Evil Within

CHAPTER 33

Luna sat in the driver’s seat of the sleek black car, her palms slick with sweat. She glanced at the rearview mirror, catching a glimpse of the dimly lit streets through the window. The night was too quiet, too still. She could hear the faint hum of the engine, the distant rustling of leaves, and the steady rhythm of her own heartbeat pounding in her ears.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out to read the message from Sophia.

"Stay alert. We’re watching. The filling station is the target area. Be ready."

Luna’s breath hitched, and she pressed her lips together, trying to suppress the fear bubbling up inside her. It was too quiet. The streetlights ahead cast long, eerie shadows, and the further she drove, the more her stomach tightened. This was the moment they’d been planning for weeks—the trap. But Luna didn’t feel brave. She felt like a deer caught in headlights, exposed and vulnerable.

She wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans and checked her rearview mirror again. Nothing. The streets were empty.

Sophia’s voice crackled in her ear through the earpiece. “Drive down to the filling station. It’s the best place to bait him. We’re watching from a distance. You can do this.”

Luna took a deep breath and nodded to herself, though she knew Sophia couldn’t see. She wasn’t doing this for herself. She was doing it for the town, for the people who had lost their loved ones to this killer.

She steered the car toward the filling station, the bright lights of the pumps illuminating the dark stretch of road ahead. As she pulled in, the place seemed abandoned, except for the flickering light above the pump and the distant hum of the highway. The air smelled faintly of gasoline, and the silence felt suffocating.

Luna parked the car and stepped out, her legs feeling heavy as she walked toward the pump. She tried to focus on the task at hand—pumping gas like any normal person would do, keeping her movements slow and deliberate. Her fingers trembled slightly as she pulled the nozzle from the dispenser and clicked it into place.

But her mind was racing. What if he was already here? What if he was watching her?

She couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled, and she couldn’t shake the sensation that someone was standing just beyond the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike. She tried to remain calm, but the feeling of being watched was overwhelming.

Then, a vibration in her pocket. Luna pulled her phone out again.

Sophia’s message read: "He’s close. Don’t act nervous. Just keep pumping the gas."

Luna’s hands clenched around the nozzle, but her fingers felt numb. The seconds seemed to drag by as she struggled to stay calm. Her breath was shallow, and her heartbeat echoed in her ears. The silence around her was deafening, and the night seemed to press in closer with each passing second.

She pretended to check her phone, glancing at the time. The filling station was empty. Not a single car in sight. She let out a small, shaky sigh. Was she overthinking it? Or was he really out there?

A noise broke through her thoughts. A soft sound, like the low rumble of an engine approaching. Luna stiffened, her grip tightening on the nozzle as she turned her head slowly.

A car, headlights off, coasted to a stop near the pump.

Luna froze, her breath catching in her throat. It was him.

She couldn’t see the driver’s face, just the silhouette of the vehicle in the shadows. The car rolled to a stop, the headlights flickering out and plunging the station into darkness. She could feel her pulse in her throat, the unease bubbling into panic.

Luna quickly straightened up and finished pumping the gas, trying to remain casual. She was no longer just a regular customer at this station. She was bait.

Her phone buzzed again.

“Stay calm. We’re ready,” Sophia’s message read.

But Luna couldn’t ignore the tightness in her chest, the feeling that something terrible was about to happen. The car that had stopped remained still. She could hear the faintest sound of a door opening, followed by the unsettling silence that followed.

She told herself to stay calm, but her legs felt weak. What if this was it? What if she was about to be the next victim?

Luna tried to look as if nothing was wrong, her hand brushing against her coat as she fumbled with her phone. She stole another quick glance at the car. The figure in the driver’s seat remained motionless.

Then, she felt it—a shift in the air. The unmistakable presence of someone, something, approaching her from behind. Her breath quickened, and her fingers began to tremble.

Before she could turn, her phone buzzed one more time.

“Get in the car now. He’s moving.”

Luna’s heart pounded in her chest as she instinctively turned toward the door of the car. But just as she took a step, she heard a voice—a low, chilling whisper, almost too soft to hear, yet unmistakably close.

“Don’t run, Luna…”

Her blood ran cold.

The instant the lights flickered off, Luna felt her heart drop into her stomach. The world plunged into darkness, and for a moment, she couldn’t see a thing. The eerie quiet of the night surrounded her, and then—

A scream pierced through the air, raw and full of terror. It was close. Too close.

Luna’s breath caught in her throat as cold, clammy hands gripped her neck from behind. The pressure was immediate, forceful, as if someone was trying to choke the life out of her. Panic surged through her, and she gasped for air, her vision beginning to blur. The hands tightened, dragging her backwards, and she stumbled, struggling to break free.

No, this can’t be happening.

Her knees buckled, her legs giving way as the world spun around her. The gas pump, the car, the lights—all blurred into an indistinct haze as she fought to stay conscious.

She heard the door of the car slam shut, the sound sharp and final. She tried to turn her head, hoping for a glimpse of Sophia or the police, but everything was slipping away too quickly.

Please, someone… anyone…

Then, just as her breath became a shallow wheeze, the lights snapped back on, blinding her for a split second. She blinked, trying to focus.

And then she saw him.

The man in the mask. His eyes, cold and unfeeling, stared back at her. She knew those eyes.

Her blood ran cold as recognition hit her like a wave. It was the same pair of eyes she had seen in the shadows before. The eyes that haunted her nightmares, that sent shivers crawling down her spine.

But before she could even react, she felt the pressure on her neck loosen—just for a second. Luna gasped for air, taking in a desperate, shaky breath, trying to clear the fog in her mind. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think straight.

Suddenly, a loud crash sounded from behind the killer. The next thing Luna knew, a figure emerged from the darkness and slammed an iron rod into the back of the killer, causing him to stagger forward with a grunt of pain. The blow was hard enough to send him stumbling, but he quickly regained his balance, his eyes wild with fury.

No, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to be caught.

Before Luna could say anything or even try to move, the masked man spun around and darted into the shadows, his figure disappearing into the night as quickly as he had appeared.

Luna, still struggling to breathe, gasped, her chest heaving in and out. Her head spun, and for a moment, she felt as if she might collapse. But someone was there, a presence at her side. A hand—warm and steady—gripped her arm, helping her to her feet.

She turned her head, her eyes still blurry from the chokehold, and saw a familiar face. A face she had never expected to see again.

“Lucas…”

The name escaped her lips in a breathless whisper.

Lucas, her estranged brother, stood in front of her, his expression a mixture of concern and determination. His hands were shaking, and his eyes were wide with disbelief, as if he couldn’t quite process what had just happened. But he was there. He had come for her, in the nick of time.

“What are you doing here?” Luna gasped, still struggling to steady herself.

“I—I saw you from the window,” Lucas said, his voice rough. “I couldn’t let you do this alone.”

Luna’s heart skipped a beat, the shock of seeing him after all this time mingling with the terror of the moment. He had come for her.

She was still trembling, her legs weak beneath her as she tried to process the events. Her mind raced. The killer had almost gotten her... and Lucas had saved her.

“I—I didn’t know you would be here, Lucas,” Luna stammered, her voice barely a whisper. She tried to stand on her own, but her legs were like jelly, unable to support her weight.

Lucas helped her steady herself, his grip tight but gentle. He kept glancing at the shadows, his eyes scanning for any sign of the killer returning.

“You’re lucky I was here,” he said, his voice low and urgent. “The police... they need to know about this. We need to get you out of here, Luna. It’s not safe.”

Luna nodded weakly, her head still spinning. But as she looked into Lucas's eyes, she realized something. He wasn’t the same person she had once known. The distance, the coldness between them—there was no trace of it now. He had come for her, even though she had pushed him away.

The silence around them felt deafening now, the weight of what had just happened settling in.

Lucas helped her to the car, his hand never leaving her arm. She didn’t have the strength to protest, not after everything that had just transpired. As they reached the car, Luna turned back one last time to glance at the filling station, the place where everything had nearly gone terribly wrong.

And somewhere in the distance, she knew, the killer was still out there. Watching. Waiting.