"Aw hell," he muttered to himself as he glanced at the blinking dashboard of his car. Josh Rivers had always been a forgetful person. Names, birthdays, phone numbers, you name it. And apparently, getting gas was among the more recent things he'd forgotten about. Cruising down the two-lane road, the tall trees on either side were illuminated by the dim headlights of his car. It was an early 90's model car, so nothing seemed to work properly. The radio always sounded fuzzy, the passenger side speaker rattled at any volume, and either the air conditioning was too warm, or the heat was never warm enough. That's how it is when you work a shitty part-time job.
The orange glow of the headlights bobbed up and down as he went over small bumps and holes in the road. Georgia was never known for having the smoothest roads ever, and that was obvious by the amount of vibrating his car was doing. Well, it vibrated normally anyway, but it seemed to be a bit worse tonight. Josh was starting to get tired of the same old view, but like a knight in shining armor, he saw the one thing he'd been hoping to see for the last five miles of straight, tree-lined road: the dim blue glow of a gas station illuminating the thin fog surrounding it.
Slowing down, he clicked on his turn signal and went left into the parking lot, rolling to a stop beside one of four pumps available. He glanced around before getting out, but saw no other cars there. It seemed, however, that all the lights were on, inside and out. "What in the world?" Josh asked himself. Desperate for fuel, he got out of his car despite the absence of people and stepped over to the pump, his black boots making tiny splashes in the puddle underneath his feet. It had been raining the day before, so everything was drenched.
He looked at the screen of the gas pump and sighed when he read the paper note taped to the screen. "CARD READER BROKEN. PLEASE PAY INSIDE. THANK YOU." Josh rolled his eyes and turned towards the building, making his way to the door. Stepping up onto the small curb, he reached for the handle and pushed, swinging the glass door open with ease. There was a small boombox atop the cigarette shelf behind the counter, which was playing "Hotel California" by the Eagles very faintly underneath the eerie buzz of the fluorescent lights.
He walked up to the counter and tapped the "ring for service" bell, waiting patiently. He glanced at the Michelob Ultra clock behind the counter. It was about three fifteen in the morning and he'd been driving all day, so it's not like he was in any hurry. Although he had all the time in the world, he waited for a while, but to no avail. Not a single soul showed up to help him. He rang it again and waited...and waited. Nothing happened. He called out "hello? Anyone here?" The only form of answer he received was a small flicker of the lights above. He rolled his eyes again and went back outside to check the signs on the door.
"OPEN 24 HOURS," the small sign on the door read. After accidentally kicking over a small clay pot, spilling sand and cigarette butts by the door, Josh went back in and headed towards the restrooms, wondering if the clerk was taking a bathroom break. Knocking on both the men's and women's restroom doors, he was greeted with more silence. "Fucking hell..." he growled. He then noticed a door that said "office" across from the restrooms, so he knocked on that one as well.
Nothing.
Beginning to get a little frustrated, he thought surely this isn't the only gas station around. I just hope I can make it to the next one. He pulled his keychain from his pocket with a heavy sigh and went back outside, stepping over the small mess he couldn't be bothered to clean. While walking back to his car, he noticed the moon was brightly shining, so if he were forced to pull over on the side of the road, his silver sedan should be mostly visible to any passerby who might be willing to help. He unlocked the driver door, plopped down in the seat, and started the engine. Once the doors were closed and locked, he buckled his seatbelt and pulled back onto the wet asphalt of highway twenty-nine, unaware of the being 50 meters down the way he arrived from.
***
Josh drove for what seemed like an eternity, his fuel supply slowly depleting as the miles passed quickly by. The country music on his radio crackled in and out, with the occasional interference from various other stations. From within the gentle beat of the song, he heard snippets of commercials, weather reports, and other genres of music. The vibration of the steering wheel was starting to make his hands uncomfortable, so he moved his left hand to the top of the wheel, resting his right hand on his lap. With straight road ahead of him, straight road behind him, and trees on both sides, he pressed onward, praying to whatever all-powerful being was in the sky, begging to let him make it to the next gas station. Or at least, a damn motel.
Once again, relief washed over him like an ocean wave as he saw yet another gentle blue haze up ahead. It seemed to be the same brand as the gas station he'd just left God knows how long ago. It, too, was on the left side of the road, so he slowed down once more, veered off into the parking lot, and stopped by another pump. Just as before, all the lights were on above the pumps as well as inside the store. "Alright, let's give this another shot," Josh said to himself as he turned the car off and got out. After shutting the door, he noticed another damn note taped to the screen of the pump. "CARD READER STILL BROKEN. PLEASE PAY INSIDE."
He sighed and shook his head, chuckling at the "still broken" note. "What, no 'thank you' this time?" he asked to himself as he turned to head inside. Coming up to the curb, he stopped and tilted his head in confusion at what he saw on the ground:
a small clay pot lying on its side, with sand and cigarette butts spilt by the door.
"That's weird," Josh muttered as he opened the door. He stepped inside and saw no one behind the counter. "Aw hell, not again," he said. This store had the same bell in the same place as the one he just left, which wasn't unusual for a chain store. He tapped it, making the high, metallic ring fill the room. The only thing he heard, however, was a small boombox atop the cigarette shelf behind the counter, which was playing "Hotel California" by the Eagles very faintly underneath the eerie buzz of the fluorescent lights. He glanced up at the Michelob Ultra clock behind the counter. Three fifteen. "That's very weird." He turned and looked around, scanning the store around him. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary; it was your regular, run-of-the-mill gas station. He turned back to the counter, leaning against it. Considering his options, he had one of two choices. The first one was to keep driving and try to find another gas station, or just go behind the counter and try to turn the pump on himself.
With a sigh, he walked around behind the counter and looked at the computer. The screen was black and the light on the CPU was off. He pressed the power button and nothing happened. Same for when he held it down. It didn't even seem to be plugged in. He got down in the floor and looked for a cable of any kind, but everything was made into the counter. Unless he wanted to rip the counter apart, there was no way he was getting to the power source for the computer. He stood back up and put his hands on his hips. The only other option was the one he really didn't want to take, and that was to keep driving. Reluctantly, he walked to the door, but stopped at the clay pot. He kicked some of the sand and cigarette butts back into it, and then tilted it back up, putting it back in place, feeling slightly bad about leaving the mess there, even though it shouldn't be there to begin with. Pulling his keys out, he got to his car and sat down in the driver's seat, angry at his current situation.
Josh turned the key and the engine sputtered to life, blinking the "low fuel" light at him. He put the car in drive and pulled back onto the small highway, praying the tank wouldn't empty out and strand him in the middle of the woods.
***
Another eternity later, he saw a very familiar blue light on the left side of the road. Were there any other brands of gas station around here? As he neared the store, he slowed down and turned into it, pulling up to the pump. Without getting out of his car, he looked at the screen of the pump. There was yet another note taped to it, but this one made his heart sink. The note read:
"YOU'RE ALL ALONE HERE."
"What the fuck is this?" he loudly asked himself. his anger started to turn into confusion. He shut his car off and got out, inspecting the note further. His eyes weren't deceiving him, that's honestly what it said. He looked over at the door and saw a small clay flower pot standing there, with a little brown pile of sand beside it. He walked over to the pot and looked at it, furrowing his eyebrows. There were shoe marks in the sand, as if someone had kicked it to the side, and the mark was exactly the same size as Josh's boot. "Okay...how about this?" He bent over and spread some of the sand out evenly on the sidewalk. With his finger, he drew a happy face in the sand, along with the letters "JR," his initials. Heart pounding, he made his way back to his car and quickly started it. He threw it in drive and sped off, continuing on his way.
He shook his head and chuckled to himself. "What the hell am I even doing?" The engine roared as he raced down the street, once again praying he wouldn't run out of gas. He drove until he thought there was nothing else, until the blue light appeared once more. "Fucking hell," he said with a breathless laugh. He slowed down and pulled into the fourth gas station of the night, stopping at the same pump as before. Without even checking, he turned the car off and got out, immediately going to the little pot by the door. Surely enough, there was a thin layer of sand on the concrete, and in it, someone had drawn a happy face and the letters "JR." It was the exact same thing he drew at the other one, same handwriting and all. His heart started pounding as he remembered the note on the pump.
He ran to the gas pump and saw the note on the screen. This time, it said:
"THERE IS NO ESCAPE."
Breathing heavily, he said to himself "there's no way this is happening, no fucking way." He flung the car door open and got inside, instantly starting the engine. He sped off again, hoping to see something other than trees and a blue gas station on the left. After yet another eternity of driving, that's exactly what he saw. Sweating with nervousness, he slowed down and pulled into the parking lot, stopping at a pump. He read the note through the window of his car.
"THEY'RE COMING FOR YOU."
Thankfully, Josh kept his car running, because he needed to get the hell out of here. He pulled out onto the road once more, deciding not to stop at the next gas station. Maybe if he just kept driving, he'd leave whatever weird loop he was stuck in. The low fuel light kept blinking, yet the trusty little car kept pushing on. Not to Josh's surprise, the blue light appeared once more. Pressing down on the accelerator, he made his way to the next gas station, speeding past it. "Fuck you," he said as he drove by. The orange needle on his speedometer was as high as it's ever gone before. It climbed up to eighty, then ninety, then one hundred miles an hour, and that's where it stayed. The engine roaring, he was desperate to see something other than trees and a blue gas station. At this point, he'd even be glad to see a red one. Anything to escape from this hell.
As usual, he kept driving until he passed by another blue gas station, not stopping at this one, either. He turned the knob on the radio, hoping to listen to some music and clear his mind. The speakers crackled to life, but they weren't playing the usual country music. There was something which sounded like a voice, but very low pitched, talking to him. Due to how deep the voice was, he wasn't able to make out any words, but the voice kept going, not even stopping to take a breath. It was just a constant stream of words, accompanied by the underlying hiss of the static. "Oh, fuck that." He pressed the button on his radio to change stations, and the digital numbers changed, but the voice remained. In fact, every station he turned it to was the exact same thing.
He passed another gas station.
Sick of messing with the radio, he sighed sharply and turned the volume back down, focusing on the drive. God, even the trees looked the same.
He passed another gas station.
Josh glanced at the digital clock on his dashboard. It read three fifteen, the same as the clocks at the stores. Shaking his head, he said "God, it still hasn't changed."
He passed another gas station.
He wondered how the car hasn't died yet. The needle on the gauge was just barely hovering above empty, so it was only a matter of time before the engine cuts off.
He passed another gas station.
After a while, he started to learn the pattern of the bumps in the road. Two bumps on the left, one on the right, one more on the left, one in the middle, one on the right, two more on the right, one in the middle...
He passed another gas station.
Josh remembered that he'd forgotten to buckle his seatbelt, so he reached behind him, not finding the buckle. "Dammit," he growled. He glanced over and found it all tangled up between the side of the seat and the door.
He passed another gas station.
Trying his best to untangle it with one hand, he kept looking at the road, occasionally checking the belt to see how much progress he'd made.
He passed another gas station.
Fear and anger increasing, he desperately tried to untangle the belt, but the next time he glanced up at the road, he saw a tall, dark figure directly in front of his car, staring at him with glowing white eyes. "OH SHIT!" He jerked the steering wheel to the right, veering off the road. The car shook violently as it blew through the grass, and with a loud crunch, it made contact with one of the many trees, flinging Josh's head at the steering wheel. He heard his skull crack at the impact, and then–
***
His entire body ached as he slowly came to. The front of the car was completely destroyed as it rest against the tree, yet the lights, inside and out, were somehow still on. With a pained groan, he slowly opened his eyes, seeing the amount of blood in his lap. His head feeling as though it were on fire, he used all of his strength to look up, seeing the carnage before him. The steering wheel had a large dent in the top of it, which was covered in his blood. Through the cracked windshield, he could see the crunched up hood of his car, illuminated by the headlights, smoke rising from underneath it. He slowly looked to his left and saw a gas station, glowing blue against the black of the night sky. He leaned back in his seat, chuckling to himself in disbelief, feeling warmth slowly drip down his face. Whatever happened tonight was definitely not right, but it had claimed yet another victim.
At three fifteen in the morning, Josh Rivers passed away in his vehicle on the side of highway twenty-nine in Georgia, due to a violent collision with an oak tree.