My boyfriend had just snagged his dream job, he started in one week and we decided to go on a cross-country road trip. We had always talked about doing it, and this was our chance.
We were driving on the interstate, and hadn’t seen even a gas station in a few miles. The sun was hot, and there was nothing, but dirt and the occasional cactus on the side of the road. It was Chris’s turned to drive, so I just had my feet up on the dashboard and relaxed.
Chris swerved, and we ended up on the side of the road. A cloud of dust covered the windshield of the car.
“Chris, what happened?” I asked, a bit shaken.
“I saw an armadillo crossing the road”
“And you ended up in the dirt?“
“Look, I didn’t want to hit him, it’s not too big of a deal besides we should stretch our legs a bit anyway”
“Fine, okay, I’m sure that armadillo is very thankful”
We both got out of the car and walked around for a bit. I checked my phone to see where we were. No service, figured.
“Chris, can you check your phone to see if you have any service out here?”
Chris took his phone out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons “No, sorry, I’ve got nothing”
Right now it didn’t seem like a big deal we were on a long stretch of road, we probably just had to go a bit further and our phones would kick in again.
Chris squinted his eyes and pointed to something a bit into the distance.
“Hey, that looks like one of those old turn-style vending machines!”
I faced the same direction, and I saw it. Red metal base, glass body holding whatever toys or goodies, and a red metal top.
“Why would someone put that here?” I wondered out loud.
Chris, started walking toward the vending machine “I don’t know, let’s go check it out”
“Hold on, let me check the car for quarters, just in case” I shouted after him then I went back to the car to check for change. I found exactly one quarter, so maybe Chris would get to have something. I didn’t expect anything too exciting, but it was a novelty.
We were both standing by the vending machine and noticed it was filled with old temporary tattoos. The kind that our mom’s used to get us when we wanted to look cool. Each one was the same design, a blue star on a white background. Rolls of them over a plain metal bar.
“Not a very exciting design” I observed
“Maybe it’s a local thing, like a sports team”
“Well, I’ve got one quarter, do you want one?”
“Why don’t you have one, John?“
I laughed. “You take it, it’ll look cute on you”
I handed Chris the quarter, and he put it into the slot and cranked the small metal bar. Machinery crunched as the gears turned, it really was a nostalgic sound.
It reminded me of being nine years old and playing arcade games at the roller rink. Eating pizza, trying to frantically turn the gumball machines because once in a while one was busted enough to spit out some free candy.
Chris took the blue star and pressed it onto his skin, he remembered the thirty-second wait, we stood there in child-like anticipation.
There it was, a nice blue star on his arm. He flexed his arm for me.
“What do you think of this?“
“You know I don’t mind dating a bad boy” we both laughed, and walked back to the car.
“Hey, Chris, I don’t mind driving for a bit”
“You sure John?”
“Totally, I could use something to occupy my mind anyway”
I got in the driver’s seat and put the key in the ignition. It started to crank, but it wouldn’t turn over.
I tried again, but still nothing.
“Are you fucking with me?” Chris asked, clearly a bit worried.
“No, sorry, it’s really not working”
“Shit, and there’s no service either”
I looked over at Chris and saw that his pupils had dilated which didn’t make any sense considering the time of day.
“Hey Chris, did you take anything?”
“Like what?“
“Drugs, your pupils are dilated”
“What the fuck? No, my job starts in a week, I couldn’t risk that shit”
“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry”
“Look, let’s just wait here until someone drives by, it’s the interstate. At least a trooper has to come by at some point”
“Yeah, okay”
It was twilight, and we had been sitting for a couple of hours when I noticed Chris’s face had gone pale. His eyes were bloodshot, and his pupils remained dilated.
“Honey, are you feeling okay?” I asked him.
“I feel a bit queasy, it must be the heat” he replied. I handed him a water bottle from the cooler we had in the back seat, and he drank it.
Just an hour later he looked even worse, and he excused himself from the car. He vomited onto the desert ground, chunks of earlier food, and speckles of red.
“Chris, oh my God, are you okay?”
“I’m fine” he croaked out before continuing to projectile vomit.
He wiped his mouth off and got back into the car.
His eyes and nose started bleeding, and he had this horrible dazed look about him. His mouth opened like he was trying to say something, but nothing came out.
It was dark, we had no service, we hadn’t seen anybody, and my boyfriend was dying. This road trip had gone from fun to terrifying really fast.
Finally, a trooper vehicle was driving toward us. I waved my arms to stop him, and he did.
He got out of the car and looked at both of us.
“Hey, he doesn’t look too hot, you boys okay?“
“Our car broke down, and my boyfriend is sick. We really need help”
The trooper looked over at Chris who was slowly rocking back and forth, I could see he noticed the temporary tattoo on his arm.
“Hey what’s that on his arm?” The trooper asked.
“What? Oh, that’s a temporary tattoo”
“Where’d he get it?“
I pointed out where the vending machine was, but there was nothing there.
“There was a machine there, I swear”
The trooper looked at me with intent, and a small hint of sorrow “son, I believe you, I’m going to need you to step aside”
“What why?”
“I said, step aside”.
I did, confused. The trooper took his gun out of his holster walked right up to Chris and shot him point blank in the head, his brain limped its way out of the back of his skull.
I screamed, “what the fuck?!“
“Look, son, those machines keep turning up” he had his gun aimed at me now “nobody knows where they came from, but they got some parasite in them, and that parasite sure as shit ain’t making its way into town”
I stood there, tears running down my face, my future, my life was sitting there with his brain on the desert floor.
The trooper got a can of gas gasoline from his trunk and poured it on Chris’s body while I just watched. It was all I could do.
As soon as he lit the body there was this horrible screeching, and these tiny white worms started crawling out of his orifices. Each of them barely made their way out before being engulfed in flames.
“See, I told you, you didn’t get one of them tattoos did you?”
“No sir” I stammered, horrified.
“All right well, get in the back of the car, I’ll drive you to town”
And I did. I never saw a vending machine like that again, and Chris’s death was written up as heat stroke.
I don’t know if I feel lucky to be alive or if I wish it could have been me instead.