About the author and series.
This book is part of a series, written by IP Spall, consisting of 22 short stories in total. To find out more about this book series or any of IP Spall’s other publications, head to https://linktr.ee/ipspallbooks
Many of these short stories are free, and if you enjoy reading this book, you can even buy a total collection of all the short stories for a low price! Follow the link above to find out more.
This story can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/2zjeGWq
An uncomfortable foreword
It has been said that a series of short stories must emanate unexpectedness and a sense of chilling surprise. Such a collection of stories would require a character framework that is present throughout the whole book; from tale to tale, offering the reader a chance to relate to the individual characters — their pain, their horror, their paranoia. Such a collation would also contain an underlying subplot, so all of the stories connect and relate to one another, in a weblike manner, allowing each entry to follow on from the last with some continuity, while still retaining individuality.
I gave this some thought and decided to do the complete opposite. For me, each story should be read as an individual tale of terror, and certainly not as a collective.
Each of my short stories should evoke thought, emotion, and hopefully, leaves the reader wondering what the hell happens next. Let’s face it; not everyone looks for a happy ending in the stories they read. With this in mind, let your imaginations run wild, and enjoy the unpredictability; often an uncomfortable ride.
Sliced in two
Brad was coming out of the Fishing Warehouse, as he received a call while he walked back to the pickup. With a glance at the screen first, he answered knowing that it was his mate, James, who was on the other end.
“Hey, how’s it going”? He said, happy to hear from him. Over the past week or so, James had been in the process of organising their annual hunting trip, which was supposed to be happening later that day. With a last-minute stop to grab a few supplies, they had initially arranged to leave in a matter of hours, but a telephone call was about to change that.
“Mate, with much regret” he explained, as he went on to say that is daughter had been taken ill, and being a single parent, he had no choice but to stay behind until she was well enough for him to leave her with her grandparents. He had already arranged for his kids to be left with his mum and dad for a week, but until she was back to normal, James would have no choice but to stay behind and look after them both. Although a little gutted, Brad was okay with that; he knew that James was right to his word and would n’t mess him about, so instead, they just rearranged to meet up at the cabin in a few days, or whenever James could make it. Brad explained that he would take all the equipment and his two dogs, he also bragged about getting first dibs on the hunting, as well as the best bed in the cabin. Plus, to dig a little further, he boasted about how he would also have a head start on the hunting, which made James chuckle.
This trip away was their annual big boy’s outing; every year around this time, just as the hunting season started. Every year they took themselves off, going up to Brad’s belated father cabin, which he inherited a few years back. The two men now had a reason to leave their families and everyday lives behind, for a week at a time, as they both went off into the mountains to hunt like real men. Brad verbally stressed to his friend that it wasn’t a problem to come up later; he wished his daughter all the best and agreed to see him in a few days, or whenever he could make it.
Later that day, Brad loaded up his pickup and got himself ready to leave. The sun was intense, still shining high in the sky; the journey was going to take about two and a half hours. His agenda was a now a little more flexible due to James not going, but he still didn’t want to waste any more time than he had too, so he decided it was time to go. With a last-minute check, running through a checklist inside his head, he got the dogs into the cab and started the engine. For a moment, he just sat there, finalising his thoughts, before he glanced back at his house for the last time.
The journey was to be a long and quite dull ride; after making the trip so many times, the route through the suburbs had somewhat lost its appeal, but he knew that after thirty minutes or so, he would eventually hit the wilderness and head off-road, which is the part of the journey he enjoyed. Everything went as planned until he got within just a few miles of the cabin; this was when things started to get a little tricky. The last part of the journey was off-road; so he switched over to the 4x4 capability on his truck, the terrain up ahead was about to get quite rough and heavy going for the last part of the journey. Although he wasn’t too far away now, this last leg of the trip was undoubtedly the most time-consuming. Brad had to drive along a half washed away riverbed, over boulders and along a seemingly impossible mining track that ran up the side of the last mountain. Every year he was guaranteed to complain about it, but every year he always managed to get through it somehow, with this year being no exception. The dried-up river course appeared more neglected than ever, and to make matters worse, a tree had fallen from bank to bank, a little further up, blocking his way through. Luckily, Brad and James had made the trip so many times, so they both knew that obstacles like this were a common occurrence. Brad was already prepared for such a problem. Brad had a chainsaw in the back of the pickup, so after taking an extra half hour or so to cut the tree down, he continued his journey. The dogs took the opportunity to get some air and do dogs things, which help with the last aspect of the trip. A little later than planned, he eventually arrived at the cabin.
The cabin still looked in good shape, but a bit more weathered than last year, he noticed. The structure had been in the family for as long as he could remember, as his father claimed he built it with his own hands when he was just a young man. He had found a great spot, as it sat on a slightly elevated mound right at the top of the mountain. With stunning views of the lake in all directions, it sat on the edge of a circular crater, which allowed spectacular views of the whole plateaux. Found at the highest point, it sat right in the middle of the Windbrook Mountain range.
During hunting season, they always arranged to go up there when the hunting started, as the mountain was so full of life, healthy and it great shape, which partly made their annual trip so exciting for both of them. The small wooden cabin was an excellent place for an escape. It was an unknown place that his father had kept a secret for many years. It was utterly unspoilt, situated in an area of natural beauty, full of life and vitality. Brad often wondered how he managed to get all the building materials up there, let alone how he got permission to build it, but that didn’t matter now, he had just come along to relax and enjoy himself. Last year had been his best year yet for hunting, as he had managed to shoot and kill the biggest bull Elf he’d ever seen, beating James target by miles. But when the animal was taken back into town and weighed it, Brad won the local trophy, which would have made his father proud. This challenge just spurred on his excitement for this year; hopefully, he could rival, if not beat last years kill, although maybe that was just wishful thinking.
Brad fumbled around in his pocket until he found the key to the cabin. Opening the door had stretched a delicate cobweb, as he looked inside. The place was generally in good condition; just as he’d left it the previous year. First things first, he lit the stove so that a little warmth, could prepare the lodge for the cold night ahead. The dogs were both running about, all excited, so he unstrapped the cover on the pickup, and piece by piece, he started to unpack, bringing everything into the cabin.
At this point, the sun was lowering in the sky; he wondered whether he would have enough time to hunting before dark. That is, coffee had to come first, though.
He knew that the dogs could do with a nice long walk, especially as they had been in the vehicle for so long. As he recalled from the previous years, the dogs often had restless nights, as they could always hear the wild creatures sniffing about outside of the cabin all night long, so it would be to his benefit if he could tire them out before bed.
Once he had brought everything in and had his hot drink, he immediately set off down towards the lake, thinking that he’d take the trail around the Eastern side. He guessed that he had a good couple of hours of daylight left. The dogs ran off ahead of him in frenzied bundles of energy, pleased to be out in the great outdoors. He walked; he took in a big of clean, fresh air, which he missed, living down in the city. He smiled to himself, as he saw the dogs play fighting, as they raced each over. Then for some unknown reason, he thought about supper; he’d brought some stew with him, whom he’d rustled up the previous night, but now that he was there, Brad fancied a bit of fresh meat. It was a shame that James wasn’t here to hunt with him, but it need not stop his appetite from putting ideas into his head. Instead, his hunger took control; he had every intention of finding and killing himself something good for supper, as it would be the perfect way to start his vacation. His stomach then gave a gurgling noise, as if it was in agreement with his thoughts.
Brad knew that he didn’t have that long, as the sun grew ever closer to the horizon, so he went into full-on stealth mode. With his .300 Winchester Magnum rifle at the ready, Brad ducked down and made himself disappear into the nearby bushes, where he sat patiently, looking, and listening. Brad called the dogs to his side and made them both lay down while he quietly purveyed the landscape for any signs of life. The two dogs had been trained to sit very still, so he intently listened for the sounds of movement; strangely, he didn’t see or hear any wildlife at all. With a brand new, high powered rifle scope, Brad stood up and visually searched the surrounding mountainside, in all directions, but to his amazement, Brad hadn’t seen anything alive. Every year, it could say with confidence that it had been the complete opposite; Brad’s parents had always said, that the cabin had been located where it was, solely because of the sheer abundance of life. He’d been going to his father’s cabin for eleven years now, and it had never been this quiet. A little perplexed, he stood up and walked a little further, hoping that he was just in an anomalous area or something.
He continued on foot until his two dogs became agitated; something up ahead was making them both unsettled. At first, Brad looked around but couldn’t see anything, but as he got closer to whatever it was, the dogs got more upset. Eventually, he found the problem; lying underneath a bush, near the edge of a track he was walking along. There, lying in the long grass was the carcass of a large bull Elk. The striking thing about the dead animal was the fact that looked like it had been cleanly sliced in half, with the rear end of the animal nowhere to be seen. Brad got himself a little closer and lent over the carcass slightly, ‘well I’ll be darned’ he said, quietly under his voice. He pulled himself back and squatted down to take a closer look at it. The creature’s body looked like it had been sliced in two, right down through the centre of its torso. In a clean, fresh cut, with no frayed ends or signs of resistance, the poor creature had been cut into two. ‘God damn… how weird it that’? He again muttered.
For such a remote and private area, this was very strange; not only did it look like it had carved by a machine, it was that precise, but in such a remote location, it just made no sense. Brad stood up again and looked around the carcass; he also noticed that there weren’t any signs of a struggle, nor any blood to be seen. Nor were any of its internal organs degrading, which is what should’ve happened naturally. His two dogs weren’t sure either, with one of them just refused to go anywhere near it, while the other, slowly stepped forward, clearly scared and agitated by something. Brad took a small step back, feeling a little uneasy by it all. He then noticed a strange black viscous liquid on the grass, behind the creatures front leg; with his foot, Brad pushed the remaining part of the carcass a bit, noticing that the underside of the corpse was sitting in the same black stuff. His dog winced and backed away. He looked around and conveniently found a stick, which he picked up and brought over to the animal. Using the end of it, he pushed at the carcass, to show the underside of the animal. For a moment, he stood and watched, then instinctively, he prodded the black goo.
The black liquid reacted; it pulled itself away from the stick, almost as if it was alive. Brad jumped, falling back onto his hands in shock; he’d never seen anything like that before. It unsettled him greatly. By this point, both of his dogs had got their feet, now curious enough to get a little closer, almost to the point of touching the creature. As Brad fell back, they also jumped back and kept going; neither of them wanted anything to do with it. Brad looked at them, then back at the corpse, before he made the same decision. Something didn’t feel right. The surrounding silence seemed more prominent than ever now, and as the sun was going down anyway, he decided to go back to the cabin.
Back at the cabin, he didn’t hesitate to get inside, feeling a little unsettled by the carcass. The first port of call was to get the house warmed up, so he went straight over to put more logs on the stove.
He then placed the stew in the pan and went too quickly changed his clothes, settling down for the evening. The dogs settled on the floor near the door, with both of them snuggling up to each other in the corner of the room. They looked tired, so it wasn’t long before they both fell asleep. He grabbed his stew and went and sat on an old rocking chair, on the opposite side of the room.
He couldn’t help but think about the animal, while he sat and ate his food; it just made no sense to him — the method of the creatures death, and thinking about it, why the body hadn’t started the normal process of decay. He sat there for a while, quite disturbed by his thoughts, before it also dawned on him that even on the way back, he still hadn’t seen or heard any sign of life out there. Brad glanced out of the window while he ate, the sun had just passed the horizon, and the sky glowed a strange orangey-pink colour. Typically, at twilight, vast flocks of birds would be seen flying home for the night, and generally, he’d usually start to hear the Wolves off in the distance beginning to howl. Tonight, however, the landscape lay silent and still.
He could feel the hair on his neck stand up, and he was a little wired and unsettled, his gut feeling was telling him something, but he didn’t know what.
He drank his beer and leaned back in the chair; just thinking about things. The night planned that he’d started reading; he had brought a couple of books with him, but his unsettled thoughts seemed to take over. Beer after beer meant that the evening just seemed to disappear, and eventually, his eyes wanted to close. He took himself off to bed around midnight.
During the night, he was woken up in the early hours of the morning by one of his dogs crying. Initially, he wasn’t sure whether the dog was dreaming, making the complex zebra type of noise or what was going on. He sat up in bed and listened for a while; the dog seemed to quiet down, tried to go back to sleep. Just as he slipped back into a deep sleep again, the dog’s noise rang out again, this time, it sounded distressed, which warranted his attention. Brad grabbed his coat because it was freezing, then his bedside lamp and slowly walked into the front room. The first thing he saw was that his other dog was backed up against the front door, snarling at the other animal.
Brad then turned his attention to his other dog. As it slept, the creature’s paws twitched, and at first glance, it looked like it was enjoying a beautiful dream. Brad took a few steps across the room to get a better look, thinking that he should wake it up, as it was upsetting the other dog. But as the light of his lantern hit the creature’s fur, he could see that the animal’s skin was moving; bubbling and twitching unnaturally. For a few brief moments, he just watched it, before something inside of him told him to back away. The dog’s body started twitching more and more violently, as the skin across its belly area began to bubble more rapidly. The poor creature then started yelping louder and in a bizarre way. As Brad back-tracked away, the skin around its rib cage began to move far more violently; bubbling more violently. Then, like something from a nightmare, long black string-like tendrils broke through the skin, shooting out in all directions. The tendrils tentatively slid across the floor, flapping back and forth, as if they were searching for something. They shot out at incredible speed, like long thin black snakes.
The other dog yelped and jumped to its feet, instantly backing itself away from the creature. The tendrils shot towards, and as the dog snarled and let out a solitary bark, the tendrils launched themselves up towards the dogs face. In a split second, the shiny black strings smothered the creature, wrapping its whole head in a thousand alien tendrils. The dog panicked, but the stronger it’s thrashing, the more tendrils it attracted; within only seconds, the black goo smothered and consumed the animal, leaving a shiny black mass, with something moving inside of it.
Another wave of tendrils then shot out towards Brad, as he momentarily watched in shock.
He backed himself up and ran the few steps back into his room; he was scared witless. Shocked by the most horrific and almost unbelievable sight he’d ever seen, the tendrils wriggled their way across the room, at high speed. Brad panicked. He slammed his door shut, but as they neared, they just slid under the gap at the bottom of the door and continued to flood into his room. As the tendrils entered, they came together, forming a strange mass. The lump then split itself into four larger, thicker protrusions, similar in shape and size to full-grown snakes. Brad had nowhere to go, so quickly jumped onto his bed and grabbed his gun and shot at the tendrils. The black liquid just sprayed onto the wall and then instantly started to form yet more tendrils, which went back towards the mass again. The shock of seeing little or no effect on them was horrific; Brad’s stomach sank, as he searched the room for something to help. The only choice he had was the window.
Brad desperately struggled with the window hinge, but it was stuck solid. The lock was rusted and broken, rusted solid, so there was no way he would be opening it. Brad grabbed his gun and using its butt; he smashed out the glass. At the moment he launched himself, with one foot left on the window ledge, the snake-like tendrils twisted around his boot within seconds. Scared, he jumped. The weight of his fall was halted in mid-motion; as he dangled outside the window; slowly and surely, the mass pulled him back in. Not only did the mass grow around his ankle, but with every inch that he was drawn back inside, the tendrils also continued to stretch across his legs and body rapidly. Brad screamed out in pain and fought as best he could, but it was a battle that he could not win.
Eventually, the entire cabin slowly subsided into an unholy black mass of chaotic movement. Alone in the dark, in the middle of nowhere, the darkness consumed everything.
About the author and series.
This book is part of a series, written by IP Spall, consisting of 22 short stories in total. To find out more about this book series or any of IP Spall’s other publications, head to https://linktr.ee/ipspallbooks
Many of these short stories are free, and if you enjoy reading this book, you can even buy a total collection of all the short stories for a low price! Follow the link above to find out more.
This story can be found on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/2zjeGWq
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