"Sam, are you ready to go?" Vicky yelled through the house.
I was running late. My wife, Vicky, was trying to get me out the door on time; she usually had to. I had stayed up all night instead of going to sleep like I often would have. I worked the night shift security last night.
"Yeah, just let me get my boots on real quick." I pulled my shoes on as she continued to talk.
"Your parents said everyone's coming at 5 o'clock, we need to hurry," she urged like she always did. She knew I was usually a tad late to things.
My Mom and Dad had my two sisters, their husbands, my brother, his wife, and all of my nieces and nephews coming home for a big cookout. We usually had something like this at one of our houses pretty often. We were all very close and loved spending time with each other when we could. When we were younger, my sisters, my brother, and I didn't always get along, just like any other group of siblings. Still, it seemed like once we all graduated from high school, we all just clicked.
I ran out of the bedroom and swiped my wallet and keys from the kitchen counter. I walked past Vicky, "I can't wait on you all day. Let's go!" I mocked her.
She was sitting at the kitchen table on her phone as I passed. She glared at me quickly when I blamed her, and then she grabbed a whole orange from the bowl of fruit in front of her and hurled it at me. It crashed into the wall by my head just after I dodged out of the way.
"Me…?" she exclaimed. "I've been waiting on you," she laughed.
I laughed, "Damn, that orange juice got everywhere." I stared as I was envisioning ants seeping in from outside to collect that sweet, sweet bounty. I started to reach for a rag.
She ran up on me and started pushing me into the wall, playfully, "No time, we gotta go, we gotta go."
"Okay, okay. Let's go," I relented. "If we get ants, I'm blaming you."
We both laughed as we got in the truck.
"I'm so glad you got off work tonight. I thought there was no way they'd let you have a night off," Vicky sang.
I work for a family-owned construction company. I got in with their company through the owner's son, Ben. My brother and I were friends with Ben since we were in middle school. Then I had worked my way up the company as quickly as I could. I learned as much as I possibly could so I could be very versatile, in hopes of avoiding layoffs. I usually didn't have the late shift, but the night security guard had just quit, so I had been the standby for about a week. I had bounced around to almost every position and all the different crews over the years since we had graduated from high school. So, I knew what to do in most situations. The company was very successful, and I, thankfully, enjoyed those benefits in ways most people my age did not.
I slowly worked my way up to where I was. I was the assistant day supervisor of our crew, alongside my friend Ben. We grew up in school together, were best friends all through high school, and have stayed friends over the years. Vicky and I usually met up with Ben and one of his passing girlfriends that he cycled through every weekend. We were good friends… and he was going nowhere. Our families were practically intertwined.
"I hate it when you work the night shift. It throws everything off," Vicky huffed as she adjusted her seat to fit her comfort needs for the short trip to my parents.
I hated it too. I didn't like having to sleep all the next day when I got off, but thankfully, it wasn't my typical gig. I just had to suck it up and take one for the team. I knew it was the little things like this that made the higher-ups favor me even more and keep on pushing me up the ladder. Those "higher-ups" being Ben's parents, who had known me since I was a young little asshole that shot guns and blew shit up on their property with their son since I was just a middle schooler.
"It's just for a little while, Vick. They're holding interviews tomorrow with a few of the guys who know the position. They'll probably have a new guy first thing tomorrow, and they'll be back to normal."
"I hope so. You work too hard as it is," Vicky said. "You sure they're not going to try and stick you there permanently?"
I laughed, "No, I've done my time. That would be what we-in-the-biz call a de-motion." She cut her eyes at me as I mocked her. "You worry too much."
"Oh, shut up," she jabbed back, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder.
I yawned behind the wheel, fighting back the tiredness in my eyes.
"You sure you're not too tired for this? I didn't wear you out earlier, did I?" she said suggestively.
I let out a hard, short laugh, "No, I'm good."
"Oh… we'll see if you get anything else from me…" Vicky threatened, punching her bony knuckle into my ribs.
"Hey!" I yelped in pain.
"Take it back," she laughed.
"Okay, okay…" I laughed. "I think I might have pulled a hammy… or something."
"That's better. Do you want to try again tonight?" Vicky asked, wiggling her eyebrows jokingly.
"Yes, ma'am. Do you really have to ask?" I chuckled.
Vicky and I had been married for a year. I loved her so much. I would have done anything for her, even work the shitty hours to save up for the life she always talked about; the family she wanted. We had been talking for a couple of months about having kids and just taking the leap forward. She was 24, and I was 23. We were young, sure, but we both wanted kids and thought it was an excellent time to start trying for one. We were both scared in the beginning, but after some talking, we were very excited. We had been trying for a couple of weeks, hoping she would get pregnant soon.
Vicky's shorter than me and has long blonde hair with blue eyes. The majority of her time is usually working at the hospital as a nurse. She loved it there, loved helping people in hard times in their lives. She wanted a little girl, and she wanted her to look exactly like she did, a small version of herself; Mini-Vick.
I wasn't too concerned about boy or girl. I was just ready for anything. I'd be happy with a little girl, Mini-Vick, or a boy, Mini-Me.
I'm taller than most people I meet, not a giant, just above the average range most people fall in. I did a lot of physical labor at work anyway, so I'm usually in pretty good shape, but I still worked out when I could. Plus, I had a lifelong challenger that I always had to physically keep up with. That'd be my twin brother, Seth.
"Let's go pick up a pregnancy test before we go home tonight. Maybe I'll use it in a few days. Who knows, we could get pregnant tonight," Vicky suggested.
Grinning, I said, "That'd be crazy." The thought of having a little baby running around did scare me, but brought me unusual happiness all at the same time. I was excited about the possibilities of being a dad. Though, it did scare the shit out of me more than I'd admit to Vicky.
I drove down the low-lit roads on the outer edges of Dallas, Texas. I realized we needed gas about five minutes away from our house, so I pulled into a little gas station that was my usual fill-up. I ran my card as fast as I could and flipped down the metal tab into the grooves to keep the gas running.
"Hey," Vick chirped out the window, "will you go inside and get me those hard ciders I like? Please?" she begged jokingly. "This might be my last night drinking for a while."
I laughed, "If you hear this pump click off, will you put it up so we can roll once I get back?" I jogged inside the station as she agreed.
Once inside, I was standing at the coolers in the back as I searched for the ciders she wanted. That's when this dude came walking up beside me. He was an average-looking man with a tiredness in his blue eyes. He had light brown hair and he wore a dark pair of jeans, and an even darker leather jacket that looked like it was made from the skin of some ancient beast that was scarred and sewn back together multiple times.
"How's it going?" the stranger asked. He seemed to be looking into the beer cooler as well.
"Oh, you know, just getting some drinks for a family cookout. How 'bout you?" I asked, trying to be courteous through the awkward exchange.
"Family cookout, huh?" he said, looking like he was reminiscing about something. "I haven't had one of those in a long time."
"Oh yeah… that's too bad," I said, unsure of what to say to that. "Sam," I offered, reaching out my hand to shake.
"Jon," he replied, shaking my hand. The look in his eyes was strange… far off or something. "You look like someone I know," he said plainly.
I got this all the time because of my twin brother, "Yeah, my brother and I are identical twins, so maybe you've met him before…"
"Yeah… maybe," Jon said as he continued to look through the beer selection, uninterested. "Well, I think I've seen all I need here. You have a good one, Sam. Family's important, enjoy them as much as you can."
It was a little strange the way he said it, but it was the typical kind of small talk bullshit that you would expect to have with a complete stranger in the beer aisle of a gas station. So, I didn't think much of it after that. I bought Vicky's booze and headed back to the truck.
After about twenty minutes, we were pulling into my parents' driveway. Their house sat on a little over an acre of cleared property that met up with a thick patch of woods so dense you could easily get lost.
As soon as the truck roared into the driveway, we stepped out, and Seth flung open the front door of my parents' house, beer in hand.
"Don't get too crazy, okay?" Vicky requested.
I just laughed, "I won't." I usually did.
My brother and I had a very unique relationship. We were twins. We grew up with each other, always in the presence of one another. We were best friends from the moment we were born. Even in the womb, we had each other. There was no way to describe our relationship; it just was and had always been. No matter how long we went without seeing each other, we always acted like we had only been apart for mere minutes. We love each other in a way we didn't with anyone else, not more or less, just different. I would have thrown my own life away to save his.
Growing up, we would get into these situations in school, with friends, anywhere. Sometimes one of us would do something to get into trouble, like the idiots we were, and the other would take the blame, claim the actions, or whatever. As long as it meant that the other didn't get caught. I know I didn't care what happened to me, but if I saw Seth about to get into trouble for something, I would take the blame no matter what. I just couldn't watch him get caught red-handed doing something he shouldn't have been doing. Maybe that was a bad thing… I don't know.
As soon as we were in melee range, we homed in on one another while my dad and both brothers-in-law watched and laughed by the grill. Vicky just shook her head, smiling as she walked inside.
"Hey, Seth," she said.
"What up, squad?" he joked as Vicky walked inside to join my sisters, mother, and all the kids.
Seth killed the last little bit of beer and then cranked back and threw the bottle into the woods beside my parents' house.
"Hey!" My dad yelled, "You better pick that up." He didn't care, no one owned the woods or the property beyond his own. He just didn't want empty beer bottles lying around.
"What's up, clone…" I said, lunging toward him.
Before I had a real chance to prepare myself, Seth and I were rolling around in the rocky driveway. We were slipping in and out of holds that the other would try to put on. We would wrestle until someone tapped, or we were both just strained in exhaustion, and we both fell over in mutual surrender.
Once we were covered in grass stains, dirt, and minor scrapes, my mom stuck her head out the front door, "Supper's ready."
It sounded just like it used to when she would call out there when we were kids to get Sara, Sidney, Seth, and me back inside for the night.
After a long night of wrestling, drinking, and eating, me, Seth, and Dad were all sitting outside by the grill that we had let turn into a sort of makeshift campfire. We were just laughing and talking about work and friends, and anything that we wanted to share with the others.
Randomly, Dad started talking. "I love you, boys," he said. "I know I don't say it enough, but I just want you to know how proud I am of both of you, and of the men you both have become."
"I love you, too, Dad," I said.
"Seth, I'm proud of the father you've become. And Sam, whatever happens for you and Vicky, I know that you are a good man, and you'll be a great husband and dad someday; if that's what the Lord has for you." He was very emotional for some reason. I assumed it was the beer. "I remember when you were little and how much I loved you and wanted to take care of you. Now I see your own families, how you treat them, your work ethic… it just makes me really proud of you two."
They asked if we were going to have kids any time soon. I had previously told them about what we had talked about, but let them know that we actually were trying for one. Dad was excited, he loved all of his grandkids and only wanted more.
At the end of the night, we all said our goodbyes, I hugged all of my sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, and both my parents. We all saw each other and did these kinds of things frequently enough that I didn't think to do anything more than just a regular goodbye.
Vicky and I were back in the truck on our way home. The fun and excitement from our time with my family had been enough to distract her.
"Shit," she said as soon as we pulled into our driveway.
"What," I asked.
"I forgot to stop and get the pregnancy test," she growled.
"Eh, don't worry about it. The test isn't going to change if you are or aren't," I said.
I was buzzed, but not three sheets to the wind. "You remember what you said earlier?"
"What?" she asked, looking into the bathroom mirror at me lying diagonally across the bed.
"To try again…"
"You're too drunk," she dismissed.
"Bullshit," I brushed off. "I could teach college algebra right now."
She chuckled, "You don't even know high school algebra, you idiot," as she walked over to the bed.
I reached out for her arm and pulled her on top of me.
"You better not waste my time," she jabbed.
"What a slap in the face," I laughed, rolling her into the sheets.
"Sam" was the first thing I heard through the darkness of my alcohol-induced sleep.
I rustled around in the bed for a moment or two.
"Sam… did you hear that?" Vicky asked.
I sat up, "What are you talking about?"
"That crash outside, it sounded like someone is out there," she urged, fear creeping through her sleepy mind.
"It's probably nothing…"
"Can you please go check it out? I won't be able to sleep if you don't."
"Yeah, I'll go…" I said, not happy that I had to get out of the warm blankets.
I picked my crumpled pants up from the floor and pulled them back on. I slid my feet across the wood floor, feeling around for my shoes. Once I found them, I located my hoodie since I knew it was going to be even colder outside. I grabbed my phone for a flashlight and the .357 magnum out of the closet for backup.
I ambled through the darkness of our warm house to the sliding door in our kitchen. I passed through it, closing the door behind me as I ventured out into the world behind our house. My eyes were well adjusted to the darkness, so I could see pretty well in our backyard. I put my phone in my pocket since I didn't need the light, and felt more confident with two hands on the gun.
I couldn't hear anything unusual, so I just started making my way to the only thing behind our house, the large workshop tool shed I had back there. It was about twenty yards from our back door, nestled in the lush grass of the backfield, and smashed right up against the woods behind our property line. The old rusty sheet metal structure was quite large and vacant, but I used it quite a bit for home projects.
I held the gun loosely in my grip, not expecting anything to be wrong. We lived in a more rural area that was isolated compared to the usual parts of Dallas. I thought it was probably just a deer or something. Yet I still kept the gun in hand, because you never knew what was lurking just beyond the woods. It was vast and teeming with life.
I immediately saw something wrong. The side door was standing wide open. I stopped in my tracks, analyzing the situation. A tickle of fear slowly crawled up my neck. A quick jolt of the unknown. It was fleeting, as sharp as it came, so did it pass. Maybe I didn't close it all the way or lock it. It could have blown open from a small gust of wind.
I started walking again, making my way to the unguarded opening. As soon as I was about five feet from stepping in, it began to smell… weird. It didn't smell like sawdust or the freshly cut wood I was accustomed to. It was a metallic odor. I scrunched up my nose as I stepped through the doorway, the smell getting stronger the deeper I went. Once in the largest and most central area, I froze at the sight of terror.
A whitetail deer, torn to pieces, and pulled apart like something you'd see in a horror film. Sawdust clumped together in the pooled blood at various locations on the weathered, uneven floor. The blood was everywhere; it stained the hardwood floors, was sprayed across almost every surface, and clung to the fur of this mangled deer. One of its antlers had been shattered halfway down, leaving only a three to four-inch shaft protruding from its skull. The more I examined the animal, the more I came out of my haze of fear. I noticed the details. On the most substantial piece, the deer's neck and chest were ripped open, exposing raw flesh and sinewy materials. There were massive claw marks on its side and rough, shredded edges of tissue that lined the circumference of the wounds. The buck's face was permanently frozen in a state of fear. Whatever had done it, killed him fast and brutally.
How had it gotten in there? What killed it? Was it still inside?
"Fuck this…" I said to myself. I was an adult, but I was freaked out. Something just didn't seem right. It wasn't normal… the brutality of it all. How far apart the blood had been scattered… something did that intentionally. That wasn't the normal scene of the wild animal world. That was a horror movie.
I felt adrenaline surge through me. I backed out of the small barn, searching my pocket for my phone. I had to call someone. I thought about calling animal control and waiting inside the house. I locked the shed doors shut with the usual lock and steel chain I had hanging from the door. The metallic clink of the lock around the steel links of the chain was comforting as I felt a blanket of safety draped over me. Then, I backed away. I hoped that whatever killed the deer was still in there somewhere. Hopefully, it would be trapped until someone else could get there.
I walked with purpose towards the safety of the house. I felt like a helpless kid running away from a bad dream, but what I saw was like nothing I had ever seen before. What could have ripped that animal to pieces and spread its blood over every inch of the place? It didn't seem natural.
I needed to get to Vicky. I needed to warn her and keep her safe.
I heard a loud crash behind me that made me jerk my head back in terror. It sounded like the shed had just exploded. When I looked back, the door that I had just locked was missing from the frame entirely. I saw a glimpse of something shiny that might have once been a door lying some fifty yards away in the thick grass.
Something moved across the dark area in a rush, too fast for my eyes to fully identify. All I could determine from the quick glance was that, whatever streaked out of the shed, it was big. It disappeared into the strip of trees behind our house and into the shadows of the night.
I froze in the middle of a yard. I didn't know what was happening. It wasn't like any animal I had ever seen before. It was too fast. I could hear its heavy feet pounding into the ground with every step, like it was the size of a great bear.
I bolted for the house, trying not to think about anything except running. I ran hard, and when my legs felt like they were moving as fast as possible, I willed them to move even quicker. Fear swarmed my mind. The only thing I could hear was the sound of my own labored breathing from the adrenaline and the intense focus I had on pumping my arms and legs through the grass.
I was ten feet from the kitchen door, so close. I never heard it coming. Something slammed into my side, cracking bones in my right arm and sending my body flying into the far end of the backyard. I sailed through the air with an arm that felt on fire. Then, I rolled and tumbled through the grass, smearing dirt into my face, and I felt my arm crack as I landed awkwardly. The impact knocked the breath out of me. Yet, through all of the pain, I rolled to my feet and kept running. I didn't know where I was running, I just ran. I cradled my arm tightly to my side to halt the pain. It was broken, I knew that for a fact. I fought through the pain with adrenaline and kept running. I was running for my life.
I didn't realize I was headed into the woods that lined the south side of our property, but I was blazing past trees and making my way deeper and deeper into the dark forest. Fear clouded my mind, and I couldn't think clearly. I should have changed course and headed for civilization. The darkness of the dense forest surrounded me, and brush and twigs whipped me as I ran blindly through the trees.
As I tore through the forest, I thought I saw something. It was fast, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a cloaked figure standing high on a jag of rocks. It was ominous, just standing above me, watching silently as I fled for my life. It almost looked like just a simple shadow, but I knew that was not true; I could feel its dominating presence from the top of the rocks. However, as soon as I really noticed the dark figure, and looked directly at it, it was gone. Nothing was there. The shadows had dispersed.
I felt a heat rip across my back, and then I was flung through the air. I careened through the trees and landed on a downhill slope. I smashed into the leaves and earth and then rolled down the steep grade. I smashed every bone in my body as I flipped end over end, violently down the hill. My head stopped my momentum when my skull slammed into a large boulder that was rooted in the earth. As soon as I felt the cold stone impact my skull, everything went black.
My eyes flew open. Questions rushed my mind.
How long had I been there unconscious? Where was the thing I was running from? Was any of it real?
I tried to stand, pushing up from the ground. My right arm gave under pressure, and I flopped back down. I lay on the ground and wiped the back of my hand across my face. When I looked at my hand, it was smeared with a dark red fluid. I was bleeding out and bad. I reached back with the same hand and touched the stinging strips across my back. My shirt was shredded, and my burning skin was ripped open. I couldn't see any of it, but I knew it was terrible from just the pain. I felt woozy, lightheaded, and tired.
The realization of my own body being fucked up made me want to shut down and faint. I looked between my legs, to the ground, and breathed through the feeling. I tried to will my way to my feet.
I tasted blood. I spat on the rock that was already painted with my own blood and saw more crimson. It raced down over the drying blood that was already caked on the rock. I had to get out of there, but I was beginning to think I didn't have it in me, too much blood loss.
Then, flashes of Vicky flew across my mind. I saw her perfect face telling me to get up, I felt like I could smell her, like she was right in front of me. She was as clear as day. I had to fight to get back to her. We had so many plans, and I couldn't let this happen to me. I loved her, and I couldn't let this be my end… our end.
I listened to the memory of my sweet wife and willed myself up off the ground. I used my good arm to get my body vertical. My legs were wobbly but holding. The sprinting had taken a lot out of them. I held myself up against a tree with my left arm, my right arm held tight against my side. As soon as I was fully standing, I could feel the hot blood ooze and drip down my body. It was warm as it ran down my back and face. I didn't care how much blood I had lost. I was going to make it. I pushed off the tree and started walking. I had no direction in mind; I just needed to move.
I was only a couple of steps from the tree when I heard a slow set of feet walking up to me. They hit the ground hard, heavy, like whatever owned them was much larger than me. I could barely turn to see what it was, and then I felt a hand grip my throat. It was a strength like I had never felt before, and its hand was much larger than mine.
It had dark, almost black claws. I felt them push against my neck as the thing lifted me off the ground and pushed me into the face of a tree. Razor-sharp knives wrapped around the circumference of my throat, threatening death at the slightest movement. My functional hand grabbed the thing's iron-like wrist and tried to pry its grip from my throat. I stared into its dark, low-lit face for the first time. It almost looked like a man. He was much larger than any normal man, standing nearly eight feet tall. He was big too, probably close to four hundred pounds. His face was twisted and monstrous, with large fangs protruding from his upper and lower jaws, with the rest of his teeth jagged and sharper than any normal man's. His eyes were the most frightening of all. They were solid black orbs that bored into mine. They were void of any color; no white, no blue, no brown, green, nothing. It was eerie and terrifying.
He jerked forward, and I felt a sharp pain in my right shoulder. I tried to move my head to look, but it was no use. He had me pinned against the tree like a nasty car crash.
A wave of sleep started to rush over me. I felt tired, and I couldn't keep my eyes open. The world around me began to fade, and then Vicky came back to the front of my mind. She was my life, and this was my life flashing before my eyes. I thought about fighting the need to sleep, but I had no fight left. I was broken, bloody, and on the verge of death. I felt the thing's teeth bite down harder into my neck and shoulder, and then, a few seconds later, everything started going black. As the last flicker of light faded from my eyes, I saw the cloaked figure from the rocks earlier during my panicked run. It was standing in the distance, alone and watching as this beast maimed and killed me. I heard it speak across the range like it was standing beside me. Its voice was the only thing that existed in that moment.
The deep, foreboding voice spoke only one word, "Fall."