September 8th, 2017
I really didn’t see my Friday night going this fucking badly. I should be in Portland right now with Samantha right now, but instead I’m stuck here on a greyhound bus, waiting for the goddamn driver to come back.
Least I’ve got my laptop, I guess. But no internet, go fucking figure, so I’ve got nothing to do but ramble to myself like a goddamn lunatic.
It’s been about 45 minutes by now, I would’ve thought the driver would’ve at least come back with an update or something, but apparently not. Maybe he’s still on the phone with someone out there? I can see his flashlight out front so he’s got to still still out there!
The kid in the seat behind me woke up and he’s crying. I can hear his Mom trying to shush him, but he’s screaming so loud that you can barely even hear her. One of the two old ladies a few seats in front of me got up to coo at him and see if she could help the Mom settle him down, but she doesn’t seem to be having any luck.
The other old lady just looks annoyed, but she hasn’t said anything yet. Funnily enough, she kinda reminds me of my Mom… and not in a good way. Round face, curly hair, flushed red cheeks and little piggy eyes. I’m half expecting her to get up and start swearing at the kid, just like my Mom always did with my little brother whenever she got drunk.
See - it’s that kind of behavior that made my Dad divorce her.
At least the other old lady is nice. I can hear her trying to make small talk with the Mom. I think the kid might be starting to calm down, but I don’t know. I just heard the old lady (the one who doesn’t look like my Mom) say: “Life is a bus ride, isn’t it! It takes you to all kinds of exciting places and you meet all sorts of exciting people!”
Is that supposed to be a joke?
Seems kinda lame.
The guy in the suit near the front of the bus is still asleep. I don’t think he’s figured out that we’ve broken down yet. Maybe he’ll sleep through this whole ordeal. Christ, we should all be so fucking lucky. Looks like the Mom is getting up to talk to the bus driver. Fucking finally. I’ve been waiting for someone else to do it. I don’t really want to do it myself since I’m all pissed off right now and I don’t really want to be the assh
***
Okay what the fuck?
The Mom just fucking told us that the bus driver is gone! As in, he’s straight up not here anymore! His flashlight is just sitting in the fucking road!I even went out there with her to go looking for him! We woke up the businessman (his name is Roberto) to look with us!
The driver is gone.
What the fuck.
I’ve been talking with the other people on the bus. None of us have a phone signal right now, or else we’d call for help. None of us have seen any cars passing by either, which now that I’m thinking about it, is kinda weird. I mean, we were supposed to be on the highway this whole time, right? The road we’re on kinda looks like a highway, but there should be people here! There should be other cars! Fuck, what the hell is going on here?
I’ve got this stupid feeling in the back of my mind that I should be worried… but I mean, obviously, this is just some kind of screw up, right? It’s like 3 AM. Obviously, there just aren’t any cars around. Obviously, someone is going to come and find us. Obviously this is all going to work out!
But in the back of my mind, I can’t help but wonder what’s gonna happen if it doesn’t.
Jeez, I can’t stop looking at the highway. Something about it is just so unsettling. It’s like this liminal space where I know there should be people, but there aren’t. This familiar space that’s now weirdly empty. Which probably isn’t that weird considering that it’s 3 AM, right? I don’t know.
Writing this out on my laptop is the only thing keeping me from freaking out right now. I just need something to keep my mind focused for the time being. The Mom (her name is Karla) and Roberto are still trying to get a signal. Same with one of the little old ladies (the one who looks like my Mom.) I’ve got my phone out just in case I can catch a signal but the battery is pretty low. My laptops got power, at least.
One of the old ladies (the one who doesn’t look like my Mom, I think her name is Minnie), said she saw someone out on the road a little while ago. I’m hoping that maybe it’s the bus driver? Maybe he came back for us? Can’t promise that I won’t kick his fucking ass if that’s the case… Karla’s saying that she just saw somebody too. I’m gonna go with her to look.
September 9th, 2017
I knew something was fucking wrong here, I fucking knew it! I fucking knew it!
Jesus fucking Christ!
We left the bus. It’s not fucking safe there anymore. We’ve moved to an abandoned gas station. We might be safe here? We’ve barricaded the doors with whatever we could find, and God only fucking knows if it’s gonna be enough!
One of the old ladies, Minnie, she didn’t make it last night. When that thing attacked the bus, she couldn’t get away in time.
Jesus…
One minute, I was out there with Karla, thinking that our driver had come back from God knows where, and the next everyone was screaming and we were trying to run and it’s all just a goddamn blur and I’m still struggling to piece it all together. I went out with Karla to see if the bus driver had come back. She said she’d seen someone outside, so we went to look and it didn’t take that long to find whoever… whatever it was.
I’d heard something under the bus, so I’d gotten down to take a look. I’d used Karla’s phone as a flashlight to see, and I’d been greeted with this face staring back at me. At first I’d thought it was a guy, some junkie strung out on drugs. They were pale and way too skinny with bulging eyes, messy hair and this sort of gaping mouth. I was pretty freaked out by the sight of them, obviously but I still thought it was just a person!
I thought it was a person right up until they started clawing at me from under the bus. They started screaming, howling like some kind of wild animal, violently pulling themselves from out under the bus to try and get to me. Its limbs seemed a little too long, its nails looked a little too sharp. There was so much about it that just seemed wrong somehow, like it wasn’t fully human, not really.
Karla and I had started running. We’d gotten back on the bus, thinking that we’d be safe there.
We weren’t.
Soon as we closed the doors in that things face, it started trying to smash its way through them. It damn near tore the door off the fucking hinges.
We knew it was just a matter of time before it got inside, so we tried to get out. Roberto helped us smash one of the rear windows. We let Karla and her son (Aaron), out first, and tried to let the old ladies go second.
Charlene, (the one who looks like my Mom) got out first, but by then that thing had already gotten through the door. Minnie had been right behind us when it made it through… and when it charged at us, it got to her first.
God…
I watched her try to fight it off but…
It had already basically torn her apart before Roberto or I could even think about getting it off of her. She was screaming, crying, covered in blood. Not dead, but close to it.
We couldn’t save her. We knew that.
So we ran. I went out the window first, and Roberto went second. We ran from the bus as fast as we could, following Karla and Charlene into the darkness.
Then at some point, we found the gas station.
We spent the night shoring it up, thinking we’d only be waiting for a few hours until morning. But morning didn’t come. The sky stayed pitch black.
Even when the clock told us that it was one in the afternoon, the sky was still dark and there was still nobody out there. Nobody human, anyways.
I’ll see them sometimes when I’m on watch. Usually they’re across the street, and I’m never sure if they notice us or not. They’re hard to see in the dark. But they’re out there. They usually don’t get too close to the gas station, usually. The few who did, we’ve been able to scare off.
They don’t move like people. They walk on all fours, loping like animals. Sometimes I can hear them howling at each other. Those howls don’t sound human.
The food in the gas station is pretty stale. Some of it’s so rotten that it’s literally inedible. Roberto and I agreed to try heading back to the bus a few hours ago to see what supplies we could get… it’s how I got my laptop back.
Minnie’s body was nowhere to be found. But the blood was still there. We know she’s dead.
We didn’t get a hell of a lot from the bus. I had a few snacks in my backpack and Karla had some stuff for Aaron. But other than that, we’re not exactly well stocked. I’m not entirely sure that we’re not going to starve to death out here.
I’m already so fucking hungry and the stale granola bar I’ve had really isn’t doing anything to cut it. I don’t know if there’s a rescue coming or not. Roberto keeps saying that we’ll figure something out, but I’m finding it pretty hard to stay confident right now.
I keep looking out the windows.
I keep seeing those things in the darkness.
I keep thinking about Minnie.
September 12th, 2017
Supplies are already starting to run out. It’s been three days. No sun. We’re all hungry, we’re all miserable, we’re all scared.
Even Roberto’s been acting differently. Up until now, I’d have said that he was the cheerful one. Always acting like somebody was gonna come for us, but he’s been testy lately. Karla’s been on edge too, but I know it’s just because she’s scared. She’s the one with a screaming kid to feed.
One of the creatures came up to the gas station last night, when Aaron was having a tantrum. It tried to smash through the window to get at us. Roberto and I had to go out with some makeshift clubs to try and drive it off.
We kept hitting the goddamn thing but it just wouldn’t die… it should have died. But instead, it just kept looking up at us with those bulging eyes, even after we’d smashed its skull to the point where it should’ve been long dead. Even when its jaw was hanging off of its face… it just kept living. Eventually, we got it to retreat, at least. But it was a hell of a fight. The damn thing scratched the hell out of my arm.
Roberto seemed to do most of the work. I remember watching him whail on that thing, screaming like an animal all the while. I couldn’t tell who was making that howling noise, him or the creature. I wouldn’t have thought that he had that kind of anger in him… but I also wouldn’t have thought I’d be willing to go out and fight a fucking bug eyed monster with a club made out of broken chair legs. I guess considering out current situation, we’ve got a choice to either adapt or die and none of us really want to die.
That said, the more I think about it, the more I worry that sooner or later, we won’t have a lot of choice in the matter. I don’t really see any kind of light at the end of the tunnel here. We’re running out of supplies, we’re all on edge, there’s been no sun in three days and now we know that those things out there don’t die.
I want to be hopeful, I do. But looking at our situation, I can’t really say I’m filled with a whole lot of hope.
September 14th, 2017
Is anyone even going to read this?
Samantha, are you going to read this?
You’re probably wondering where I am… hell, I’m still wondering where I am.
Nothing makes sense here and things just keep getting worse and worse by the day.
Roberto attacked Charlene last night. He just… he just flipped out on her. One minute they were arguing, he was saying she doesn’t pull her weight, she was arguing that she’s 78 years old and she does what she can, and then he was on top of her, clawing at her, trying to bite her. Aaron was screaming and crying.
Karla and I had to fight to pull Roberto off of her, and then we had to drag him, literally kicking and screaming into the old office out back. We’ve locked him inside. But I can still hear him pounding on the door and screaming for us to let him out.
At least… he used to be screaming.
Now he just howls.
After we’d dealt with Roberto, Karla and I sat by the window on watch, eating some stale chips and trying to avoid talking about what had just happened. Although it wasn’t long before she said the thing that I was afraid to say.
The things that we see in the dark.
The things that are moving out there.
They look an awful lot like people.
It begs the question… were they human once?
Were they the people who got stuck here before us?
I’ve been thinking about that for a few days now. But Karla’s the one who finally said it out loud. Are we going to go insane?
September 15th, 2017
There’s a kids bicycle out back of the gas station. It’s so rusted that if you touched it, odds are it would just disintegrate. But it’s there, and it seems to have been there for so long that one of the trees has started to grow around it, absorbing it into the bark. I think about that bike a lot.
Roberto is dead.
Charlene went into the office an hour ago, and she killed him.
Charlene killed Roberto.
She said that it was necessary. That it was the only way we could be safe. But just looking at her, I knew that wasn’t why she’d done it. Looking at the blood around her mouth and on her hands, I knew she’d only killed him for the fresh meat. You couldn’t deny it, not even for a second. The… warm coppery taste of blood in my mouth as I bit open Charlene’s throat was… satisfying.
She fought hard. A lot harder than a woman her age should have fought. I’d imagined that killing her would be difficult, but it wasn’t. And the taste of her flesh was… I didn’t think I’d prefer it raw. But the squish of her meat in my teeth was divine.
I’m going to lock myself in the office now. It’s better that way.
September 17th, 2017
Aaron was crying today. I heard it when he finally stopped. I heard his voice catch in his throat as he was torn limb from bloody limb by Karla. I sat here and I did nothing. I just listened… and when the screaming was done I let myself out of the office and joined her in the feast.
We did not speak.
Looking into Karla’s eyes, I know that she is almost as far gone as I am. She didn’t seem to care about what she’d done until afterward. And even then, all she could do was stare pensively down at the bloody mess she’d left behind, unsure how to feel.
I caved her skull in from behind with one of the clubs we made during a moment of lucidity.She never asked me to. Not out loud. But when she saw me coming, she didn’t even try to run. There was only a quiet gratitude in her eyes, that she wouldn’t be condemned to live this way any longer.
I will be returning my laptop to the bus after this.
Maybe someone will find it. Maybe then, there might be some memory of us.
Maybe not.
The woods call to me. The hunger calls to me. But I don’t want to go, and I think there’s still enough of me left to hold out for just a little while longer. I’m going to try and get back to the gas station after this. The fuel from the pumps still burns. And I only need a little to burn myself.
Goodbye.
And Samantha, I’m sorry.
***
The entries above were recovered from a laptop discovered in the remains of a bus discovered off of I-5 from Seattle to Portland. The bus is believed to have gone off the road in September of 2017, but was somehow not discovered until March of 2022.
The bodies of the passengers, 26 year old Jacob Wilson, 29 year old Karla Solyak and her 6 year old son, Aaron Solyak, 78 year old Charlene Hanley, 74 year old Minnie Shorter and 38 year old Roberto Hunt, along with the driver 47 year old Preston Riles were never recovered and it is unclear what became of them.
The Lewis County Police have continued to investigate the accident, including the disappearances and why it took so long for the wreckage of the bus to be discovered, however as of yet have determined nothing conclusive.