Welcome listeners to season two, Episode one of Fast Food Horror. Our first
episode is entitled The Last Rider, authored by E. J. Miller and
narrated by E. J. Miller. What the hell do you do when
you have no choice? When your path leaves you no option, You can't
turn back, and the only choice is forward. But forward is just unsure
and terrifying. That's where I'm stuck, Stuck in a path where my only
option is forward. Ask for help. I can't go to anyone for help.
I can't go to my manager, He'll think I'm nuts and fire me.
I can't tell a co worker they'll think I've snapped and go to my
manager, and again I'll be fired. Tell my wife, do you know
how hard it was to tell or I lost my job when the factory closed,
the only viable employer in the county that we could lose our savings,
our car, our house. If I didn't find something similar in pay and
quick, this would upset her so much. I don't think she could or
should go through that pain again. So no, I can't tell her this,
not this. So I'll tell you not like you can answer me back,
But maybe by just saying it out loud, it'll help. Like I
said, I lost my job of twenty five years a few months ago when
the factory shut down, no warning, the only employer in the county paying
a good wage. It wasn't a great job, it wasn't even a good
job working on the assembly line. But it paid the bills and the wife
and I was able to buy a nice house on a four acres plot a
few years ago. We had a car, and we were getting by just
like most. When I told her I lost my job, it put a
strain on our relationship, on our marriage. I can't tell you the number
of fights we got into the sleepless nights. She was so scared that everything
that we had worked for would be stripped away, the prospect of having no
prospects, a future that looked so bleak. I couldn't blame her for feeling
that way. I was scared too, so when this job opportunity dropped in
my lap, I jumped at it. The local school district was short bus
drivers, and as luck would have it, I had my CDL, I
got my bus and passenger endorsements, past my background check, and poof,
I was a bus driver. The pay was about the same as I was
making at the factory. The hours were good and regular, and the possibility
that my job would be shipped over seas and the school would be shut down,
well, that wasn't going to happen. This is where the story begins
and the help I need the advice. Because I was low man on the
totem pole. I got the route no one wanted. It didn't go through
some high crime area. It wasn't on a route full of delinquents either.
It was the long, hilly route that circled the far outskirts of our town,
through the farmland in the woods. It was a bus full of kids
whose parents worked the land or just plain and enjoyed the seclusion of having no
neighbors. The route took longer than most, and the constant changing of hilly
grade on the roadway must have deterred the other drivers for wanting it, not
to mention that when the weather turned bad and the nights long, it was
more than a challenge, or so I told myself, But I was happy
to take it. It was a job that paid. It was a job
that would allow me to care for my wife and myself and allow us to
keep our home. There are seven mirrors on a bus, six of which
are important to actually driving. The traditional rear view mirror is useless for a
bus driver as you can't see the vehicle behind you with it. All you
can do is watch the students with it. Because the roadway was challenging,
I rarely used the rear view mirror anyways, until the end of that first
week. I was tired. It had been a long five days. The
sun was just peeking over the hill topped horizon. The moon was visible in
the east with a smattering of stars. As I started to make my way
out of the hills and back into town, I had lost count of the
number of students that had got on the bus at the school and had gotten
off at each of the stops. I was pretty sure my bus was empty
as the route was done, but I called out just to make sure anyone
left and looked in my rear view mirror for any students, not expecting to
see anything but orange seats, which is when I caught it in the second
to last row, only for a second. A small head of long black
hair with pale skin on a thin frame peeked out from behind the seat before
retreating behind it. I was startled. I thought everyone had gotten off.
Apparently I was wrong. Hey, I called out, did I miss your
stop? No response, I can circle back to your house as soon as
we get to town. It's no big deal. No response, no sound.
There was no place to safely stop until we got to the gas station.
Just as I entered town. I kept going only five minutes till I
got to the station, glancing every few seconds in the rear view. Maybe
she fell asleep and that's why she wasn't responding. I was told in training
kids at a habit of that happening, being so tired from the long day
and being lulled to sleep during the drive. I drove down the last of
the hills and through the wooded area that comprised the border of our town and
pulled into the station parking area. I made my way to the rear of
the bus, slowly so not to scare the child, and nothing, not
a soul. The second last seat was empty. I started at the last
row and slowly made my way forward, making sure to look under each seat
on either side. Nothing. I was alone. I chalked it up to
being tired, and I didn't think of it until the following Friday, when
after my last stop, I caught movement in the rear view a long,
dark haired slight frame with pale skin moving from the second last row seat to
the third last row and disappearing out of view. Hey, I called out,
no response, I saw you in the back. No response, no
sound. I gritted my teeth and again drove down the last of the hills
and through the wooded area into the station parking area. I knew I wasn't
nuts. I rapidly made my way down the aisle to the third last row
and found silence and nothing filling the space on either side. I again started
at the last row and slowly made my way forward, making sure to look
under each seat on either side, listening and looking nothing. I was alone.
I had a plan. The following Friday, after my last stop,
I turned my cabin lights on the interior lights of the bus. As I
made my way back into town, I made a conscious effort to drive slightly
slower and repeatedly glanced regularly in my rear view mirror, trying to better monitor
who or what was behind me. A few long minutes into my drive,
the cabin lights flickered before going out leaving only the emergency red lights illuminating the
interior, and I saw her. I say her because of the long hair
in what appeared to be a long white shift she wore. She moved from
row three to a seat in row four in a blur. There was no
shoulder to safely pull over to, but I didn't care. I stopped the
bus, turned on my exterior flashers, and ran to the fourth last row,
where I found nothing. I was alone, alone with my thoughts and
the remainder of my plan. I made my way back to the terminal,
which was now empty of co workers. As I was usually the last bus
back, my terminal manager would leave just as I pulled in and left me
to lock up the building. After I did my end of day safety checks
of my bus, I secured my bus, gave it a quick once over,
and made my way into the terminal and right to the computer. All
buses are equipped with on board cameras that download to the terminal computer. For
fourteen days. No one monitors them, but the video was recorded and stored
in case there is an incident to be reviewed, like now. I found
my bus file folder on the desktop and clicked on the video from that day.
I began watching at two times of speed. There are five cameras on
the bus. Camera one is on me, Camera two is on the door,
camera three is midway back, and four and five are at the rear.
I focused on four and five and waited. Almost towards the end of
the feed, I saw the lights flicker, then all five screens were lit
by a red ambient glow. I sat forward in my seat, leaning closer
to the screen, waiting for her. And there she was, A thin,
gaunt figure in a white shift appeared to the left on screen four and
five, long stringy black hair cascading over her shoulders, obscuring her face.
She made her way across the aisle as I remembered to the fourth row,
peering behind the seat. I rewound the video again and again. I wasn't
crazy. There she was just as I saw her. She never gets on
the bus and never gets off. She just appears, then she's gone.
I sat with this thought, trying to figure out what to do with this.
Who do I show? Do I show anyone? What? Or who
was she? And why is she on the bus? And then the other
thought entered my mind. She has appeared at the end of each week and
advanced one row every week. Why is she appearing and what happens when she
gets to the front of the bus. I went to turn off the computer.
I glanced at the computer screen. The screen wasn't filled with my empty
bus, but instead, her face filled all five screens. Gaunt, pale,
and ashen. Eyes of ember red glowed behind a curtain of black hair.
She seemed to be looking directly at me, and I did not like
the feeling I was getting. I gripped the arms of my chair tight.
I could feel the hair on my arms. Standing straight up, I had
to remind myself to breathe. I glanced out of the terminal window to my
bus. No one was there. I glanced back to the computer screen.
There she was. I glanced back out to my bus, No one was
there, and then back to the computer screen. There she was, staring
straight into me. I quickly turned off the screen. There are eleven rows
on a bus, and she has moved one row a week. She is
at row four. I have seven weeks to figure out till she makes it
to the front of the bus and me. I don't know her intentions and
I don't feel it's good. I can't turn back. I can only go forward.