The SCP Foundation

Chapter 159: SCP-973

A car was cruising down Route 60 late at night; the passengers present within were a couple, coming back from a relative's baby shower.

"Do we still have a long way to go?"

"Yeah, I mean, we still got this stretch of the road, then the city, and moving on our way to the driveway." the driver responded. "This'll maybe take us a few hours, depends on the traffic."

"Well... when we're in the driveway, wake me up then."

"Alright then, goodnight."

"Night."

The wife started to become comfortable in the passenger's seat, closing her eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

The driver then began to yawn, but kept his eyes glued to the road, seeing the empty road in front of him, with the few metres in front of him being illuminated by the headlights.

"Alright, I think I got a few more minutes here, then swing to the exit." the driver muttered to himself. "Lucky that Grace can sleep through this drive..."

The driver then looked at his rear view mirror, and saw red and blue alternating flashing lights in the distance, accompanied by a faint siren.

"Huh? Police? I didn't even do anything..." the driver muttered. "Speed's within the limit, so what's he on about?"

The car's radio then came to life, with a monotone voice simply saying the word "Run." The message repeated itself, with each repetition slowly making the driver unnerved.

"What the hell?"

"Ryan?" the wife yawned, slowly being awakened by the disturbance. "What's... what's going on?"

He then looked at the rear view mirror again, and he saw the flashing lights grow closer and the siren gradually getting louder.

"I... I dunno..." the driver responded, his tone of voice being noticeably uneasy. "Everything just started to go wrong at the exact same time!"

"Then why's the police after us?"

"I don't know, okay?" the driver answered, tone of voice now described as panicked. "It's like he just appeared outta nowhere and started chasing us!"

"Well, shouldn't you be pulling over?"

"I didn't even know what I did wrong..."

"If you pulled over, then maybe the officers would tell you..."

"I... I guess..."

The driver proceeded to gradually put pressure on the brake pedal, slowing down the car. The police cruiser maintained its speed, then eventually overtook them and slowed down as well.

The two vehicles then stopped on the side of the road, with the radio still repeating its peculiar message. The driver and his wife were about to say something, then they saw the police cruiser's driver door open, and a man exiting said vehicle.

The headlights had illuminated the rear end of the police cruiser, seeing that its heavily rusted bumper was secured by duct tape, with large dents on the back door.

They also saw the driver walking towards them, wearing an outdated Arizona state trooper uniform. He was a Caucasian in his late 40s, overweight, slightly balding, and had a handlebar moustache.

"Man... I don't wanna get a ticket..."

"Relax... I'm sure it'll be fine."

The officer then walked over to the driver's door, which promted the driver to roll his window down to talk with him.