PART 3: This Might Be the Closest a Sasquatch Has Ever Been to a Camera Without Knowing
THE TRAIL CAMERA — PART 3: THE THING BEHIND HIM
Alex did not turn around.
Every nerve in his body told him to.
The reflection in the window showed two figures standing behind him.
One was enormous.
The other was smaller.
Neither moved.
Alex stared at the glass, barely breathing.
The room was dark except for the faint glow of his dead computer monitor and the pale reflection of the rain outside.
He could see himself.
His desk.
The chair.
The window.
And behind him—
Those two shapes.
The larger one stood nearly seven feet tall.
The smaller figure was perhaps five feet.
Both were covered in darkness.
Alex’s hands began to shake.
He tried to convince himself that the reflection was wrong.
That the shapes were shadows.
Trees outside.
Something created by the rain.
Anything.
He slowly raised one hand.
The reflection raised its hand too.
The figures behind him did not move.
Alex swallowed.
Then he whispered:
“Who’s there?”
Nothing.
He heard rain against the roof.
A distant roll of thunder.
Then—
A soft scraping sound.
Behind him.
Alex closed his eyes.
He remembered the footage.
The massive creature walking past the trail camera.
The bare feet.
The long fingers.
The face.
The second creature.
The group standing between the trees.
And now this.
Something was inside his house.
Or something was close enough to the window that the reflection made it appear that way.
Alex reached slowly toward the lamp on his desk.
His fingers found the switch.
He pressed it.
Nothing.
The power was still out.
His phone was dead.
The computer was dead.
The house had become completely silent.
Then the larger figure in the reflection moved.
Alex watched it lift its arm.
The hand extended toward him.
One long finger pointed at the floor.
Alex looked down.
There was nothing there.
Then he heard a sound.
Behind his desk.
A soft tapping.
Three times.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Alex froze.
The tapping stopped.
Then it came again.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
He stepped away from the desk.
The reflection changed.
The larger figure was no longer pointing at the floor.
It was pointing toward the door.
Alex looked at the bedroom door.
It was closed.
He had left it open.
He was certain of that.
He backed toward the wall.
The door handle moved.
Slowly.
Alex held his breath.
The handle turned downward.
The door opened two inches.
Then stopped.
Something was standing on the other side.
Alex could see only darkness.
He reached for the nearest object.
A heavy metal flashlight sat beside his computer.
He grabbed it.
The door opened another inch.
Alex raised the flashlight.
“Stay back.”
His voice sounded weak.
The door opened completely.
Nothing stood there.
Alex stared into the hallway.
Empty.
He stepped forward.
The hallway was dark.
The air felt colder.
Then he saw something on the floor.
Mud.
Fresh mud.
A footprint.
Five toes.
Enormous.
Alex’s stomach dropped.
He followed the prints.
They led down the hallway.
Toward the stairs.
Another print.
Then another.
Then another.
The footprints were wet.
Something had walked through the house recently.
Alex slowly descended the stairs.
The front door was still locked.
The back door was locked.
Every window was closed.
But the footprints continued.
They led into the kitchen.
Stopped.
Then turned.
Toward the living room.
Alex followed.
His flashlight beam moved across the floor.
The prints ended at the window.
The same window he had been staring at.
Alex looked outside.
Nothing.
Then something caught his eye.
A mark on the glass.
A handprint.
Five long fingers.
The palm was enormous.
The handprint was on the inside.
Alex stopped breathing.
Inside.
Something had touched the window from inside the house.
He stepped backward.
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Alex looked toward the ceiling.
Then another creak.
Something was moving above him.
Slowly.
He raised the flashlight.
The beam shook.
“Who’s there?”
No answer.
Then a sound came from upstairs.
A low humming noise.
Almost like someone trying to imitate a human voice.
Alex recognized it.
It was the same sound from the trail-camera footage.
The same deep call.
But now it was inside his house.
He ran.
He didn’t think.
He grabbed his keys and rushed toward the front door.
The lock turned.
The door opened.
Rain hit his face.
He ran into the yard.
Then stopped.
The forest was illuminated by lightning.
And there they were.
Standing beyond the tree line.
Dozens of eyes.
Not glowing.
Reflecting.
Watching him.
Alex couldn’t count how many figures were there.
Five.
Ten.
Twenty.
Maybe more.
They stood at different distances.
Some were enormous.
Others were smaller.
Some were almost completely concealed behind trees.
None approached.
They simply watched.
Alex’s instinct was to run toward the road.
Instead, he heard something behind him.
A deep sound.
He turned.
The house was empty.
But one figure stood on the porch.
The largest one.
It was staring at him.
Alex couldn’t move.
The creature raised one hand.
Again, it pointed.
Not toward him.
Toward the forest.
Alex looked back.
One of the smaller creatures had stepped forward.
It walked into the rain.
Then another.
Then another.
The group began moving.
Not toward the house.
Away from it.
Toward the ridge.
Alex realized they were leaving.
Why?
He didn’t know.
Then the largest creature looked toward the sky.
Alex followed its gaze.
A light appeared above the trees.
Not lightning.
Not an airplane.
A steady white light.
It moved silently.
Slowly.
Across the sky.
The creatures stopped.
Every single one.
They looked upward.
Alex felt his stomach tighten.
Whatever had brought them here wasn’t him.
They were watching something else.
The light stopped directly above the ridge.
Then disappeared.
The creatures immediately began moving again.
This time faster.
They vanished into the trees.
Alex stood in the rain.
The forest became empty.
For several minutes, nothing happened.
Then his phone turned on.
He looked at the screen.
One percent battery.
No signal.
But there was a new video file.
Alex hadn’t downloaded it.
It appeared automatically.
RIDGE_03.MP4
He stared at the filename.
Then opened it.
The video began with darkness.
The image slowly brightened.
A trail camera.
Not his.
The camera was positioned deep in the forest.
The timestamp showed three hours earlier.
Alex watched.
Nothing.
Then movement.
A creature entered the frame.
Then another.
Then another.
The same group.
They were gathered around something.
Alex leaned closer.
At first, he couldn’t tell what it was.
Then he saw a shape on the ground.
A large rectangular object.
Metal.
Artificial.
It looked like a piece of equipment.
A machine.
The creatures were surrounding it.
One of them touched it.
The screen flickered.
Then something happened.
The machine emitted a pulse of light.
Every creature stepped backward.
Alex paused the video.
He rewound.
Played it again.
The object looked like a box.
But there were no markings.
No visible controls.
No wires.
No explanation.
He continued watching.
The largest creature approached.
It placed its hand against the metal surface.
The machine lit up.
A strange sound filled the recording.
The creature immediately pulled away.
Then it looked directly toward the camera.
Alex froze.
It knew.
It had known.
The creature walked toward the camera.
The image shook.
It reached up.
The video ended.
Alex stared at the screen.
Then another file appeared.
RIDGE_04.MP4
He opened it.
This recording was different.
The camera was pointed toward the sky.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the same white light appeared.
It descended behind the ridge.
Alex watched the timestamp.
3:03 a.m.
The power outage at his house had happened at 3:17.
Fourteen minutes later.
He checked the earlier footage.
The creatures had been watching the light.
Then the light disappeared.
Then the creatures came to his house.
Alex suddenly understood why the creature had pointed toward the forest.
It wasn’t warning him about itself.
It was warning him about something else.
Something coming from the ridge.
He opened the original email.
The sender had mentioned an old story.
The ridge.
“Something lives up there that doesn’t like company.”
Alex stared at those words.
Maybe the old man had been right.
But perhaps he had misunderstood.
Maybe the thing that lived on the ridge wasn’t the creature.
Maybe it was the machine.
Or whatever had brought it there.
Alex looked toward the forest.
The rain had stopped.
Fog drifted between the trees.
Then he heard a sound.
A branch snapping.
He raised the flashlight.
Nothing.
Another branch snapped.
Closer.
Alex stepped backward.
Then a figure emerged from the darkness.
The smaller creature.
It stood at the edge of the yard.
Alex expected it to run.
Instead, it looked at him.
Its face was different from the larger creature.
Younger.
Less scarred.
The eyes were dark.
Intelligent.
It slowly lifted one hand.
Alex felt a strange calm come over him.
The creature pointed toward the forest.
Then pointed toward Alex.
Then pointed back toward the forest.
Alex didn’t understand.
Until the creature did something unexpected.
It walked away.
Then stopped.
It looked over its shoulder.
Waiting.
Alex stared at it.
It was asking him to follow.
He knew that was insane.
Every survival instinct told him to stay home.
Call the police.
Call someone.
Get away.
But his phone still had no signal.
And the power remained out.
The creature waited.
Alex took one step forward.
Then another.
The creature disappeared between the trees.
Alex followed.
He entered the forest.
The darkness swallowed him almost immediately.
The trail was easy to recognize.
It was the same route from the camera footage.
The same pine needles.
The same moss-covered trees.
The same narrow corridor.
Alex walked deeper.
Five minutes.
Ten.
Fifteen.
The creature stayed ahead of him.
He could occasionally see its silhouette.
Then it vanished.
Alex stopped.
“Where are you?”
No response.
He turned around.
The path behind him looked unfamiliar.
The trees seemed closer together.
The darkness deeper.
Then he heard something behind him.
A branch breaking.
Alex slowly turned.
The larger creature stood thirty feet away.
It didn’t approach.
It simply watched.
Alex couldn’t move.
Then something else appeared beside it.
Another creature.
Then another.
The forest was full of them.
They stood silently on both sides of the trail.
Alex suddenly realized what was happening.
They weren’t surrounding him.
They were forming a corridor.
A path.
An invitation.
Or a warning.
He looked forward.
At the end of the corridor was the ridge.
And above it—
The white light.
It appeared again.
This time much closer.
Alex felt the ground vibrate beneath his feet.
The creatures all lowered themselves.
Some crouched.
Others backed away.
The larger creature looked directly at Alex.
For the first time, Alex heard its voice clearly.
It was not a roar.
It was not a howl.
It was a word.
A single word.
“Run.”
Alex didn’t understand.
Then he heard something behind him.
A deep mechanical sound.
The same sound from the machine.
Only this time it was coming from the forest behind him.
Alex turned.
Between the trees, a white light began moving toward him.
Fast.
Too fast.
The creatures scattered.
Alex ran.
Branches tore at his jacket.
Roots caught his boots.
He didn’t know where he was going.
He only knew the thing behind him was getting closer.
The light flashed through the trees.
For one second, Alex saw something enormous moving inside it.
Not a creature.
Not a machine.
Something else.
Something he couldn’t understand.
Then the entire forest exploded with light.
Alex fell.
His ears rang.
The ground disappeared beneath him.
And for a moment, everything went silent.
When Alex opened his eyes, he was lying in the mud.
The forest was empty.
The creatures were gone.
The light was gone.
The machine was gone.
Everything was gone.
Except for one thing.
A trail camera sat on a tree twenty feet away.
Alex slowly crawled toward it.
He recognized the model.
It belonged to the sender.
But there was something written across the front.
Three words scratched into the plastic.
Not English.
Not any language Alex recognized.
He touched the markings.
Then the camera suddenly activated.
A red light blinked.
The screen turned on.
A new recording began.
Alex watched himself appear on the tiny display.
The camera wasn’t recording the forest.
It was recording him.
But the timestamp was wrong.
It showed tomorrow’s date.
Alex stared.
Then the screen displayed another image.
A house.
His house.
Burning.
Alex stopped breathing.
The image changed.
A road.
Empty.
Then another.
A city.
Thousands of people running.
Then another image.
A forest.
Millions of trees.
And something enormous walking between them.
Then the final image appeared.
A close-up of the creature’s face.
But this time, there was something behind its eyes.
Fear.
Alex stepped backward.
The camera displayed one final message.
Three words.
THEY ARE COMING.
The screen went black.
Alex stood alone in the forest.
Then, far beyond the ridge, another white light appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
One after another, lights began appearing across the horizon.
Alex counted six.
Then twelve.
Then twenty.
The creatures had not been hiding from humans.
They had been hiding from whatever was coming.
And now the forest was no longer the only place being watched.
Alex looked toward the distant lights.
Then he heard footsteps behind him.
Not one creature.
Not two.
Hundreds.
He turned.
The entire forest was moving.
And somewhere among the darkness, a voice whispered his name.
“Alex.”
This time, it wasn’t his voice.
It was the voice of something that sounded almost human.
Almost.
And then the lights above the ridge began descending.
