The moment we climbed inside the truck and shut the doors, Sam looked at me seriously.

"John... so many people have told us the same thing tonight. Maybe we should just stay here until morning."

"We're not driving through rain for the first time, Sam."

I pushed the key into the ignition before he could argue further. The engine rumbled alive once again, and soon the truck was back on the road.

But this time, the route felt different. The farther we drove, the more isolated everything became. Slowly, every sign of civilization disappeared. No houses. No passing cars. No lights. Nothing except the pale glow of our headlights stretching across the wet road ahead while darkness swallowed everything else whole.

Then the forest began. Dense black trees climbed along the mountainside on one side of the road while, on the other side, a deep trench vanished into darkness beyond the guardrails. Rain hammered harder against the windshield now, forcing the wipers to move faster.

Inside the cabin, the atmosphere had changed completely. Ever since our conversation with the man at the diner, Sam had gone unusually quiet. And that wasn’t normal for him. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. His face looked tense. Uneasy.

In front of us, the road stretched endlessly into pitch-black darkness. The loud pitter-patter of rain against the truck created an ominous rhythm, making the atmosphere around us feel heavier with every passing minute.

For nearly another hour, we drove through the isolated mountain road in complete silence. Then a sharp turn appeared ahead. As I turned the steering wheel, my headlights briefly swept across the forest beside the road.

And that was when I saw her.

A tall woman standing beside one of the trees. She was wearing a long black dress that blended almost perfectly with the darkness around her. I couldn’t see her face clearly because of the rain and the lack of light, but the moment my eyes landed on her, my heartbeat slammed hard against my ribs.

I quickly forced my attention back onto the road. Suddenly, Sam grabbed my arm so tightly it almost hurt. I looked at him and froze. Fear was written all over his face. Slowly, I glanced toward the side mirror.

And there she was. Still standing there. Completely motionless.

"John..." Sam’s voice came out shaky. "Did you see that? There was a woman standing there."

I swallowed hard but kept my eyes on the road ahead. "What the hell is a woman doing alone in a place like this?"

Fear had already started creeping beneath my skin too, cold and slow like ice water in my veins, but I refused to let my thoughts spiral. "Maybe she’s from a nearby village," I muttered.

Sam immediately shook his head. "She didn’t look like a villager."

"Shut up, Sam," I snapped a little too quickly. "Don’t scare us more. It’s probably nothing."

But even after saying the words, my eyes kept drifting back toward the mirror. Another hour passed. Nothing happened. Every five minutes, my eyes drifted toward the side mirror, but there was nothing there anymore. Slowly, I started doubting myself. Maybe what both of us saw had only been an illusion created by the storm, darkness, and exhaustion.

The heavy rain forced me to reduce the speed even more. Beside me, Sam sat unusually quiet. He hadn’t even touched his phone, which now lay forgotten on the dashboard. I tried forcing my thoughts away from the woman and focused on the road ahead instead.

That was when I saw it. A massive hole stretched across the muddy road. Even from a distance, I could tell it was deep. If we weren’t careful, the truck would get stuck for sure. I slowed the vehicle down further and carefully steered toward the side, trying to avoid the worst part of the mud.

Thankfully, the front tires passed through smoothly. For one brief second, relief loosened the tightness in my chest. Then came a loud screech. The truck jerked violently. I gripped the steering wheel tighter as thick sludge swallowed the tires little by little. The truck crawled forward like a dying animal. I tried accelerating gently, then slowing down, then accelerating again. Nothing worked. The tires spun uselessly, screeching loudly while mud splashed behind us. But the truck didn’t move an inch.

"The tires are stuck in the mud," Sam said quietly.

"Yeah." I grabbed the torchlight from beside my seat. "I’m going out to check how bad it is."

For a moment, Sam only stared at me before finally nodding. Rain slammed against my body the moment I stepped outside. The cold hit instantly. I crouched near the back tires and cursed under my breath. Half the wheels had practically drowned in mud.

A few moments later, Sam joined me outside, and together we tried everything we could think of. We shoved large stones beneath the tires, dragged thick branches from the forest edge, and tried pushing while the engine roared. Nothing worked. The mud only swallowed the tires deeper.

More than an hour passed before exhaustion finally defeated us. Hopeless and completely drenched, we climbed back inside the truck. Water dripped from our clothes onto the cabin floor. Sam checked his phone again for a signal. Still nothing. Not a single bar.

I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes tiredly. "We’re stuck here," Sam muttered.

"Hm." That was all I replied.

Sam also leaned back into his seat, exhausted. And for the first time since entering the forest, both of us completely forgot about the woman we had seen standing beside the road.

For a few minutes, we just sat there silently. Then I switched off the cabin lights. A second later, I turned off the headlights too. God knew how long we were going to be stuck there, and we needed to save every bit of energy we could.

The moment the headlights died, darkness swallowed us whole. Everything became pitch black. The only light came from occasional flashes of thunder splitting across the sky for a fraction of a second before vanishing again. Rain hammered endlessly against the truck roof.

Neither of us spoke. For nearly fifteen minutes, the cabin remained completely silent except for the storm outside. Then Sam finally whispered, "John... what we saw earlier..."

"Not now, Sam," I cut him off before he could finish.

Another five minutes passed. My eyes were still closed when suddenly Sam grabbed my arm so tightly it made me flinch.

"John..." His voice was almost trembling. "There’s something in front of the truck."

My eyes snapped open instantly. I straightened in my seat and narrowed my eyes, trying to see through the darkness beyond the windshield. At first, I saw nothing. Only rain. Only darkness.

Then lightning flashed across the forest. And for a single second, I saw it. A tall shadowy figure moving slowly in the middle of the road. My heartbeat stopped.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the road again. The figure was still there. Walking. My heart hammered violently against my ribs. Then lightning flashed again. The road ahead was empty. The figure was gone.

Before either of us could even process it, a sound suddenly came from behind the truck. A wet sound. Like someone walking barefoot through thick mud.

STEP. STEP. STEP.

Every muscle in my body locked instantly. Then came another noise. A long scratching sound against the metal body of the truck.

SCREEEEEECH.

It slowly dragged across the side like nails scraping against steel. Sam and I stopped breathing completely. A cold shiver crawled down my spine as the sound continued for several horrifying seconds before abruptly stopping.

Silence swallowed the forest again. But before we could even take a proper breath, another sound echoed from outside. Branches shook violently as if something was moving through the trees. Fast. Too fast. It sounded as if something was jumping from one branch to another high above us.

"What the fuck is that?" Sam’s terrified whisper reached my ears.

"Maybe... maybe it’s an animal from the forest," I muttered, trying harder to convince myself than him.

"An animal?" Sam looked at me in disbelief. "You know that’s not an animal, John. You know it, and I know it, so stop bullshitting."

Before I could reply, something heavy suddenly landed on top of the truck.

BANG.

The entire cabin shook violently. My heart felt like it would burst straight out of my chest. Above us came the slow sound of movement. Slow footsteps. Like something enormous was walking on the roof.

And then...

Silence.

Absolute silence.