The tunnel
Mark looked behind him and noticed a tiny pair of lights at some distance behind him. They were getting closer. Because he was in a tunnel, he could hear the echo of the engine, even from that great distance.
But he knew it wouldn't take long for a truck to reach him, so he started running with a renewed spirit. He kept looking behind him and noticed that the pair of lights kept getting bigger at a rate similar to if he was staying still. Of course, it was too dark, so he couldn't see the total size of the truck, but from a distance between the two lights, he could tell it was covering most of the tunnel.
The tunnel wasn't that wide, to begin with, as it would be wide enough for a single vehicle to pass. He wasn't sure if what he was hearing reaching him was his truck or another one. Even if he knew that the chances of being in his truck were almost non-existent, considering what had happened to it, something in his mind was telling him otherwise.
In the end, he spent most of his time on that truck those past years and knew every sound it made better than anyone. Still, it wasn't like the sound of his engine was unique, but he could differentiate it between different vehicles at least.
Since Mark understood that outrunning it was out of the question, he decided to let it pass him. He made it to the left side of the tunnel and had his back over the wall. From the lights, he noticed the vehicle wasn't completely at the center and looked to be a little more at the right, meaning there could be some space on the left.
He tried to make no noise and stay low so that the light wouldn't get him if possible. The truck didn't take too long to reach him now that he stayed still.
Unlike what Mark hoped would happen, the truck didn't pass him but instead stopped just a meter or two from him.
Then he heard the truck's horn twice and turned to see the still vehicle.
It was a truck identical to his, but it had no damage.
[Are you going to stay there for a long time, you fool? We have things to take care of, people to truck up]
The mechanical Voice he had heard not long ago came from the truck's direction.
It was that Voice that contained some form of emotion in it, and once more, Mark could detect some evident annoyance in it without having to process what it said.
"Who… who are you? "Mark asked as he moved closer to the truck.
He noticed nobody in the driver's seat, but for some reason, it didn't surprise him as much as he expected it to. Instead, it was like it was something he had expected to happen.
[Just get inside. We have spent too much time here, so we better leave, or you will get even weaker. I will explain things once we are outside.]
The truck's door opened as the engine that had become still at the moment was on once more and ready to go.
Mark was still confused about the situation, but he was sure of one thing. He had to leave this place, and using the truck was his only viable option.
Nothing made sense here, but he had no option, and the mysterious Voice said it would explain everything soon.
As he got in the driver's seat, he was confident that this was his truck. There were some personal souvenirs he had there, as also his personal cup holder and phone charger. Those were things he had personally put and adjusted there; even if they looked not to be completely steady, they were functional.
Before he could get his hands on the wheel or even put his foot on the gas pedal, the truck started moving on its own. The engine started without him doing anything, and the truck started speeding up quickly.
He could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel getting closer, giving him hope everything would soon get better.
[GOD DAMN IT. The darkness is faster than I thought.]
Mark heard that mechanical Voice again, but it was different this time.
The difference wasn't the Voice itself but the way he heard it. When he was outside the truck, he was confident that the Voice came from somewhere in the truck's front, but now he couldn't pinpoint the source.
It was like he was the source. Either that or he heard the Voice right in his brain. He had never felt anything like that before, which was peculiar. It was almost close to how it felt when he spoke with someone over the phone, but still far from it.
[CAN YOU STOP DAYDREAMING?!? We need to get out of here?]
The Voice snapped Mark out of his thoughts, and even if he was curious about what the Voice meant, he quickly noticed something strange.
For some reason, the truck was moving quite slowly and was far from the top speed it could reach. However, the tunnel looked straight, so it didn't need to worry about moving left and right and could move as fast as possible.
'Could it be that that person doesn't have full control?'
But before Mark could have any further thought, he felt his body moving by itself. His feet went over the pedals, and his left hand went over the wheel while the right hand was on the stick to change his speed transmission.
Quickly his hands moved, and he had his feet hit the gas pedal as much as possible, and he quickly changed the speed gears to reach the maximum speed.
It confused Mark why his body acted like that, but he didn't fight it, as it looked like it was the only way to get out. So instead of fighting to take control back, he tried to do what they ordered his body to do — drive out of there.
The moment he started driving, the force that had taken over him vanished, but that changed nothing as he focused on getting out of there.
The light was getting closer, but it was almost like it was getting further simultaneously. But now that he moved at his max speed, he was getting closer to it, faster than it was getting further from them. Mark also noticed that any noise from behind him was almost getting completely muted by something, and even the engine started getting quiet, but the truck's speed wasn't affected.
[KEEP MOVING, OR WE ARE GOING TO BECOME SPARE PARTS]
The strange Voice once more spoke, but even if it was shouting at him, it also sounded quieter with each word.
Soon Mark noticed his vision was affected as things became more blurry and dark, even if he had the lights on.
Fortunately, he didn't have to do much other than go straight, but still, he tried to keep his senses as active as possible since things could change anytime. Then, as his vision was blurry enough, not even clear to see his hand, he noticed another change.
He was slowly feeling his body becoming numb and losing his ability to sense things. It started with some tips of his fingers and started spreading at a rapid rate.
Usually, it wouldn't be such a bad thing as he had just to stay the way he was, but when his entire left arm was affected, it felt like he didn't have an arm, to begin with. He could still move it, but his brain felt no difference from that movement.
Since his vision was also getting worse, if he was completely blind, and his feet had also been affected like that, he couldn't know if he had let go of the pedal.
Mark did the only thing he could at that point, which was to focus on keeping his body in his current state, but with the loss of all of his senses, that looked impossible.
Mark had utterly given up, as at that moment, his vision turned completely black, and almost his entire body had lost its sense of touch. But then the shouting mechanical Voice had once more spoken to him.
[KEEP DRIVING, FOOL]
Following the Voice, the honk of the truck was heard, and suddenly every lost sense returned to Mark.
Mark didn't know what had just happened, but he felt some weakness. But it didn't feel like he was the tired one, but like he could sense the tiredness in someone else, even if nobody else was around.
Following the "suggestion" of the Voice, he kept his focus on driving. He pressed the gas pedal fully so the truck could move at its maximum speed.
Less than a minute passed before he started listening to the strange noise from behind him. This probably meant that he would soon, once more, start losing his senses. Still, he could feel the effect of the noise to be weaker this time but started noticing the loss of his hearing.
But before he lost his hearing completely, he finally reached the light and drove through it. As Mark went through the light, he had to close his eyes, as everything was too bright. Not long after that, he felled like the seat he was on had disappeared and was in the air. Still, he could feel that he was moving since his body still had its velocity.
Unfortunately, since even the steering wheel disappeared, and nothing was in front of him to stop him, he lost control of his body and started tumbling into the air. It didn't take him long to land somewhere as his tumbling continued, but only for a couple of seconds before he was suddenly stopped in place. It felt like something had grabbed him and pinpointed him to the ground.
Mark wanted to look at his surroundings, but at that point, he felt his eyes get heavy and soon lost consciousness. But before he completely lost his senses, he heard an ambulance's siren.