The long rusted gate creaked loudly as it swung open, revealing the fog-filled forest in front of us. Alex smiled at me as he walked back to his truck. I yawned in response. The red letters on his dashboard read 4:33 AM. Hours before I was used to waking up. He opened the driver door and sat inside
.“Alright passenger princess, you mind shutting the gate behind us?” He asked as he slowly rolled the truck through the gate. I rolled my eyes.“Do we seriously have to close it? What are the odds of someone following us in?”
“You obviously don’t know how bad Alabama poachers get. Or what if a game warden rolls up on us?” Alex retorted.
“A game warden? You told me it was all legal hunting Alex,” I yawned again, picking up the coffee from the cupholder and bringing it up to my mouth. It was lukewarm now, and gross.
“Ok fine, we’ll just get to the cabin,” Alex gave up and pressed down on the gas pedal. The road ahead of it was muddy, and it was hard to see anything through the fog. I watched out of the window as we went however, looking to see any deer or other animals leaping through the trees. The cabin itself was only a few minutes away from the gate itself. Seeing it, I was a little disappointed. It was a simplistic white and wooden one-story cabin that looked like nobody had been home in ages. The paint was peeling, vines had taken over the walls, and a window on the right side was broken open entirely. I wondered how many bugs had crawled into it and taken up refuge.
“This is your great family manor?” I questioned Alex as he pulled the truck up to it and parked. He was visibly annoyed looking at it.
“It was once. Until my lazy ass dad stopped taking care of it. I haven’t been up here in like five years.”
“Five years? You didn’t think to tell me that detail before we drove three hours?”
“Eliza, you’re cranky as hell right now. I get you had no sleep but it’s no biggie really. Once we get this place fixed up we can turn into a great party spot,” he said as he turned the truck off and arched around to grab his lever-action rifle and pistol from the back. I shuttered looking at it. I never liked guns at all. Growing up in a poor neighborhood, I was used to hearing them every night. But still, I wanted to impress my new boyfriend. Alex stepped out of the car with his guns and I grabbed the large hunting backpack before stepping out into the cold morning. I shuttered a little as I was ripped out of the heat of the truck. The ground was muddy and wet. Somewhere off the in distance an owl hooted loudly. I looked down at my camouflage jacket and outfit.
“Ew camo is not my color,” I commented. Alex approached the door of the cabin and frowned as he did.
“Goddamnit. The door is cracked open. The whole damn knob is missing!”
“Could be the poachers?” I asked as I walked up to him, observing the decrypted door.
“Honestly, you’re probably right. That’s why my dad stopped coming up here anyway. They were constant on his property. It got to the point where they were just screwing with him, killing animals and leaving them on the property, destroying game cameras.” Hearing this honestly made me a little anxious, so I stepped behind Alex.
“Don’t worry, I don’t think they would actually hurt a human,” he said as he gripped his pistol tightly and pulled the door back. Instantly I was hit with a disgusting smell. Alex must have smelled it too because he cringed. The inside of the cabin itself was a mess. The furniture was splayed out and knocked over. Mold covered the ceiling, and black graffiti had been painted all over the walls. It didn’t look like anything significant, just weird shapes and symbols.
“Damnit, damnit! This place is a mess,” Alex cried out. I noticed a large collection of moonshine bottles on the counter, and some were still full. Behind them, was a giant rock filled with crystals. It piqued my cursory instantly. As did a family portrait of Alex when he was a kid. It made me think about how I wanted them one day, but Alex often said he didn’t feel the same way.
“Probably some drunk teenagers. Why do you have so much moonshine anyway?” I asked.
“Oh, my family used to distill it here.”
“And what’s that crystal rock?”
“The land our property is on and the land around was the site of a meteor crash like a century ago. My grandfather got it as a sort of souvenir…”
“It’s pretty, it would make great jewelry…” My voice trailed as I heard something coming from the other side of the counter. Something that almost sounded like chewing. Alex gave me a concerning look as he raised his pistol. I followed behind him as we approached the sound. We turned the corner and my jaw dropped.
“Oh my God…” Laid out before us was a dead coyote, decaying and covered in maggots. Sitting on top of it was a black tabby, chewing viciously at the corpse. Hearing us, it turned and hissed, maggots falling from its own face. Its black fur had been stained by blood. Alex aimed the gun at it, but the cat jumped up to the counter and sprinted out of the window. I felt bile run up my throat as I looked back down at the coyote.
“That’s actually the nastiest thing I have ever seen in my life,” I turned around.
“I know, I know. But that’s nature. Look, I’ll drag it outside but we can’t spend any more time cleaning it now. We gotta get in the deer stand before sunrise.” I nodded and walked away, looking back one last time as Alex hesitantly grabbed the mangled leg and started to drag it to the front door. Looking around the cabin, a feeling of unease hit me. I was starting to have second thoughts about hunting, especially if the deer I killed was gonna end up like the coyote. Once Alex had dragged it outside, we made our way to the shed out back. There was a large magnolia tree, with what looked like Native American dreamcatchers hanging from the branches. On top of the tree, several ravens watched us.
“I don’t remember those being there,” Alex commented on the dream catchers. Once we got his four wheeler out of the shed, we drove off to the Greenfield where Alex said the most deer were seen. It was only a couple of minutes away from the cabin. It wasn’t a stand, but rather a shooting house up about 15 feet high on the side of a pine tree. Ahead of it was about 100 yards of empty space. The ladder shook as I climbed it, but Alex reassured me the shooting house was safe and secure. The inside was just as run down as the cabin. It was filled with spiderwebs and large black spiders that scurried away into the shadows as we sat down on the cold steel chairs. Alex handed me his rifle. I moved it up and down in my arms. It was lighter than I expected.
“Alright now this is a Browning .308 lever action. You got only 4 rounds, so don’t miss Eliza. Safety is right there next to the trigger. Oh and put these in before you shoot so your ears ain’t ringing.” He handed me two orange ear plugs. I nervously nodded as I grabbed them from him. But as I did, I noticed something else in the hunting back. I reached down and swiftly grabbed the matches and pack of cigarettes.
“Alex, I thought we talked about you quitting,” I gave him a stern look. He looked down.
“I’m sorry, but you’re not the boss of me. I only smoke a few a week now, just when I’m bored,” he talked fast. I rolled my eyes and dropped them back in the backpack.
“You need to quit, that shit will be the death of you.” It didn’t take long for the deer to come to the field, less than an hour in fact. At first it was just two does. But then, two bucks followed out after. One wasn’t that impressive, just a simple six point. But the other one was stranger than any deer I had ever seen. It approached the other three deer last, slowly walking from the treeline. But the way it walked, it was almost like a limp. The deer’s legs almost seemed double-jointed. It only had one antler too, one that was wide and taller than any I had seen. Right away, it looked to the shooting house, like it was staring right at us.
“I think that one sees us,” I whispered to Alex.“Just move slowly. Don’t go for that one. Go for the six-point. It’s good enough for your first kill,” He whispered back. I nodded, put my earplugs in, and slowly raised the rifle up after, putting the butt in my shoulder as my hands shook.
“Make sure you don’t lean to close into the scope or you’ll cut your forehead,” Alex said to me, but I could barly hear him. I pushed my blonde hair back behind my head and leaned forward, but not too much. The gun was resting on the window, but I couldn’t keep it still. The scope swayed back and forth across the chest of the oblivious buck. Closing my left eye, I took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. The rifle kicked back as thunder cracked through the morning. But, the bullet didn’t hit. Before I could say anything, the one-antlered deer suddenly charged the six point, impaling it hard in the ribs.
“What the hell!” Alex shouted, taking the rifle from me. The limp buck turned back to face us as the doe fled off into the woods, blood dripping from its antler. Within a second it was running right at us.
“Alex!” I yelled. He brought the rifle up to his own shoulder and fired two times as it charged, but both bullets hit the dirt next to the charging buck. Once it arrived at the shooting house, it looked up at us with eyes that looked more human than deer. Alex leaned out over the shooting house and fired one last time, hitting the deer square in the back. But the deer barely flinched, standing up on its hind legs. Chills ran down my spine.
“What the hell” Alex yelled. Reached down in the hunting backpack for the pistol. I watched in horror as the slimy pink tongue of the buck fell from its mouth and extended to the tree. Bark cracked as it wrapped the grey tongue around the tree and slithered up to the house. Alex grabbed the pistol out, but it was too late. I let out a scream as the tongue ripped into the shooting house and grabbed his leg, pulling him back out with a yell. I tried to jump and grab him, but the grip was too strong and he slipped through my hands. Covering my mouth, I watched in shock as the buck slammed him down into the ground over and again, bones cracking as he screamed in pain. Mud and blood flew up in the air as I reached down and grabbed the pistol myself.
“Stoppp it!” I yelled and unloaded the clip into the belly of the deer. After a few more slams into the ground, the deer stopped. It opened its mouth as it looked down at his limp body. But the mouth began to spread, as its throat and chest opened up like a zipper, revealing rows of hums-looking teeth. Alex let out one last scream as the creature devoured him in one bite.
“What the fuck, what the fuck!” I cried out, head swiveling around the shooting house. I didn’t know what to do, I was out of ammo in the pistol. The tongue was wrapping once more around the tree. I grabbed a knife from the hunting backpack, ready to defend myself as much as I could. But this time the creature didn’t pull me down. Instead, it tightened its grip on the tree until there was a large crack. The hunting knife slipped from my hand as I went airborne and the tree tipped over. Within a second I slammed into the padding on the side of the shooting house, sharper pain than anything I had experienced running through my arm. The padding had cushioned my fall, but the knife had lodged into my left shoulder. With the door spilled open, I didn’t stop to think about it. After grabbing the hunting bag with my good arm, adrenaline carried me out in a sprint to the ATV, in which Alex had left the keys. I started it up and drove back to the cabin without looking back, the creature still in my head. I felt for my phone and pulled it out, but saw it had been shattered in the fall.
“What is going, am I in some kinda nightmare?” I cried out, tears running down my cheek. But the pain running down my arm was all too real, just like Alex’s scream had been. Once the cabin came in sight, the ATV started to die out and sputter. But it wasn’t because I was planning on stopping. The meter on the fuel gauge was at E.
“Damnit…” I uttered looking around frantically. I eyed the truck first and made a run for it. But as a reached the driver door, I remembered the keys were still with Alex
.“Think Eliza, think…” In the back of the pickup truck, something caught my eye. A can of gasoline. I remembered the box of matches in the backpack I still had,
“Bullets won’t kill that bastard, but fire might…” I reached out for the canister, but there was a sudden rush of footsteps. Something slammed hard into the other side of the truck, causing it to tip over as a scrambled backwards with a gasp. The gas canister and other tools went flying out into the mud as I landed on my back. I reached out to grab it, but a massive hove crushed it. I looked up in fear to see the creature looming above me. It lurched forward and tried to step on me, but I slid on the mud out of the way. Once again I was on my feet and running, this time to the cabin. As soon I was inside I shut the door behind me. But there was no knob to keep it shut. Seeing a nearby moldy couch, I bent down and pushed into it with my good arm, barricading the door. I looked out the window to the titled over truck to see the creature was back on its hind legs, and just staring at me through the window.
As soon as I made eye contact with it, it squatted down. I watched in disgust as a human fetus covered in black slime plopped out from between its legs.
“Oh my God…”The fetus started to twitch, started to spasm and expand. It was growing. And within only a few seconds, it was a full-grown adult, still covered in the black slime. It wasn’t just any adult either, it was Alex. Eyes glazed over, he looked to me and smiled a bit too widely. I was frozen in shock as he stampeded to the cabin, picking up a machete from beside the flipped-over truck.“Alex? Is that you?” I called out weakly. But I knew deep down it wasn’t. I reached up to the knife still lodged in my shoulder and almost pulled it out for self-defense. But I stopped, knowing it would leave me to possibly bleed out. There was a crash as Alex slammed the machete into the cabin door, causing the wood to splinter. I jumped back.
“Why don’t you come out here so I can slit your throat you fucking bitch?” Alex taunted me.
“Fuck you!” I screamed back. Alex leaned back and let out a howl of laughter. The creature, looming by the truck behind him, laughed too. Black goo oozed out of its mouth. It was not a human laugh. I heard a third source of laughter come from behind me, and saw something move in the shadows. There was a flash of black that launched at me. I put my hands up to catch the blood-soaked cat, which laughing just as ravenously as Alex and the creature. As soon as I did, it opened its mouth and let out a projectile of blood in my face as it scratched at my arms, shredding the jacket. I slammed it into the ground and stomped until it stopped moving. Another crash revealed Alex was almost all the way through the door.
“Stupid bitch, never doing what I say,” he hissed. Shaking, I looked around the cabin for something to defend myself with. There was a crack, and glass exploded to the left of me. The creature had smashed the window with its hove and was now trying to lean into the cabin. First I almost reached for the rock on the counter or a kitchen knife. But then, I had a better idea.“The moonshine bottles,” I whispered. Alex was almost all the way through the door. I picked up the bottles and started throwing them at the couch and him, causing them to break and the alcohol to go everywhere. There was a slither as the grey tongue crept around the counter and grabbed my leg. I bent down and grabbed the matchbox out of the backpack just as it yanked me, causing me to fall forward and hit the floor hard. Alex laughed once more as I slid across the wood. I responded by lighting the match and throwing it at the couch. There was an eruption of fire as Alex let out a scream. I felt the grip on my leg let go and turned around to see The Creature was also on fire, same as the dead cat.
They’re all connected, I thought. I stood up as the fire rapidly started to spread around the cabin. The black symbols on the wall were melting, landing in puddles. But it wasn’t paint, rather the same kind of goo that had covered Alex. And it looked like it was moving with intention. With the only door now on fire, I looked for another exit. But the flames had already reached the other windows except for the one that was already cracked. Clenching my teeth I charged into it, shattering the remaining glass and hitting the ground with a roll. I let out a yelp of pain as the hunting knife came unloaded, causing blood to squirt out. Standing up, I looked behind me to see the black goo was now leaking out of the flaming cabin, and uniting into one giant puddle that started to swirl.
“The gas canister.”
I made a limp sprint to the truck and picked it up, noticing a shotgun inside the back passenger seat of the truck on the ground. As hard as I could, I tossed the canister into the black goo. It landed in it with a splat. The goo was now rising, taking the shape of something imposing. Fighting all the pain in my body, I lifted myself onto the flipped-over truck and reached down into it to grab the shotgun. Just as I popped back out, the tall column of black goo started to lurch for me like a wave. I eyed the orange canister, raised the shotgun, and fired. There was an explosion of orange as I was knocked back off of the truck.
When I came too, it was raining. I jumped up looking at the puddle of blood I had been lying in. I was dizzy, tired, and my left arm had gone limp. The cabin was now a smoldering pile of wood and ashes. The Creature that had changed my entire life in just one morning was nowhere in sight.