About 2 years ago I got a message on my phone from a high school friend I hadn't run with in almost 30 years. He said me he would be in town in about a month, just in time for the beginning of deer season and was looking to go hunting. I called him back and we caught up for a few minutes and I gave him my address. He showed up around noon a few days before we planned to head out so we talked of old times and the toll the years had taken on us.

Before we knew it we were loading up the jeep, filling up on gas on our way out of town.

Uneventfully we arrived on my 200 acre plot, I did a quick walkaround of the jeep before we ventured out on the trail to my hunting positions, checked the tire pressure and soon we were in the blind, loaded and waiting.

Over the course of 4 days and nights sleeping under the stars, sitting in the blind and tracking we managed a 6pt buck and a larger doe. With the sun setting, the recently shot doe tied to my roof rack and the buck which had been field stripped packed with dry ice in the cooler we were off.

(Creepy starts here)

I was taking the trail out slow due to the darkness and recent rain and soon it became apparent that we must have taken an incorrect turn as the ride in had taken about an hour and we were going on 4. So I stopped on a relatively dry piece of earth and pulled out my handheld gps and map. After 10 minutes of the gps being unable to find a lock I handed it off to Jeff and pulled out the compass, placed it on the dash and continued on towards what I could only assume was out. After heading the same direction, taking what looked like trails we were exhausted, the gps was dead and I was running low on gas. We laid back the seats as far as we could with the gear in the back and tried to sleep.

I woke up to a loud crack and was faced with a man wearing tattered jeans and a t shirt kneeling on my hood and a crack running the length of the windshield. With a subhuman howl he swung again and put a spider crack in the passenger side of the glass.

Scared out of my mind I twisted the keys in the ignition and quickly realized I had left it in gear as we lurched forward. Without taking my fingers off the starter I slammed my foot into the clutch and as soon as the engine roared to life I put my foot to the floor and let the clutch out in an attempt to throw this man off my vehicle. Fortunately, I was successful and reached for my overheads so I could see where I was going and narrowly avoided hitting another similarly dressed man. I heard the distinctive crack of a large caliber firearm which only made me attempt to go faster.

Soon I was pushing 25mph on a relatively technical trail, skipping my smash plates off of trees and taking out smaller ones with my stinger and large steel front bumper. Almost on cue I saw the glow of a street lamp and heard my rear window shatter followed instantly by the crack of a gun, I let nothing get in between me and this escape.

I pulled onto what amounted to a small 2 lane paved path, grabbing gears, not caring that I was still locked in 4wd I hit around 60mph with ever part of my jeep screaming I spotted a gas station. I pulled in and got the her back in 2wd, leaned against my jeep and began to fill it up, assuming I had left the crazies far behind.

I was wrong.

The pump clicked off and I walked inside to pay and find out where i was to call the police. I made eye contact with the cashier who was wearing a black t shirt and ripped up jeans.

He said "you still aren't welcome here."

I turned and was back in my jeep before I even realized what I was doing and left 11s across that parking lot, something I didn't even know a jeep could do. I didn't know where I was or where I was going but that didn't matter in the least, we needed to get out.

I found the highway we had come in on, highway 57 and settled in, listening to the wind howl through the shattered rear window. That was when I remembered I wasn't alone in the car. Jeff was still fully reclined in the passenger seat, I shook him to wake him up but I realized his eyes were open. He just shook his head and wouldn't speak to me.

I drove past the house and strait into town as the sun was peaking the horizon and pulled into the local LEO station. I went inside and calmly requested to speak to an officer. After a few minutes, officer Harris walked out to meet me. We shook hands and I asked him to follow me out as I recounted my tale of the previous night. I almost don't think he believed me until he saw the shattered rear window and the bullet hole in the tailgate.

He opened the tailgate and found the bullet had gone into our meat cooler. Soon we had almost a whole bullet. He took my report, the bullet and a few pictures and offered Jeff medical assistance. He said something I will never forget.

"They aren't real, they follow me everywhere, they hate me, they hate the real world"

I didn't say anything the whole ride home and almost as soon as we were back he pulled his bags from my jeep, and without so much as a goodbye, he left.

EDIT: they police told me the forensics on the bullet were "inconclusive" and further that there were no gas stations called Joes Gas Mart anywhere in Wisconsin or the upper peninsula of Michigan.