Scary Horror Stories by Dr. NoSleep - 3 Road Trip Horror Stories

Episode Date: January 26, 2022

🎧 Check out The SCP Experience podcast here: https://spoti.fi/3zCFjQc Author: Matt Doggett Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/MatthewDoggettAuthor/ Website/Newsletter sign up: matthewdoggettauthor.com 🎉 Ad-free episodes + bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/drnosleep 🎥 YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/DrNoSleep ✅ Send all advertising inquiries to: [e-mail] DISCLAIMER: This episode contains explicit content. Parental guidance is advised for children under the age of 18. Listen at your own discretion. #drnosleep #scarystories #horrorstories #doctornosleep #truescarystories #horrorpodcast #horror Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Story one, more than six. The black truck's grill filled my rearview mirror as it surged toward me. Its headlights nearly blinding me as I looked back. It felt like my heart was beating as fast as the pistons in my motor as I pressed the gas pedal to the floor of my little sporty SUV. I risked a glance up at the rearview mirror again, seeing the truck falling back a few feet. Come on, come on, please. I said to my SUV, Deidre, I called her. My voice cracked, and hearing the fear there served to complete a sort of feedback loop,

making me even more scared. The truck surged forward again, closing the gap. Please, I cried. What did I do to you? Of course, whoever was in the truck couldn't hear me. My pedal was to the floor, and I looked down to my speedometer to see the needle creeping up on 120 miles per hour. Oh shit, oh fuck. God damn it, just leave me alone. Warm liquid dribbled down my cheeks,

and I took one hand away from the steering wheel to wipe the tears away. I was ashamed of crying. A man like me isn't supposed to cry. I knew I couldn't keep up this speed for long. Diedra was an older model, and I was afraid I'd blow a gasket or something. I had to make a move if I wanted to get away from this psycho. I saw no other cars on our side of the highway, and only a few had passed on the other side since the truck had started chasing me.

It was just after two in the morning. I'm just a guy on a road trip. I said to myself, sobbing. What do you want for me? I saw an exit coming up. The green sign flashing by before I had a chance to read the whole thing. It didn't matter. I had to get off the highway if I wanted to lose this creep.

Only then could I make my next move. I could call the police if I could just lose the guy, if I could just get some privacy and a few minutes without him chasing me. I looked back to the cooler sitting on my backseat. The exit ramp came up on my right, and I waited until the last second to jerk my wheel right. I drove over the thick white lines of the hazard zone and made it onto the ramp without losing much speed.

I looked into my mirrors to see that the truck hadn't reacted quickly enough. It slammed to a stop half in the grass just past the hazard zone. I saw it reverse quickly before I lost it from view. Okay, I've got some time, I said to myself, some time to lose this creep. There was a sign for a gas station to the right, and not much else. I could see the gas station down the road about a quarter mile, but it looked dark. It clearly wasn't a 24-hour place. I turned left and gunned it over the highway I'd just exited.

The road stabbed into a thick grove of trees, which flashed by in a blur as I gained speed. I looked in the rearview mirror, but didn't see the truck yet. The road was curved, so I had to slow down to around 60 miles an hour. Before I cleared the first curve into the woods, headlights splashed the back of my vehicle. No, not yet, I cried. The tears had stopped, but I felt on the verge of losing control again. I drove as fast as I could, nearly going off the winding road twice before it straightened out and came to the outskirts of a tiny town.

As I gunned it down the straightaway, I looked in my rearview mirror again, searching for headlights cutting through the trees behind me. There were no lights. It was so dark behind me that I couldn't see anything but the formless night. Had the truck stopped following me? As I came into the small town, I started looking for a place to turn off, a building to hide behind. I slowed down to look when a revving sound erupted from behind me. On reflex, I hit the gas pedal and looked up into the...

rearview mirror again. The truck's grill was there. I could just see it, thanks to the illumination from a streetlight coming up on my left. He turned his lights off. Of course he had. How could I be so stupid? I cried out as the truck rammed Didera, sending me lurching, and then spinning, and then crashing into a small brick building that looked like a post office. The impact slammed my head against the steering wheel, busting my nose open. The cooler I had in the back came open, spilling its contents into the footwells of the back seat. Diedra came to a hissing, taking stop. I cried out, the tears starting again, scrambling to put the items back in the cooler.

But before I could get my seatbelt off to turn around, my door was wrenched open. A large man in a camouflage trucker's hat, a plaid work shirt, and work boots punched me in the face, causing my head to whip sideways. He reached over me and unbuckled my seatbelt, then grabbed me by the collar and threw me out onto the sidewalk next to the brick building. No, I said, pleading. I'm just a guy on a road trip. Leave you alone.

The man was big, much bigger than me. He had a black beard and crazy eyes. You motherfucker! He said in a growl, bending over and punching me in the mouth. My teeth folded back in an explosion of pain. His big, rough hands gripped my neck and squeezed. Blood poured out of my nose and my lacerated lips. Tears poured out of my eyes.

Flashing blue and red lights suffused my surroundings. The sound of tire screeching sliced through my ringing ears. Let him go, a voice said, Right now. The big man's grip relaxed on my throat. I'm the one that's been on the phone with you people for the last 20 minutes. The big man said from over me, I don't give a good goddamn who you are.

Stop choking that man right now. The big man's hand slid from my throat, and I sucked in a breath through my deformed mouth. It's not me. I gasped. I'm just on a road trip. He's the one. He tried to kill me.

You saw it, officer. Shut up and turn onto your stomach. The cop said as he came into view, pointing his gun at me. You, step back and keep your hands up. He said to the big man. Oh, Christ, big man said. Look into the back, officer. Look into the back now.

And you'll see that I'm right. It's him. I recognized him at a rest stop. It's him. The disgust in the big man's voice was so apparent and vehement that the cop did what he asked. He stepped over to Deidre and looked into the back seat at what had spilled out of my cooler when I hit the building. Oh shit! The cop said. Oh, Mother Mary, you son of a bitch! Put your hands behind your back right now!

I loved her, I said, putting my hands behind my back. I loved... The cop's knee coming down hard on my back stopped the words, but it didn't stop the two. tears. He put the cuffs on and yanked me up to my feet. I loved her, officer. I said as he perp walked me past poor Deidre. I looked in the back window at the young woman's head, which had come to rest, prompt against the back of the driver's seat, amid spilled ice and sodas. She was looking up at me with her dull eyes. I love you, I said to her. She didn't answer. I bet you loved all six of them,

didn't you? The cop said. You sick, son of a bitch. Six? I said and smiled. The tears suddenly stopped. You think there's only six? Lazzang sur-goled, Pucance-Moyerned for 15 minutes.

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Story 2. Hellsgate. You never think a breakdown on a road trip is going to happen to you. At least, I didn't. But here I am, broken down by the side of some backwoods highway in the middle of the night.

It sucks. I looked up the nearest town on my phone. It's a tiny little place by the name of Ferrisburg and called the one mechanic they have. have there. No answer. Like I said, it's the middle of the night. I called a motel and a woman answered. Hello? She told me she has a room I can rent for the night. Hooray. Now I just need to get there, which means I'm walking. Eleven miles. I've never regretted not having AAA so much in my life. My grandma isn't expecting me until tomorrow afternoon, so I don't call her. Not yet. No point. I don't

want to wake her up when I can just as easily call her tomorrow morning when I know she'll be up. I leave the bulk of my luggage in the trunk, only taking my computer, a change of clothes, and some toiletries, all loaded into my backpack. I lock the car and start walking, thinking about the small amount of money in my bank account, and the likely large amount of money it will take to fix my car. As I walk past a mile marker, I take note of it. There's nothing else around but grass and trees, so I'll need some way to tell the tow truck driver where my car is tomorrow. Two miles pass under my feet. The soundtrack to my trudging is a symphony of crickets in the occasional nightbird singing. Three cars pass during the two-mile stretch. None of them stopping or even

slowing as I turn around and stick my thumb out. Heartless bastards. I'll admit that I'm not the most attractive hitchhiking prospect on the lonely highways of America. I'm tall, Haven't had a haircut in a while. And my mom says I dress like a dirty rock star, whatever that means. I've been bumming around the country all summer. It's the break between my freshman and sophomore years at college. So I decided to see some of those amber waves of grain and purple mountain majesties people are always singing about.

It's been a blast up until now. Headlights crest the hill behind me. The sound of a large motor building as a big vehicle approaches. I turn around and stick my thumb out as the RV approaches. It slows and stops. Excellent. The door opens, and a blonde lady with tan skin and blue eyes smiles at me. Need a ride? She says, a slight European accent wrapped around the words. She's wearing a low-cut blouse and yoga pants. She's a knockout for sure. I take a moment to wonder if I'm dreaming before I answer. I would love a ride, I say, smiling. She gestures for me to

in. As soon as I step up into the RV and close the door, it starts moving again, throwing me off balance. I reach out and grip the side of the little sink to my left to keep from falling. My hopes fade a little as I see there are several other people in the RV. The blonde knockout is still smiling at me as she takes a seat on a couch next to an equally blonde and tan man. They must be Swedish or German or something. Next to the couch, there's a table bordered with two bench seats. Two men sit at the table, smiling at me. One of them is older, maybe in his 50s, with dark hair and prominent eyebrows. The other looks to be in his 30s, with brown hair and a boyish face that's only just started to show signs of aging.

Hello, I say, stepping up. Thanks for the ride. Sure thing, the blonde woman says. The driver turns around and says, Welcome aboard. What's your name? He's a plump man with splotchy skin. and hairy arms. I'm Fred, I say.

Freddy, and you? I'm Damien, the driver says. Now looking back at the road. The two Swiss are Liam and Zoe. The guys at the table are Sean and Bale. Hey, how's everyone feeling? I say as everyone but the driver stares at me with wide smiles on their faces.

Take a seat. The older guy, Bail, says as he stands up, gesturing at his spot. Oh, I don't want to take yours, I say. I can sit on the floor, or in shotgun with Damien. Nonsense, Bail says. Sit here. I have to use the bathroom anyway. He looks at his watch.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Liam do the same. Uh, okay, I say, swinging my backpack off and walking carefully over as the RV vibrates and sways on the road. I put my backpack next to me and sit down at the table across from Sean. Bale heads to what must be the bathroom, as it's the only other door in the vehicle aside from a sliding wooden one just beyond, which, given my limited experience with RVs, must lead to the bedroom. So, I say, finding it strange that these people haven't asked where I'm headed. Where are you guys going? Oh, Sean says, we're just off to meet some friends.

How about you? I'm going to the next town up, called Ferrisburg. Maybe eight miles away now. Great, Sean says. I hear the bathroom door open behind me, but I don't bother turning around. Sean looks up and something on his face changes. He loses his smile,

and a look of determination replaces it. Strong hands are suddenly upon me, Bail's hands, gripping my head and holding it against the wood panel while behind me. I try to call out in disbelief, to scream, to plead, to say anything. But Bail's right hand is under my jaw. keeping it from moving.

Sean reaches across the table and pins my arms against the seat back. Liam and Zoe both stand up from the couch and approach. Their eyes hard, and mouths slits in their perfectly symmetrical faces. I struggle, pushing with my legs to try to free myself, but I can't get enough leverage to fight against the two men. Zoe suddenly has a syringe in her hands, and she's crowding in on Bail's right. Hold him still, she says, admonishing the two men. Their grips redouble on me, keeping me from me from her hands.

keeping me from squirming as I watch the needle coming closer. I scream into my closed mouth as my eyes roll around in their sockets, looking for something or someone to help me. The needle enters the skin of my neck, and then it's pulled out again. The world grows fuzzy. A warm but slightly nauseating feeling seats itself in my stomach as my eyelids close inexorably,

like garage doors on recently oiled tracks. I don't know how long I've been unconscious. I struggled to open my eyes, listening to the conversation around me as I tried to find out where the hell I am and what's happening. Are we there yet? It's almost time. A man's voice says. I'll tell you when we're there, Damien. Another voice says. This one's male too. Just keep driving.

I don't like improvising. A woman says, worry in her voice. Her name floats in my mind. Zoe. We don't have much of a choice, do we? A man with a foreign accent says. I remember his name, too. It's Liam.

After all, it was you who let the other one die. How could you be so stupid? How could I know he would suffocate himself with a plastic shower curtain? So he shouts. Then she says something in a language I don't understand. The tone makes me think she's cursing at Liam in their mother tongue. Memories come flooding back as I managed to open my heavy eyelids.

I'm in the RV, lying on the camera. couch. It's still moving, it feels like, and over a bumpy road. My feet are pointed toward the back of the vehicle, which means my head is just behind the driver's seat. Calm down, Bail shouts from his place at the table. Zoe stops her cursing and the RV is quiet for a moment, except for the sounds of gravel crunching under the wheels and the steady pur of the engine. It will work, have faith. Bail continues in a low voice. It's a time for celebration, not fighting. worked for years to be here. Let us be happy we've come this far. It will work. Zoe and Liam are standing up beside the couch, feet apart, and hands holding onto the storage cabinets above me to keep

from losing their balance. Sean is sitting at his spot at the table, his back to me. I try to talk, but they've taped my mouth shut. I try to move but to no avail. I lift my heavy head to look down, seeing that I've been tied up with what looks to be hemp rope coated in some kind of red liquid, which is staining my clothing. Sean stands up from his seat with a phone in his hand. Slow down, Damien, he says excited. We're almost there. As he stands, he holds his phone up toward the ceiling. I catch a glimpse of his screen, seeing a map of the stars move as he moves. It's one of those astronomy apps that tells you where the stars are in the sky, even if you can't see them with the naked eye. What the hell is going on here? I know I should be more worried than I

am, but I just can't muster the energy. It must be the drugs they gave me. Sean laughs out loud. I can see on his phone which he's still holding up above his head that the moon is now on the screen. Beyond the moon, I can see five or six stars that are in a straight line. Holy shit, this is it, he says, looking at the celestial bodies on his phone screen, lined up perfectly. Damien? Damien breaks and the RV is utterly silent for a moment. Bale gets up from the table, setting his own phone down as he does. We're here. The time is now. He reaches down and grabs something off the seat, bringing it up into view. I yell against my sealed mouth and buck as much as I can with the drugs still in my system. Bale steps toward me, carrying an ancient-looking

wooden dagger. On the bottom of the hilt, I can see a little carved head poking out from the bottom of his hand. It looks like a bat's head with pointy ears, sharp teeth and an evil smile, and curved, triangular eyes. I shake my head, eyes wide, crying out as much as I can, which isn't much. Liam and Zoe move out of the way to let Bail near me. Can it be this simple? Liam asks. It feels like we should be dressed in red robes and wearing masks or something. He seems scared. There's doubt in his voice. I set my eyes on him, silently pleading with him to stop this madness. It's no simple matter, Bale says in an annoying tone. This hasn't been possible for 115 years, and they certainly didn't have stargazing apps back then. They had to work from

rough calculations. We have technology on her side and years of mapping the galaxy. Liam nods in submission, while Zoe gives him a displeased look. Damien climbs back from the driver's seat. All five of them gather in a semi-circle around me. and then suddenly break out in a chant in some dead language. Bail leans over me and places the tip of the wooden dagger on my sternum. I shake my head and make my jaw muscles burn as I try to break the tape seal. The right corner of my mouth comes free as the tape comes up. No!

I scream, just as the chanting stops and Bail plunges the dagger into my chest. The immense pain is quickly overshadowed by the blinding red light that erupts from my wound, sending the five people around me stumbling back. I look down, screaming even louder as the dagger is sucked down into the wound as if by a powerful vacuum. The red light flickers and then is completely blocked as midnight black fingers emerge from inside the hole in my chest. Although there's only pain inside my chest, I can feel the fingers gripping the outside. They pull, ripping the gash open even more and snapping the ropes around my body. Somehow I'm still screaming as my rib cage cracks apart, pushed out of the way as the hands are joined by.

by a horned head and then broad shoulders that rip the laceration all the way up to my neck and down to my pelvis. The black demon crawls out of me. It's smoldering red eyes impossible to look at for more than a moment. Its hooved feet come out at last, leaving my broken rib cage and eviscerated abdomen to sag back down. I should be dead after that, but I'm not. I am, however, going into shock. The demon seems to grow as it stands up next to the couch.

Bail and the others staring at the beast in fearful wonder, averting their eyes every few seconds and then looking back as if they can't help themselves. We have brought you forth, O Lord, to Earth, as you instructed so long ago, Bale says, the demon swivels its horned head to him, pauses, then turns back to me. It opens its mouth, and a sound like a thousand revving trash trucks comes out. Immediately, red light pours back out of my now gaping, and, extensive wound. Small black creatures with wings and bat-like heads swarm out of me and start to fill the RV. Zoe screams, Liam shouts, my lord, Bail says. But the demon reaches out

one giant, gnarled hand and squeezes the man's skull, crushing it like an egg. It opens its hand, letting the blood, bones, and brains fall to the floor as Bail's limp body crumples. Damien is screaming now. One of the little black black bones. demons has ripped his left eyeball out and is working on his right. Finally, mercifully, I feel myself slipping away as the demon proceeds to kill the others in the RV. Hundreds of the small demons must have come through the portal in my abdomen. I can see some of them growing larger as my vision fades, but I don't care. Whatever damage they'll wreak here on earth, I won't be around to see it.

And as I die, my last thoughts are of Bale's head being crushed like a dropped mess. Ellen. It makes me smile. I mean, who summons a demon? What an asshole. Story three, the green lights. Look out! Will yelled, pointing out the dark windshield to a figure in the middle of the road. I had just looked over at my phone in its cradle to the left of my steering wheel, taking my eyes off the road for a second to check our next road change. I snapped my attention back to the road to see that we were bearing down on something. I swerved. The car vibrated as the right wheels went over the rumble strip on the shoulder. The headlights moved off the figure. Traveling at 70 miles per hour through the dark Texas countryside

meant that it was gone in a flash, passing my window in a blur. What the heck was that thing? I asked, looking in my rearview mirror once I'd steered the car safely back off the shoulder and into the middle of the lane. Will was twisted around in his seat, looking out the back window of my little sedan. I don't know, man, he said. His voice shaking. It looked like, I don't know what it looked like, I said. Maybe a deformed deer, one that had been hit by a car? I don't know, Will said again, still looking at the dark highway stretching out behind us.

I'd known Will for a long time, and he wasn't one to scare easily, so he was kind of freaking me out. Look at this, I said. Will turned to face forward in his seat as we passed a car on the shoulder. its lights were still on, and its passenger side door was open. I slowed as we passed, but we were still going too fast, and it was too dark to see much of anything besides a man hunched over in the driver's seat. Maybe that guy hit the deer, and he was going back to get it off the highway, I suggested my mind still grappling with the strange figure that I'd almost hit.

I don't think it was a deer, Tony, Will said. If it was, there's something seriously wrong with the animal life around here. I nervously laughed, unable to get the strange figure out of my mind. It was just a blur to me. Will had gotten the better look at it, but still, there was something wrong with it. We were in East Texas, where, unlike West Texas, there were actually some tall trees bordering the highway. We were cutting across the northeast portion of the massive state, heading from Shreveport, Louisiana to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where Will's parents lived.

We were going to help them load up will's recently sold childhood home so his parents, William Sr. and Janet, could enjoy their retirement in the Caribbean. Ah, to be rich and done with work forever, I was more than a little jealous. We would have stuck to the major highways, heading west to Dallas and then north up to Oklahoma City, but I didn't want to brave the traffic around the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Besides, there's a charm to road-tripping on the lesser-known roads. Unless, of course, you get into trouble. Then things can get a little tricky.

I settled back into my seat, trying to forget about the disaster we had narrowly avoided. There wasn't much traffic on the back road we were on. The limit was 70 miles per hour. But my thought had always been that any respectable motorist went at least five over the limit. Will, it seemed, felt differently. Hey, can you slow down a bit?

He said. I looked over at him, the green lighting of the dashboard giving his pale skin and black hair a sallow, unhealthy look. I put my eyes back on the road before speaking. It was a freak occurrence, I said. I literally looked away for one second. Besides, we didn't hit the thing, did we? That's not the point, Will said. The point is that, at night, you should follow the speed limit.

Continuing to speed after nearly hitting something in the road is just asking for an accident. When did you get so scared? I asked and immediately regretted it. We had been friends for years, and I knew him better than that. He was being reasonable. I wasn't. I'm not scared, Tony. I just want to get there alive if possible. Okay, I said. You're right. I pushed the minus button on the steering wheel five times to drop the cruise control speed to 70. Better? Yeah, thanks. We're We rode in silence for a few miles. Before nearly hitting whatever the hell that thing was, we'd been talking, so I hadn't turned any music on.

But now, I was tempted just to end the awkward silence. While I was thinking about what to listen to, there was a flash of light back behind us, lighting up my mirrors for one brilliant moment. Whoa! said. Did you see that? Yeah, Will said, looking into the passenger side mirror. Is there a storm behind us? Must be, I said.

Although the flash of light didn't look much like lightning to me, there had been an almost green hue to it. Will leaned forward and looked out the windshield at a shallow angle up at the sky. There's no clouds over us. I can see the stars. The strange figure in the road popped into my mind again. Must be a storm. Maybe. Another flash of bright, greenish light erupted ahead of us, looking like an incredibly straight bolt of sickly lightning.

It was gone in a blink. That's not lightning, Will said. That was straight, and kind of green or something. I swallowed, searching for words that were hidden deep under the fear bubbling up inside me. What should we do? Well said. What do you mean? We should keep driving.

What else is there to do? People see strange lights in the skies all the time. There's always some kind of logical explanation. The words even sounded hollow to me. Something strange was going on. We came over a slight rise and saw another car on the side of the road. There was someone standing outside of this one, a middle-aged woman, standing in front of the parked car, the headlights illuminating her. As we passed, she stared at us, although I doubted she could actually see our faces.

Her face was blank with shock and terror. Her head swiveled as we passed. I watched her turn back to her car. Just before the car was out of view behind us, I thought I saw her windshield turn white, as if something had broken it, causing it to spider web. Weird, Will said.

This isn't good. No, I said. A blinding shaft of pale green light appeared in the road just ahead of us. Too close for me to react before we ran into it. The shaft sliced through the car, flowing over the right half of the sedan before disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

What the hell was it? What's that? I yelled, looking in my rearview mirror, and then leaning forward to look up into the sky. I saw nothing at all, just empty road behind us and empty night sky above. I settled back in my seat, vibrating with nervous energy. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that something had changed in the car. I looked to my right, sucking in her breath as I saw what was sitting beside me, where Will had been. The thing was wearing Will's clothes, but it wasn't Will. The clothes. The clothes Those were bulging in some places and loose in others as the wet, bubbling pale flesh moved. Two spindly arms stuck out of Will's t-shirt, the skin rough with large and small pulsating bubbles.

As I watched, two of them burst, releasing a terrible smell into the car like a mixture of caustic chemicals and weeks dead flesh. Blood-red bits of plastic-looking flesh emerged from these bubbles, moving around like feelers. Although I couldn't see the flesh under the undulating jeans and t-shirt, the movement there was enough to infer that the same thing was happening all over its body. Bits of hair stuck out between the boils on its bulbous head. I thought at first that the creature had no eyes, but it turned its head toward me, and two large green eyes came out of the rolling flesh on stubby pale stalks. These impossible eyes stared at me, even as the stalks moved in different directions. It took

me only a few seconds to take all this in, and another few seconds for my mind to grasp the situation, at which point I swerved off the road and onto the shoulder, slamming the brakes. I left the car running as I scrambled out my door, not even thinking about the possibility that I could get killed by a passing car. Luckily, at least on that front, there were no passing cars. I slammed the door and backed around to the front of the car, looking inside at the creature that had once been will. I watched as it continued to change.

It's pale, will flesh bubbling away in a slimy mess as more and more of the strange red feelers emerged. All I could do was stare and disbelief, unsure what to do, just thankful that the thing was staying in the car. After a minute or two, it seemed that the transformation was done. The passenger seat was coated in a wet mess of melted flesh. Sitting in this mess was a giant bug-like creature of mottled red and orange, with two large green eyes on stalks. Its skin, if you could call it that, reminded me of sea creatures found on coral reefs with strange appendages that swayed in the movements of the water, but the thousands of appendages on this skinny creature swayed on their own.

It had a mouth that opened vertically, revealing two set of pincers that seemed to taste the air in the car before sliding back into the maw. It still wore Will's clothes, although they hung loosely and were soaked in whatever strange fluids were released during the transformation. It raised its hands, the eye stalks bending to the airs bending down eerily to look at them. There were three long, triple segmented fingers there, the equivalent of two fingers and a thumb, whereas the creature's arms, legs, and body

had those moving feelers all over them. Its hands looked solid, the hard segments looking like a knight's glove made out of lobster shell. It made a fist with its two hands and then used its right to punch up at the windshield, cracking the glass, thinking it was trying to get at me. I ran down the slight slow, beside the road and ducked into the woods some 15 yards away. I hid behind a tree and watched while

the windshield turned white as the creature beat its fists against it. Soon enough, it flung the flimsy, crumbling windshield aside. I got ready to run, sure that the creature would come out, chase me down and kill me, but it didn't. Instead, it stuck its head out through the glassless windshield and seemed to sniff the air, although it didn't have a nose that I could see. Then it shifted over into the driver's seat. I watched, absolutely stunned, as the creature put the car in drive, and steered off the shoulder into the traffic lane, picking up speed as it went. I stayed in the woods, wondering just what the hell was going on while several more cars passed.

I'd been in such a hurry to get away from the creature. I'd left my phone in its cradle inside the car. I had no way to call for help. So I started walking. I stayed away from the road, remembering the two cars we had passed before the pillar of green light came down on us. I remembered the strange form in the road I'd nearly hit. It must have been one of those things. Considering that, it seemed safer to walk.

I thought the road would come to a major highway intersection soon. I-30, if I remembered correctly, there would be gas stations and restaurants and people who could help me. if I could make them believe. I trudged up a long but gently sloping hill and reached the top. The road went down on the other side and, about a half mile further on, came to the highway intersection. The first thing that struck me was the number of cars pulled over to the side of the road on both sides of I-30.

There must have been hundreds of them. Green flashes of light off to the left caught my eye. I turned that way, looking toward the distant horizon. The flashes were regular, but never in the exact same place twice, and they seemed to be moving away from me along the course of the highway. Understanding forced its way into my confused mind. The lights had already come and gone. They were making their way along the highway. Sure enough, the cars off to my right started moving, pulling away from the shoulder. The ones in the westbound lanes continued on their way, but the ones in the eastbound lanes turned around and drove west,

going the wrong way on the highway. I stood there on that hill and watched until all the parked cars I could see drove off, heading west. It brought up the memory of the map in my mind, trying to figure out where they were all going. The closest major city to the west was Dallas. A terrible thought occurred to me then. One I hoped wasn't true. What if this is happening all over the place, I thought, not just Texas, but everywhere? What if it's an invasion? I didn't want to be right. I really didn't.

But it turns out I was.