I’d like to preface this by saying hello to anyone and everyone who may have gotten ahold of this journal. My names Jeremy, I’m 23 years old and used to work as a conservation officer deep in the woodlands of Mississippi. It had always been a ‘dream job’ of mine to work alongside the many critters which found themselves amongst the forests which dotted our beautiful state.
Being a conservation officer, I was always skeptical of the creepy stories and folklore concerning the wildlife people had passed down through generations. A Bigfoot here, a chupacabra there, it didn’t make too much of a difference to me anyways, not that any of it was real to begin with.
Well I didn’t think it was.
After years of schooling and various courses, all draining my wallet and any hope of a comfortable future, I was finally assigned to an outpost deep in the woodlands of the Delta National Forest. This particular forest was well renowned for its swampy wetlands, many of the Ranger outposts being set up on stilts to avoid flooding. I loved every second of it, they even allowed me to set up a small tent near our outpost where I could sleep during my off hours. You could say I truly lived the outdoorsman lifestyle.
Most of my job consisted of driving around in a side by side, patrolling the various trails which veined there way throughout the park. A fallen tree here or there might have needed moved out of the way, sometimes I was tasked with inspecting visitors boating equipment and enforcing the fishing laws. Certain fish are endangered, so they had to be protected accordingly. All in all, the job was everything I wanted it to be and more. I loved being outside.
Now I can’t get far enough away.
I still remember when the first report rolled in of a ‘Deerquake’, as they called it. Most mornings followed a pretty strict routine, so when the Chief assigned Samantha and I to check out the site where the report originated, I was taken aback. Despite my suspicions of yet another bullshit folklore story, we set out in the side by side that rainy Thursday morning.
It was only just the beginning.
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“Bring that with us, too”, I said, gesturing towards the hunting rifle which leaned against the wall of the outpost. Samantha quickly walk-jogged over to the rifle and laid it in the bed of our ATV. Samantha was one of the new hires at the outpost, always aimed to please, quick to follow instructions. That’s how all the newbies started out.
“We got everything else?”, she asked, hopping into the vehicle and sifting through the glovebox. Ordinarily we would only bring a flare gun with us on our expeditions, but this felt different. After a few minutes of confirming that we had the necessary equipment and a good amount of ammunition, we set off.
I was also taken aback by the fact that they sent me out with Samantha, especially considering the circumstances. Standing at a just under five feet tall, she couldn’t have weighed any more than 100 pounds. Not exactly my definition of solid back up, but I considered it a compliment to my skills that they trusted me with such a rookie.
We road in silence for a while, taking in the lush scenery as we passed it by. It never got old.
“You got the map?”, finally, the silence was broken by Samantha. She had begun sifting through the glovebox again, but to no avail.
“Yeah, right here”, I responded, tapping the side of my head a few times. I chuckled a bit though she looked annoyed, rolling her eyes at me in response. I reached down in the pocket of my jeans and brought the old, tattered map into view.
“Seriously though, here it is, I’ve got the zone marked off in red”, I continued, handing the decrepit piece of paper to her. When you’ve gone through this park as many times as I had, you don’t really need a map to know what you’re looking for. The red X on the map was located in the South-Easternmost part of our park, a major spot for fishing known as Bead Lake.
Another perk of working here for so long was that I had memorized all the short cuts, we’d be there in twenty minutes at most.
For reference, the Ranger outpost stood in a busy camping spot in the northernmost region of the park, most expeditions and/or complaints came from around this area, which made this mission all the more unusual.
“Did they brief you on any of this, all they really told me was about some feral deer or something”, Samantha piped up over the downpour of heavy rain, each passing tree seemed to dump a tsunamis worth of rainwater on us. I tried to stifle a laugh as I thought back to what the Chief had told me, about the ‘Deerquake’.
“Well, apparently some fisherman had felt a tremor and had supposedly seen deer pop up out of the ground where the quake was coming from… they were probably high on crack or something”, I said, my voice cracking as I failed to negate my laughter. The corners of Samanthas lips curled into a soft smile, though I could see a tinge of anxiety in her expression.
“It’s really nothing I’m sure, it’s totally ridiculous”, I tried to comfort her, though I recall the chief telling me that the fisherman remarked that the deer were entirely wrong. Something about there eyes being black as coal, there bodies twisted and mangled, bones exposed as they stood up on there hind legs and gave chase to them. Again, I’m not one to fall for superstitions, though I couldn’t help but shiver a bit at his description.
The rain was now falling with such ferocity that it was hard to make out exactly where we were, I decided to pull off underneath a large tree for a bit of cover and to study the map. I took the map from Samantha and gave it a once over, quickly studying the various lines and markings which were illustrated on the note.
“We’re about five minutes out, get ahold of that flare gun and grab some extra shells for the rifle”, I said, thumbing at the box of munitions. A wave of adrenaline began to course its way through my veins, a faint feeling of being watched had begun to wash over. I pulled at my beard and twisted the thick of it around my finger, as I usually do when I’m nervous.
“I swear I see way more deer out today than usual”, Samantha wasn’t helping my cause whatsoever. I turned the key over and the side by side hesitantly came back to life, the wear and tear they endured quickly catching up to the lack of maintenance.
The sunshine had just begun to peak out from beyond the horizon, lighting our way a little better, though the storm clouds kept us in relative darkness. As we rolled past a massive boulder, a weathered, wooden post with a sign signaled that we were near.
BEAD LAKE // NO CAMPING PERMITTED
As I gazed into the rear view, I noticed a figure standing, hunched over, behind the boulder. As my eyes met its being, its head snapped directly towards me.
My heart dropped and breathing began to intensify. I stomped on the brakes and reached into the bed of the ATV, pulling the rifle out of its casing.
“What the hells going on!”, Samantha cried out, oblivious to the creature which stood no less than a hundred feet behind us. I simply yelled at her to hand me the box of munitions, which she presented after a moment of fumbling the box around. After loading the rifle up, the first time I’d ever had to on one of my expeditions, I turned around and took aim.
The creature was gone.
My breaths came in quick, ragged successions. After a minute or two of holding the rifle in place, I finally relaxed and sighed, lowering the firearm downward.
“Fuck!”, I yelled out before breaking into a fit of maniacal laughter. I had to be seeing things, there was just no way the thing I had seen was real.
“What, what?”, Samantha was on the brink of collapse, her skin as pale as a ghost. I’m sure mine was too.
“It’s nothing, I’m just seeing shit… everyone’s got me all freaked out”, I pressed the safety button on the rifle and threw it down in the bed. Samantha remained deadly silent. We rode in the quietness, save for the pouring rain, for the rest of the trip to Bead Lake.
When we reached the docks of Bead Lake, I was so hesitant to step out of the ATV, so afraid that something would grab my ankle and pull me down into the depths. I would be lying if I said that my eyes were playing tricks on me. I know what I saw.
I slung the rifle around my shoulder and signaled for Samantha to stay close behind me. I can still feel that creature watching us, its dark, beady eyes boring into our souls.
That thing, that being, which stood, stooped behind the boulder was no longer a deer of any species I’d ever seen. I shivered as I thought of the massive, cavernous hole which was ripped along the length of its rib cage, exposing the bleached bone. A large red and orange mushroom sprouted from its eyeball, the other eye was as black as the night sky. It stood as though it was one of us, on its hind legs.
I have a feeling that those fisherman weren’t as strung out as I initially thought.