My best friend and I were on a road trip through the remote Cascade Mountains. Along the way, she suddenly pointed out a figure in the distance waving at us from the hillside. We thought it was a stranded hiker asking for help, so we immediately got out of the car and ran toward them. But halfway there, my best friend suddenly stopped in her tracks. Just as I turned to ask her what was wrong, I saw a look of absolute terror wash over her face. Before I could even speak, she grabbed my hand tightly and sprinted back the way we came. Her voice was a frantic, breathless snarl: "Run! That's not human!" 01 Chloe and I had been best friends for years. I knew immediately when she was joking and when she was dead serious. Without asking a single question, I followed her, sprinting wildly toward our SUV without looking back. "Hurry! Start the car!" Chloe screamed frantically the second we piled in. I hopped into the driver’s seat, my hands shaking but quick, jamming the keys into the ignition and firing up the engine. Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the massive black silhouette charging toward us. I flinched hard, my heart skipping a beat. In the few seconds it took to start the car, the shadow had closed the distance by a terrifying margin. "Hurry! That thing is catching up! Go, go, go!" Chloe yelled, her panic spiking. My heart was racing, but I forced my hands to stay steady. I snapped on my seatbelt, threw it into drive— And slammed my foot on the gas. The SUV roared to life and shot forward like an arrow leaving a bow. I glanced in the rearview mirror at that massive dark shape. At its closest, it was no more than sixty or seventy feet away from us. I could practically feel the suffocating, malicious intent radiating off of it. After the car shot forward, the giant shadow chased us for a few dozen seconds before finally stopping. But Chloe and I didn't dare relax for a second. Our nerves were wound tight, our eyes glued to the side mirrors. The creature was covered entirely in thick black fur, but it had a face that looked sickeningly human. Its expression was eerie and twisted, its eyes locking onto the back of our receding car as if memorizing exactly who we were... We sped down the highway for another hour and a half. Only when we started seeing massive 18-wheelers passing by did we finally let out a heavy sigh of relief. Neither of us spoke at first. Our faces were pale, haunted by the lingering terror of what we’d just survived. I drove steadily for another thirty minutes or so. Finally, we spotted a gas station. I pulled in to fill the tank. Chloe and I went to the restroom to splash cold water on our faces. "That... that scared me to death!" Chloe stared at herself in the mirror, looking like she had just crawled out of a grave. My legs and arms were still feeling like jelly. The aftermath of the adrenaline crash was starting to set in. I bought two bottles of blue Gatorade, pulled the SUV over to the side of the lot, and we slumped onto the curb to drink. "Halfway there, I realized its proportions were all wrong. And the way it waved... its movements were so stiff," Chloe said, taking small sips of her drink, a flicker of residual fear in her eyes. I thought back to the creature's silhouette and nodded slowly. Chloe was an artist. She was naturally hyper-sensitive to perspective, shapes, and proportions. If it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't have noticed how grotesque the thing was until we were twenty feet away. And by then, there would have been no escape. We had turned around when we were still hundreds of feet away. Yet, by the time we peeled out, it had closed the gap to just sixty feet. Its speed was incomprehensible. Just then, an older truck driver, maybe in his fifties, seemed to overhear us. He frowned and looked over. "You girls run into the Human-Faced Grizzly?" Chloe and I froze. We spoke in unison: "Human-Faced Grizzly?" 02 The trucker took a swig of his water, then pulled out his phone, scrolling until he found a video to show us. "Look. That's the Human-Faced Grizzly." "Lately, there have been a lot of videos floating around the local feeds about this thing eating people." "Word is, this bear stands over ten feet tall, weighs eight or nine hundred pounds, and can tear a grown man in half with a single bite." "And the creepiest part? It's smart. Way smarter than a normal bear. It even mimics human movements to lure people in." "A while back, a couple of college kids on a road trip got tricked by it pretending to ask for help." "By the time they realized something was wrong, it was too late. They couldn't outrun it. Ended up as bear food." As the trucker spoke, our hearts pounded in our chests, mixed with the overwhelming relief of having barely escaped with our lives. Thank God we noticed it early. Otherwise... the consequences would have been unimaginable. "Maya, let's go. Staying here is giving me the creeps," Chloe said, and I nodded vigorously. It was 2:25 PM. We said goodbye to the trucker, quickly started the car, and headed toward the nearest town. A few hours passed. It was now early evening. The weather was nice, a cool, overcast chill in the air. With the cold breeze blowing in, Chloe and I rested our arms on the windows. The dark cloud that had been hanging over us slowly began to lift. "Seriously, what are the odds?" "We go on a nice road trip and run into something that freaky." Chloe looked a bit annoyed, but her tone was much more relaxed. I sighed, shaking my head. "I know, right? Good thing you were there, or we'd be knocking on heaven's door right now." Chloe glared at me. "Don't jinx it—" BANG! Before Chloe could finish, a heavy, violent pop cut her off. The entire SUV violently swerved and began to shake. "What happened?! What's wrong?!" Chloe instantly spiraled back into a panic. I gripped the steering wheel for dear life, wrestling the car to the shoulder until we finally rolled to a stop. "I don't know what we hit, but I think the tire blew out!" I looked at the dashboard warning lights in dismay. Sure enough, the front right tire was completely flat. "Hey, look! There's an auto repair shop right up ahead!" Chloe's momentary panic faded. She scanned our surroundings—no sign of the grizzly—then pointed to a small, rundown garage just down the road, breathing a sigh of relief. "Let's get over there, we can't afford to waste time." "It's getting dark, and the roads here are dangerous at night." I made a split-second decision and limped the SUV right up to the garage door. A scrawny guy was sitting out front. Seeing us pull up, he smiled greasily. "Car trouble, ladies?" Seeing the guy's demeanor, Chloe and I exchanged a long look. A dozen thoughts flashed through my mind. While doing research for this road trip, we had read warnings about sketchy mechanics. They would sprinkle nails on the highway to blow out tourists' tires. Then, they'd extort them for a massive payday. In the split second we locked eyes, Chloe and I both knew we had fallen right into a trap. But we had no choice. We were in the middle of nowhere, miles from civilization, and there were no cameras around. We just had to take the hit. "How much to patch the tire?" I asked, suppressing the rising anger in my chest. Even though I was mentally prepared, the price still shocked me— "Eight hundred bucks. Cash or Venmo?" The man kept that greasy smile plastered on his face. "Are you out of your mind—" Chloe instantly rolled up her sleeves, ready to march up and give him a piece of her mind. I quickly grabbed her arm, pulling her back. If things got physical, two young women wouldn't stand a chance against this guy in the middle of nowhere. Left with no choice, we had to transfer the money. "Patch it well," I said coldly. Seeing the money hit his account, the man smiled even wider. "Of course! You're paying customers. I'll patch it up real nice for you!" ... Fuming, Chloe crossed her arms, walked off to the side, and started scrolling through TikTok. I stood there, watching the man work on the tire. I checked the sky. I figured if we hurried, we could reach the nearest town before it got completely dark. But right then, Chloe suddenly ran toward me, her face pale with absolute terror. 03 My heart dropped. Before I could even speak, she shoved her phone in my face. Chloe had been scrolling her local feed, looking for nearby food spots, but the first video on her timeline was a breaking news alert from the state police— [TRUCK DRIVER DEVOURED BY UNKNOWN CREATURE!] My pupils shrank. Unless I was mistaken, the driver in the blurred news footage looked exactly like the trucker we had just spoken to. That red flannel jacket—I could never mistake it! As panic and horror gripped me, Chloe swiped down to the comments. A top comment from a passing driver read: [I drove past that rest stop around 2:30 PM! The guy must have just been attacked!] Chloe and I looked at each other, our expressions morphing into pure horror. 2:30 PM?! That was barely five minutes after we left the gas station! "Is it another one... or is it the one we ran into?" Chloe asked, her voice trembling, dropping to a terrified whisper. A violent chill shot down my spine. Because I understood exactly what Chloe was implying. If it was another bear, that was bad enough. But if it was the same one we ran into... "It's tracking us?!" I grabbed my chest, feeling like my heart was about to explode out of my ribs. My eyes went wide. "But... but why?! Does that thing hold a grudge?" "We didn't even do anything to it!" I tried to keep my voice down, but the terror was bleeding through, making me stammer. "Who knows how a monster like that thinks?!" Chloe hissed, near tears. I checked my phone. It was 5:30 PM. We had driven three hours since we left the gas station. Logically, there was no way that thing could catch up to us in a short amount of time. "Once the car is fixed, we go straight to the town's police precinct. This is insane," I said, my voice grim. Since the mechanic had already swindled us, he worked fast. The tire was patched in under thirty minutes. We immediately jumped in and sped toward the town. About an hour later, we arrived. We drove straight to the local sheriff's station and filed a report. Hearing our story, the deputies' expressions grew deadly serious. They promised to dispatch units immediately and put the town on high alert. Afterward, we finally found a small local motel to crash at. We booked a room with two beds. After dropping our bags, I looked at Chloe. "Do you want to grab food? We haven't eaten all day." Chloe waved her hand weakly. "Never mind. Today has been way too much." "I just want to sleep." I couldn't argue with that. I was exhausted to the bone, too. "Alright. You shower first. We'll get a big breakfast in the morning." After washing up, we both collapsed into our beds. We tried to chat for a bit, but we were so drained that we both drifted off within minutes. I don't know how much time passed. Through the hazy veil of sleep, I thought I heard a heavy thudding sound. It sounded like something unbelievably heavy was stepping on the wooden floorboards in the hallway— Thud... Thud... The footsteps grew closer, and then suddenly stopped! KNOCK! KNOCK! Someone was at our door. Immediately, an overpowering, rancid stench seeped into the room. My eyes snapped open, staring at the door in absolute horror!
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "409197", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel