The Bus Killer

The night was freezing for late October, the chill that creeps under your skin and makes even the bravest shiver. The fog clung to the streets like the ghost of a forgotten memory, swirling around flickering streetlights as the city buses rumbled through the nearly deserted roads.

Katie, a tired college student, slumped into the last row of the 11:45 bus. She had missed the earlier one thanks to a late shift at the diner, and this was her only way home. The bus was mostly empty, save for a middle-aged man in a trench coat near the front, his head bowed, muttering softly. She couldn’t see his face, but how his shoulders twitched with each whispered word sent a shiver down her spine.

The bus lurched forward, its old engine groaning in protest as it left the well-lit stop behind, plunging into the darkness of the suburban outskirts. Katie tried to focus on her phone, but the flickering lights overhead made it difficult to read, casting her screen in a nauseating strobe. She shoved it into her pocket and glanced up at the driver, a gray-haired man with a deeply lined face, his hands gripping the steering wheel like it might escape him at any moment.

The bus suddenly stopped at a red light, the force tossing Katie forward. She glanced toward the front, only to see the trench-coated man slowly standing, his head tilting as if listening to something only he could hear. The air grew colder, the fog outside pressing against the windows like the icy breath of a forgotten soul.

As the light turned green, the man took a step down the aisle, his boots echoing against the metal floor. Katie’s heart raced, her mind already leaping to the worst conclusions. She tightened her grip on the metal pole beside her seat as he drew closer. His muttering grew louder, words tumbling out in a feverish, jumbled mix of nonsense and dread.

He stopped beside her seat, his head turning slowly to face her. She could see his eyes now – wide, unblinking, and shimmering with a madness that froze her blood. He leaned in, his breath hot and sour against her cheek, and whispered, “Do you know what’s driving this bus?”

Katie opened her mouth to scream, but the bus lurched again, throwing her back into her seat. She looked up, and the man vanished into thin air. Heart pounding, she whipped her head around, expecting to see him standing behind her, but the bus was empty, seats swaying gently as if recently disturbed.

The driver turned his head slowly, revealing hollow, eyeless sockets. His mouth stretched into a grin that split his face from ear to ear. He turned back to the road as the bus picked up speed, the engine roaring like a beast released from its chains.

Katie clutched her chest, feeling the cold fingers of fear tighten around her heart. She reached for the stop cord, yanking it desperately. The bus driver’s hollow laughter echoed around her as the windows began to frost over, words appearing in the ice: "No Exit."

As the bus plunged into the fog, its taillights swallowed by the darkness, the city returned to its unnatural stillness, and Katie’s muffled scream became just another whisper on the icy October wind.