Quoted By:
>be me
>working casual construction job with buddy who’s in his late 30’s, 6’6”+, been to all 48 continuous states several times
>has lived quite the adventurous life
>proceeds to tell me a tale he swears is true
>from his time hiking Appalachian trail, alone
>off the beaten path, out where hill people live, on an offshoot trail to some random ranger station in West Virgina
>except he was being followed
>I’m typing this gripped with the emotion, the fear, he conveyed to me when he told me this
>go ahead an dismiss this as a LARP for all I care but I swear to God it’s true
>he said it started with the sound of something brushing against his tent at night
>his backpack being left unzipped outside his tent when he thought he left it closed
>items being moved around, going missing
>knife goes missing
>never sees them, but hears them tracking him
>toying with him
>wakes up one night to a blood-curdling low scream outside his tent
>silhouette of some figure crawls off into the night before dude can get a good look at it
>starts sleeping in a hammock around this point, then not sleeping at all
>jogging
>running for three days basically non-stop
>these things are still following him
>finally makes it to the cabin, but it’s locked down like Fort Knox
>pounds on door, and a Ranger, whose service vehicle is parked outside on the dirt road lets him in
>dude passes out, sleeps all afternoon
>Fire is going and Ranger is there when he wakes up and cooks up dinner, biscuits and gravy from scratch
>Says he’s surprised dude made it out there, not a lot of people come this way, and asks for dude to tell him what happened
>Ranger doesn’t say a word as dude lays it all out, aside from a small chuckle here and there
>Ranger interrupts dude, and asks if he heard that while looking at his watch
>Then says they have maybe 10 more minutes, and asks dude to finish story
>when dude finishes, the Ranger said you did everything right and are lucky to be alive
