The combination of darkness and blinding vapor made it nearly impossible for Bill to see.

"That fog," said Marty.

"Oh, that fog," Bill repeated. " Jesus Christ, what is this? A Stephen King novel?"

"Screw it, I'm calling Russ again." Marty wrestled his phone out of his back pocket.

"Why? She's just gonna hang up on you again,"

But Marty did not respond. Frowning at the luminous screen, he held the phone up against the window. After a moment or two, his frown only deepened and he extended his reach up towards the roof of the car. When that didn't prove fruitful, he began to wave his phone around randomly. But no matter where he went, the phone couldn't receive any cell service at all.

"Why isn't it connecting??" he asked loudly.

Right then, a strange white figure flashed in the corner of Marty's eye --out in the gloom somewhere. Leaping in his skin, he turned and stared out the window at the passing trees. But aside from the inky gloom and rolling wall of black tree-trunks, there was nothing to see. Another shiver ran up the length of his spine. For a moment, he could have sworn he saw a person out there.

But no person could have vanished in such a short amount of time.

" What was that?" he wondered aloud.

"What was what?"

"I thought I saw something." Marty turned back towards the windshield.

"How?? I can barely even see thirty feet in front of us,"

Giving evidence to Marty's fright, the reflection of another white figure flashed across the windshield. It was moving too fast to tell exactly what shape it was in, but that didn't make the spectre any less frightening. Once again, it vanished as quickly as it had come, only existing for a millisecond. Goosebumps immediately erupted all over Bill's body, reflexively transforming him into a porcupine.