The Bear-Man

  The Miller family had been driving down south for days now from up north, they were going on a vacation to visit family in Texas with their three kids: Timmy the oldest, Sarah the middle child and baby Linus who was fast asleep in the back seat. The family was driving down a long stretch of road at night, around ten o' clock, Timmy was playing on an ipad while Sarah read a book. "Is everyone doing okay back there?" Said their mother, Janet as she turned to meet them in the backseat "Yeah mom, we are." Timmy replied, still looking at the ipad playing a game of some sort.

"We'll reach the hotel in about an hour and a half." Said the father, John.

There was no traffic on the road and there was forest on either side, the moon was full and bright that night and illuminated the road a bit along with the car's headlights which lit up the road in an eerie way. The Miller's drive was going smoothly until a loud thud was heard and John slammed his foot on the brakes to stop the car from hitting whatever fell on the road.

"Shoot!" He yelled as he abruptly stopped the car, John and his wife turned to check on their kids, Timmy and Sarah were fine and Linus was still asleep. Suddenly Sarah screamed and pointed behind her mother and father and they turned to see a man, a very large man who stood in the car's headlights, he was taller than average and his clothes appeared ragged. He had blood dripping from his mouth and hands and he had thick, black fur covering his body in patches that shone in the headlights; he had long claws and teeth that looked almost like a bear. The lights also made clear what was thrown on the road: The remains of a deer.

"Run it over John!" Screamed Janet and John slammed his foot down on the gas pedal towards the monstrous man and hit him, the car bucked violently as it ran over the man. However, the man-bear was not dead, it made a series of terrifying grunting and roaring noises as it struck the car's rear window repeatedly, Timmy and Sarah screamed in horror as John sped forward then backed over the monster, again running him over.

"John, let's get out of here!"

"I don't wanna die!"

Screamed his wife and son, "Not tonight!" John proclaimed as he floored it down the road as the roaring scream of the man-bear faded from behind them.

The Millers did not speak much after the harrowing encounter as they drove onward down the dark road, baby Linus was still fast asleep even after all of that, but Timmy and Sarah were still shook and Janet tried calming them down. The family eventually came across a roadhouse with a blaring red neon sign that read "Aunt Annie's".

"We'll stop here." Said John as he pulled into the parking lot. Aunt Annie's was like an old country diner, decorated with old farming tools that hung from the walls and ceiling and old nick-nacks from decades past lined the shelves, a record player in the corner of the lobby played old country tunes as the family looked around the place for assistance.

"Howdy! Welcome to Aunt Annie's how may I serve ya tonight?" The lady at the front desk asked, her name tag identified her as 'Jessie'. She saw that the family had a scared look in their eyes as they went up to her. "What's goin' on? Y'all look like you've seen a ghost."

"Well, not exactly." Replied Janet. "It was a man with-" John was abruptly cut off when his children spoke:

"He was huge!"

"And scary!"

"With large claws and teeth!"

"Blood was dripping from him!"

Timmy and Sarah screamed at Jessie.

"Hey-hey-hey, hol' up there youngins, just tell me what happened." Jessie said waving her hands in front of her, John stepped in and spoke to her.

"Well, you see Ma'am, we were attacked by a man on the road and...he was, covered in patches of black fur, it looked like something out of a horror movie."

 Jessie looked very pale as her eyes widened and the whole diner seemed to go silent for a moment until Jessie turned over and spoke to a coworker. "Wally, they saw the Bear-Man.", everyone, even the cooks began whispering to each other. "Wh-who's the Bear-Man?" John asked in a shaky voice. "Well, a long time ago" Jessie started. "There was a hunter named Bart Baker who lived out here in a cabin, he was a crotchety ol' man who didn't want anythin' to do with anyone. One day though he decided to hunt and kill a black bear that was eatin' his game, but the bear killed him instead."

 The Millers couldn't believe the story that this young lady was telling them, though the terror in the eyes of the costumers and staff seemed to validate it; everyone here knew the legend and they all were deathly afraid of the legend. "Now, Ol' Bert wanders these parts as the Bear-Man. Preyin' on any unsuspecting victim that he comes across." a cook added. The diner was again silent for a moment until a horrible roaring came from outside, it was him, the Bear-man, the creature they all feared. He banged on the glass with his massive claws in an attempt to break it and even tried to open the doors which had been quickly locked by Jessie.

"Wally get the gun! Get the gun!"

"I'm on it!" Wally yelled as he ran to the backroom and came out with an old bolt-action and fired it three times at the beast. The Millers were ushered away into the dining room to hide with the others, the roaring screams of pain from the Bear-Man could still be heard from the outside.

A few moments passed and the commotion ceased, the gun stopped firing and the roaring and screaming faded. "That showed 'em!" Said Wally with his gun over his shoulder.

"Is it....dead?" Asked Janet, "Nah, he just ran off back into the woods, he won't be comin' back anytime soon that's fer sure." Jessie replied. The Millers all sat down in shock of what they just experienced and Jessie gave them a free meal for their troubles.They reached their hotel after a tense drive and settled in, the Miller family was going to have quite the story to tell once they reached Texas.