by Gary Lewis
"So, did you hear about the monster burning down old barns in Pine Bluff?" David asked.
Tony chuckled. "I saw that on the news. Maybe he's the one who burned down the old rec center last year."
"Wouldn't surprise me," David said, slowing down as they cruised through their old neighborhood. "You know, I drive up the highway right there all the time," David said. "But, here..." He paused with a sigh. "It's sure been a while."
Tony turned his head to him with a large smile that wrapped around his fat cheeks.
"What?" David asked. "You thinking of the time I accidently hit the neighbor’s mailbox and you went and told them you did it?"
"Not at all, bro," Tony said, settling into a light smile. "Not at all."
"You know, little brother," Tony said. "When you drive by here on the way to visit Janice and you get all up in here." Tony poked the side of his temple. "What makes you so nervous before you get there?"
David's disappointment tensed into his face. "Yeah. I overthink everything. I know."
"You're missing the point, man," Tony continued. "What are you afraid is gonna happen when you make your move?"
"Well, she thinks I'm her best friend," David said, nodding his head to the side. "She might... I don't know, freak out. And she's with Vance now."
"You're afraid she won't be your friend anymore," Tony said, still smiling. "But think. You don't want to be her friend. You don't want that." Tony looked straight into David's face. "You know I love you, little brother, and it just hurts me to watch you do this to yourself."
"Alright. Alright," David said in attempt to break the awkward wall that pressed against his chest. "I'll make my move tomorrow."
"Always tomorrow, little brother... Always tomorrow.” Tony paused to look at David. “Tomorrows run out eventually, my man," Tony said, turning to the passing trees as he leaned back.
"Whoa! Whoa! Hold up!" Tony shouted, reaching his palm forward. David slowed his approach near a rolling pasture. From the left, bent fence posts opened up to barbed wire twisted across the street like a tangled ball of yarn.
"No.” Tony pointed to the ditch on the right. “There." David carefully pulled over. A large sack of dead weight slumped into the grass on the right, its familiar contour taking the shape of a cow. Ripped open and out of place, it seemed to still long for the limbs that were missing. Intestines were strewn from its belly in a pool of blood that trailed across the street.
"David! Check that out!" Tony said, swinging around his pointing finger. "Looks like it ran through the fence after it got attacked up there." David wondered in awe, listening as Tony tried to make sense of the scene.
"So..." David said with wide eyes. "It was already missing a leg, with its guts hanging out when it busted through the fence?"
"God," Tony said. "I've never seen anything like it."
They both stepped out of the car to venture closer to the dead cow. Trails of dark red blood led to a giant pool that streamed out with hoof prints that ended where the large animal laid. Whatever happened, it took place with a violent ferocity that sucked the warmth from David's skin and left him in a cold shock.
"You ok, bro?” Tony asked. “Not gonna puke on me, are you?"
"No. I'm good," David said with an uncertainty that outweighed his words. "You think a bear or coyote could do that?"
"I've seen us have bears. I've seen us have coyotes. But I never seen us have this," Tony said. "Bet Vance could tell us. Him and his pops been hunting around here forever."
The name still burned in David's chest as he shot a quick glance at Tony that was met only with a smile.
"Let's go check it out." Tony waved him along as he jogged uphill over the other side of the ditch where the cow had come from. "No way," Tony said, halted in place at the top of the embankment in a fixed stare.
"What is it?" David cautiously walked up behind Tony.
The landscape came into view over the hill as a grisly scene stopped David in place.
"There must be ten or fifteen of them," Tony said. "I can't even tell."
Legs and torsos of cattle were strewn across the field where bright green grass had been sprayed blood red across swaths that stretched far beyond where they originated. "It's like the devil came through with a meat shredder, hacked them apart and tossed their pieces everywhere," David said. Something unimaginable had inserted itself into the circle of life and as it ravaged its way through, it left a trail of horror in its wake.
David struggled to make sense out of what happened. "Where did it start and where did it end?"
Tony swung his arms out at his sides. "No idea, little bro."
"We should call someone," David said, walking his way back down to the road.
"I'm on it," Tony said, before climbing back into the car. "Does old man Perkins still own these farms?" Tony asked, scrolling through a mile of contacts.
"No. They sold this one out to them corporate guys last year."
David put the car into drive as he resumed their trip in a daze. But even after their hellish discovery, Tony's phone call with the police department made it impossible for David to cling onto the weight of what they had seen.
"Yes! I said aliens! Y'all got cattle mutilations out here!" Tony said with such sincerity that David wondered if he was serious. "I dunno, but I'd bring a lot of trucks if I were you. It's one hell of a mess," Tony said as David pulled into the bottom of Tony's driveway, coming to a complete stop before venturing up the gravel hill.
"Coming in to see Pops?" Tony asked as he stepped out of the car.
"No. I'm going to grab a bite to eat. All that beef made me hungry," David said, tilting into a crack of a smile. "The cliffs at five?" David asked.
"Cliffs at five." Tony said before turning to walk up the rest of the driveway that David avoided pulling up.
Though there was some truth in David's excuse, he was truly only starving for the one thing that had been on his mind since that morning, evident by the direction he drove away. But when he got closer to her road, his mind began to rehearse all the things he might say to her, scrutinizing every stupid word. His heart sped up as he neared her house, still unsure where his destination really was.
As he slowed down, her mom's silver minivan was already home and his mind became blank. He had already visited Janice only a couple hours ago, he thought to himself. His mind, devoid of an excuse, played with empty reasons as he found his car continuing to roll past her house, now becoming another lost opportunity that disappeared in his rearview mirror.
#Janice#
Janice's back yard was still filled with a silence for what it missed and no matter how many times she called out, the void still remained. "Peetie... Here boy. Where are you?" She continued calling out as she bent down and clapped her hands, looking out into the field where her dog liked to play. Her eyes dropped with a sad acceptance. "Are you going to abandon me now too?"
Her search was interrupted by the sound of a slowing engine. "Did Vance finally get my texts?" Janice was filled with a need to hear him tell her that everything would be okay and that there was a good reason he hadn't replied earlier. There was always some reason. She only needed to hear it.
As she rushed around her yard toward the view of the driveway, she slowed to catch her breath with the prettiest smile she could manage. But she found herself disappointed once again. Vance's truck was nowhere to be seen and her small neighborhood road was as empty as she felt. "Maybe I should have just went to the cliffs." Her words fell to her feet as she gazed across the glistening, dew coated grass. "I could always just close my eyes when we cross over Moss Lake."
#David#
The afternoon heat now shined across David's hood as he left home, finding himself once again struggling with his radio, frustrated and defeated in his search for the perfect song. It seemed nothing could distract him from what distracted him most as the passing fields gave way to trees and he accelerated toward the cliffs, now barely visible ahead. The massive rock face jut
ted up from the forest near the top of Bluff Mountain. Lush, rolling foothills reflected on the shimmering lake below while David drove across the long bridge that separated civilization from wilderness. It was where the pavement ended and the day-to-day struggle always fell behind.
Bouncing its way up the bumpy gravel, David's car slowly climbed the steep dirt drive leading up to the cliffs. He stared into the density of the woods. The deep conifer forests surrounded Pine Bluff, concealing anything they may hold. Thoughts flooded his imagination of what might be lurking out there. "Something capable of ripping through a herd of cattle," he said to himself, gazing deep between the passing trees along the way.
At the overlook, Tony's dark green sedan sat parked next to a few others. They barely managed to cram the only shady spot beside the trees near the trail. "But where are they?" he wondered aloud as he stepped out, shielding his eyes from the overbearing sun. While he continued gazing through the bright glare for a human figure, the distant sounds of laughter and shouting came from the trail ahead.
David snuck quietly toward the trailhead wrapped thick with saplings that filled the ground between large trees, a wall of nature that funneled foot traffic onto the dim, uneven, earthen path. "See if I can give you guys a scare," he whispered with a grin. Just as he was surrounded by the wooded trail, an uneasy feeling swept over his skin. A rustle moved through the bushes to his left. David paused.
They got me, instead, he thought to himself. But as he waited, all was silent. Then it sounded again. The noise got closer, growing louder and more erratic. It creeped, it shifted, then it stopped. His skin froze with tingling fear.
An animal. Large animal. David felt his pockets, scrambling in desperation for some utility of salvation. Not even a knife.
A large crash blasted out from the bushes behind him with a flash of light brown fur. David dashed with a scream, stumbling face first into the damp but hard dirt of the trail. He sprung around just in time to see a deer bouncing away through the forest.
"Watch out, everyone! There’s a savage deer on the loose," shouted a familiar female voice followed by the laughter of Tony as he stood with a few others and grabbed David's hand, pulling him up with a firm tug.
"Shut up. It could've been anything," David said with a smirk, still dusting himself off while Tony chuckled.
"You should try that approach on Janice," she laughed. It was Sarah. A bit tall for a girl, skinny, with shoulder length, light blonde hair that sometimes matched the length of her temper. Her usual bluntness stabbed at David's chest. It seemed she knew him better than anyone and she was never afraid to point out his flaws.
Tony raised his hands to quiet them down. "Okay... Listen up. Before we go back to everyone." Tony paused and looked at David. "Sarah's the one who brought him. There's not gonna be any problems, okay?" David quickly began scanning the faces he recognized.
"Babe, where'd you hide the beer?" a sleazy sounding male asked from the direction of the distant banter, but louder and getting closer. As he approached, it started to make sense. Brad was also here and he was walking up to Sarah to creep his arm around her.
David tilted his head to Tony. "So," David whispered with annoyance. "She's with that creep now?" He scowled at Tony's unfazed grin. "Does she not have any standards?"
"Hey," Tony said, raising his palms with a carefree smile. “As long as everyone’s happy.”
Brad slouched against a tree and looked over at David with his arms crossed. His studded, black leather jacket definitely wasn't for the weather, but it matched his bruised eye and the cavities that covered his nasty grin.
"Hey, Brad," David said. "Anyone ever tell you that the eighties went out before we were born?"
"Dude," Brad said with a smirk. "Y'know what your problem is? You just need to stop worryin’ all the time." He swayed one of his hands to the side. "Like that girl, for instance. Be a man and just take what's yours in life."
"Yeah," David said. "That's how you got that black eye last week, right? I heard about that."
Brad stepped back with his hands out. "Relax, man. Vance just overreacted like always."
Tony stepped forward to occupy the wide space between them. "Alright. Alright. Y'all shake hands and kiss or whatever and come on."
Sarah laughed as she turned to Brad with her arms crossed. "That old man at the Sunset did say you had it coming, didn't he?" Brad shook his head before pulling a cigarette from his pack.
"Who?" David asked.
Brad flicked his metal lighter shut and casually blew a stream of smoke. "Old blind fuck that hangs out at the diner."
"Hey, now," Tony said. "He says a lot of weird stuff, but he's a nice guy."
Brad tilted forward from where he leaned against the tree. "You'd call Vance a nice guy, so that don't really say much."
After a few seconds of silence, Tony spoke again. "What did he say to you?"
"That I'd be seeing my dad soon." Brad cracked a grin with a slight chuckle before taking another long drag from his cigarette.
David looked back and forth between them. "Didn't he..."
"Died," Sarah butted in, her eyebrows high with cheeks that tightened to press back the morbid humor in her grin. "Remember the fire at the old rec center last year?" David and Tony looked at one another as she turned to walk away up the trail with the others.
Brad swept his arms open. "Where you goin'?" he asked before turning to follow.
As they began to walk slowly behind, David turned to Tony. "What was it he said to you?"
Tony glanced over, bringing his eyes from another place and time. "Who?"
"The old guy," David said. "At the Sunset."
"Ah,” Tony brushed his hand aside as he continued strolling up the trail. “It’s nothin’.”
They strolled deeper into the forest until the terrain led to a steep, rocky outcrop that dropped into a moss-covered slope, revealing a trickling waterfall between about a dozen familiar faces from school gathered into a few clusters of banter.
The creek washed its trickling sound through the air, blending with the voices of friends. Summertime stories met the latest gossip as the sound of music drowned out the ambience of the nature that surrounded them. Everyone was having a great time. Almost everyone. David sat alone, slumped back against an old, mossy tree, shaded beneath its damp trunk that had probably never known the arid summer sun.
"What's the matter?" Sarah asked as she walked closer to him from the creek. “Cheer the hell up.”
"What's the deal?” David asked, fueled with frustration. “He harasses Jan and you just throw yourself at him? I mean, that is how he got that black eye."
"You always make such a big deal out of everything," Sarah said, waving her finger as if to scold him for being wrong. "Look, you were only with me for a few weeks," she said. "And it was just because you were hung up over Janice being with Vance."
"Sorry, Sarah,” he said as he turned his eyes toward the creek. “It just feels fucked up is all."
Sarah looked at him with a humorous smile. "It's not yours to feel anything about." She slowly walked away, back to the creek with everyone else.
She’s right. He couldn't figure out what he hated most about Sarah. Maybe it was because someone so rude could always be so right, or perhaps it was that the only girl who was ever so interested in how he felt had to be her. Even when it was time to leave, a heavy feeling of disgust filled David's thoughts and later flooded into his text messages to Janice. Messages that went without reply.
###
The sun continued to travel across the skies above Pine Bluff until the mountain horizon swallowed it into the darkness. Tall, swaying grass rustled in the midnight air as nature fell silent. Something crept its way across the surrounding fields and forests, just beyond the streets where the residents had all settled into the places they belonged. Some went to bed and others to work. It seemed as if the shadows cast by the brightly lit moon would pass uneventfully through town, but not everyone in Pine Bluff wa
s safe.
Chapter 2
#Vance#
A loud, repeating ring forced Vance's tired eyes to open. As he rolled his heavy, muscular body to the right, his dead mattress squeaked and its hard springs pressed against his side. From the top of a paint-stained stool, his makeshift nightstand, the bright screen of his phone illuminated the walls of his dark room. Unpainted, plastered circles crusted to conceal holes along the pale green doorway wall much differently than the red wallpaper that covered the adjacent ones. They peeled to reveal strips of white from many walls ago. His old dresser, spray painted with a dull, matte black finish was missing two drawers where it sat below a gun rack mounted on the wall. It was the only piece in good condition in the entire room, holding his camouflage crossbow, a sawed-off shotgun, and an old bolt action rifle.
After tensing every muscle in his face with a loud grunt, Vance reached to lift his phone. He squinted as he glared into the screen. "6:45 AM Leg Day," it read. "Fuck it.” He slung his phone back onto the stool before strolling to the bathroom for a hot shower.
The scalding liquid caressed his scars as it flowed down his broad back and shoulders. He watched it stream over the veins that bulged from his biceps and forearms where the remnants of small, circular burns cratered their way down. As he turned off the steaming spray to reach for a towel, the reason for every mark was recalled to his mind. Vance used his towel to wipe the misty mirror and flexed his arm, looking at the hazy reflection. "Not as big as you, Tony," he said to himself. "But I still look better." He took a moment to admire his lean, finely chiseled abs while combing his short, sandy blonde hair to the front and straightening the slight curl in his bangs before he threw on a pair of black gym shorts and a green and black Pine Bluff High t-shirt.
"Dad, I'm goin’ to grab a bite at the Sunset," Vance said, grabbing the keys to his pickup truck.
