Aaron was completely frozen as his mind immediately picked up on the physical appearance of the person that was in front of him, not more than five meters away from him.
The highly reflective round goggles, the black bandages, the cloak and everything else, it was like his eyes and brain went beyond their limits for him to instantly connect the dots.
The Stalker, the man, the myth, the legend...
The monster.
The man, who had a reputation equal to that of fake internet monsters, despite always appearing as a tangible entity, had always seemed ethereal, impossible to meet.
It was as if the Thinman or Pablo The Killer had suddenly showed up in front of him, it simply didn't feel real.
The man's arms were crossed at first but he quickly extended them as pushed himself off the tree he was leaning against, spreading his arms as if asking an audience if they were entertained.
His only audience was Aaron however, so his gaze soon met his.
"Aaron! I watched a lot of your videos" spoke the man, making Aaron's head feel even lighter.
"You... Did you?" he asked, not believing that this guy, of all people, would have an internet connection.
"Of course! I don't quite like how much you call me a lunatic or hillbilly psycho but apart from that, you're not bad I guess" the Stalker chuckled, his expression unreadable.
It was just like the stories had said, he sounded awfully friendly, so much that it was uncanny in fact.
"Ah... Huh, thank you, how... did I get there?" Aaron, despite feeling like he was both the drunkest and highest man alive, still felt incredibly scared, it didn't escape him that despite not appearing to have taken any steps, the Stalker had gotten closer, almost close enough for him to leap and grab Aaron.
In response, the man with goggles just pulled out a syringe from the inside of his clothes, slightly pushing the end of it and letting some of the liquid spray out.
Instinctively, Aaron reached for his neck, noticing that a small spot was still somewhat painful.
"Ahah, I- I didn't know you used such modern methods, that explains some accounts, I guess not many people ate some hallucinogenic berries huh?" Aaron tried to sound as if he was joking with him.
"There are none when I am most active" responded the Stalker dryly, casually implying that he had drugged dozens and dozens of persons.
"Say, Why- Why do you do all of this?" asked Aaron, casually stepping back and trying to reach for his revolver.
"Because it's funny of course" he simply replied, scratching the side of his bandaged head with Aaron's revolver, before pointing it at the young man.
"Whoa! Hey, you don't kill anyone right? You don't?! You just scare people?" Aaron's tone was beyond uncertain, as he was a believer that he did, in fact, murder some people.
The Stalker didn't respond and just stayed with the gun aimed at Aaron for a good minute before pressing the trigger.
Aaron fell back as he screamed in terror, while the man laughed his ass off, holding onto his belly and gasping for air.
Aaron was completely fine, he had not been shot, neither had any bullet been fired, the revolver had been empty.
The Stalker showed the bullets in his other hand, juggling them around.
"Ooh, Aaron! I am comple-te-ly harmless, me? Killing anyone? Never! I always make sure to guide the one that get lost back to safety, I am just a misunderstood guardian angel" he giggled like a child at the absurdity of his own words.
"Wait... You didn't film anything? What a shame but that is best, you're up on the chopping list after all..." the Stalker proceeded to refill the revolver with bullets, doing so in exceptional time before holding pointing it at Aaron again, who was already running in zig zag through the trees.
The Stalker spun the gun in his hand like a cowbow, steadily started to lump all of Aaron's stuff into the tent and closed it before taking off after him.
'Shit! Shit! Shit! He is insane and real! I can't believe he is real and so insane!' Aaron's frantic thoughts were interrupted as he looked over his shoulder while sprinting, noticing how the Stalker was completely destroying him in athleticism.
'What the hell?! Peak athlete my ass! He is humiliating all of them!' Aaron ran as fast as he possibly could, not understanding who or what this guy could be, moving like bolt of lightning without making any sounds, while Aaron was stumbling and running through bushes and branches.
He had had an enormous advance and yet, within a minute, the Stalker caught up, tackled him to the side, downhill.
Aaron rolled down the hill, somehow not hitting any tree or rock on the way down before falling into a small stream of water, right as the sun started rising, blinding him first thing first.
"Bastard!" he cursed in a low tone, as he shielded his eyes, noticing that he had fallen right next to a huge swat of land, on which an enormous farm and other smaller buildings were.
Not seeing the Stalker anywhere nearby, Aaron pulled himself out of the water and ran for the farm, knocking on the front door like a madman, even such a remote place should have a phone from which he could call the police.
The door was quite large and as it suddenly opened, two women, which had fairly similar facial features, down to a sligth deformity on the left side of their uppers lips.
Before Aaron could even get a word out, he felt a sudden jolt of pain on the back of his head, falling like a sack of bricks forward.
The two women and the Stalker, looked down as, he almost comically, fell over.
"What do you say girls? Right on the doorstep" he said, probing Aaron's unconscious body as if he was a used car salesman.
"I can assure you, very strong bones, I pushed him off a high distance, no limp or anything" he added.