The dashboard clock said 12:13 before the backlight burned out, and the trip odometer was just passing 500. The company wouldn’t pay for a flight back home, so Tanner was stuck in a cheap rental as he tried to get home to his wife and her sister, who was in labor two weeks early.
His eyelids were getting heavy, and he saw an exit sign for the first time in a half hour. He knew he shouldn’t stop, but it would just be five minutes to grab a snack and a drink before he finished the last hour of the drive. Besides, this town was in the middle of nowhere, what could happen?
He took the exit and followed the sign toward the town. It was a few miles of sleepy driving on unlit roads before he got to the nearly deserted one-light town. On his right was a convenience store. He pulled into the parking lot, and saw a few girls hanging out along the side. They gave him a playful look, and yet seemed incredibly unfriendly. Tanner ignored them and walked inside, and grabbed a bag of chips and an energy shot while the exquisitely bored teenage cashier watched him. It looked like no one else had been in all night.