Mason

Exhausted.'

Ellis nodded.

"'Okay.

Get in.

Keep your heads down when you're inside.

I'm not trying to scare you, but I want eyes on the woods.'

We climbed into the truck like people climbing into a lifeboat.

The cab smelled like coffee and damp fabric and something clean.

I wanted to cry from relief, but my body didn't know how to do anything except shake.'

As Ellis drove, I kept looking out the window.

Trees flashed by, wet trunks, dark gaps.

Every shadow felt like it could hold that hooded shape.

At one point the road passed a small spur, and I saw something that made me grip the door handle hard.

A figure, deep in the trees, standing still.

It could have been a stump, it could have been my imagination, but it looked like a person watching.

I tried to speak but my throat tightened.

By the time I managed to say, there, the truck had already passed.

Ellis' eyes flicked to the side mirror then back forward.

His jaw tightened but he didn't slam the brakes or turn around.

He kept driving, steady.