Episode 2: "The Pump That Never Stops"

A gas station off a rural highway. Six pumps. One employee. Eight hours alone in the dark.

In this episode we hear from Dex — a night shift attendant who spent fourteen months working the overnight at a small station in the rural south. Eleven of those months were fine. The last three were not.

It started with Pump 4. During the dead stretch — 2 to 4AM when the lot went quiet — the display would light up. Too bright. And always, a few minutes later, headlights off the highway.

Fifteen out of eighteen times. Dex studied accounting. He understood data. Fifteen out of eighteen was not coincidence.

Then the car started coming. Dark colored. Parked at the edge of the lot. Gone without moving.

And then one night it pulled up to Pump 4.

Third Shift Tales collects stories from people who work while the rest of the world sleeps. Names and some details have been changed at the request of contributors.