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3 LATE NIGHT SHIFT HORROR STORIES ANIMATED · Martin Animations

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: I'm a bartender by trade, so I've had my fair
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: share of these weird run-ins. You get pretty good at
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: reading people. Who's there to unwind, who's there to disappear,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: who's there to be seen. Showboats, you know, that kind
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of people. I've had a solid run at that place.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: A few years in, good tips, no drama. Management trust
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: me to close most nights. Not a bad gig. The
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: guy in this story came in on a Tuesday. He
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: sat two stools down from the service well. ordered a
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: whiskey neat like a true lone wolf. He was around
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: my age, clean and put together, not flashy, not sloppy, very,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: very normal. And that's the word that stuck with me.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: He watched me work and wasn't subtle about it. First
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: round turned into three and somewhere between them he starts talking.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Nothing wild, but it was all personal. Asked if I
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: liked dancing, if I ever got out of the bar
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: after my shifts. Told me, I looked like I should
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: be somewhere safer, somewhere brighter. I laughed it off and
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: kept moving. This is what all bartenders do. We've heard
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: it all before. And when he asked if I wanted
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: to grab dinner sometime, I told him politely no, and
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: that was that. He came back the next day. Same seat,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: same drink. This time he didn't ease into it, picked
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: right up where he left off. I turned him down again,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: still polite though. He came back again, and again. Five
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: nights a week easy, sometimes more. He'd show up early,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: sometimes right before close. Always alone. Always that same horny energy.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: He wasn't pushy exactly. Never raised his voice. Never got
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: angry when I said no. But he didn't really hear
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: it either. Just nodded, smiled, and circled back around for
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the next time. Textbook Hound Dog. Over the next few weeks,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: he started dropping details. Said he had a daughter. Said
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: he was divorced. Talked about work in this vague way,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: almost like he didn't have a job. But he always
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: paid his tab. There was enough to build a picture,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: but not much else. I started to expect him. The
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: part that I didn't like admitting. Not in a good way.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Just that he became part of my work shift. A fixture.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Like the neon sign in the window or the cracked
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: tile behind the bar. Stuff you hardly notice until it
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: isn't there. I kept saying no anyway, despite liking the attention.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Then one night he came in really worn out, bad
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: shift the night before, slept like garbage, everything felt like
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: 3 degrees off in my head. He walked in halfway
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: through the rush and took a seat, gave me that
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: same look like he'd been waiting all day to see me.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: He starts in again, dancing, dinner, something fun. He was
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: turning it up to 11. I was weak enough internally
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: that this was starting to work on me. Maybe I
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: was tired of being bored, maybe I wanted to prove
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: to myself that he was harmless. When he asked again,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: I didn't shut it down. I just said, yeah, lunch.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Let's do it after my work week is over. Three
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: days later, we met up. I picked a place. Busy, public,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: a little noisy. Safe. He showed up on time. Clean shirt,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: easy smile. That same confidence that he carried into my bar.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Nothing felt off. We ordered sandwiches, iced tea, and sat
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: across from one another like civilized people. And it was fine.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: The restaurant was one that I knew of, but hadn't
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: actually been to. I was disappointed in the menu, but
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: more than that, the food and service itself was very meh.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I know that isn't important in my story, but in
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: my head, it felt like it took away from what
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: could have been a nicer date. This kept me on
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: the hook longer than I intended to be. There's no
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: obvious red flags. He asked me about my day, told
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: me the same stories that he'd been telling me for
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: weeks now about his divorce, his daughter, how hard it
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: was to date now, A little self-centered and a little rehearsed,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: but not alarming. Just a guy who seemed to like
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: to hear himself talk. I tried to meet him halfway.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: It was a good conversation, all things considered. When we
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: finished eating, I expected we'd split. Instead, he said, There's
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: an ice cream place one street over. You want to
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: talk more? That sounded harmless. It was a warm-out. People
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: were everywhere, so I said sure. We walked and talked.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: He pointed out shops, so he Knew the area well.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: The ice cream place was small. I'd never heard of it.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: We sat outside with our cones and really relaxed. Things
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: actually felt good. Then he says, Well, there's a park
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: right down the road. You ever been to it? I had.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: It was a big open space with trails all over.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: We could go for a walk for a bit if
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: you want. I hesitated and he noticed. It's broad daylight.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: He said smiling. That line did it. Made me feel
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: silly for second guessing, so I got in his truck.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: The park was only a few minutes away. He parked
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: near the trailhead, further from the playground. A few cars around,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: but not many. People scattered across the grass. We got
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: out and he locked the truck. That little chirp for
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: some reason just echoed in my mind. We started down
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: the path, and for a minute, it was the same conversation,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: and I almost regretted going out there, but the trail curved,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: the trees closed in, and the park behind us quickly faded.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Fewer voices, less movement. It was the two of us,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: and I got a bad feeling in my stomach. I
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: glanced back toward the parking lot, not a soul in sight. What?
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: He said. I'm just making sure I know where we are.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: He laughed and kept walking. We took another turn deeper
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: into the trees, and he changed. No buildup, no warning.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: You're a dumb bitch for coming out here dressed like that,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: he said. I stopped. What? You heard me. I laughed uncomfortably. Okay,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: that's not funny. It's not supposed to be. You're being rude.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: He scoffed. Everything in me went cold and he stepped
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: closer right in my face. You got in my truck,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: he said. Walked into the woods with me, dressed like that.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I looked down without thinking, a skirt, a fitted top,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: pretty casual. He kept going. No one knows where you are.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: You don't know who I am. How many hours would
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: it take for somebody to figure out that you're missing?
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: I know your name. I know who you are. He smiled.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: no you don't that's when it clicked this wasn't random
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: he'd been building to this I've always paid in cash
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: I've never given you my real name I turned and
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: started walking back the way we came and he stayed
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: beside me without any effort where are you going he
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: said that's nowhere to go I didn't answer my chest
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: was about to explode my hands were shaking I kept
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: expecting him to grab me or something you think you're
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: safe behind that bar He said, you're just some girl
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: who got in my truck. Every step I took felt
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: like it was going to be my last. No part
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: of this park was familiar to me. I could do
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: anything I wanted out here. You're my property. My legs
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: felt weak. I didn't know what would make him stop talking.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Then I said the only thing that I could think of.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: I hope nobody ever does this to your daughter. He stopped.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: I took two more steps before I realized he was
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: no longer next to me. I turned, expecting him to snap,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: but he just stood there, face blank. He let out
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: this weird huff, and it sounded like a laugh or
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: a grunt, maybe. Keep walking, he said. I didn't argue.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: We made it back to the truck without another word.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: My hands were shaking so bad that I fumbled my door.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: He watched, but didn't help. The drive back was quiet.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: He stopped at lights, signaled, kept his eye on the road.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: No evidence of the threats of murder that he'd just
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: made to me. When he pulled up near my car,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: he unlocked the doors and said, You need to be
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: more careful. I actually did you a favor today. I
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: couldn't even look at him. Yeah, thanks, I said. I
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: actually thank this smug bastard, I know. I got out,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: walked to my car, and locked the doors, and lost
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: it as soon as I was inside. Couldn't even get
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: the key into the ignition at first. I called my sister,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: then my friend, then my mom, told them about what
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: happened or as much as I could get out. I
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: never reported it. I don't know his real name. I
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: don't know where he lived. And I'd gone willingly, gotten
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: his truck, walked into that park. That was the whole point,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: I think, too. He made sure that I blamed myself.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: And in a weird way, he did open my eyes
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: up to how vulnerable that I was in the moment.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: And how I'll never put myself in that situation again.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: This all happened in 2022 when he never came back
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: to the bar. Years ago, I worked at a dollar
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: store for about three months. It was one of those
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: jobs that sounds simple until you're in it eight hours
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: a day, dealing with people that are teetering on insane
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: and others just straight-up criminals. I got screamed at by
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Karens over coupons, hit on by sketchy guys, and cleaned
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: up messes composed of things that you can't even imagine. But...
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I'd just been laid off, the money was tight, and
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: I needed something to get by, so I stuck with it.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: I think the only upside was the location itself. Only
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: three blocks from my house. apartment. Straight shot down a
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: dim street, past a laundromat and a liquor store. My
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: co-workers were decent. Our manager, Lisa, was in her 30s.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Always tired. Always trying to hold the place together. We
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: closed at 11pm, and by 10.15 it would usually go quiet.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: That night felt really normal. It was a dead store,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: light buzzing, me at the register just waiting it out.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Lisa was in the back finishing her paperwork. The last
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: customer had already left. Then the door slams open. A
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: guy rushes in out of breath and eyes wide. Not
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: drunk or high, he just looked terrified. You need to
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: lock the doors, he said. Right now. Call the police.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Lisa came out from the back bracing for another issue. Sir, what?
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I just passed your alley. He cut in. There's two guys, masked,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: but not hanging out there, about to knock this place down,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: and one of them has a gun. Oh, shit. Lisa
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: didn't hesitate. She locks the door, flips the sign to closed,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: even though we still had time left. I grab the phone,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: call the police, try to keep my voice steady while
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: my eyes stay glued to the windows out front. The
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: police showed up relatively quickly, lights washing over the store
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: as they checked the alley, the side of the building,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: every place they could find. Nothing, though. These men were gone, apparently.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: The officers then came in and told us they'd stay
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: parked outside until we closed for real this time, just
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: in case. That was a relief, but we were still scared.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: I'm 5'6, about 150 pounds, and I don't scare easily.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: I've lived in places where you learn to keep moving
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: and mind your business. I've walked home plenty of times
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: without thinking twice, but that night was different. Armed thugs
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: just a walk away. And not just because of that,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: but because those guys vanished so fast, they could be anywhere.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: So I called my boyfriend. He came right away without
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: any questions. And when we finally closed, he was waiting
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: across the street with our dog, a big mutt that
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: looked very intimidating. He walked me home, quiet, alert the
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: whole way. We hung out a bit. I told him
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: all the drama. and he said there were all kinds
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: of robberies going on. He went home a little while later,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: which was a short walk through the neighborhood, and texted
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: me when he got back home. Zero issues. The next morning,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: I ran into my neighbors downstairs. She looked a little off.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: You hear what happened? She asked me. I shook my head.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: There's a bodega around the corner from your store. Cashier
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: got shot. Killed. Around 1130. Robbery. Same time, Same area.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: I just nodded, but it hit me in the gut.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Those guys in the alley. There was no way it
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: wasn't them. I'd been 30 seconds away from getting shot
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: over $ 600. If that man hadn't come in when he did,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: I didn't finish that thought. When I got to work,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: everything felt surreal. Lisa told me she filed a purportant,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: giving the police everything. She looked even more drained and sleepless,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: more than normal, on the verge of a coma. After that, though,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: it was silence for a bit. No scares, no thugs
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: in the alley. It was peace for 48 hours. We
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: were still closing up a little earlier, pretty much right
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: after the last customer around 10 p.m. A couple of
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: days later, Lisa got called into the office, and when
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: she came back, I knew something was wrong. They wrote
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: me up, she said. Or what? Closing early. Doors stay
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: unlocked until 11. No exceptions. I stared at her. Even
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: after what happened? She nodded. Even with the police report.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: They had one complaint about us not being open until
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: our advertised hours. Corporate is pissed. I thought she was
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: going to quit on the spot, but she didn't. She
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: rubbed her face and went back to work. I've got bills,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: she said when I pushed. I can't just walk. And
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: that was that. The next night fell off from the start,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: same routine, same slow crawl to closing, but there was
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: tension under everything else. 10.45, still no customers. Lisa stood
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: by the register with the keys in her hand, glancing
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: at the door. It tells she was thinking about locking
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: it again, but she didn't. We'll close on time. I
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: didn't argue. I should have, but I didn't. 11.00. She
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: flipped the sign to close, and for some reason still
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: left the door unlocked. We started counting the register, going
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: through the usual motions, and then the door opened, followed
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: by footsteps, two of them. I looked up and felt
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: my stomach drop. Masks. One of them had a gun,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: and he raised it right up to our faces. Register,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: he said. She opened it, hands flying, pulling out bills
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: and setting them on the counter. I could move, couldn't think,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: just watched Lisa handle the business. One of them glanced
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: at me and quickly lost interest. I must not have
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: looked like a problem. That's it? There has to be more.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: These registers have been fucking shit, he screamed. That's all
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: the cash we have, Lisa said back. Bullshit, you have
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: to have a safe in the back or something. Lisa
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: shook her head. Then the gun went off. The sound
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: filled the store, and Lisa dropped immediately. All the money
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: in her hands went flying. They were gone just as fast.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Door opened, then closed, with a few hundred dollars in
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: a sack. Lisa lay there, gasping on the ground. I
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: stood there, not understanding what I was seeing. I moved,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: around the corner, dropping to my knees, hands shaking as
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: I tried to help her. There was so much blood.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: I remember screaming, fumbling from my phone, barely even able
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: to talk to the operator. The cops came back and
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: medical was on scene right behind them. We did everything
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: we could, but it was over before it even began.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Lisa didn't make it. And those guys, to my knowledge,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: were never apprehended. I was devastated after this incident and
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: struggled to go back to work for a couple of
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: months and ended up quitting. I couldn't go back to
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: that store. Back in 2000, I started working nights at
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: a call center set up to what used to be
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: an army base. It sat well outside the city, far
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: enough that you couldn't just walk off the property and
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: find anything resembling normal life. I'm talking about countryside. The
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: place had been decommissioned years before, and most of it
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: was left as is. Low concrete buildings, empty barracks, rusted fences,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: long stretches of cracked pavement. Eventually, they planned to turn
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: it into a logistics hub, but at the time, it
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: was just us, one building lit up in the middle
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: of a dead zone. If you didn't have a car,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: the company would run a shuttle bus. It came in
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: before each shift and left after like clockwork. Nights were
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: the absolute worst. The last shift would end at 11 p.m.,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: and if you missed that bus, you were stuck out
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: there until morning. Many, many people relied on this bus
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: to get back to the city after that last shift. Now,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: the ride in wasn't really that bad. There was still
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: light out, people were talking and joking. It was the
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: ride out that was different. Everybody was tired, quiet, just
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: ready to get home. The road off the base ran
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: straight for a while, then curved past a stretch with
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: the old building still stood. On one side, empty structures,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: dark windows, doors hanging wide open. On the other, a
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: wide clearing, then a dense wall of forest. A lot
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: of people that worked there told stories about that stretch
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: of land. Shave softened the trees. But most of us
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: would ignore it, and I personally didn't believe any of it.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Until one night. It was late summer, still kind of hot.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: The bus AC wasn't working and the windows were cracked
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: enough to let in some damp jungle air. There were
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: maybe ten of us on board, the same old faces.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: A couple of guys from tech, two women from billing,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: and a supervisor who I didn't know very well. The
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: driver was an older guy who'd been running that route forever.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Literally the only night driver that I'd ever seen. We
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: pulled out at 11, right on the dot. And the
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: first part of that ride was normal, routine. Silence, the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: growl of the engine. A few people had already had
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: their eyes closed. I was sitting on the left side,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: halfway down the tube, watching the buildings pass on my
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: left side. When we hit that empty stretch, the bus
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: slowed down a little like usual. I looked across the aisle.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: out on the right side toward the clearing before the
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: trees came up. At first I thought maybe I was
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: just tired or a shadow from a tree until it
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: separated itself from the others and started dashing to the dark.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: It broke out from the forest with this long leap,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: then running into a full spring. It was low but
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: not on all fours. It crossed the clearing in seconds
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: straight toward the road. There were no animals that I
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: knew of out here but two legs that could do that.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Somebody near the front made this sound, and I think
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: they were looking out the window too. The driver didn't
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: react though, just kept the bus steady. The thing hit
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: the edge of the road and then matched our speed
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: almost instantly, and most of us started to look now. Then,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: the headlights caught it. I still can't tell you exactly
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: what I saw. They moved insanely fast. The light was
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: catching it in pieces, but it was tall. Its arms
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: were hanging to the ground, almost dragging in the dirt
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: its head was angled forward trying to keep its balance
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: it turned toward the bus then it was right there
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: on top of us running alongside just outside the window
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: the first hit rattled the glass a full body slam
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: then again and again heavy blows against the metal between
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: the windows each one shaking the frame if it hit
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: the glass It would have shattered on impact. Everybody was
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: watching now. Somebody in the back started yelling and one
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: of the women ducked down. Everybody else was pressed up
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: against the left side of the bus, staring out the
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: opposite window. I couldn't look away. It kept pace with
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: us without effort. Every few seconds it would lunge sideways,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: hit the bus again, and that impact had zero effect
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: on the creature itself. The driver finally pressed down on
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: the gas and the engine whined. and the bus picked
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: up speed. We were screaming for him to go, go, go,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: and he kept asking us what was happening, but there
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: was no way to explain it to him. We said
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: that something was attacking the bus, and he needed to
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: just go. Either way, the thing stayed with us. For
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: a moment, it actually pulled ahead into the front of
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: the headlights. I got a little bit of a clearer
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: look then. Its face, or whatever passed for one, was flat, pale,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: but not like skin, more like No real features, just
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: dark spaces where I should have been and a slit
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: where a mouth might have been. It wasn't even looking
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: at the road. It was looking at us. It then
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: dropped back and slammed into the side of the front wheel,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: hard enough to shutter the whole bus. The driver had
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: seen it clearly and went sheet white in his seat.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: But still, he had the forethought to hit the gas.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: We were going way too fast for that road, bouncing
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: over the dips and potholes. The thing kept pace with
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: us for a few more seconds, then it veered off,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: just turned and sprinted back into the clearing, disappearing into
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: the dark the same way it came. The banging then stopped,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: and all that was left was the engine and a
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: bus full of people on the verge of tears. What
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: the hell was that? What have we just seen out here?
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Everybody tried to make sense of it, but nobody had
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: a good theory. The driver didn't look back, but had
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: no interest in investigating anything further. He just kept going
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: until the buildings were gone and the road opened up
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: toward the city. When we finally hit streetlights, all of
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: us breathed a sigh of relief. I got off my
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: stop and went straight home. I didn't sleep because how
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: could I? The next night, the bus still ran at 11,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: and for the first time ever, there was a different
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: driver now. No one missed it, but no one sat
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: on the right side either. Nobody sat near a window
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: at all. Our managers told us there would be a
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: security patrol now, somebody to keep the road monitored while
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: people commuted. It was better than nothing, I guess. I
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: never saw that thing again, but apparently others have. And
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: they all seem to have a very similar story as mine.