"Oh dear..."
Since his back was to the windshield, Jess really didn't want to look at what had alarmed the ancient spirit. He'd much rather stare at Abigail.
But the compulsion was too great.
He turned, then wished he'd listened to himself. Ay carumba! They were way too close to the wrecked trucks. One lay on its side like it'd fainted while the other was sideways on the highway. No way to avoid them.
We're going to burn ...
Suddenly, something was slamming hard at the floorboard underneath Choo Co La Tah's feet.
"Hit the brakes!" Sasha's muffled shout was barely audible even with Jess's super hearing.
Choo Co La Tah stomped the brakes and everyone held their collective breath and prayed.
Nothing happened. Jess felt his heart stop as he realized they were going to crash. He wasn't worried about himself. He would survive.
Abigail might not.
"Again!" Sasha shouted.
Choo Co La Tah obeyed. Jess tensed in expectation of their oncoming crash.
Then, to his utmost shock, the truck finally began to slow. He couldn't believe it. Sasha flashed back into the cab with a proud grin on his face.
Abigail leaned her head back on the seat and returned his smile. She high-fived Sasha.
Until Choo Co La Tah cursed-something he never did. "Hold on everyone."
Jess was tossed forward as they left the interstate and flew down the exit ramp at a speed that would have probably gotten them arrested had a cop seen it. Luckily there were no concrete barriers or anything significant around. Only small road markers that warned of the drop off the shoulder that they plowed over.
Please don't tip, please don't tip.
And don't plow into the Casino Smoke Shop Truck Stop. The owner definitely wouldn't appreciate it. That had now become his biggest concern. Killing someone other than them.
The truck shimmied and shook as if it wanted to flip. But through some miracle, it didn't and in a few seconds, they were slowed to a safe speed while Choo Co La Tah headed toward the Valley.
Sasha fell back and laughed. "All right, everyone. Fess up. Who just shat in their pants? C'mon. Admit it." He raised his hand. "I know I did and I'm wolf enough to own it."
Jess ignored him. "Are you all right?" he asked Abigail. She was still a little too pale for his tastes.
"I think I'm going to own Sasha's question. Definitely put me on your list."
Jess laughed, then looked over at Sasha. "So Wolf, what did you do?"
"You mean before or after I soiled my jeans? Which, by the way, I want kudos for coming back in the cab when I could have gone home." Sasha sobered. "The foot valve was stuck. It doesn't happen often. But it can happen as you just saw. If you're lucky you can pop it back out from the cab. Obviously, given the horrors of this night, I wasn't lucky so I had to crawl under the damn thing at ninety miles an hour and pound it out from underneath. I don't ever want to hang like that under a speeding vehicle again. I swear I lost eight of my nine lives."
"What is it with you and the cat analogies?"
"Long, really not boring story. Anyway, I'm just glad I knew what it was."
Impressive, but ...
"How did you know?"
"Video games," Sasha said proudly. "Never let it be said they're a waste of time. But for them, we'd be toasting some better parts or flipped and bleeding. And speaking of, we probably want to leave a note for whoever owns this thing so they can get it fixed. We don't want a human getting hurt over bad maintenance."
Choo Co La Tah checked the side view mirror. "I hate to be the one to cut in on the reverie and congratulatory sentiments, but we still have our friends following behind us."