An apex predator is a predator which has no natural predators of its own. Put quite simply- a predator at the top of the food chain.
You may very well think that humans are the most apex of apex predators in a way- though if you asked anyone who lived near here you would find that they would vehemently disagree with you.
The earliest written accounts of It come from the first Europeans to have ever colonized this area- though that only holds true for the written accounts. The Native Americans who lived here had many stories about It- not that the Europeans believed them at first.
No, when they had first learned that the monster was the one responsible for eating their pigs, they took up their muskets and went looking for it. Those tales the natives told them couldn’t possibly be real, they told themselves. Not to mention that they had superior weapons. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, their corpses were found hanging from the trees the very next morning.
Since then, a sort of… mutual understanding for a lack of a better term has evolved between those of us who live here and It. Truth be told, although It could wipe us all out if It so chose too- it doesn’t appear that It wants to.
After all, it knows that it could wipe us out- but for what? From what the tales say, it doesn’t think that we humans taste very good. And given that lately we’ve all been bred on diets of junk food and who knows what else I’m doubly sure that It would not find us to be very appetizing.
No- the rules are clear. There are areas of the woods that belong to It. You do not go into those areas, or bring any animal you value near them. The night of the full moon belongs to It and you do not go anywhere in the woods on that night.
And so it was for several hundred years- perhaps even longer. No one can know for sure how long the oral traditions go back to.
As for me? I live near the woods. I go into them quite often, though I remember the rules that my father always told me. And things were always fine.
Until a week ago.
I think we all knew that there was something wrong. Huge flocks of birds flew away in all directions throughout the week, as if running away from something. Areas of the woods that were abundant with wildlife were now empty.
But it didn’t hit us just how wrong things had gotten until today. While trekking through the woods, I noticed I had suddenly come to an area where all noises stopped. I would’ve turned to run had I not noticed that there was indeed a noise that I hadn’t noticed until everything came to a pin drop silence.
The steady drip drip of a liquid falling to the floor, almost like a leaky faucet. But there were no faucets in the wilderness.
Here’s something I should probably mentioned- I saw It. I saw the monster- well, only a silhouette of the thing when I was eight years old, but it was so striking when I saw it that it was burned into my memory until this very day.
That’s how I know that I had really seen It. I saw It closer than I think anyone human had ever done until that day who had lived to tell the tale.
It was, for a lack of a better word, majestic. It looked like an oversized deer, though it had two heads, one stacked above the other. Each head had six eyes, and its two mouths revealed stacks of teeth that resembled that of a carnivores. It had a long tail ending in a stinger.
And its abdomen had been opened, and it had been impaled upon a tree. Its blood was still fresh as it dripped onto the floor.
I turned and ran. There was something in these woods that had killed It, and that couldn’t have boded well for us.
A new sound reached my ears, the thump of multiple large feet hitting the ground. I realized that whatever had killed It was chasing after me.
I didn’t dare look back, I just kept running. I think I would’ve definitely been done in for- if I hadn’t ran into a herd of deer on my way. They scattered as I approached them- no, now that I think about it, they must’ve feared that thing behind me more than they feared me.
But, they gave me enough time to escape. The creature seemed to delight on snacking on them more than it did on me.
I got back to town and spread the word. It was gone. Now, something else had taken Its place. Five people have gone ‘missing’ since then, and they were wandering around areas that were previously safe.
Safe only back when It still roamed the woods.
I’ve sold my house and I’m getting as far away from this place as I can. The thought of that creature following me still haunts my dreams. And unlike with It, this creature isn’t interested in sharing its territory. And woe to any person who hasn’t realized that.
There is always a bigger fish, after all.