🌙 Chapter 1 – The Long Straight

The long road by the playing fields was always the part he liked least. On one side: tall metal fencing and a stretch of dark grass. On the other: parked cars, garage doors, and the backs of houses with their curtains shut.

No shops. No people. Just distance.

Tonight, the road was almost empty. A couple of cars in the distance. A flickering streetlamp. The soft hum of a television from somewhere behind a drawn blind.

Mark zipped his jacket up and picked up the pace. Not scared. Just keen to get to the estate where the streets felt more “lived in.”

🚐 Chapter 2 – The Van

Halfway down the straight, he heard an engine behind him. He didn’t turn around straight away. He just listened.

The sound was a little deeper than a car. A van, maybe. Not racing. Not slow. Just rolling.

Mark moved slightly closer to the fence side, leaving space on the road. He expected the van to pass, then disappear ahead like every other vehicle did at this time of night.

But it didn’t.

Instead, it drove past him… then pulled into the kerb a good forty metres ahead and stopped.

⚠️ Chapter 3 – Too Far Ahead

At first glance, it looked normal. Vans stop all the time. Deliveries. Phone calls. People checking directions.

But the distance bothered him.

If the driver needed to pull over, they could have stopped behind him or just a few metres ahead. Instead, they’d chosen a point that forced Mark to walk towards them along a quiet stretch with nowhere else to go.

The van’s brake lights glowed red. The engine idled. No hazard lights. No one got out.

Mark’s brain offered the usual reassuring script:

They’re probably on the phone… You’re overthinking… Don’t be daft…

But something underneath that script refused to be quiet.

🧠 Chapter 4 – The Calculation

As he walked, Mark started doing quiet, instinctive maths:

• Distance to the van: about 40 metres.
• Distance back to the last junction: maybe 60.
• Nearest house with lights on: behind him.
• Nearest open space: the football pitch beyond the fence.

He watched the van out of the corner of his eye. No logo that he could see. Plain white. Rear doors facing the road. Side door towards the pavement.

He noticed something else: the van hadn’t pulled fully into a parking space. It was sitting at an angle, as if ready to move at short notice.

🚶‍♂️ Chapter 5 – Changing the Script

Most people, he realised, would keep walking. Head down. Maybe tense up. Maybe hope nothing happened. Walk past the van. Get it over with.

That would put him exactly where a stranger might want him: close to a sliding side door on a quiet stretch.

The thought landed in his stomach like a stone.

He slowed his pace slightly, enough to buy himself a few extra seconds of thinking time. The van remained still. Too still.

Mark made a decision.

He stopped, turned around as if he’d forgotten something, and started walking back the way he’d come.

🔄 Chapter 6 – The Reaction

He half-expected the van to pull away then. Most normal drivers would, relieved not to be blocking anyone.

Instead, the van stayed where it was for a few seconds. The engine note changed slightly, as if the driver had adjusted their pressure on the pedal.

Then, as Mark created more distance, the van pulled away from the kerb and drove on slowly… in the original direction he’d been heading.

It no longer needed to be stopped ahead of him.

That tiny detail chilled him more than anything.

👀 Chapter 7 – Watching from Distance

Mark stopped by a lamppost and pretended to check his phone. In reality, he was watching carefully.

The van drove all the way down to the junction at the end of the road, turned right… then circled slowly around the mini-roundabout and came back up the same road on the opposite side.

They were scanning the area. Or him. Or both.

This wasn’t random anymore. It was pattern.

📍 Chapter 8 – Creating Witnesses

Mark knew staying alone on the long straight was the worst option now. He needed people, light, and options.

Instead of continuing along the playing fields, he cut back towards the warehouse, where a security guard was still on shift and a couple of other staff were leaving.

As he approached the entrance, he saw the van again at the far end of the road. It slowed, as if deciding whether to keep going. Then it accelerated away.

Presence had changed the risk. With more adults nearby under CCTV, the incentive vanished.

📞 Chapter 9 – Reporting What Nearly Happened

Inside the small reception, Mark told the security guard everything. Not dramatised. Just factual:

• Van pulled ahead on an empty road and waited.
• No hazard lights, no-one getting out.
• He turned back; van moved off.
• Van looped the area and passed again slowly.

The guard took it seriously. There had been a few incidents on other industrial estates where lone workers walking home had been followed and confronted near parked vans or cars.

Together, they called 101 and logged the vehicle description and behaviour.

🧠 Chapter 10 – What Mark Did Right

• He noticed that the van had stopped a long way ahead, not behind him.
• He recognised the risk of walking past a stopped vehicle on a quiet stretch.
• He didn’t override his instinct to “avoid being awkward.”
• He changed direction early, before he was committed to the danger area.
• He moved back towards people, cameras, and light.
• He reported the behaviour instead of shrugging it off.

No confrontation. No bravado. Just a calm refusal to walk into a setup that didn’t feel right.

🏁 Chapter 11 – Key Lessons: Vans, Distance & Ambush

1. Vehicles that stop “too far ahead” can be a red flag.

If someone wants to ambush a walker, they often position themselves ahead of the person’s path, not behind. That forces the target to close the distance.

2. Long, empty stretches increase risk.

Fences, walls, and parked cars reduce your movement options. If a vehicle stops ahead of you on a road like that, ask yourself: “What are my other routes?”

3. You’re allowed to change your mind – and your route.

Turning back, crossing the road, or heading towards people is not overreacting. It’s proactive safety.

4. You don’t need proof to act.

Your body often spots patterns before your brain puts words to them. You’re not required to “wait and see” if it becomes clearly dangerous.

5. Reporting “almost incidents” helps everyone.

When behaviour like this is logged, it builds a picture. Police and communities can start to see hotspots, patterns, and repeated vehicle descriptions.

Mark didn’t run faster. He didn’t fight. He simply refused to walk into the van’s chosen position.

That quiet, early decision may have been the most important safety choice he made all year.