That day I got up early, as usual, to start my routine.
It had snowed because a storm had recently passed. The state had cleared the
roads. My trip was normal. The snow didn' t stop me.
I went my way in the company. We call it a morning race when
I take a load and start traveling early. It' s a long journey
of many hours and miles. On one of those trips I was looking at
the snow piles on the side of the road. The two- lane road
was surrounded by trees that did not end. He managed that route in a
row and it was not easy to keep his eyes open and his mind attentive.
Sometimes I imagined strange figures among the trees. If I had seen something
real like an animal, I would have laughed or at least had something to
think about but what I saw that time looked like a nightmare. I knew
it couldn' t be real. I decided to ignore it and keep driving.
In those moments you can only tell yourself that it' s not real
and focusing on the road stopping or distracting can be worse. The route I
had planned lasted many days. After loading my truck I could choose where to
spend the night. Sometimes I stayed in comfortable places that offered a good night
’ s rest. That night started like any other night, I parked,
walked to the diner store, and I went back in the evening to use
the bathroom and buy the last thing I needed before returning to my truck and
getting ready to sleep. I didn' t check the weather before bedtime,
something I always do no longer lay down without thinking about what I would find
the next day. I woke up at eight in the morning and the first
thing I saw was a lot of snow, when everything died during the night
had fallen quite snow. I got up, got dressed and walked out of
the cabin to see how the thing was. As soon as I set foot
outside. My legs sank into the snow to the knees. I went around
my truck to see if I could get out of there and every step was
harder. I checked that everything was in order and I went back to the
cabin, shaking the snow off of me. I went up to the bunk
again and turned on the radio to listen. The news said a big blizzard
had hit the whole region. I went down the volume and talked to my
boss to tell him how the thing was. I told him there was so
much snow that I couldn' t move and I hadn' t even seen
a snow- slide machine pass by. I also mentioned that the parking lot
where I was was going to take long to be cleared and that the tires
of the truck needed to be changed for these conditions. My boss didn'
t take the news well. I was upset and in the end he told
me to put on my resume that I wasn' t able to work if
the weather wasn' t good. The call ended suddenly and I kept thinking
about what he said. Without wanting to stay awake, I turned off the
radio and settled down to sleep. Again. After a few hours of sleep,
I woke up and was still snowing. I looked out the window and
saw that the snow had covered everything so much that the footprints I had left
before were not even visible. I felt the urge to go to the bathroom.
I decided to face the weather to get to the truck stop. I
put on several layers of clothes, a thick coat gloves, a hat and
a scarf that covered almost my entire face. I left the truck cabin and
immediately the feeling of being warm disappeared. The snow was so intense that I
could barely see a few meters away. I walked through what seemed like an
eternity, thinking I should have arrived by now. I stopped and looked around,
but there was nothing. I couldn' t see the truck stop or
my vehicle and my tracks were disappearing under the new layer of snow I decided
to keep moving, hoping I wouldn' t deviate. Finally, I saw
the silhouette of the store on my right. I didn' t follow a
straight path, but I had come close enough to recognize the place. My
winter clothes didn' t protect me so much from the cold anymore, especially
because the wind was slipping everywhere. I reached the door of the truck stop
and felt relief waiting to take refuge from the cold. That relief was brief.
The door wouldn' t open maybe. It was frozen. I tried
to force it open, but it didn' t move. I looked through
the glass and saw that there were no lights on and the sidewalk was not
clear. After one last look at the closed store, I started walking back
to my truck. Visibility was reduced and I couldn' t see beyond a
few steps. I tried to get back to the truck using the store wall
as a reference. I was following an imaginary line from the store to where
I thought I had parked the cold was crawling into my boots and my feet
were wet and iced. He was hugging me inside the jacket trying to block
the wind. The snow reached me above my knees, making every step more
difficult. I started to think that maybe I should have stayed in the truck
and waited for a snow remover before I left. The important thing was to
get back in the truck so it wouldn' t get any worse. If
I got lost in the storm, no one would come to rescue me.
After walking with difficulty, I stumbled upon something I didn' t see because
of the low visibility and fell into the snow I struggled to get up.
Cleaning the snow off my face, I realized that I had strayed a lot
from my original path. I looked around and all I saw was a white
mantle. The store had been hidden by the blizzard and there was no trace
of my truck. I looked where I thought my truck was and thought I
' d seen a shadow for a moment. I couldn' t be sure
because of the reduced visibility from snow that kept falling. Maybe it was my
imagination. Playing a bad game, I realized that I had been out longer
than I planned and that I had to find my way back to the truck.
Soon. The snow kept falling non- stop and I felt my energy
starting to run out. With every step. I' d only been there
about ten minutes. The effort to move through deep snow was far more exhausting
than I thought. For a moment I thought I heard something. I looked
around, but I only saw a vast white mantle spreading in all directions.
With effort, I kept going where I thought my truck was, wondering if
I' d start seeing and hearing things that didn' t exist. It
was a symptom that the cold was seriously affecting me. Suddenly a particularly strong
gust of wind struck me, making me fall to the ground. For a
moment I' d swear I felt like a giant hand pushed me from behind
as I looked up. The only thing I saw was the snow spinning around
forming small swirls. I got up with difficulty and continued on my way to
the truck. Every step felt like my feet were sinking. In particular,
I used every remaining energy reserve to keep moving. I couldn' t afford
to die in the middle of a parking lot. I couldn' t even
raise my head anymore. I had no case when it was the same in
any direction I looked at. At that time it seemed impossible to find the
way back in the midst of the chaos of the storm and the target surrounding
me. All of a sudden, I ran into something hard and fell on
my back. The snow was so deep, I got stuck upside down.
Disconcerted. I looked up to see what had stopped me so suddenly for my
surprise and relief. I realized that what hit me was the back corner of
my own truck. I was so close, I almost passed by without realizing
it. I took a moment to rest and quickly got up. I walked
carefully to the driver' s door, looking in my pocket for the key
to open it. Already inside the truck, I took a while to recover
I felt my body numb, but little by little with the heat of the
truck, I began to recover strength. I took off my cold clothes and
before I knew it, I fell asleep. When I woke up, I
had a sharp pain in my back, probably because of the position I had
slept in. I looked for it windshield and saw that the snow had decreased
quite a bit and the wind was not blowing so loudly. The storm seemed
to calm down There was still no sign of a snow- slip machine and
it was clear that it could not move the truck. I just looked into
the store. In the distance I could hardly distinguish it between the white fog.
I decided not to try to get there until the parking lot was clear.
The snow on the ground was already at least a metre high and was
still falling a little. I went to the bunk and covered myself with blankets
to try to sleep again. Hours later I woke up feeling something renewed still
sleeping side by side. I turned to the radio and tried to tune into
the local station to get some news about the storm, but there was no
signal. I thought it would be wise to review my provisions. Considering I
could get stuck here for a while, I checked the truck cabinets and found
enough food, potatoes, chips, pretzels and dried meat. I knew if
I controlled my consumption, it would be fine. I also checked the drinks
in the mini fridge. Water would not be a problem, as it could
always melt some snow if it ended what it had. Making sure I had
everything I needed, I prepared to spend several days trapped in my truck,
waiting for conditions to improve. After I arranged my supplies and made sure I
had enough food and drink, I just had to check one last essential thing,
the fuel. I needed to make sure I had enough gas to keep
the truck on and the heating running. During the duration of the storm.
With a little fear, I looked at the fuel meter. Only a quarter
of a tank was ticking that amount of fuel could be enough or perhaps not.
It all depended on how long it would have to wait before the snowslide
came and cleared the way. I knew that once I was free, I
' d only have to drive a few meters to the nearest gas pump.
With your mind still on the meter. I turned to see the windshield looking
at the snowy field in front of me, I saw that the snow had
stopped. At the moment, I didn' t know how long this calm
would last. Through the clarity I could see the tent on the other side
of the parking lot was closed, the lights turned off and the entrance covered
by snow. It didn' t seem like someone was coming to clean all
that up soon. The parking lot had a uneven edge, which would surely
make it harder to clean up my. As trans watched the scene, something
moved. At first I thought it was a deer by the large and wide
horns that were seen in his head, but as I looked at it better
I realized that it was something very different and much bigger than any deer that
had seen the thing. He was moving on the snow. His face looked
like a bald skull with huge teeth coming out of his mouth. It was
a really terrible vision. The animal was there snooping in the snow I felt
hypnotized and scared to death by the presence of this thing. When he raised
his head and looked right into my eyes. A chill swept through my body.
His gaze was intense and penetrating, as if he could see through me
and at that moment I wished I had never stopped here. Just as the
beast stepped forward, my instinct to survive activated. I ran to him bedroom
from the truck' s cabin and closed the curtain of a tail. My
heart was beating fast and breathing like crazy. I stood there wondering what that
thing I' d seen was. It had been real. To calm down,
I tried to breathe normal and control fear. I was telling myself it
had to be just my imagination. It was just a deer. He used
to tell me trying to convince me, but despite my attempts, I didn
' t dare look back through the curtain to distract myself I pulled a packet
of cheese cookies out of my supplies. At about 15 minutes I felt a
push in the trailer. It wasn' t like anything I' d felt
before. It was like a gust of wind shaking the truck' s cabin,
but outside it was calm, there was no wind. I decided to
ignore it, but curiosity beat me. After the second push, I went
to the curtain to see what was going on outside. I needed to know
if that thing was still there. As I peered through the curtain, all
I could see was a thick layer of snow covering the windshield. I got
out of bed carefully and approached the passenger side window to see better, but
everything was quiet. There was no sign of anything unusual. That' s
where I moved to the window on the driver' s side. That'
s when I saw something weird. A few horns swirled a little along the
edge of the window. I rubbed my eyes trying to see better, but
when I looked again, the horns were gone. I looked out trying to
see the footprints in the snow around the truck. They looked like deer tracks,
but bigger than normal. Or maybe it was my imagination augmented by fear
with my heart in my throat I looked at the rearview mirror and there was
the creature using its horns to puncture the tires. That was very unlikely.
Panic didn' t let me think straight. I grabbed a stick I had
for safety and opened the door with the intention of scaring the animal. But
by the time I built up my courage and looked outside, the creature was
gone. I' m back in the truck. Locking the door at once.
I began to seriously doubt my sanity. I decided to go back to
my seat trying to forget about the strange events. Despite my efforts, I
could not stop listening to any noise that might indicate that something or someone was
nearby. Tiredness and stress beat me and I fell asleep. But the rest
wasn' t quiet. I had a nightmare where a monster attacked me and
just as in my nightmare the monster killed me, I woke up startled and
bathed in sweat I quickly looked around the truck cabin looking for some sign of
the creature that had been tormenting me in my dream. After a few moments
of panic, I poked my head through the curtain to check the fuel meter.
The needle was now much lower than I remembered marking almost an eighth of
a tank the shop in the distance was still dark and the road was deserted
with the sun setting and no living being in sight. The concern for the
remaining fuel was starting to grow in my mind. Soon I would have to
seriously consider how to keep what I had left waiting for the aid to arrive
before it was completely exhausted. I wasn' t happy with the idea of
having to warm myself up with all the blankets I had in the dark of
the unheated radio truck, but I knew it was much better than running out
of fuel and facing the deadly cold of the night. With a sigh of
resignation, I turned off the engine of the truck regretting not having thought of
fuel before, when there was still sun and temperatures were more tolerable. My
lack of foresight now cost me dearly. I arranged all the blankets I could
find in the bunk, trying to make the space as warm and comfortable as
possible. Already tired and half worried, I tried to sleep again hoping that
the cold would not cross the blanket barrier I had made. But I woke
up startled for a moment I panicked disoriented until I remembered where I was.
I looked at the clock at four o' clock in the morning with a
sudden movement. I took off my blankets and the cold hit me hard.
Determined to get some heat, I grabbed a flashlight and staggered into the driver
' s cabin. I put the key in the ignition and held my breath
waiting for the engine to start. I felt relief. When the engine finally
started, the air was still strong even though the engine was running. As
I recovered from the cold, I turned my head to the left and my
heart stopped. The window on the driver' s side was completely broken.
Glasses scattered over the seat and floor with the heart. Beating at a thousand
an hour, I slowly turned my head towards the passenger side window. There
pressing his grotesque face against the glass. There was the creature of my nightmare.
Looking at me, it' s not like he looked like the monster
I' d dreamed of. It was exactly the same creature. He watched
me with his eyes dark and empty. The creature lifted its grotesque head and
with a violent movement, hit the passenger window, causing a big crack in
the glass. Without hesitation, he struck again with more force and the glass
broke in a desperate attempt to reach me. His teeth sharp as a razor,
they came to me. I jumped back, falling on the driver'
s seat, now full of broken glass. For a moment I thought my
end had come. I felt completely helpless and trapped. I sat still as
the creature struggled to enter through the window broken his huge head. He managed
to get halfway inside the cabin, but suddenly he stopped. He moved frustratedly
trying to advance further, but his broad horns could not fit through the opening
of the window. He tried over and over again, but every attempt was
in vain. The horns prevented him from passing completely as suddenly as he had
appeared. The beast retreated and disappeared. In the dark. I tried to
look around to see where I had gone, but the night involved everything hiding
any movement. My attention returned to the sale so broken and at that moment
the creature reappeared in the other window behind me, if it were not for
his heavy breathing and the steam that exhaled alerting me of his presence, I
would have been caught by surprise. His jaw closed tightly just where my back
had been seconds before Frozen between the two windows, I was afraid to move
waiting to be safe from any direction, but I knew I could not stay
there indefinitely. I decidedly crawled back into my bunk and closed the curtain.
I covered myself with trembling hands and reached the secret compartment. Under the bunk.
I pulled out my forty- caliber automatic pistol a precaution I never thought
I' d need to use. This way, I checked the charger was
complete with ten bullets. I put it back on, rigged the gun and
activated the lock. This action gave me a slight relief. My heart kept
pounding with force wrapped again in my blankets and with the gun firmly held in
my hand. I tried to stay warm. The two broken windows made the
heating of the truck practically useless. I had already decided that I would try
to fix something at dawn when the light of day allowed me to see during
the night with that beast, potentially lurking in the dark, It would be
absurd and dangerous to attempt any action. I stood still as a statue watching
the clock. Every minute I felt eternal, My eyes were wide open and
my ears were watching for any noise, but I only heard the wind sneaking
through the broken windows moving the curtains in a way that was scary in time
I realized that leaving the truck on was useless. The heat was leaking through
the broken windows. Carefully, I stepped out of the bunk holding the gun
close to my chest and slowly moved towards the cabin. I was turning my
head around, making sure the creature wasn' t waiting to jump out of
some window. I got to the controls, I turned off the engine,
and just as I was going to pull out the key, a couple of
horns hit the window. A few sharp teeth popped out of my face,
I turned around and pulled the trigger on the gun, but nothing happened.
The creature threw itself at me again, until I realized that I had forgotten
to take away the safe, fast alarm. I corrected my mistake and aimed
again, but by then the monster was already gone. I was paralyzed with
fear without daring to approach the window for fear of another attack. I stood
there as a statue, watching the window where the creature had tried to enter.
Then, with slow movements, I turned to the other window. I
was alternating my attention between both windows, trying to keep an eye on each
one. At the same time he trembled uncontrollably and the cold was intense.
Fear was the thing that made me shudder the most. Knowing I needed as
much protection as possible, I went back to the bunk and put on all
the warm clothes I found, dressing me quickly to face whatever came with the
clothes. I looked at my head carefully to see if the danger had passed,
but what I saw was even more frightening. The monster was on the
hood of my truck hitting his head against the windshield. Each blow sounded strong
and every impact made me fear that at any moment I would break the glass
and enter. I lifted the gun with trembling hands, pointed to his head
and fired. The shot resonated loudly. At that moment I stopped hearing only
a buzz in my ears I receded, but the monster did not stop.
To my horror, the shot had only weakened the Windshield, facilitating the monster
' s task. I saw him shake his head. Surprised by the bullet
that bounced into his thick skull, he continued to hit the glass more and
more strongly. Before I could react, the windshield broke and fast. I
pointed back at the monster' s face and shot twice as much. The
bullets bounced without effect. Desperately, I shot twice more pointing to the chest.
These shots seemed to have some effect. The monster didn' t fall
or scream anything, changed his behavior with a grunt and a look of fury.
He jumped off the hood and disappeared in the night. I was frantically
watching, hoping to see the creature emerge again. After what seemed to be
hours of waiting, the horns and thin ones finally peeked out of the passenger
window. Without hesitation, I shot straight into his face and instantly the figure
faded away as if it had been an apparition. I didn' t stand
still. I jumped fast into the driver' s seat, anticipating that the
creature could reappear on that side. Ten seconds later, as I suspected,
the monster appeared again I shot again, but I realized that I was playing
with me, disappearing and appearing when I wanted, like in a macabre game.
In a moment of confusion, I threw myself back into the passenger seat,
pointing to the empty window on the driver' s side, hoping to
deceive him, but instead of seeing him, appearing out the window again,
I felt his teeth sticking in my neck. I had been deceived and caught
between pain and despair. I got my gun right under his skull and shot
my ear. I was wrong about the previous shots. I could hear an
acute cry of pain from the creature. When he finally released me, aware
of how close I was to dying, I held my hand around my neck
and when I removed it I saw it covered with blood. I wobbly back
to the bunk. I ripped off a piece of sheet and pressed it against
the wound to try to stop the bleeding. Then I used another piece to
tie around my neck, securing the improvised bandage in place. The wound'
s still hurting. I went back to the cabin and saw him crouching down
on the hood of the truck, staring at me with those empty, creepy
eyes. I never imagined that my situation would end like this, trapped inside
a truck with broken windows, blood everywhere, cold ice and snow, getting
everything while those empty eyes kept watching me. At one point, the creature
crawled through the broken windshield towards me, but I thought it was my end.
But in an act of pure instinct, I put the gun against one
of his eyes and pulled the trigger. The sound was indescribable, a low,
sharp cry, like that of a demon freed from hell. I felt
a huge urge to flee. I opened the driver' s door and fell
outside. Normally a fall like this would have hurt me a lot, but
thanks to the snow cape outside the truck, my fall was smooth. As
soon as I touched the ground, I got up and looked around quickly,
looking for a place to hide, but everything was covered in snow, offering
little cover. I saw the truck trailer and noticed how the snow almost reached
the bottom of it. No other choice. I slid fast under the trailer
and began to pile snow near the entrance, trying to hide any traces of
my presence. Once below, I or a belly down anxiously watching each direction,
trying to predict where the monster' s next attack might come from.
My breathing accelerated with every moment that passed without seeing any sign of him.
A growing fear invaded me, fearing that my shot would have only enraged the
beast rather than stopped it. I imagined the monster razing inside my truck,
desperately looking for any hint of me. Even though I was half- hidden,
I didn' t feel safe under the trailer, my head kept thinking
about finding somewhere else to hide. My fast eyes were fixed on the small
space between the truck tires and the differential. Carefully, I turned around and
put my feet in. First, as it progressed, space became narrower and
narrower. The grease and oil from the differential made me slip easier, allowing
me to slide with less friction. But when my torso began to pass,
the space became very narrow and I was stuck. Panic gripped me as I
struggled frantically, feeling I was short of air in that closed space. After
what seemed to be centuries, I managed to adjust my shoulders and slipped completely
into the hiding place. The hood of my coat not only kept me warm,
but also helped hide my position. I adjusted it just to the asphalt
level, allowing me to lift it just enough to observe. I stayed there
hidden and alert, hoping the monster wouldn' t discover my new hideout.
The waiting in the cold and uncertainty was torturing. During that first half hour,
the ringing in my ears began to wane. The only thing I heard
clearly was the sound of my own breath. The cold was starting to go
deep and I' m being held back by the layers of my clothes and
there' s still no trace of the monster. With the passing of another
hour, my muscles began to cramp through the uncomfortable position and the cold still
there were no signs of the monster to distract me and pass the time.
I checked my gun counting the remaining bullets always came to the same disappointing result.
Just a bullet. I knew a single bullet would probably not be enough
to save me. If the monster found me, there was only one thing
I could do with that one remaining bullet consider using it to end my suffering
if it got ugly. Meanwhile, the edges of the snow around the trailer
that began to shine with the first rays of sun the darkness that had been
my ally during the night, no longer protected me. I felt that I
was on the verge of surrendering, of getting out of my school and facing
whatever was right at that moment a gentle sniffing sound caught my attention carefully,
slightly lifted my hood to look at the monster' s head. I had
broken the snow barrier near where I was hiding. I was sniffing at the
blood drops from the wound on my neck that were leading him towards me.
The creature turned to the front of the trailer and fixed his gaze in my
direction. I was completely immobile. As he approached slowly, the monster had
difficulty passing his massive body under the trailer could hear him grunt of frustration.
As it progressed, it crawled straight to me and there was no doubt that
I knew exactly where I was. Suddenly, the monster let go of an
ugly squeal and I felt the truck shaking loudly over me opened my eyes.
The monster' s horns had been entangled in chains hanging under the truck,
leaving him trapped. The creature struggled with everything, shaking desperate to let go
of the chains. His efforts were so strong that he managed to move the
truck sideways, pushing the differential against me. I had to move fast so
I wouldn' t get crushed. I saw the chains break one by one
under the monster' s strength and finally he was free, knowing that my
hiding under the truck was no longer safe and that the monster knew it was
there. I took advantage of the moment of confusion to drag myself out,
trying to make it as quiet as possible. I was almost outside when I
heard another awful noise and saw a shadow move fast across the truck. The
monster was coming back, but this time he was trying to get closer from
the other direction. I crawled as fast as I could, thinking that if
I looked from the other side, maybe I wouldn' t realize that I
had already left my hiding place. I didn' t have a clear place
to go anywhere seemed better than staying in an already discovered shelter. Once standing
next to the truck I noticed a big red spot on the snow. It
seemed like shooting the monster wasn' t in vain. I looked up at
the sky looking for some sign or escape. When the creature suddenly appeared around
the corner of the truck. It was there in front of me and I
was completely exposed. I' d been stuck with nowhere to run. He
stared at me. As I limped, I lifted the gun and aimed straight
at the creature ready to fire my last bullet. Right then, the creature
turned its gaze away, distracted by something. Finally, the deafening noise of
a machine announced the arrival of the snowslide. I turned my head towards the
creature, but it was gone. Apparently, the noise had frightened her.
I saw the snowslide moving forward by pushing the snow past my truck and towards
the edge of the parking lot, clearing the area. The driver, noticing
my presence, stopped right next to me. I swerved the machine' s
gaze into the accumulated snow my body was no longer giving. I made sure
the driver was okay before I allowed myself to fall to my knees completely exhausted
and acheed by the effort and terror lived, my gaze fell on the space
that the Quitanieves had cleansed. Next to my truck. There I saw a
long stain of red stretching to the edge of the parking lot. Carefully,
I followed the stain with my eyesight and approached the edge to see better.
In the snow piled up, the monster' s horns swirled. I kept
watching them, looking for any sign of movement. For ten full minutes.
They didn' t move. The Quitanieves did not know what I had discovered.
It happened again covering the horns with more snow. I watched another five
minutes making sure there was no more satisfied movement, but still careful, I
checked that my neck was fine. Before I went up to the cabin of
my truck, I cleaned the broken glass from my seat and drove slowly to
the petrol pumps in the area. Once there, I filled the tank in
my truck and prepared for the long journey home. I kept my clothes on
for the cold and raised the heat to the maximum, directing the hot air
towards my frozen feet. I decided not to call a tow truck and get
away from that place as quickly as possible. I had to stop in a
village to heal my neck wound. Good thing it wasn' t too deep.
I never went back to that truck stop after that night. I didn
' t want to risk running into this thing again. I never told the
details of this terrifying encounter to anyone. Tale written and adapted by Ramiro Contreras