"A Bus Stops in Front of My House Every Night. I Think It Goes to Hell..." | CLANCYPASTA

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER_00]: For seven days straight, an eerie blood-red bus would stop in front of my house at 3.33

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: a.m. This seemed strange, mostly because, like the vast majority of American towns,

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Frost Hollow had no public transportation at all. Even stranger, people always got on

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_00]: and off the bus whenever it stopped. They all looked extremely tall and thin, and whenever

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I tried to focus on their faces, they seemed like no more than a flesh-colored blur.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: On the morning of the seventh day, I had called the Sheriff's Department to ask them about

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: it. I had no better ideas. A woman with a thick southern accent answered the phone.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Morning, Sheriff's Office. How can I help you? She drawled.

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I hesitated, not even knowing where to start with this odd story.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not really sure who to call about this, but there's a bus stopping in front of my

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: house in the middle of the night, dropping people off. I live on Slaughterhouse Road,

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_00]: past the abandoned school. It's a little strange, because it only comes past three

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: in the morning, and there are always people waiting to board it.

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I rambled, sweating heavily. I felt like a fool. The woman went silent for a long moment.

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I could hear her slight breathing on the other end of the line.

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_00]: We don't have any buses going to Slaughterhouse Road, sir, she said insistently.

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: There are no buses in the town at all, other than for the public schools,

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: at least not public transportation. Perhaps it's a private company? Did you see any company

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_00]: logo or information on the side of the bus, any route numbers or anything? Sometimes the

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: nursing homes or medical facilities might have private buses for elderly or disabled patients.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I have been trying to avoid this subject, but now I had no choice but to reveal what I saw.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, on the side of the bus it said Inferno Express, and the route number said 666.

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I heard only breathing on the other end of the line for a couple seconds,

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: as if the woman were waiting for the punchline.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: A heartbeat later, I heard her hang up on me.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I stood there listening to the whine of the dial tone, thinking and wondering.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I knew I needed evidence of the mysterious night bus, and I felt determined to get it.

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: At 3am, I put on a black long-sleeved shirt, black sneakers, and black jeans,

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00]: trying to make myself as inconspicuous as possible.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Nervously, I grabbed my digital camera and headed outside.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_00]: The night felt beautiful, warm and humid with a soft breeze. I smelled the fresh summer air

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_00]: sweeping down the rolling hills, trying to calm myself down. I felt as if I were going out to

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_00]: commit a murder rather than just trying to capture video of a random bus in my own backyard.

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I crept across the road, seeing the windows in my neighbor's house stood dark. The street I

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_00]: lived on consisted mostly of woodlands with a few scattered houses. There were plenty of good

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_00]: hiding spots. I knew the bus stopped in front of a patch of marshy swampland a few hundred feet

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_00]: down the road, right on the border of my neighbor's property. I found some large thick bushes near the

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: street to hide behind, making sure I was far enough away to avoid being detected while still

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_00]: maintaining a clear line of sight. I checked my watch, seeing the minute hand creeping toward

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: the penultimate moment. This was my last chance to leave. I felt a rising anxiety and uncertainty.

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Sweating heavily, I closed my eyes, waiting and listening. It seemed only seconds later

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: that I heard the approaching rumble of a powerful engine echoing far down the road.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I went into action immediately. Pressing the record button, I turned the camera on myself,

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: whispering furtively,

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, my name is Landon Pierce. I murmured quickly, trying to get it all out before the

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: bus got here. I live in Frost Hollow on Slaughterhouse Road. For the past week, a bus has

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: been stopping in front of my house in the middle of the night and the people on it, they don't look

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: right. They're all extremely tall and thin. So I'm here recording all of this. If something happens

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: to me, if someone finds this, I let the sentence fade off into nothing. The brakes of the bus

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: squealed with a hellish caterwalling. I smelled exhaust and gasoline. A heartbeat later, the bus

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_00]: came into view, stopping only a stone's throw away from where I crouched, hiding in the thick

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: shadows of the swampy brush. Mosquitoes constantly buzzed past my ear, landing on my neck and arms

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_00]: every few seconds, but I dared not move. I kept the camera steady, trying to quiet my breathing.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: I felt paranoid and watched as if the people on the bus knew exactly where I was and what I was up

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: to. The bus gleamed with fresh, blood-red paint. The windows looked like sideways eyeballs,

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: long, dark oval panes whose shadows contrasted heavily with the bright exterior. I checked to

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: make sure the camera was recording, satisfied to see the small red indicator light glowing brightly.

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I hoped that the people on the bus wouldn't see the slight glare of the screen or the red dot of

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_00]: the camera, if indeed they were people at all. The door at the front slid open with a shrieking

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: of rusty metal. An interior light turned on inside the bus, glowing with a fiery radiance.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_00]: All of the strange, eye-shaped windows shone with the bright scarlet illumination. It danced

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: and strobed, sending long shadows skittering down the swamp. At the front, I saw a driver in a black

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: suit with white buttons and high-polished boots, almost reminding me of the garb of an SS officer.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: He looked extremely tall, his bone-white head extending nearly to the ceiling. Two lidless,

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: black eyes bulged from his head, like the eyes of some monstrous praying mantis.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: They looked nearly the size of oranges. I gasped as he turned to look in my direction.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I wondered if those enormous eyes could see the tiny red dot on my camera. To my horror,

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: my question was answered moments later. Tall, faceless silhouettes stepped off the bus,

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_00]: appearing suddenly in the crimson light. I looked through the screen of the camera,

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: zooming in to try to see any signs of eyes or mouths or noses. Yet the recording showed

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: everything clearly enough, the smooth, featureless flesh stretching across their egg-shaped heads.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Their arms stretched down nearly to their feet, their fingers long and twisted like the gnarled

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: roots of a tree. Around their bodies, I saw orange jumpsuits like those prisoners in the area war.

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Their smooth, hairless skin rippled slightly, moving in and out as if these strange creatures

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: breathed through it. A few of these bizarre creatures entered the woods in swaps,

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_00]: diverging in different directions. One of them went towards a neighbor's house,

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: creeping around the side with exaggerated, eerie steps. It glanced in the windows with its

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: eyeless face, putting its long fingers around the sides of its head as if it were trying to

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00]: block out the glare of non-existent sunlight. It was as if these abominations had only heard

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_00]: about human mannerisms through word of mouth. It tiptoed forward on dull black shoes that seemed

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_00]: twice as long as any normal human foot. The bus stayed unmoving in front of me,

[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_00]: its engine idling loudly, the door hanging open. I saw the driver pushing himself up off his

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_00]: massive chair. He slunk forward, bowing his smooth, hairless head as he exited the threshold.

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Like the faceless creatures, he tiptoed forward in an exaggerated, almost childlike manner,

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_00]: his bulging black eyes glittering. He looked completely insane. He kept his arms raised,

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: drawing the claw-like hands back and forth with every overemphasized step.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I realized with mounting horror that he appeared headed in my direction. A few moments later,

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_00]: I was certain of it. His head ratcheted up to face me, his protuberant eyes appearing more excited

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_00]: and manic than before. My heart hammered in my chest as I looked around for a way out.

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_00]: The hairless, chalk-white face grinned with a psychotic gleam as the driver quickly pushed

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_00]: his way through the thick bushes at the border of the road, his gaze never faltering, his eyes

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_00]: never leaving mine. At that moment, a fear like I had never experienced before shot through my body.

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I stumbled to my feet, turning to sprint blindly into the forest, but before me lay a fetid swamp.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_00]: As soon as I took a single step, my foot sunk deeply into the earth. Brown water flooded over

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_00]: the moss covering the ground in a superficial layer as it collapsed under my weight.

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Shit, I swore, my arms windmilling as I nearly fell forward into the rank water,

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_00]: but a hand shot out, grabbing me by the back of the neck and yanking me back.

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_00]: The hand felt burning hot, as if the flesh of the owner had an extreme case of fever.

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_00]: My digital camera slipped out of my hands, falling into the swampy ground with a wet thud.

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Get off me! I screamed, trying to grab at the hand holding my neck with an iron grasp.

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I was still facing away from the bus, but I felt myself being pulled backwards. Stumbling,

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I tried not to fall. My foot caught on sharp rocks and roots, but the sharp fingers of the

[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_00]: hand never loosened. It would just pull me back up to my feet, the fingers digging into my flesh

[00:12:16] [SPEAKER_00]: with an agonizing pain. I felt small trickles of blood running down my back and the sides of my

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_00]: neck. As we got back to the pavement, the driver threw me down hard in front of the bus steps. I

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_00]: felt skin tear along my knees and elbows, sensed the many cuts and bruises I had suffered.

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I raised my head, slowly blinking my eyes.

[00:12:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Leerily, I looked up through the open door, seeing the enormous driver's seat sitting empty.

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_00]: It took me a few moments to realize what else I was seeing, but when I did, a sense of horror

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_00]: like a lightning strike smashed down upon me. The steps held human bones, arm and leg bones placed

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_00]: side by side, covering the entire surface of the stairs. Many looked yellowed and cracked with age,

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_00]: but others seemed far fresher, the bones smoother and wider.

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_00]: The driver's chair was even more horrifying. Hundreds of grinning human skulls composed

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_00]: the guts of the chair. Rising up to the ceiling, human skin covered the front and seat, pale and

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_00]: leathery. Countless human teeth stuck out of the skin, their roots embedded in the supple flesh.

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_00]: The teeth rose up to the top of the bus in crisscrossing diagonal patterns.

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I glanced back at the driver, seeing his thin body looming over me.

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_00]: One inhumanly long arm pointed at the open door of the bus. It reminded me of the grim reaper

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_00]: showing the way forwards to the recently dead. He stood without speaking, his eyes glittered

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_00]: with insanity, and he had a rictus grin plastered across his smooth, white face.

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER_00]: No, I don't want to, I pleaded. Don't make me get on it. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I should never

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_00]: have come out here. The driver stayed as still as a corpse, with a face like a grinning death mask.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_00]: I saw movement behind him, realizing two tall, faceless humanoids had appeared in bright jumpsuits

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_00]: to board the bus. They came up besides the driver, their blurry heads bowing down to look at me,

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_00]: if indeed they could see at all without eyes. I wasn't sure whether these creatures were just

[00:15:17] [SPEAKER_00]: mimicking human gestures and movements or not. Without warning, the two humanoids scuttled

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: forwards, their rail-thin arms reaching out to me. I tried to crawl away, but moments later I

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_00]: felt them wrap my wrists, their skin felt burning hot and feverish. They lifted me up. I tried

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_00]: screaming to call for help from my neighbors, but no help would arrive. They pushed me through the

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00]: into the fiery red light beyond. In every seat I saw tall, emaciated people with smooth faces,

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_00]: the skin rippled and distorted when I tried to look at their heads. The two creatures holding me

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_00]: forced me toward the back. There, a boy of about ten or eleven sat, looking terrified and alone.

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_00]: They threw me into the seat, turning and walking away immediately after. From the front of the bus

[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I heard the door slowly closing with a squeal of rusted joints. The driver was back in his seat.

[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I looked up seeing him staring into the rearview mirror at me, grinning.

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_00]: How'd you get here? The boy asked in a small, quivering voice. I turned to look at him and

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_00]: wonder. His pale skin heavily contrasted with his dark eyes and black hair. With his high cheekbones,

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_00]: he had a slightly vampiric look. I don't know. I was kidnapped.

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER_00]: What's going on, kid? Who are these people? Where are they taking us? I whispered,

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_00]: constantly looking up to see if we were being watched. Yet the faceless humanoids stayed still

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_00]: in their seats, their blurry heads pointed straight ahead, totally frozen and unmoving.

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Only the driver showed any signs of life as he put the bus in drive and slowly pulled forward.

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_00]: They're taking us to the playpen. They showed it to me in my dreams, he said. I used to see these

[00:17:45] [SPEAKER_00]: people looking in my window at night. People without faces, who looked really tall and skinny.

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I told my parents about it but they thought I was just having nightmares. But when I fell asleep,

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_00]: they showed me everything. Okay, so what is it? What did you see? I asked.

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER_00]: His face went pale. He just shook his head. I don't think you really want to know, he answered.

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Both of us will be there soon enough and then you'll see for yourself.

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I found out the boy's name was Ian and I told him mine was Landon. He said he was from the other end

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_00]: of Frost Hollow and that he had been on the bus for days without food or water.

[00:18:40] [SPEAKER_00]: It circles around to different towns, Ian whispered. I looked out the window seeing a

[00:18:47] [SPEAKER_00]: dark desert all around us. Sand dunes swirled on both sides of an endless highway.

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I hadn't noticed when the world outside had shifted from forest to desert.

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Those things without faces, they come in people's houses, get inside their head and their dreams.

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_00]: They make you think horrible things. They used to scream at me that I needed to kill myself,

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_00]: to hang myself or slit my wrists. I call them the stalkers, that's a good name for them,

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_00]: I said listlessly, staring out the window at these shadowy endless dunes.

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_00]: We're not getting out of this, are we, Ian? I mean alive. Probably not, he said, his voice hopeless

[00:19:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and dead. On the horizon of the dead, dark desert, a black monolith rose high in the air.

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_00]: In general shape, it looked like a lighthouse, but it had no windows and its outer walls looked

[00:20:00] [SPEAKER_00]: like polished obsidian or onyx. It appeared to rise hundreds of stories into the cloudless sky.

[00:20:09] [SPEAKER_00]: The bus started slowing down, the crimson lights lit up overhead. I looked forward,

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_00]: realizing that all the stalkers had turned their bluey heads now to stare straight back at me and

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Ian. The driver too, continuously looked at us through the rearview mirror as the bus came to a

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_00]: stop. Now arriving, the playpen. A robotic female voice intoned calmly through speakers built into

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_00]: the walls. The door at the front flew open. Except for the idling of the engine, everything had gone

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_00]: deathly silent. I think they want us to get out, Ian whispered nervously, slowly getting to his

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_00]: feet. I wanted to say no, to fight back, but with dozens of faceless stalkers staring at us in their

[00:21:10] [SPEAKER_00]: eerie frozen poses, my courage failed me. On unsteady legs, I got to my feet and followed

[00:21:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Ian down the walkway. The faces of the stalkers turned to follow us, seeming to blur and ripple

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_00]: faster with excitement. I wondered what would happen once we got outside, but in reality,

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I had no inkling of the horrors ahead. As I stepped down onto the inky pavement of the street,

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_00]: I realized that this desert felt freezing cold. Wind swept across the dunes at a tremendous

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_00]: speed. Clouds of dark sand obscured the black sky. The bus door stayed open, all of its passengers

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_00]: watching us with interest. The driver, too, never took his eye off of me and Ian. I wanted to get

[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_00]: far away from these creepy stalkers. Let's go, I said, over the roaring winds, putting a hand on

[00:22:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Ian's shoulder. He flinched away, looking small and scared. Side by side, we started walking down

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_00]: the road. It wasn't long before we found our first body. A mummified corpse lay on the side of the

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_00]: street, its dried flesh sticking tightly to the bones. Its eyeless socket stared straight up.

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Its open mouth looked like it was frozen in a silent scream, a black hole filled with sand.

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Ian gave a strangled cry as he saw it falling back.

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, buddy, it's okay, I said. It's just a dead body. He shook his head, pointing vigorously

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_00]: at the desiccated corpse. I followed the line of his finger, realizing something odd was happening.

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_00]: The corpse had begun to shake and rattle, its splayed out limbs jumping up and down.

[00:23:28] [SPEAKER_00]: The ragged strands of cloth still covering its chest and legs ripped apart with a soft tearing

[00:23:36] [SPEAKER_00]: sound. Wet, black tentacles covered in dozens of eyes rose up, snapping apart the remaining bones

[00:23:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and flesh with ease. As the ribs jutted up like spikes, something hellish slithered out. It rolled

[00:23:53] [SPEAKER_00]: on its tentacles, a ball of slithering limbs covered in something slick and shiny, though the

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_00]: size of a small dog. As it splayed out, its width and height doubled. It had no head or central mass,

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_00]: but its many eyes constantly blinked in chaotic and random patterns.

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_00]: The eyes looked blue and very human, bloodshot and dilated with fury.

[00:24:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Get away from it! Ian screamed with a terror I had never heard in a child's voice before.

[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_00]: He ripped at my arm, pulling me back. I stumbled nearly falling. The tentacled creature slithered

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_00]: towards us at an incredible speed, its many eyes focused ahead, insane and furious.

[00:24:46] [SPEAKER_00]: As we turned, I glimpsed stalkers watching us from the sides of the street. Their blurred faces

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_00]: stayed hidden in the sandstorms blowing past, but I saw their tall, inhuman silhouettes in the

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_00]: darkness. They reminded me of spectators watching gladiators dying in the Coliseum.

[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_00]: What is it? I shrieked over the roaring winds. What happens if it catches us?

[00:25:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Ian was breathless with terror, sprinting ahead of me. He was a very fast kid.

[00:25:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Don't let it catch you! He screamed back. I realized the monolith stood ahead of us,

[00:25:34] [SPEAKER_00]: only a few hundred feet. A powerful current of hope surged through my heart,

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_00]: as I saw a massive threshold filled with white light. But as I got to within a stone's throw away,

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I felt something warm and slick close around my ankle. I screamed as I fell forward,

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_00]: seeing Ian disappearing through the doorway, his silhouette sharp and clear for a moment,

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_00]: before the white light swallowed him up like a hungry mouth.

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Goddamnit, help me! I cried, crawling towards the white light. I kicked and struggled against

[00:26:19] [SPEAKER_00]: the tentacles wrapping around my leg with a grip like squeezing metal bands. I dragged my hands

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_00]: through the sand as I felt myself pulled back, my head smacking hard against the pavement underneath.

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Stars danced in front of my vision. In the gloom and darkness, swimming against unconsciousness,

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I glimpsed more of the stalkers, always watching from a far distance,

[00:26:48] [SPEAKER_00]: their flesh seeming to ripple with excitement at the prospect of witnessing imminent death

[00:26:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and dismemberment. As more tentacles wrapped around my waist, I looked back.

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Only inches away, furious, dilated eyes stared back. The tendril shot towards my mouth as the

[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_00]: others held my head in place. I didn't know what it would do once it got inside me,

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_00]: but I knew instinctively it would be something horrible.

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I heard a hoarse shout, felt something smash into the creature on my chest. I felt the

[00:27:31] [SPEAKER_00]: tentacle suddenly retract from my face and head, the eyes turning to look at whatever new threat

[00:27:38] [SPEAKER_00]: had arrived. A thin man with a long beard and haunted eyes stood above me, holding a homemade

[00:27:48] [SPEAKER_00]: stone club, and looked like it had been whittled from sandstone, the end formed into a jagged point.

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_00]: The tentacled creature hissed like a snake as the man bashed it again.

[00:28:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Finally, mercifully, it released me. I rolled away, coughing and sputtering.

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Run, you idiot! The man cried, smashing the creature through one of its many eyes with a

[00:28:17] [SPEAKER_00]: sharp point at the end. The eye exploded in a shower of black blood and vitreous fluid.

[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_00]: The creature's hissing escalated into a distorted wail that split and echoed,

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_00]: like hundreds of voices screaming at once. I didn't need more encouragement than that.

[00:28:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Shell-shocked and terrified, I scrambled to my feet, sprinting the last few steps towards

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_00]: the threshold. I looked back to see the man running behind me,

[00:28:54] [SPEAKER_00]: the tentacled creature hissing and gurgling as it pursued.

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Together, we fell through the doorway of white light. As soon as we crossed the threshold,

[00:29:06] [SPEAKER_00]: the creature stopped, its eyes furiously blinking and glaring. A few heartbeats later,

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_00]: it rolled away, its silhouette disappearing into the shadowy dunes outside.

[00:29:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that star spawn almost got you, the man whispered, clapping me on the shoulder.

[00:29:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Good thing I was coming back this way. I went out hunting.

[00:29:33] [SPEAKER_00]: He showed me a dead rattlesnake slung around his back.

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Teddy, by the way. He reached out his hand to me,

[00:29:41] [SPEAKER_00]: but I only stared at it. He let it drop after a moment.

[00:29:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Star? Spot? I asked. He nodded eagerly, his brown eyes gleaming.

[00:29:53] [SPEAKER_00]: He looked extremely thin and malnourished, and the clothes he wore were frayed and falling apart.

[00:30:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I wondered how long he had been trapped here.

[00:30:04] [SPEAKER_00]: That's what we call them, yeah, Teddy answered. They come off the black god. Parts of his body

[00:30:12] [SPEAKER_00]: sometimes fall off when he's sleeping, little parts here and there, but they regrow into

[00:30:18] [SPEAKER_00]: those things, the star spawn. If they get their tentacle down your throat, it's game over,

[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_00]: buddy. A little piece of them breaks off and starts growing in your stomach,

[00:30:29] [SPEAKER_00]: eating away at your organs and muscle until it decides to break through.

[00:30:35] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not a fast death, either. You might be in excruciating pain for weeks before it kills you.

[00:30:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I looked around the room in the black tower where we stood. A massive chamber with gleaming

[00:30:50] [SPEAKER_00]: obsidian walls surrounded us, extending up dozens of feet to a flat, black ceiling.

[00:30:57] [SPEAKER_00]: There, a bright spotlight pointed down at us, illuminating the room in white light.

[00:31:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Stairs made of the same stone spiraled up the outer perimeter of the circular room,

[00:31:09] [SPEAKER_00]: disappearing into a gap in the ceiling.

[00:31:14] [SPEAKER_00]: My friend came through here, I asked. Do you know where he is?

[00:31:20] [SPEAKER_00]: He shook his head. What's your friend's name, stranger? He asked.

[00:31:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I laughed uncertainly, then introduced myself. He's gotta be upstairs with the other one.

[00:31:35] [SPEAKER_00]: The other one? I asked.

[00:31:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Teddy nodded. We're not the only refugees here, Landon, he answered.

[00:31:45] [SPEAKER_00]: The bus brings more victims all the time from all over the world. A lot of them don't last long.

[00:31:52] [SPEAKER_00]: The star spawn often get them, and if they don't, the stalkers hunt them down and torture them to

[00:31:58] [SPEAKER_00]: death. I've seen a lot of bodies skinned alive, people who got caught by the stalkers.

[00:32:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, let's go see them, I said. I want to make sure he's okay. He's just a boy, you know.

[00:32:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Teddy looked at me grimly. He's not the only child who's been brought to this place,

[00:32:21] [SPEAKER_00]: he answered. I've seen more corpses of children here than you could possibly know.

[00:32:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I walked up the stairs with Teddy at my heels, rising through the gap in the ceiling. Here,

[00:32:35] [SPEAKER_00]: there was an even larger chamber, rising up thousands of feet into the air. Towards the

[00:32:41] [SPEAKER_00]: top of it, I saw something massive and black with thousands of tentacles. It stuck to the

[00:32:48] [SPEAKER_00]: flat ceiling, slick and wet, the countless enormous eyelids on its limbs tightly closed in sleep.

[00:32:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Drops of slime occasionally fell down from the creature's body, landing on the floor

[00:33:03] [SPEAKER_00]: with soft patterings. I saw an old woman sitting next to a small fire

[00:33:10] [SPEAKER_00]: with Ian by her side. She had a rattlesnake on a spit and was cooking it. Ian had a leather

[00:33:18] [SPEAKER_00]: satchel of water in his hands, which he drank from thirstily before passing it back to her.

[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I remember him saying he had been trapped on the bus for days,

[00:33:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and I wondered if he had had any food or water that whole time.

[00:33:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I walked forward, waving and smiling, feeling much more hopeful seeing Ian alive and well.

[00:33:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I glanced nervously up at the tentacle monstrosity, uncertain of whether I should

[00:33:48] [SPEAKER_00]: be afraid or not. God sleeps above us, the old woman whispered. Do not wake him,

[00:33:59] [SPEAKER_00]: we must escape before he awakes, Teddy said furtively, putting a calloused hand on my

[00:34:05] [SPEAKER_00]: shoulder. We are going to try to hijack the bus, it is the only way between worlds. If we stay here

[00:34:12] [SPEAKER_00]: we will all certainly die, including the boy. It's only a matter of time, but if we can kill

[00:34:19] [SPEAKER_00]: the driver... What about the stalkers? I asked. It's not just the driver.

[00:34:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever is on the bus, the Black God is far worse, the man whispered. His sleep becomes

[00:34:34] [SPEAKER_00]: more troubled as time passes, we see his tentacles twisting with his nightmares.

[00:34:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Once he awakens, those nightmares will spread throughout the playpen. Right now we are only

[00:34:49] [SPEAKER_00]: hunted by the star spawn and the stalkers. I met an old man who saw the Black God awaken,

[00:34:58] [SPEAKER_00]: the old woman said. When I got here he was still alive. Every few months the Black God comes alive

[00:35:07] [SPEAKER_00]: to feed, and he said that the corpses walk when that happens. The dead scream and the sky rips

[00:35:15] [SPEAKER_00]: apart and everything moving gets hunted down like vermin to be absorbed into the Black God's flesh,

[00:35:23] [SPEAKER_00]: where they live for weeks, being slowly digested and driven insane by the pain.

[00:35:33] [SPEAKER_00]: So how did he survive? I asked. She shrugged. He said he hid in the bus. The driver gets out

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_00]: sometimes to hunt and he snuck in. The Black God missed him, but he was the only one.

[00:35:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I found out the old woman's name was Jackie. Like Teddy, she wanted to get out of the playpen

[00:36:03] [SPEAKER_00]: immediately. The stalkers and star spawn won't come in here, she said. They're afraid of the Black God.

[00:36:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And rightly so, Teddy muttered. It's suicidal to be in here. That thing could wake up at any

[00:36:21] [SPEAKER_00]: minute and will be the first one sucked into hell if it does. I've heard the screams of people being

[00:36:29] [SPEAKER_00]: eaten by the Black God's flesh, and it sounds like they're being burned alive. They went on for weeks,

[00:36:36] [SPEAKER_00]: months. Stop it, Jackie insisted. You're scaring the boy.

[00:36:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I looked over at Ian, seeing she was right. He looked ready to pass out, his skin turning chalk

[00:36:52] [SPEAKER_00]: white. Jackie pulled the roasted rattlesnake off the spit, ripping it apart with her hands

[00:36:58] [SPEAKER_00]: and handing pieces of it to Ian and Teddy. She looked at me, her wrinkled face cocked.

[00:37:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you want a piece? I shook my head, feeling slightly nauseous, just looking at the dead,

[00:37:14] [SPEAKER_00]: burnt snake. Its head was still attached to the body, its open eyes blackened and staring.

[00:37:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So what's the plan here? I asked. How do we get back?

[00:37:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Teddy looked at me, chewing a mouthful of rattlesnake. He lifted his homemade sandstone

[00:37:35] [SPEAKER_00]: club and nodded past Jackie. I followed his line of sight, seeing a few more primitive truncheons.

[00:37:46] [SPEAKER_00]: That's it? We're going to bludgeon the driver and all the stalkers and steal the bus?

[00:37:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Teddy nodded. You have a better idea? He answered. In truth, I did not. The four of us went back out

[00:38:04] [SPEAKER_00]: of the stone monolith that held the Black God, seeing the endless paved road disappearing

[00:38:10] [SPEAKER_00]: into the horizon. Armed with the primitive stone truncheons, we walked side by side,

[00:38:17] [SPEAKER_00]: constantly scanning the darkness for enemies.

[00:38:21] [SPEAKER_00]: There are bodies everywhere, Teddy said over the roar of the wind. Most of them have Star Spawn

[00:38:28] [SPEAKER_00]: hiding inside. I wondered how often the bus came this way, but at that moment, chaos broke out.

[00:38:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I saw the Star Spawn with one punctured eye rolling furiously down the pavement. I pointed,

[00:38:45] [SPEAKER_00]: screaming, when something ran into me from the side. I fell hard into Ian, knocking both of us

[00:38:53] [SPEAKER_00]: down. We went sprawling into the sand as two stalkers stood overhead, their insane faces

[00:39:00] [SPEAKER_00]: blurring and jerking from side to side as arms as long as a human twisted toward me.

[00:39:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Sharp fingers jabbed down at my face, and in a blinding moment of absolute panic and agony,

[00:39:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I felt them puncture my left eye. I screamed, jerking back as they ripped and crumpled my eye.

[00:39:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I felt it explode with a powerful jet of blood and vitreous fluid. My vision went white with agony.

[00:39:35] [SPEAKER_00]: At that moment, I saw headlights through the haze of pain and terror. In my shell-shocked state,

[00:39:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I barely realized it was the bus speeding down the road. The small Star Spawn hissed with animal

[00:39:52] [SPEAKER_00]: hunger before a tire ran over it, causing black blood to explode from it like a water balloon

[00:40:01] [SPEAKER_00]: filled with sludge. Teddy came behind the stalker, bringing his heavy stone club down on the back of

[00:40:09] [SPEAKER_00]: its head. I heard a wet crack of bone as it fell limply on top of me, its fingers still clutching

[00:40:17] [SPEAKER_00]: my dismembered eye. I realized the optic nerve and blood vessels were still attached,

[00:40:25] [SPEAKER_00]: running along a few inches from the mutilated socket. I pushed myself to my feet with a rush

[00:40:33] [SPEAKER_00]: of adrenaline, feeling the vessels rip apart like snapping string. I nearly passed out, but

[00:40:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Ian and Teddy came to my side, each putting a steadying hand around my back.

[00:40:49] [SPEAKER_00]: The bus stopped in front of us, the door shrieking open. As the first of the stalkers descended the

[00:40:57] [SPEAKER_00]: step, I heard a primal screaming from behind us from the direction of the monolith. I looked back

[00:41:04] [SPEAKER_00]: in terror, seeing the top of it explode in a shower of volcanic stone as massive tentacles

[00:41:12] [SPEAKER_00]: hundreds of feet long reached blindly out. The black god pulled itself up, like a colossus

[00:41:21] [SPEAKER_00]: sitting atop the world, its many gigantic eyes glaring down balefully.

[00:41:28] [SPEAKER_00]: It's starting! Teddy screamed. We need to get on that bus now!

[00:41:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Staggering, I watched the three of them run forward. I followed behind, feeling weak and sick.

[00:41:44] [SPEAKER_00]: With my one remaining eye, I saw the driver descending the stairs. His black eyes bulged

[00:41:54] [SPEAKER_00]: as he stared up at the sky. I realized with horror that the clouds had started to rain fire. The

[00:42:02] [SPEAKER_00]: flickering flames lit up the world as the black god roared with a primal scream.

[00:42:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Teddy ran forward, raising the club to strike at the driver. Casually, almost lazily, the driver

[00:42:20] [SPEAKER_00]: raised one hand, grabbing Teddy by the neck and lifting him off the ground, his sharp fingers

[00:42:29] [SPEAKER_00]: stabbed into the skin and flesh, digging deeply as Teddy gurgled. He weakly brought the club down

[00:42:37] [SPEAKER_00]: as the driver threw his broken body to the side of the road. Teddy twitched, suffocating on his

[00:42:44] [SPEAKER_00]: own blood and seizing. I watched his eyes roll back in his head. Jackie and Ian ran at the driver

[00:42:54] [SPEAKER_00]: together, closing in on him from both sides. Ian struck at the long emaciated leg under the black

[00:43:01] [SPEAKER_00]: suit. The driver slashed at Jackie's face as bone cracked under the weight of Ian's blow.

[00:43:09] [SPEAKER_00]: The driver buckled as his leg gave way, his furious lidless eyes ratcheting towards Ian.

[00:43:17] [SPEAKER_00]: As he fell, he reached forward, dragging the boy down with him. I saw Jackie on the ground next to

[00:43:26] [SPEAKER_00]: them, with deep stab wounds eating through her eyes and into her brain, blood spurted from her still

[00:43:37] [SPEAKER_00]: body. I stumbled forward, raising the club and bringing it down on the back of the driver's head,

[00:43:45] [SPEAKER_00]: his head collapsed as he clawed and stabbed at Ian's face and neck, opening up his throat in an

[00:43:53] [SPEAKER_00]: instant. I heard gurgling and weak cries as I jumped onto the bus. Sickened by all the blood

[00:44:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and death, I ran up the steps, never looking back. Bleeding heavily, my vision turning white with

[00:44:15] [SPEAKER_00]: pain, I started the bus. The engine turned on immediately, rumbling and powerful. I had never

[00:44:23] [SPEAKER_00]: heard such a sweet sound in all my life. I began driving ahead, down the freezing dark streets of

[00:44:33] [SPEAKER_00]: the playpen. I felt my hand sticking to the steering wheel, my skin covered in gore and

[00:44:41] [SPEAKER_00]: clotted blood. I glanced in the rearview mirror and had to repress an urge to scream.

[00:44:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Every seat was filled with stalkers, their blurring faces looking straight ahead,

[00:44:57] [SPEAKER_00]: their long mannequin-like bodies twisted and jerked. Like one single hive mind, they rose.

[00:45:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Up ahead, the dark street disappeared into a spiraling vortex, the color of fresh blood.

[00:45:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I accelerated, pushing the bus as fast as it would go. Afraid to look back, to see what the stalkers

[00:45:26] [SPEAKER_00]: would do, I drove through the vortex, pushing the bus up to 70 and 80 miles an hour. The blinding

[00:45:37] [SPEAKER_00]: torrents of crimson light dissolved to reveal my street, Slaughterhouse Road.

[00:45:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I slammed on the brakes, glancing back to see a stalker only inches behind me, its twisted

[00:45:53] [SPEAKER_00]: fingers reaching out to grab me. Their heads jerked from side to side, blurring and jumping.

[00:46:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Their arms seemed to vibrate with seizure-like movements.

[00:46:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I heard a cry like one voice, a sound of anticipation and bloodlust.

[00:46:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I opened the door and fell out of the bus as sharp fingers clawed at my head and scalp.

[00:46:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Fresh blood ran down my face as I crawled across the pavement, screaming and crying.

[00:46:33] [SPEAKER_00]: One of my neighbors heard me and came out, shining a flashlight on my bloody, mutilated face.

[00:46:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Soon after, I lost consciousness. I remember waking up in the hospital, but my nightmares

[00:46:53] [SPEAKER_00]: were always of Playpen and the Black God, and I think they always will be.