Dedication

Dedication

 

To my parents:

You both have supported me in my darkest times, from when I first came to you and up to the present day. I cannot have made it without you two.

Thank you so much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

Introduction

 

No matter what society you live in, there are always monsters which lurk in those dark reaches and corners. These are creatures & entities which still terrify us to the core and often haunt our dreams. Whether you think monsters are only part of our collective imagination or indicate something undiscovered, there is no denying they are frightful yet enjoyable to read and watch. Just look at the movies and events that have happened recently.

 

Underwater, released in 2019 and starring Kirsten Stewart, features an oil rig team descending into the depths, only to be met by the ocean’s most terrifying menagerie. The year 2018 was haunted by A Quiet Place, which also had a horrifyingly unique beast that was every bit as nightmarish as the sub-aquatic terrors in Underwater.

 

What these two movies have in common is they show just how monsters are still relevant in 2020, often representing certain phobias of various peoples.

 

And recently, the all-too contagious Covid-19 became monster-fied thanks to YouTube channel. The channel made a video called HEROES UNITED: Coronavirus which had numerous superhero characters fighting against Coronavirus humanoids portrayed as walking, infectious horrors that will kill anyone who would even come near them. At this writing, there are over 7 million views with 260,000+ likes.

 

Whatever the appeal may be, it certainly garnered enough attention from the online media. And considering the amount of damage and fear it has caused, the monster-virus would certainly be ranked as the monster of 2020!

 

If that is not enough evidence of monsters having staying power, there is also the news of the eDNA results from Loch Ness by Professor Neil Gemmell. While the findings of the study were quite interesting, the media attention all centered on whether it gave the answer as to what was the Loch Ness monster. And the aftermath of said expedition has continued to influence the 87 year old phenomenon thereafter…even in the new millennium.

 

Who knows? Perhaps, an entirely new—maybe, scarier—interpretation of Nessie and her kin will surface.

 

At this point it is clear that as long as societies have something to fear, monsters will hatch out of the eggs of our darkest thoughts. There is no telling what horrifying menagerie will crawl out into the world.

 

This story is no different to any of the examples I provided above—but with my personal spin! This story takes place in an agricultural town in Montana where primeval forces have begun to stalk livestock, with humans following suit! What happens next you will have to find out—if you dare.

 

No matter how advanced our technology is or how much we like to think we have left those dark corners, just remember: where there is light, there are shadows.

 

And where there is darkness, there will always be monsters observing all of us…and readying themselves to come for you!

 

~Branden C. Hawk, May 2020

 

Chapter 1

The Scaled Ones

Written by Branden C Hawk

 

1.

They are still out there. Who knows how long it will be until they turn to human meat.

 

My name is Drew Pierson and I’m not sure if you’ll believe me. If you are a skpetic, I don’t blame you. I want what you are about to read to be another nightmare. That has not yet happened. I don’t think it ever will happen because it did happen to me. But, I won’t ruin all the details too early.

 

So, here is my story with my encounter with “The Scaled Ones.”

 

It was the beginning of early June, 2015, in the morning. I was a high school student close to completing my last year and I was looking forward to graduation. My alarm clock buzzed loudly in my ear. I remember I slammed the silence button (not too hard though).

 

I groaned and got out of my bed. I made a promise with my parents to have first dibs in checking the cattle and making sure all of them are behaving well. There’s nothing special here: I just made my bed and went downstairs to get the key to the pasture gates.

 

I made my way out of the creaky doorway and around to where the gates. The sun was in the sky, a glowing orb greeting the day and all those below it with light and warmth. The rays of the sun touched the skin of my neck and I smiled.

 

I reached into my pocket, got the key and unlocked gate.

 

Within moments, a pit formed in the gut of my stomach and my expression soured. I had no idea why, but I would soon see the reason.

 

I noticed a clear absence of any activity in the field. There were no moos, no hoof-steps or even a small herd grazing in the area. It was all deserted, silent—eerily so! Alarm bells began to ring louder the more I grew more cognizant of everything around me.

 

Something about the situation warned me to not go any further, but this was my responsibility as a member of the family. My parents gave me this morning job and I hate to disappoint them in any way. I had to see what happened to all the cows and where they were.

 

I stopped and scanned the area left and right, oodles of times, to see if anything was there on the fields. After 5 minutes of looking and searching, I found a massive disturbance in the field ahead of me. It looked a bunch of tan-brown mounds sticking out of the grass and into my sight. My heart plummeted as I thought to myself, “Oh no!”

 

I ran to the area and was greeted by a sight I’d never thought I’d see.

 

Seven cows and two adult bulls lay hollowly & lifelessly on the grassy Earth, all torn apart at the bellies. I don’t want to give all of the disturbing details, but imagine taking a scythe designed to rip open their bellies and cutting their necks. That is what I saw. Bits of their faces were either crushed or severely ripped off. On those places were the teeth marks of some predator I had never seen before. A number of them had clear gashes running nearly 9 inches into the necks caught my very disturbed eyeballs.

 

I glanced several times over the bodies; my breathing stopped and time didn’t even seem to matter. My periphery became absolutely blurry as I felt a deep-rooted sense of panic.

 

Even as I type this twisted tale onto the screen, I recall that my mind zeroed in on the injuries and deep claw-marks for some reason.

 

“What the…Hell?” I asked myself. I barely processed what I saw and I know the damage coyotes, bears and other known predators can do. The carnage from any of those known animals normally would not bother me…but what I saw had shaken to the core. What kind of canine has three claw marks which run nearly a foot into the hides of the animal?

 

My right hand quaked as I had Parkinsons; I couldn’t even pick my key without it being jiggled in my palm. I could barely keep my hand still, like I couldn’t stop. I looked at my left hand. It made the blades of grass on it quake.

 

A noise jerked me out of shock to everything around me. As I heard it more closely, it had the characteristics of a mooing. It was the low iconic vocalization of an animal which spent its day eating and walking.

 

I jumped and started following the sound. I never was so happy to hear a cow moo before and I fast-walked in that direction.

 

After a short while of walking, I heard mooing coming from inside our barn. There was an opening on the side where the cows often come in and out freely in order to maintain the animals will. I ran towards the doorway and opened it.

 

All of the cows, calves and bulls were over at the end of the barn, in a timid way I have never seen before. The bulls were stomping the ground and threw their horned heads around as if they expected an attack from an ungodly assailant.

 

I shook my head, not believing what I saw. The cows never acted that way…they chased out wolves once, so they weren’t, or shouldn’t, be that afraid of normal predators.

 

Soon, I came across several impressions in a patch of ground near the pasture.

 

I bent down and looked. Since it rained last night with heavy thunder, there wasn’t much left but what I discerned made my pulse freeze.

 

They were 17 inches in length and were impressed 2 inches into the soil. They had three toes like a bird, but much thicker than any species known to live in this area. My initial impression was of an emu on steroids, but there was—and is—no such farms anywhere in the vicinity of my home. I looked to where the tracks came from, which was a nearby cornfield. I turned my head and looked to where the track-way led to next…it was the pasture.

 

My blood-flow stopped. I looked around me and sure enough, there were two more sets of footprints. At this point, my mind blanked out, possibly in terror, shock or something worse.

 

That was when I knew I had to tell my parents of the situation at hand because I had a feeling—no, I knew something was off. My Dad told me everything he was taught about how to take care of animals, how to read them, how

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: Branden C Hawk
Bildmaterialien: Image by Mikel Otaño from Pixabay, April 8th 2020. Free for commercial use.
Cover: Branden C Hawk
Lektorat: Branden C Hawk
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 29.05.2020
ISBN: 978-3-7487-4358-3

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Widmung:
Dedication To my parents: You both have supported me in my darkest times, from when I first came to you and up to the present day. I cannot have made it without you two. Thank you so much for letting this little dinosaur nut into your lives.