00:00The desert highway along Texas FM 170 is usually silent at night just sand, stars, and the long, empty road stretching between black mountains.
00:10Jacob had driven this route many times for late-night deliveries, but that Thursday felt unusually cold.
00:16The kind of cold that didn't belong in the desert.
00:18Around 2.47 a.m., his headlights picked up a figure standing on the shoulder.
00:24At first, Jacob thought it was a stranded traveler, until the figure turned.
00:28It wasn't facing him. It was facing a way yet.
00:32It began walking toward his truck, moving backward.
00:36Jacob's stomach tightened. The figure's arms hung unnaturally long, its head tilting slightly as if listening to something Jacob couldn't hear.
00:44He pressed on the gas, speeding up.
00:46But the figure's speed matched him still walking backward, its pale feet dragging in the sand without making any footprints.
00:52Jacob's rearview mirror trembled as the figure grew clearer.
00:56Its backward strides became faster, smoother.
01:00Almost sliding, the wind howled through the broken desert fence lines as he pushed 70 miles per hour, then 80.
01:08Still, the figure closed in.
01:11Its face was hidden, but its body twisted at the waist like it wanted to turn around, yet refused.
01:16The mirror shook violently.
01:18Jacob's breath hitched when he noticed something impossible.
01:21The figure's reflection in the rearview was closer than its real body almost.
01:26Touching the truck.
01:28S.
01:30Tailgate.
01:31Not real.
01:32Not real.
01:34Eh.
01:35Whispered.
01:36He flicked his high beams.
01:38On and off.
01:39The figure jerked violently each time, like a puppet on invisible wire's butt.
01:44At 92 miles per hour, Jacob's mirror suddenly cracked from the inside.
01:50A thin white handprint smeared across the glass.
01:53That's when the figure finally turned its head.
01:55The face in the mirror was Jacob's own, but stretched backward.
01:59Eyes hollow.
02:00Mouth hanging open, as if screaming in reverse.
02:04The sound reached him in a warped echo-like.
02:06A recording played backward.
02:09Jacob slammed the brakes.
02:10Dust exploded around the truck.
02:12When everything settled, the road was empty.
02:16But his cracked mirror still showed the backward version of himself.
02:19Standing behind the truck.
02:21Watching.
02:22Growing.
02:24Waiting for him to start driving again.
02:26Locals say if you see the reverse walker on FM 170, never look in the mirror.
02:30Because the moment you do, it starts walking toward you.
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