“Drive.” The woman dove into the back seat, reorienting herself to swing the door shut.

“Uh, where to?” He asked, adjusting the mirror and locking the doors.

“Anywhere, just go. Fast.” The Uber driver stalled for a moment, eyeing the distressed woman with sweat dripping from her brow. Her eyes screamed the order again in a desperate plea, prompting him to shift into gear. In the side mirror, he saw nothing, no cars, no police, no people rushing his shiny new SUV. He waited for her breathing to slow to a semi-regular pace before repeating the question.

“Okay, where am I taking you?” He ignored the fact he had not received any clients or notifications before she threw herself into the vehicle. At least he was a driver, and not someone parked next to the airport waiting for family. She craned her head around and peered through the back window.

“Just keep going. I’ll pay you for the miles whenever we can stop. Just don’t stop driving.” Her voice wavered as she spoke with nails digging into the backseat. Whatever she was worried about, it was close.

“Should I call the cops? Is someone after you, or-“

“No, they wouldn’t believe you, and they’d be useless if you did. Just get us out of here and don’t stop driving.” So long as he was getting paid, it didn’t much matter what the client wanted. She held her eyes on both the side and centre mirror, shifting between them every second. She didn’t look at him once, her eyes too busy and too dilated to see anything outside of her focus. Drugs, maybe.

“Can you explain why we’re in such a hurry? What danger are you in exactly?” She shot her gaze directly at him, pausing before finding an answer.

“The only way you will believe me is if it catches us. And then it won’t matter.” He noticed a hint of regret in her green iris’

“Us?”

“I’m sorry.” He sensed a hint of sincerity in her voice, but only a hint, the words almost sounding self-serving more than genuine.

“What is ‘it’? Where is ‘it’? You’re making me a little nervous here.”

“I don’t need you nervous, I need you scared, terrified, traumatized. And if you’re not, I won’t have any reason to help you once I’m free of this city.” She had been staring at him for the entire few minutes, no longer fixated on what was supposedly after them.

“Then give me a reason to be terrified, what is chasing you? And why would I be in danger after you leave?” He didn’t want to be scared, but anything was better than riddles and non-answers from a stranger met less than a few minutes ago. She held her lips tight, seemingly unsure of how to answer. She had little room to sound even more crazy than she already came across. After another few seconds of nothing, he slammed the brake.

“What the hell are you doing? Keep moving, now!”

“Tell me what’s happening, or get out. Consider the ride free, I doubt you have any cash to pay anyway.” He didn’t want to leave her when she was so distressed, but he wasn’t about to listen to the whims of a potential addict while he ran his metre without pay. And if he was in danger, he needed to know. She did too, supposedly.

“Fine. Drive, and I’ll explain it, what I can anyway. Please, just drive.” He let out a defeated sigh and pressed down on the gas. As the vehicle sped up to the speed limit, the back lifted almost vertically into the air for a moment before crashing back to the concrete.

“What the hell-“ She slammed a hand on the back of his seat.

“Faster, twice the limit, get us out of here!” He didn’t hesitate. Pressing down on the gas they veered around the few cars ahead and broke onto the highway. In the mirror, nothing happened to the cars behind. Still, he sensed an uneasy feeling, like a kid jumping to their bed in the night to avoid the monsters underneath.

“What was that?” He asked, his heart beginning to race. He saw nothing, but he felt the fear she had wanted him to.

“A monster. It’s been chasing me for weeks, I haven’t slept, I haven’t ate, and it hasn’t stopped. I know this sounds insane but it isn’t from this dimension, or reality, or whatever. It’s invisible until it touches you. And it only wants you to see it if you get in its way.”

“Like if you help its target escape?”

“I said I was sorry. Even when I leave, it will come for you first unless you keep moving, too. And you’ll know just why I’m so terrified the second it gets close enough to touch. Just please drive, and don’t stop. Never stop.” He couldn’t process all of it, if any. But whatever could lift an SUV with so little effort, while being intangible to everything around it was enough to keep him moving. “If you keep driving, can I sleep? Just for a second, I…” Her head tilted to the side, resting against the window. He kept hard on the pedal, fleeing from the unseen force. He couldn’t help but wonder whether no one had helped her up to now, or if they had all died to get her this far. And if so, if it was on purpose or not. Whatever the case, he had no intention of joining them.