It was the worst blizzard since 1975 here in Wisconsin, they are calling it the storm of the century. The blizzards here are brutal. A few years ago there was one so bad that traffic came to a dead stop. After being on that frozen highway all night, I try to hunker down when there’s a blizzard. Just me and my German Shepard, Max.
We’ve mostly been watching movies to pass the time. Then suddenly, right in the middle of watching The Godfather, I heard a knock at my door. Max went ballistic, this was an unusual reaction from him. It startled me. My house is pretty secluded off a remote highway so I don’t get many visitors, even in good weather. Leaving me to wonder who’s out at 10:00 pm in this weather. I grabbed my pistol and tucked it in my waistband before heading to the door.
“Who’s out there?” I asked. After a brief moment of silence, I got a reply.
“Hey there, My names Carl. My truck slid off the highway a couple miles back. I came out here looking for shelter. Do you mind if I stay here?” I watched Carl through the peephole before responding. I couldn’t tell what, but something about him just seemed off. Something wasn’t quite right about him. I brushed it off. I figured I’d probably look a little odd after walking a couple miles through a tundra.
“Alright, get in here Carl.” I said opening the door for him. The wind outside was howling, making it tough to shut the door behind him. Max really went postal at Carl when he entered. Max was usually a little weary of strangers, but once I’d invite them in he would settle down. Except that didn’t happen this time. I tried to calm him down but I couldn’t. I decided it would be best put him in the bedroom for a while. When I came back out, Carl was taking his snow covered coat off.
“You got real lucky Carl. There’s a lot of less trusting folk around here. Sorry bout the dog. He’s not usually like that…”
“Thanks,” Carl said shivering.
“Hey, what are you doin’ out driving around in the second day of this storm? You should’ve stayed home. Real dangerous to be goin’ out for anything in weather like this.”
“My power went out. I was trying to make it to my brother’s house, but it probably wasn’t my best idea.” He seemed to be telling the truth, as far as I could tell, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something off about this guy. Max was still going crazy in the other room, it was starting to concern me.
“Alright. Do you want some coffee to warm you up?” I asked, he nodded his head in response. When I turned around to pour him a cup, all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I knew there was something off with this guy but I couldn’t tell what. I’m just being paranoid I tried to reassure myself as I handed him the mug. I hit play on the movie and it started playing again in the background. As Carl held the warm mug in his hands, I watched him intently. My phone vibrated, it was an emergency alert that read-
“WARNING DO NOT LET ANY STRANGERS INTO YOUR HOUSE.
Murderer out pretending to seek refuge from storm.”
I looked back up to Carl. He sat there just looking at his mug. I started to walk to the other room.
“Everything okay?” He asked.
“Yeah I just gotta grab something real quick.” I opened the door to the bedroom where Max was and grabbed my shotgun. Max followed me back to the kitchen barking as we approached Carl. I racked the shotgun loading a slug into the chamber.
“Hands up, and turn around slowly” I ordered. He sat there for a moment before moving. He stood up and turned around looking me in the eye.
“Whats this all about?” he asked innocently
“Its time for you to leave”
“Please no… I’ll freeze”
“I’m sorry but you need to leave. Now.” It was in that moment Carl smiled. That’s when I realized what was off about him. His mouth had too many teeth… Way too many teeth. They were sharp and jagged. Then he charged at me, he was quick. Almost too quick, I just barely had time to pull the trigger before he reached me. The shot knocked him to the floor and left a large hole in his chest, But no blood came out.
He looked back up at me and grinned even wider now as he tried to get up. I fired again leaving a hole in his skull, but it was clear to me that the shotgun wasn’t gonna stop this guy for long. I ran to the door, slid on my boots, and ran.
Max followed close behind. As I hopped on my snowmobile, he hopped onto my sled in the back. We took off. I zipped through the woods. The snow was deep and I was getting pelted in the face by snow and twigs. We didn’t make it too far before I hit something and lost control. I flew through the air and into a tree.
I woke up to Max trying to drag me by my coat. I struggled to get up. My head was spinning and I was running off sheer adrenaline. I made it to my feet and I could hear twigs snapping in the distance behind me. Max and I took off running through the woods. It was difficult with well over a foot of snow on the ground. My lungs burned and my legs felt like jello, but we pressed on, unsure of how close that thing was. After what felt like hours, we came to a clearing. I could see a light in the distance. It was a house. I felt a sense of relief as we ran towards it.
When we got to the house I pounded on the door. “Please help” I yelled out. After a few long moments, the door opened. Suddenly, there was a gun in my face. Max started growling. “Quiet” I told him, and he settled down. I pleaded with the man in the doorway. “Please help me, I let that thing into my house. I let it into my house! Its not human…” the man didn’t lower his gun before responding.
“I heard about you on the news. Get outta here before I shoot you!”
“No, please! You don’t understand, I let him in my house! He almost got ME!”
“Go now and take your friend back there with you!”
I turned around to see that thing approaching. “No no no no! That’s that thing that’s killin people! Watch this.” I pull my pistol out of my waistband and fire 3 shots into its chest. It keeps approaching, unfazed with a wicked grin on its face. “You see that? That things not human. Please help me!” I pleaded with him.
“Alright get in here. Quick!” He replied quickly. I looked out the door as Max entered behind me, to see it getting even closer.
“What do we do? What do we do!?!?”
“Well shooting it doesn’t seem to do much to it. Maybe its like a Wendigo, and we need to burn it” He starts grabbing various bottles of liquor from a cabinet and starts pouring them on the floor in a circle around his living room. “We’ll lure the bastard into the circle and once he’s in we’ll light him up like a Christmas tree.”
Suddenly the door was ripped from its hinges. We started shooting as it approached with a grotesque smile on its face. The moment it entered the circle, I grabed a burning log from the fireplace. The creatures smile faded quickly as it grimaced. But it was too late for the creature as I threw the burning log on the ground in front of it, setting it ablaze. It made a horrible, ear piercing, screech as it was engulfed in flames. The flames quickly spread, setting the house ablaze. We ran outside to escape the flames. We both collapsed into the snow, coughing from the smoke.
“Sorry about your house,” I said to the man.
“Its alright. I have insurance,” he chuckled back. In that moment, I felt a deep sense of relief, that was quickly interrupted by a man who came out of the forest and said,
“A house fire in a blizzard now that’s just bad luck. Any chance you two have seen my brother Carl?”
he smiled as he approached revealing a mouth full of sharp jagged teeth.