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Speaker 1: My life had turned into one of those cliche country songs.

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I was divorced, broke, unemployed, and annoyed at the world.

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Five years down the drain with a woman I thought

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I'd spent my life with, only to come home one

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day to find her already packed and half way out

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the door. The job loss came a month later, and

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at that point I figured the universe was just trying

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to kick me while I was down. I needed space.

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No well meaning friends telling me to focus on myself

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or find the silver lining. To hell with all of that.

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I didn't want silver linings. I wanted silence. So when

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I found a listing for an off grid cabin in

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the Appalachian Mountains, it felt like the perfect escape. It

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wasn't some cozy rental package with the hot tub and

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a fire pit on airbeam be just a bare bones

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cabin buried deep in the mountains. The description was short,

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remote off grid cabin in the Appalachian Mountains, no service,

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no electricity for those looking to truly disconnect, no reviews,

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and the pictures were blurry, but it looked beautiful. I

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didn't even have an exact location, just a general area

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and a contact number. Normally I'd be wary of something

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that vague, but at that point I didn't care. I

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booked it for a full month. The guy who owned

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the place was weirdly insistent that I couldn't drive there myself.

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He said the trails were too easy to lose and

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that GPS was useless that deep in the mountains. Instead,

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he arranged for a local guide to take me up.

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He made perfect sense. Mountain roads, rough terrain, the risk

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of getting lost didn't seem that strange. I met the

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guide at a run down general store about an hour

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outside the nearest town. He was already waiting when I

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pulled into the lot, standing beside an old ATV with

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a trailer hitched to the back. The guy looked like

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he'd been living in the woods his entire life. Try

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picturing a stereotypical park ranger that's been doing his job

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for a few years too long. That kind of guy,

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you the renter, he asked. I nodded, toss my backpack

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onto the trailer. That a veous He grunted and climbed

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into the ATV get in. The ride up was rough

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as hell. The trail was barely more than an overgrown deer,

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full of sharp turns and sudden dips. After about an

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hour of bouncing over rocks and weaving through dense tree cover,

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we hit a clearing with no more roads. This is

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where we walk, he said, already unloading my gear. I

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stared at him. How far is the cabin? A few miles?

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I cried to my bag, adjusted my jacket and followed

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him into the trees. The hike took another hour, and

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the deeper we went, the more I realized just how

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far removed this place was. There truly was nothing here,

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just solid forest pressing in from all sides. I expected

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to hear birds, bugs, maybe a distant stream, But at

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some point the woods got quiet, not in a normal way,

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not in the peaceful, wow nature is so relaxing way,

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I mean quiet. I noticed that the guide also hadn't

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spoken in nearly half an hour. When the cabin finally

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came into view, I exhaled. It was exactly what I wanted. Small, sturdy,

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a simple two floor set up with a wood stove

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and a creek near by for water, just me, the

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trees and miles of untouched wilderness. The guide set down

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my gear on the porch and adjusted his cap. You

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will be fine, he said, finally breaking the silence. Long

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as you don't wander too far. Then, without another word,

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he turned and disappeared into the trees. The first few

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nights were exactly what I needed. I woke up when

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the sun came in through the windows, spent my days hiking, reading,

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and just existing. I finally didn't have my ex wife's

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lawyer blowing up my inbox. The first time I realized

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how deep I really was in the mountains was on

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the second night. I had stepped outside to do my

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business and was hit with a kind of silence you

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don't get in normal life. It wasn't just quiet, it

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was absolute. At the time, I figured it was just

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how the forest worked. I read once that predators moving

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through an area could cause sudden silences. Probably just the

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bear passing through, right, So I shrugged it off and

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went to bed. By the fifth morning, I started noticing things.

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It wasn't anything obvious at first, just the sense that

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the landscape was slightly different. The bushes by the tree

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line looked disturbed, like something had moved through them, probably deer,

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plenty of them in the area. But as I walked over,

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I saw the dirt was churned up, like something had

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been digging or shuffling around. Further along, I found scratches

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and a few trees deep ones. I ran my fingers

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along the grooves. I had no idea what kind of

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Mark's bare claws would leave, but I figured this must

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have been a big one. That was the first time

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I got that nagging feeling, that weird, got level discomfort,

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that something was off, even if my brain was trying

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to logic its way out of it. I pushed it down. Bears, deer,

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mountain lions. This was the wilderness. If I was going

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to start jumping at every broken branch and disturbed bush,

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I was going to drive myself crazy. So I went

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back inside, made coffee and told myself to stop being paranoid.

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But for the rest of the day I couldn't shake it.

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By the twelve day, I was feeling at home in

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the cabin. It was still eerily quiet most of the time,

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but I convinced myself that's just how it was out here.

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I had been living off canned food and dried goods,

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but I still had a good supply of vegetables, rice,

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and seasonings. I figured i'd treat myself to cooking something hot,

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a big pot of stew. I knew cooking food outside

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was a gamble in the wilderness. Even with scent blockers,

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it wasn't fool proof. If an animal got a whiff

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of it, I'd probably lose the whole thing, But at

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that point I didn't care. Worst case, I'd be out

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of some food. So I built up the fire in

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the stone ringed firepit, set up my cast iron pot,

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and threw in everything I had. Let it simmer low

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and slow, covered it with a heavy lid, and just

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to be extra safe, wrapped the whole thing in a

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scent neutralizing tarp. Then I went inside, stretched out in bed,

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and fell asleep to the distant crackling of the fire.

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The next morning, I stepped outside and the yard was

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completely destroyed. At first, my brain couldn't even process what

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I was looking at. The dirt had been torn up

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in massive swaths, like something had been chlawing or shoving

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at the ground. Chunks of earth had been thrown in long,

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scattered arcs, as if something had raked through it with

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oversized limbs. The bushes near the tree line were flattened,

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smashed down into the soil. Some of them were uprooted completely,

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lying in mangled piles with their roots exposed. Several small

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trees were bented on natural angles, their barks scraped away

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in places I had expected to find it gone obviously,

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maybe the pot knocked over the food licked clean. Instead,

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the pot was shattered, split into pieces, scattered across the yard.

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Chunks of food were everywhere, rice, carrots, potatoes, smeared into

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the dirt like something had deliberately flung them around. It

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looked like someone had picked up the entire pot and

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slammed it into the ground over and over. I stood

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there a long time, gripping the railing of the porch,

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trying to wrap my head around it. A bear would

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have eaten the food, even a raccoon would have at

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least picked through it. This felt like something had been angry,

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like it hadn't been looking for food, but throwing a tantrum.

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I swore under my breath and ran a hand through

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my hair, feeling annoyance. Outweigh the unease. I had been careful,

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and now I was down an entire meal and a

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good cast iron pot. Great, I muttered, bending down to

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scoop up some of the mess for the next hour.

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I cleaned up, trying to convince myself it was just

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some animal acting weird. I buried the ruined food deep

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in the woods, scrubbed the yard down as best I could,

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and sat on the porch as the sun sank below

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the mountains. I wasn't scared exactly, just annoyed. The whole

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thing fell like some bizarre prank, except there was no

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one around here but me. Whatever had wrecked my yard,

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throwing my food around and smashed my pot had done

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it for no good reason, and now I was down

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a solid meal and cooking equipment. I sat on the

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porch for a while after dark, sipping from my flask,

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staring out of the tree line. The night air was cool,

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the forest stretching endlessly into blackness beyond the dim glow

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of the cabin's lantern. I tried listening for anything. I

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laughed dryly, shaking my head. That's when I thought I

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spoke into the silence. Before finally heading inside, I bolted

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the shutters, stoked the fire, and crawled into bed, still

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smelling the faint scent of stew on my hands. And

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then the noises started. It wasn't loud at first, just

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a faint disturbance, something pressing into the earth outside the cabin,

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a long, dragging sound. I lay completely still, eyes locked

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on the ceiling, heartbeat, picking up another step, then another.

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I wasn't just imagining it. Something was walking through my yard.

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In all my nights i'd spent here, I had heard

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nothing come this close to me. Yet the way to

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the footsteps was deep, solid, not a small scavenger, something big.

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I strained my ears trying to track its movement. It

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wasn't the erratic rustling of a hungry animal. It wasn't

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snuffling through the dirt looking for scraps. It was just walking.

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I swallowed, forcing myself to stay calm. Of course, it

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was back. Whatever wrecked my yard last night was properly

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checking for more food. But there wasn't anything outside this time.

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I smoked myself, rolling onto my side and pulling the

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blanket up. Jokes on you. I closed my eyes, listening

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as the footsteps circled the cabin closer, now, a slow,

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steady crunch of something huge pressing into the soil. Then

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for a long moment, there was nothing, so I fell asleep.

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When the sun finally climbed over the mountains. I was

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itching for answers. I grabbed my boots, stepped outside and

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just stared for a second. There, pressed deep into the

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damp soil, were tracks. At first I thought they were

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hoof prints, maybe from a deer or an elk. But

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as I crouched down, my stomach tightened. They were massive

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and wrong, the spacing, the weight distribution. They weren't four legged.

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Whatever left these tracks had been walking upright a bipedal.

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I traced my fingers along the edge of one, feeling

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the way the dirt had been compacted, Picturing the size

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of the thing that could leave Prince this deep. My

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head buzzed with static. No, that didn't make sense. I

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stood up, scanning the yard, following the trail with my eyes.

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They led from the tree line straight to the porch,

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and then they stopped, like whatever made them had just disappeared.

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That night, I didn't even try to sleep. I was

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done pretending this was normal. Whatever had been coming to

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my cabin wasn't just looking for food. It was looking

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for me. So I stayed up, killed the fire early,

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doused myself and sent blocker, and sat in the darkness,

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knife in hand, waiting for it to come back. On

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forty three am, the sound was distant, a rhythmic crunch

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of heavy footsteps pressing into the dirt. I gripped the

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knife tighter, barely breathing. It was back. The footsteps approached

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the porch, and then wood groaned under an impossible weight.

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Something was standing right outside. The floorboards creaked as slow

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dragging in hail. It was breathing. I could feel the

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weight of it through the walls, the pressure in the air,

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like the whole cabin was shrinking around me. I'd planned

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to peek through the window, maybe even step outside and

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see what it was, but I wasn't so sure in

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the moment, because whatever was standing on my porch wasn't

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a deer or a bear or anything else that belonged

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in these woods. It sounded huge. I stayed completely still,

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every muscle locked, gripping the knife as hard as I could. Then,

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just as suddenly as it had come left, the weight

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pulled away from the porch, the footsteps retreating back toward

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the trees. But I knew somehow that it wasn't really gone.

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I was just waiting for the right moment. I didn't sleep,

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I just sat there in the dark, staring at the door,

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knowing that I had no way out of these mountains

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until the guide came back. I should have grabbed my pack,

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walked until sunrise and never looked back. But I was

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too afraid of getting lost, so I made a plan.

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I wouldn't try to fight it, I wouldn't try to

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see it. I would just hide. The following night, I

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did everything I could to raise myself. I doused myself

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in scent blocker, rubbing it deep into my skin, my clothes,

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my hair. I piled furniture in front of the bedroom door,

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not that I thought it would help, but it made

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me feel safer. Then, gripping the only weapon I had,

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a rusted, hunted knife i'd found in the cabin, I

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squeezed into the wardrobe and pulled the door shut. I

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sat in the dark, knees to my chest, breath slow

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and controlled, and then I waited. This time, it didn't

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make me wait long, and midnight I heard it. It

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let out a sound like a hyaena choking on its

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own laughter, then a loud bang. The door downstairs shattered inward,

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the whole cabin shaking from the impact. Heavy footsteps, wood splintering, furniture, shattering.

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The thing wasn't so suching cautiously anymore. It was tearing

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through the cabin, breaking things apart. As it moved, A

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deep sniffing sound filled the air, dragging inhales like a

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dog trying to catch a scent. I pressed myself deeper

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into the closet, tightening my grip on the knife. The

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sniffing stopped for a long moment. There was silence, then,

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from just outside the bedroom, a heavy creak. It was

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at the door. I held my breath. I wanted to

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close my eyes, to squeeze them shut and pretend I

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wasn't there, But some horrible part of me needed to

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see it. So I shifted just slightly, just enough to

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peer through the slats in the wardrobe door, and that's

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when I saw it. It had a dock under the

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door frame as it stepped inside, tarering easily eight feet tall.

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Its body was a grotesque mixture of animals, as if

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something had stitched it together from several different corpses. Its

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arms were long, ending and disturbingly human like hands, except

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the fingers were doubled, two sets of knuckles, each twisting

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and crackling Its body was covered in thick, matted fur,

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except for its torso, which was strangely bare. Pale, scarred

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skin stretched tightly over its ribbed cage. A pair of

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antlers curled from its skull, but they weren't symmetrical. One

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was twisted, bent at the wrong angles, jotting out unnaturally.

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Its jaw didn't match its face. The mouth was wide,

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gaping too far, filled with teeth that didn't seem to

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fit together. But it didn't seem to have any eyes,

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or its eyes should have been. There were only patches

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of dark, sunken skin. It was safe to assume that

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it was blind, but that didn't seem to matter. It

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sniffed the air, turning its massive head in slow jerking movements,

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its breathing deep and uneven. It knew something was here,

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and it was angry. It took another step forward, shifting

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its weight on to the wooden floorboards. The scent blocker

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was working, but I didn't know if it would be enough.

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I stayed still, silent, I didn't breathe. For a moment.

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I thought I was safe. Then it lunged, not toward me,

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but toward everything else. It roared, slamming its fists into

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the walls, a guttural, furious sound, frustration, twisting its movements

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into wild, jerking violence. It ripped through the room, tearing

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the bed apart, knocking over the dresser. I gritted my teeth,

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trying not to flinch. Then its hands landed on the closet.

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My breath hitched, the wardrobe shook. I pressed myself as

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far back as I could, feeling the rough wooden panels

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against my spine. The thing sniffed again, growled low in

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its throat. Then it shoved the clauset over. I crashed

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through the ground, tangled in wooden fabric, my knife slipping

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from my fingers. For a single agonizing moment, I thought

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this is it. But as I there frozen, waiting for

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teeth and claws and death, I heard it shuffle and

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then it left. I don't know how long I stayed there,

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lying in the wreckage, staring at the ceiling, shaking so

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hard I thought my ribs might crack. Eventually, the sun rose.

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I was out of the cabin before the sun fully

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broke over the horizon. No hesitation, no second guessing. I

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didn't care about my supplies, my food, or the fact

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that I still had weeks left before the guide was

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supposed to come back. I just grabbed whatever I could carry,

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my backpack, a flashlight, a knife, a bottle of water,

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and I ran. I didn't look back. If I got lost,

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so be it. It was better than waiting to get

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kill ill by whatever that thing was. All I knew

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was that I couldn't be there. When night fell again,

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I tried to retrace my steps, following the same path

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the guide had led me down almost two weeks ago.

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But the deeper I went into the woods, the more

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uncertain I became. Everything looked different. The trees felt denser,

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closer together, the trunks pressing in around me. The light

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filtering through the leaves felt dimmer than before. I tried

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to focus, tried to match landmarks in my head, the

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rock formation I'd passed that on the way in, that

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fallen tree. Had it been on my left before or

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my right? Doubt crept into my mind like rust. The

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oppressive silence returned, and I thought back to that article

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i'd read, how the entire forest goes silent when there's

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a predator around. I wanted to believe it was an animal,

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a bear, a deer, a goddamn crocodile, if that was

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even possible, anything but what I knew it really was.

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I wiped the sweat off my brow and kept moving.

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For whatever reason, it never showed itself. During daytime. I

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walked for hours, the sun climbing higher in the sky,

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my legs burning from the effort, But no matter how

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far I went, the feeling never left. I was still

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being followed, not hunted in the way a predator goes

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after prey. This was different. It was letting me tire out,

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toying with me. All I saw were more trees and

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behind me, just at the edge of my hearing that

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awful sound. One moment, I was forcing my legs forward,

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dragging my body through the thick forest, lungs burning with exhaustion.

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The next, pure survival instinct took over. Branches whipped against

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my arms, roots snatched at my boots. My breath came

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and went, my vision blurred with sweat, and still the

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feeling of being followed never left. The sun was lower now,

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the trees stretching into elongated shadows, and just as I

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thought I couldn't take another step, I saw it. The

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break in the trees houses I stumbled forward, my body

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moving before my brain could process what I was looking at.

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A small village, old buildings, wooden storefronts, a few houses

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tucked between them, a church, people rising in the distance.

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It wasn't modern, not a row of houses with mailboxes

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and street lights. This place felt old, weathered, like it

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had been sitting here, untouched for decades. I didn't care

337
00:27:17,039 --> 00:27:19,799
how strange it was, didn't care how it wasn't on

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any map I had seen before. All I cared about

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was that it was civilization. I had made it. I

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was safe. Relief flooded me so hard I almost collapsed.

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For the first time in hours, I felt something other

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than sheer terror. I was out. I turned. I shouldn't have.

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I should have kept walking, should have run straight into

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that village, screaming for help. And that's when I saw it,

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standing just beyond the tree line, motionless. The last light

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of the sun stretched long across the dirt road, painting

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the sky in shades of gold and deep violet. And

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just as the final sliver of daylight dipped below the mountains,

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it moved slowly. It got down to a crouching position,

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like he was getting ready to run. The first building

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I reached looked like an old general store. The wooden

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sign above the door had long since faded, but I

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didn't care what it was. I just needed to find someone.

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I pushed through the door, the bell above jingling as

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I nearly collapsed. Inside. The air was thick with the

356
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smell of dust and aged wood, dim lantern light flickering

357
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from the walls. A few people stood inside, men in

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old work jackets, a woman behind the counter, a boy

359
00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:00,799
sitting on the stool near the stove. They all turned

360
00:29:00,839 --> 00:29:06,039
at the same time. Their expressions were blank, not surprised

361
00:29:06,119 --> 00:29:12,279
or alarmed, but definitely curious. I gasped, trying to catch

362
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my breath. My throat felt raw, my lungs burned. I

363
00:29:18,599 --> 00:29:23,000
must have looked insane, covered in sweat and dirt, shaking

364
00:29:23,119 --> 00:29:26,920
like I just crawled out of a grave. I tried

365
00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:32,119
to speak, but my voice cracked. I I need help,

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I managed, gripping the door frame. Something's out there in

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the woods. They said nothing. No, what are you talking about? No?

368
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Slow down, son, No, that sounds crazy. Just silence. Then,

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after a long pause, the woman behind the counter stepped forward.

370
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:05,839
She didn't even ask what I'd seen. She just looked

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me dead in the eye and asked, calmly, carefully, did

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it follow you