Officer Stephanie Strange ran a paper towel beneath running water. When it was wet enough, she exited the restroom and headed over to her desk, where Hogarth was seated. Sitting down on the corner, she handed the damp towel to her son.
"Maybe that will teach you not to drive while eating," she told him.
"Very funny, Mom," Hogarth grumbled as he wiped his face, "but in case you hadn't noticed, we nearly got flattened by a horde of living trucks just before we got here."
"I hadn't noticed," Stephanie said sarcastically before she left Hogarth and walked over to where the other Ghostbusters were. Muncher hovered over Jefferson's shoulder as the latter took a closer look at his PKE Meter. Constance was flipping through the pages of what appeared to be a photo album.
"I hope you guys have something planned," Stephanie told them. "Every truck in San Francisco is wreaking havoc, including the precinct's new police truck, and our officers can't do anything because they're trapped inside. Worst of all, the mayor is breathing down our necks, demanding solutions for a problem we can't hope to figure out."
"We're working on it, Steph," Constance replied. "Dealing with possessed trucks is a whole new field for us."
"When I was a young boy," Gordon said, walking over with three mugs of coffee, "my parents told me stories of the huaka'i pō - Nightmarchers that haunt the native islands. They're demons at worst, murderous shades at best. We could very well be dealing with something similar."
"Maybe," Jefferson said, taking one of the mugs, "but we need to learn more about what we're dealing with. I managed to get readings off that tanker truck that nearly ran us over, and they state that that's the truck we need to go after."
"Then why aren't you going after it?" Stephanie demanded.
"It's not that simple," Constance explained. "It's bad enough we have to find a single truck in one of the biggest cities on the Pacific Coast, but every single truck in San Francisco will be coming after us. The more we learn about what we're up against, the better prepared we'll be to handle it."
With that, Constance refocused her attention on the pages of the book she was looking at. She flipped through a few more pages before her eyes lit up.
"Guys!" she exclaimed. "I think I found it!"
Jefferson, Gordon, and Stephanie gathered around as Hogarth walked over. Muncher had to hover above the group to see what they were looking at. On the left of the open pages was an image of the same tanker truck that nearly ran them over. The headline read:
Ghost Truck Seen in Hazzard County
Late Saturday evening, Jeffrey and Elana Coltrane were nearly run off the road in what could have been a fatal accident by a large tanker truck. The couple claimed the truck had a grille that resembled a very angry face and had a very unnatural feeling surrounding it. As the vehicle passed, Coltrane lost control of his pickup truck for a few seconds. In that span of time, the truck appeared to drive by itself almost intentionally into the nearby cliff wall before Coltrane was able to apply the brake.
The description of the vehicle appears to resemble the truck once driven by Ethan Keller, a trucker from San Francisco and known serial killer, who was killed when his tanker fell into Fulton Ravine in Hazzard County while trying to claim his next victim. Local authorities have placed an APB on the truck and contacted Georgia State Police.
"You see?" Constance said, slapping the article. "That's the truck that almost hit us! I've got other clippings of sightings of the truck reported all across the continental U.S.! The truck appears to manifest along routes Keller frequented when he was alive, and the pattern indicates the truck was heading to San Francisco!"
"I've heard about the Keller case," Stephanie chimed in. "But that was over fifty years ago. Why is his ghost arriving in San Francisco only now?"
"It must be the excess PKE energy left over when we fought Morgana," Jefferson concluded. "Like Muncher, Keller must have been attracted to it and it finally brought him back to his hometown. Our best guess is that he's heading to where he used to live."
"And I've got the address right here," Constance added. "Let's roll!"
Suddenly, there was a loud bang that sounded from beneath the precinct. Lights flickered as the entire building shook, pieces of the ceiling falling to the floor. Stephanie quickly turned to the first police officer she saw.
"What the heck was that?" she asked.
"Trucks are trying to break into the garage," the officer told her. "We got SWAT units holding them back, but there's more coming! I don't know how much longer we can hold out!"
Eyes wide, Stephanie quickly turned to the Ghostbusters.
"Get to that location now," she ordered. "Catch that ghost truck before it plunges the whole city into chaos!"
~GB~
Hogarth pulled Ecto-1SF onto Fourth Street and parked on the side of the road. Slowly, the Ghostbusters climbed out of the car and grabbed their proton packs out of the back. It had required Hogarth's professional street racing skills to evade the trucks and leave them far behind.
With their equipment on and ready, the Ghostbusters stared out at the vacant lot in front of them. According to the newspaper article from Constance's book, Keller used to live at a dilapidated house on Treasure Island, at the corner of Fourth Street and Avenue I. But instead of a house, all they found was this: A lot with a sign that said it was to be the future site of a new apartment complex, and there was no sign of the ghost truck anywhere.
"You sure this is the right place?" Hogarth asked.
"Yes," Constance answered. "The house must have been condemned after Keller was killed."
"The place could still be acting as a homing beacon," Jefferson said. "Spread out and get on the radio if you see anything."
With that, the Ghostbusters headed out across the lot, each of them taking one of the four corners. Muncher, having stowed away again, chose to go with Constance.
Jefferson slowly scanned his corner, waving his PKE from side to side. The meter received weak readings, but he raised his eyebrow in suspicion. Gordon approached a stack of lumber that was lying in his corner. Cautiously, he walked around the stack before climbing up on top to look around. Constance stepped to the edge of her corner, put her hands on her hips, and turned her head every which way, trying to spot any potential sign of the ghost truck. Muncher hovered above her, looking in every direction, not sure what he was supposed to be looking for.
Hogarth had reached the edge of his corner. He glanced to his right and left a few times before shrugging and looking down. Spotting a penny lying at his feet, he smiled and crouched down to pick it up. But as his fingers grasped the penny, he heard a truck horn blare. Looking up, he saw the ghost truck barreling straight towards him. Hogarth glanced back at the penny and saw that it was tails up: Bad luck for him.
"GET BACK TO THE CAR!" he screamed as he sprinted to Ecto-1SF. The other Ghostbusters looked after him in confusion, but the moment they turned and spotted the ghost truck roaring right towards them, they were right behind Hogarth.
Ecto-1SF's engine roared to life as Hogarth turned the key forward, then shifted gears and floored the gas pedal. The car sped away seconds before the ghost truck shot through the spot it was parked in.
"I was right!" Jefferson exclaimed. "The spot was definitely serving as a homing beacon for the truck!"
"Save it for later, Jeff!" Hogarth roared. "We gotta shake this thing before it flattens us!"
Muncher glanced out the side window, but the moment he saw the menacing truck snarl at him, he screamed and zipped back into the glove box.
As Hogarth sped forward, he was forced to apply the brakes when he saw a large police truck driving straight towards them. It was the same truck Stephanie's precinct had recently received. One roar from the police truck was enough to make Hogarth veer right onto the nearest road, with both the police truck and the ghost truck following close behind.
"Please tell me you have a plan!" Hogarth shouted.
"We might be able to catch the ghost truck," Jefferson said, "but we're gonna need to corner it first. Hogarth, follow my next directions extremely carefully."
Hogarth nodded and kept his foot pressed hard against the accelerator, driving past what was once Ray Sheeran field. Following Jefferson's instructions, he turned left and right before he came up to the Yerba Buena Island Depot. Hogarth did not waste any time and rammed the main gate, knocking the fence over. He pulled Ecto-1SF to a halt mere feet inside,allowing Constance and Gordon to climb out before he rushed forward again.
With seconds before the trucks would arrive, Constance and Gordon immediately went to work, setting up several traps along the center of the vast dock, while Hogarth parked Ecto-1SF perpendicular to the dock entrance, then climbed out with Jefferson. Muncher nervously crept out of his hiding spot in the glove compartment and watched through the windows.
Hearing the sound of a truck engine, Constance and Gordon quickly retreated behind the fence moments before the ghost truck and the police truck arrived at the dock. Standing in front of Ecto-1SF, Hogarth and Jefferson frantically waving their arms high above their heads.
It was too good to resist. The two trucks rushed forward, intending to mow down the two Ghostbusters like a pair of weeds. But it was the exact reaction the Ghostbusters needed. Springing out from their hiding places, Constance and Gordon fired their neutrona wands at the ghost truck, trapping it within a capture cage.
"CONSTANCE, NOW!" Jefferson roared.
Constance immediately stomped on the pedal lying at her feet, causing the traps to open. The ghost truck roared as it fought against the pull of the traps, but it was slowly being drawn in. Nevertheless, it had incredible power that was turning its wheels, and it was only because Constance and Gordon had focused their capture streams on it that it was unable to break free of the traps' capture cones.
As Hogarth watched, he and Jefferson quickly noticed that the police truck had turned around and spotted Constance and Jefferson. With an enraged bellow, the police truck sped straight towards the two Ghostbusters.
"Hit the tires!" Hogarth cried.
He and Jefferson fired their neutrona wands directly at the police truck's tires. In seconds, the truck's tires began to melt back into liquid latex. With the tires destroyed, the metal rims of the police truck's wheels struck the concrete floor of the dock. The truck skidded across the ground, its wheels screeching like nails on a chalkboard and sparks flying out from beneath them, still on a collision course with Constance and Gordon.
But when the police truck was only a few feet away from them, the ghost truck was completely pulled into the traps. The police truck's deranged face returned to a normal grille and came to a halt merely inches from Constance and Gordon's faces. All four Ghostbusters let out a breath of relief, knowing that the threat posed by the trucks had been eliminated.
"Remind me never to yell at truckers for being so slow ever again," Hogarth said to Jefferson. "Now I know how much of a pain it is for them to deal with these things."
Constance and Gordon picked up the traps and walked over to Hogarth and Jefferson.
"Thanks for the save, guys," Constance said. "I'm already looking forward to stuffing this guy into the containment unit."
"Good news is, with the ghost truck in the trap," Jefferson added, "all the trucks in the city should be turning back to normal right about now."
"I'm glad to hear that," Gordon said. "I was worried it would have ended like Stephen King's novella. Last thing this world needs is having eighteen-wheelers be the dominant species."
"Wouldn't be the first time the natural order almost had a complete rewrite," Jefferson pointed out.
"That's great and all," Hogarth chimed in, "but there's still one problem we have."
The other Ghostbusters looked in the direction that he pointed. The police truck laid on the concrete floor of the dock in a puddle of latex from its melted tires. A moment later, the entire vehicle toppled on its side with a loud bang, causing the Ghostbusters to jump. Muncher peeked out the window when he heard the commotion.