"Nightcrawlers" is the third and final segment of the fourth episode of the first season (1985–86) of the television series The Twilight Zone. It is adapted from a short story of the same name by Robert R. McCammon, first published in the 1984 collection Masques. Plot State trooper Dennis Wells takes shelter from a downpour at a roadside diner. He describes to Bob the cook and the server a massacre that he is investigating that occurred at a local motel. After almost getting into a collision outside, a Vietnam veteran named Price enters the diner. Concerned by Price's reckless driving, Wells interrogates him. Price is compelled to describe how he fled and abandoned his unit during the war, leaving all of them dead in the jungle, and that he has a recurring nightmare in which his unit, "The Nightcrawlers," are hunting him down to exact revenge. Wells instructs Price to sleep the night off at a local motel, but Price says he can't stay at a motel because he becomes a danger to everyone around him when he sleeps. Price explains that he and four other soldiers were sprayed with a chemical that gave them the power of mind over matter, which he demonstrates by materializing a t-bone steak on the grill. He says such manifestations quickly fade while he is awake, but are more dangerous when he dreams. Wells, realizing Price caused the massacre he's investigating, tries to arrest him, but Price melts his gun with his mind. Enraged, Wells knocks Price unconscious with a ketchup bottle, unintentionally bringing Price's nightmare into the world. Soldiers materialize, destroying everything in the cafe with machine gun fire and explosions. Trying to escape, Wells is shot and killed. Bob tries to kill Price with a pan, but is shot though not killed. Price regains consciousness as the soldiers force their way in. A spotlight is cast upon him, and he calls out, "Charlie's in the light!", prompting the soldiers to shoot and kill him. The cafe in flaming ruins, Bob is taken away in an ambulance. He reminds the others that Price said there are four more soldiers out there who have the same ability. Production "Nightcrawlers" was based on a short story by Robert R. McCammon. Executive producer Philip DeGuere wrote the teleplay, which he said was fairly easy, since the short story was so visual. It was scored by Merl