Goin' Out To Cally – Part 56, Enveloped In Fear

With a near empty tank of gas stuck in the small bump of a town called Eureka in the middle of Nevada located on a stretch of Highway 50 with a large, drunk verbally threatening to kill us… well, things could have been better.

Our only hope was to wait until morning when the gas station would reopen. I pulled the car into the apparently vacant rest area on the other side of this small town, turning it around so we would be facing the direction of our potential attacker who would be coming from the hotel a few blocks down the street.

If the maniac was going to try and kill us, we wanted to keep an eye out for approaching cars. I sat with my left hand on the wheel, my right hand on the key in the ignition, one foot hovering over the clutch, the other gently placed on the gas pedal… if the maniac got anywhere near us I was ready to start the car and bolt out of there for as long as the gas would last.

Exhaustion eventually forced Tim and Beth back to sleep. Sunday and I were too afraid to relax. Our senses were heightened, our eyes piercing the dark night focused on the road, waiting for a set of headlights to approach.

“That guy was scary!” Sunday exclaimed.

“I know! It freaked me out!” I replied.

As I waited, keys at the ready, I kept trying to work through my options. There weren’t a lot. If the maniac drives up, shotgun in hand, what could I do? Drive away… to where? We don’t have enough gas to get us anywhere. Then we’d just get hunted down in the middle of a desert instead of at a rest area in a small town.

The only other option was to drive away and honk the horn, hoping someone would wake up and help us out.

Neither solution was a good one. So, Sunday and I sat and waited, our breath shallow with fear, our eyes focused, yet red with exhaustion.

“Oh my God!” Sunday yelped as a pair of headlights approached.

“Is that him?” she asked. I looked intently at the approaching headlights, trying to discern the possible motive of the driver. Was it a car or a truck? Was it a small truck or a semi? Was the vehicle slowing down or maintaining speed? Was it turning into the rest area or continuing down the highway?

“I think it’s a car, not a truck,” I said as the headlights continued passed us. Sunday and I took a collective sigh and enjoyed the momentary respite before our flight or fright instincts encircled our psyche again.

We continued searching the dark for a hint of growing illumination from anything resembling oncoming traffic. A few minutes later the white dotted lines in the middle of the road began to glow slightly as another vehicle approached.

Sunday and I again gasped and our muscles involuntarily tightened as our heads turned with the moving headlights as they grew brighter. We found ourselves literally holding our breath while watching the car draw near, then continue on down the road.

Our bodies again relaxed as the intense fear within us temporarily dissipated.

“How much longer until the sun comes up?” Sunday asked.

I checked my watch, it read 2:53 a.m. “Four or five hours, at least,” I replied.

Visibly shaken and with her voice trembling a bit, Sunday looked at me with wide eyes and said “I don’t know if I can make it that long.”

“We’ll make it,” I said, trying to reassure her, but inside I was just as frightened as she was. I had never felt so trapped before in all of my life. This great expanse of the Nevada landscape had suddenly collapsed into the small space inside of the car. There was no escape, there was no way out, there was just waiting to see if the maniac was going to live up to his angered threats.

I found myself empathizing with the kids in the movie Sunday told me about who were stuck in the mall. My mind was racing with fear and panic and overwhelming helplessness.

Just then, another car approached. This time the headlights belonged to a pickup, a pickup truck that matched the size of the maniac’s.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” Sunday uttered in quick succession. “Is that him?”

“I don’t know,” I said, fearing the worst.

Our hearts stopped when the lights from the truck slowed as it neared the entrance to the rest stop.

“He’s slowing down!” Sunday yelped in a panic.

The faint outline of the pickup truck illuminated by the dim light from the new moon was visible as the truck slowed to a stop. It just sat there, the engine idling, the truck motionless.

My fingers tightened around the key, my hand reset the gear shift into first, my feet readied above the gas pedal and clutch. I was ready to take off in any direction on a moments notice.

The pickup truck continued to sit there as if it were staring right at us, right through us. We felt so exposed, as if the driver was purposefully taunting us.

Sunday’s and my eyes were glued to the truck only thirty yards away, waiting, each second passing with pain and enveloped in fear. Just when the burden from the weight of our increasing fright was about to overtake both of us, the pickup began to slowly pull away and then disappeared into the distance.

The emotional toll of the evening was about to break me. I could barely stand the pressure any longer. I leaned my head back against the head rest, trying to recollect myself when Sunday, in moment of clarity and paranoia, looking passed me to where the pickup was sitting idle only moments earlier, then leaned close to my ear and whispered...

“What if he got out?”

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Part 56, (Text, Audio) - Part 55, (Text, Audio)
Part 54, (Text, Audio) - Part 53, (Text, Audio) - Part 52, (Text, Audio)
Part 51, (Text, Audio) - Part 50, (Text, Audio) - Part 49, (Text, Audio)
Part 48, (Text, Audio) - Part 47, (Text, Audio) - Part 46, (Text, Audio)
Part 45, (Text, Audio) - Part 44, (Text, Audio) - Part 43, (Text, Audio)
Part 42, (Text, Audio) - Part 41, (Text, Audio) Part 40, (Text, Audio)
Part 39, (Text, Audio) - Part 38, (Text, Audio) - Part 37, (Text, Audio)
Part 36, (Text, Audio) - Part 35, (Text, Audio) - Part 34, (Text, Audio)
Part 33, (Text, Audio) - Part 32, (Text, Audio) - Part 31, (Text, Audio)
Part 30, (Text, Audio) - Part 29, (Text, Audio) - Part 28, (Text, Audio)
Part 27, (Text, Audio) - Part 26, (Text, Audio) - Part 25, (Text, Audio)
Part 24, (Text, Audio) - Part 23, (Text, Audio) - Part 22, (Text, Audio)
Part 21, (Text, Audio) - Part 20, (Text, Audio) - Part 19, (Text, Audio)
Part 18, (Text, Audio) - Part 17, (Text, Audio) - Part 16, (Text, Audio)
Part 15, (Text, Audio) - Part 14, (Text, Audio) - Part 13, (Text, Audio)
Part 12 (Text, Audio) - Part 11 (Text, Audio) - Part 10 (Text, Audio)
Part 09, (Text, Audio) - Part 08, (Text, Audio) - Part 07 (Text, Audio)
Part 06 (Text, Audio) - Part 05 (Text, Audio) - Part 04 (Text, Audio)
Part 03 (Text, Audio) - Part 02 (Text, Audio) - Part 01 (Text, Audio)