A loud, violent bang of metal against something large. The screech of tires and the car coming to a halt as I slammed the brakes and jolted upright, my blood running cold and my heart sinking in my chest. I stared out at the country back-roads through my windshield, the only illumination in the area from my headlights, the only sounds that of my quiet radio and the gentle rumble of the car engine. I sat in stunned silence for a second, my attention drawn to the few flecks of blood visible on the glass before me.
Then, there came a long, pained groan from the front of my vehicle, high pitched and throaty. I swore under my breath as I sat up taller in my seat, trying to see what lay in front of my hood. I caught a glimpse of a large deer, laid on its side and weakly kicking at the air. Opening my car door, I stepped out into the cold night air and closed it behind me while I took tentative steps around to get a better look.
The animal was in a horrible state. I could see it was bleeding from its head, its body dented inward and three of its legs mangled. One was barely hanging on by a few strips of skin and muscle, flopping limply. I could see the vapour from its breath as it writhed in agony, giving a weak cry every few seconds. The blood around it formed a gradually larger puddle as it struggled against the apparent pain, reflecting bright in the headlights.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I didn’t see you, I didn’t see!”
I muttered my apology without thinking, and it seemed for a second that the deer stopped struggling and looked me in the eyes, its battered chest rising and falling sporadically.
My gaze turned to the vehicle, the hood of which was badly damaged and steaming. Blood and tufts of fur stuck to the grill, which was busted out of shape. I was still a ways from home, but I wasn’t sure about driving it in that condition. What was I supposed to do then? Who do I call? For the deer, or my car for that matter? The animal clearly wasn’t going to make it, I didn’t need a vet to tell me that… I looked around in disbelief, my hands coming to hold my head. I had never been in an accident like this. Why did it have to happen tonight, and here? There were no streetlights on this road, with farmland to one side and woods on the other.
Another yell of pain came from the injured animal, taking my attention back to it. I gave my own stressed groan, venting some of my anxiety as I reluctantly knelt down a couple of feet from the doe, one hand on my car. At that point my free hand shot up to cover my mouth and nose, as a horrific stench hit my senses. I nearly gagged, choking on the offensive smell of rot that wafted my way. Was that the smell of the deer? Was it already sick before I’d hit it? Should I just put it out of its misery? It was clearly suffering horribly. As I watched it struggle, tears forming in my eyes from both the abject sadness of the scenario and the foul smell, I looked past the dying animal to the side of the road. I hoped I might spot a large rock, anything that might help spare the thing further pain, and myself from having to hear any more of those haunting agonised whines while awaiting help…
As I scanned across the edges of the road, I stopped and froze. Just at the boundary of the dark treeline, was a pair of eyes. Upon realising this, I did everything I could to remain perfectly still, because they were unmistakably locked upon me. I could tell - it knew, that I knew, it was there. That thought scared me for some reason, almost more than the fact that some strange creature was stalking me in the middle of the night. The deer whined, thrashing a little, which caused the thing to change its focus. I took the opportunity to move back a single step, but as my heart raced in my chest, I feared that sudden moves would provoke it. If it was a bear, it could easily run me down, even break into my car. It seemed to be about that size judging from where the eyes were, if it were on all fours. I didn’t have a gun or anything that would help me defend myself. I would be at its mercy.
Even so, it still seemed to be captivated by the deer, which showed signs of slowing movement. Its cries were little more than breathy huffs, as blood bubbled from its lips and its head sat lazily on the asphalt road. It was surreal. I was sat there in my own headlights, watching this dying creature in the company of another, like it was some kind of sick show that the two of us were obliged to watch. Was it something karmic, that I had to wait and view the full consequences of my careless mistake?
These thoughts kept my head busy, as the two orbs of the watcher kept focus on the cervine victim. I tried my best to squint my eyes, to adjust to the darkness and make out more of what the creature dwelling on the edges of the shadowy forest might be. The eyes seemed to glow ever-so-slightly, and had a tinge of yellow to their colour. I couldn’t make out any pupils, or the shape of the head beyond something that looked like it might be a snout.
I jumped when the deer made its final sound, a long, drawn-out wheeze, that would prove to be its death-rattle. It lay still, then, bloody tongue slightly lolled out, legs limp. I wasn’t sure what this would mean for me, but I felt horrible that the creature had suffered the way it did. Such a long, drawn-out death, full of pain and fear… My fullest attention was brought back to the creature on the side of the road when it made its first real movement since I’d noticed its presence- simply, tilting its head. The motion seemed inquisitive, yet was accompanied by the sound of creaking and soft cracking, like stiff bones finally in motion. I swallowed hard, finding my throat sore and tight. My eyes stung from lack of blinking, which the creature itself had yet to do either. When I finally did, a quick deliberate motion to squeeze my eyes shut, it seemed to have prompted movement.
It wasn’t a bear. I don’t know what it could have been, but it wasn’t natural. It was some kind of abomination. Its head gradually emerged first, the dark outline of a humanoid face with an extended jaw, arms much-too long that reached forward in a slow, methodical fashion to allow it to creep towards me without jerky or fast movement. Each inch was painfully deliberate, the thing getting closer to the beam of the headlights, allowing me to make out more and more of its form. It’s skin was almost entirely a pallid yet dark grey, its body a distended, sickly-thin structure ending at the base of a spine and continuing into a boney tail, each hand and foot having only three digits, and greasy, stringy black hair upon its almost canine head that hung about its shoulders and back.
My lips parted as I trembled in place, my hand still upon the car which I felt like holding onto as some sort of life-line, the only real thing around me in that moment. The otherworldly smell of rot grew stronger the closer it got, sour and deathly. I felt like throwing up, from both fear and disgust, as it neared the side of the car opposite from me. Its eyes were on me for a brief moment, as mine filled once again with tears from the sickening smell, before it turned its head to the body of the deer. One spindly arm reached forward, steadily approaching, before finally entering the cone of light from my car. The skin of the hand appeared leathery and wet, with each of the three fingers ending in a black claw, almost like vulture talons. It prodded the doe, once then twice, awaiting any kind of reaction, but it was clear that the animal was now dead, the body lifeless.
I considered trying to slip around the side of the car. I thought about sneaking away, seeing if there was any chance my engine still worked, so that I could drive away and never take this road again. But I couldn’t shake the thought that I was within arms reach of this thing- if it decided I was a target, it could easily lurch over the hood and grab me, and the way its movements were all so slow and careful, it was like it was saving energy, and so had plenty to spare for me…
But then, the claws reached for the deer’s head. They came to the face of the animal, one sharp digit lifting its eyelid open as far as it would go, before the other two suddenly dug their way into the socket with a sick, wet squelching, twisting as they pried the ball from its socket, then pulled back roughly enough to bring a long line of dangling pink nerves that once connected to the brain. I felt my stomach churning, bile at the back of my throat in response to the gruesome display, but it was far from over. The monster brought the eye to its mouth, which opened all at once with an additional wave of sheer stench, to reveal far too many eerily human teeth, lining the extended jaws. The canines were sharp, almost serrated, standing out from the rest. It slipped the eyeball onto its long black tongue, and as the jaws closed the muscle pushed the organ between the flatter of its teeth, causing it to briefly strain against the pressure, before popping into loose goo, bursting like a ripe tomato.
I vomited, the smell of death and decay from its open maw along with the sickening display of its picky scavenging too much for me to endure, and so I emptied the contents of my gut down beside the tire as I let out a sobbing noise, coughing, prompting the creature to glance up at me briefly, before turning back to its meal. In one quick movement, it stabbed its claw into the deer’s stomach, then split it open with eerie precision, causing blood, intestines and loose organs to spill forth. I wiped my mouth and nose, eyes wide and shaking, but now armed with the knowledge that it wasn’t interested in me, at least for now. Even still, I couldn’t take my eyes off the sight of it, as it forced ribs apart to get to vitals protected beneath, pulling them out and eating them like a gourmand. I took one step back, then another, moving away from the gory feast, until-
A loud violent bang of metal against something large. The zoom of the car continuing on without stopping, as I am weightless for a moment, stunned and unable to comprehend what was happening, before hitting ground with a hefty thud. My finger twitches, and my mouth opens, only for me to give a breathless whimper of agony as it finally sets in. I felt dizzy. I couldn’t move my legs, could barely shift my arms, and any other motion brought overwhelming pain. Tears streamed freely down my face and onto the cold road, which gradually warmed with traces of my blood. My chest rose and fell with shallow inhales and unsteady exhales. I could taste copper on my lips, as I stared up at the night sky. Surely the person who hit me would stop, right? I told myself this, even as I could no longer hear the sound of their vehicle.
I glanced to my side from where I lay, and could see the partially butchered corpse of the deer, and past it in the darkness, the creature. It had slunk back into the shadows, but was approaching once more. It titled its head as it looked at me, till it matched the angle at which I lay. This would be how I died, I realised. I would expire on this road in the cold, and be eaten by whatever this was. I wondered if there would be anything left of me when it was over. Would people just find my abandoned car, battery dead, with no sign of my body? Would I be another missing person’s case?
It felt like I’d laid there for an hour. Gradually growing colder, paler, subjected to the ungodly stench and sight of the grisly feast, as piece by piece the deers organs and limbs were crushed between the teeth of the scavenger and swallowed. Every now and then it would look at me whilst eating, as if trying to tell if I was dead yet. I would blink in response, and it would turn its focus back to the meal. At one point I passed out, and I thought that was the end. I thought in that moment, there was nothing left of me. But then, a sharp prodding sensation woke me, causing me to breathe frantically for a moment and grunt a moan of pain and discomfort as I blinked back to consciousness, and watched the monster shuffle back past the headlights. I glanced to the deer, of which there was little more left than a broken spine and skull. It had eaten marrow from bone, and swallowed some parts of the skeleton whole.
Looking back up to the monster, its eyes were soundly on me. It was a staring contest, as I fought to stay awake, to stay alive. I was thankful for what pain I could feel, as it was the main thing keeping me conscious, even as the cold numbed me further. I didn’t want to die, and sheer willpower and fear was what was keeping me from succumbing to my injuries. If I ever became unresponsive, the scavenger would surely devour me. I fought as hard as I could, forcing my eyes back open whenever they became lidded. I would even intentionally try to move, knowing it would bring another wave of hurt, just to shock myself back to lucidity. With my extreme injuries and the concussion I surely had, however, it wasn’t enough. After what may have been only minutes, or perhaps as long as hours, the darkness took me once more.
Did you know that most knockouts last for less than a minute? If it lasts much longer than that, it’s very likely permanent damage was done to the brain. It’s apparently the same with fainting. It doesn’t last long…
Suddenly my vision returned, though with a stinging sensation and tinge of red. My eyes gradually found focus, seeing a dark blurry shape through the crimson haze, before I felt the sharpness upon my brow, holding my eye open. The creature was right upon me, its bloody hands on my face, inches from blinding me permanently. I tried to muster the energy to scream, to try to fight, but it wasn’t from me that the sound ultimately came. The scream of an ambulance siren and its flashing lights rushed towards us, and in one swift motion, the scavenger released me. It fled towards the darkness, disappearing into the night. As the white and red van stopped and a pair of paramedics rushed to my side, asking questions and preparing a stretcher, I gave in once more to a sleep my body had been craving.
After waking in the hospital, I was informed the driver who struck me had called an ambulance. Since that night, I have been making a gradual recovery from the physical injuries I sustained, and with enough therapy I’ll be able to walk again.. I did try to explain what had happened to those around me, but they are chalking it up to my head injuries. The infected scar on my eyebrow tells me otherwise. I don’t know if I’ll ever drive again, but I definitely won’t be going anywhere near that road for as long as I live.
Just be careful out there, I suppose. Try not to become roadkill.