Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the vehicle was short-lived. We went under an overpass, and something hit the roof with a crash, denting it way in, then swung down hard against the passenger side. The van rocked wildly to the right, and everything slowed down as the world tilted. Then the roof crunched again and we crashed back down onto all four wheels. Zion shouted something, but I couldn’t understand her.

The roof peeled away with a weird tearing noise, showering us with pebbled glass. The air rushed in. Instinctively, I jammed both feet down on the brake. The antilock brakes kicked in with a stutter. Something large and dark flew off us and skidded down the road in front of me.

The green man.

“Go, go, go!” Zion shouted.

She wanted me to run it down.

It righted itself. Its dark form was hard to distinguish from the road, but I could see its teeth glimmering in the headlights, and patches of its skin blazed green as it moved.

I noticed it had talons. “Rip-the-roof-off-your-car” talons.

No way was I driving at that thing. It would tear the van apart. I cranked the wheel left and drove into the median. The minivan took it like a champ, bouncing over the uneven ground without tipping. We came out on the westbound side and I hit the gas.

I thought we’d made it. Then the van lurched and the green man’s head popped up outside what was left of Kara’s window, like some sick jack-in-the-box, grinning and cackling. It was clinging to the side of the van. Kara yelled and brought her gun up, but the creature ducked and climbed back along the side. I could hear its claws ripping through the metal. Kara took a couple shots at it, then Zion started shooting toward the rear. The inside mirror was hanging broken, so I couldn’t see where the thing was.

I yelled, “Don’t shoot the deer!”

We were coming back to the underpass. I thought the green man had climbed around to the passenger side — I could see a dark shape in the outside mirror. I veered back into the median and aimed for the underpass’s central pillar.

Zion looked forward and shouted, “Shit! Ryder!”

We reached the pillar. I was a little closer than I’d planned to be, so we not only lost the mirror, but also the door handles. The van rebounded into the eastbound lanes.

“Did I get it?” I shouted.

“I don’t see anything in the road,” Zion shouted back.

“I think it’s still on us!” Kara yelled, sounding panicked.

“Can you see it?”

“No!”

Shit. Plus we were driving the wrong way on the interstate. Good thing it was the middle of the night. A truck barreled past us, horn booming. No one was keeping up our barrier, I guess.