1

With the constant sizzle of meat grilling on the small gas stove, and the man was slowly nodding off. He was half asleep then a loud pop woke him up. He jumped up in a flash and looked around alarmingly. No bushes moved, no one was in the camps clearing, and none of the game traps have been set off. The man sighed as he calmed down and looked to the sky. The redwoods stretched high into the blue sky, and a small flock of birds flew over head. He sat back onto the stump he was on earlier, and shifted the lam kabobs so they didnt burn. He glanced at his small tent, where his son was sleeping. His son, Toby, was a sweet, shy, and kind young boy of 8 years. His ex-wife and him adopted Toby when the boy was 6. Luckily Toby grew to come attached to them, quickly after. They were warned that some kids didnt form any connections with the new parents after certain age. 

He hesitated, wondering weither he should get Toby up from his usual 2 o'clock nap. Desiding not to, he turned back to the grilling food. A few seconds later, his stomach growled. The growl garggled loudly and the man quickly cover his stomach, hoping not to wake his son. He waited listening for a rustle from the tent. Nothing. Then something.

A snap. 

He tensed.That wasnt from the tent. As a few more snaps came from the bushes behind the tent, the man bent down slowly and grabbed the meat tenderizer used for cooking. A hand came from the bushes, its narled fingers clawing at the bush. Slowly a foot followed, then the head. The head was terrifying, and it took him a bit to process what exsacly he was seeing. Hair was matted and knotted with dirt, grime, and leaves. The teeth yellow, uneven, and thicker than any humans. The eyes were a glassy blue, small cuts covered the eyeballs like the eyelids never blinked. Then the skin. The skin was shreded around the mouth and looked like an old injury. The thing shuffled out from behind the bush, and staggered towards the man, all while sniffing aggressively. 

He was frozen in a mix of terror and shock. Just as the rancid, crooked fingers of the monsters hand slowly reached for his face, he jerked back. He swung the meat tenderizer wildly in a panic. It hit the monsters head, causing the monter to almost twist from the blows strength, then fall. It was still. Heart pounding, he staggered back and dropped the bloody tenderizer. He put his hands on his slightly bent knees, and breathed deeply. The stange gore that covered the meat tenderizer, was thick and slowly dripped off the tool. The dark brown-red stunk of rotting flesh, and almost made him puke. He was about to straighten up, when he felt sharp claws dig into his scalp and wrench his head up. A glassy stare met his eyes and drool dripped from thick, jagged teeth. 

2

 He yanked his head from its grasp and kicked it in its torso. It crashed onto the small grill and knocked over the grill and food. as it was clambering up, the man grabbed the meat tenterizer. He tried to wipe off the blood when he was tackled. the tenderizer sliped from his grip and landed a few feet away. He grimmiced and struggled to keep the monsters teeth from reaching his throat. His finger, while wresling the monster, slipped into its eyesocket. The strained movements of the two caused the eye to pop out. It was hanging on by a small tendon before it fell into the monsters mouth. The nashing teath ground it without mercy, and small bits went flying onto his face. Almost heaving, the man summoned a burst of stength and chucked the monster across the clearing. He quickly wiped his face, only to trade some of the eye bits with blood from the flesh-lusting monster. Those few seconds almost cost him, as the monster lunged at him again. He was able to use the momentum of the tackle to twist himself on top. Holding the monster in place by the pronounced collorbone, he grabed a fist-sized rock and smashed it down on its head with all his stength. He repeated this three times before the head caved in and blood splattered everywhere.

Getting up, he stumbled from exhaustion. He glanced around. The dead body was before him, the gas stove was causing the damp leaves around it to smoke, and the bloody tenderizer and between him and the gas stove. he limped slightly to the gas stove and switched it off. He sat it back up, and threw away the dirty kobobs. He walked over to the body and grabed it from under the armpits. He slowly dragged it over to some thick bushes, and heaved it over. He waited for a minuet to make sure the dead body was truly dead. after that he walked to the meat tenderizer and picked it up. What should I do with it? He sighed deeply. Toby would panic if he saw this... He gasped and looked over at the tent. It was closed and luckly it seemed as Toby was still alseep. He chuckled and shook his head. Toby seemed to even be able to sleep through a lvl 7 tornado. He quickly swiped at the dirt and shuffled clean dirt over the blood. Hopefully when Toby wakes he will be too sleepy to tell it looked off.

He took the meat tenderizer and walked to his truck. He grabbed a thick black bag and stuffed the tenderizer in it. He then stripped off his clothes. They were sticky with blood, and hard to peel off. Looking back at the fight, He was really glad that he worked out almost everyday; his muscles were strong like steel. He looked through his old clothes he wore yesterday and smelled them. They smelled like sweat and dirt from when he was playing tag with Toby. He glanced around the truck and saw no other clothes from under all the tools and jackets. He made a reminder to himself to clean the truck up soon, the amount of tools and jackets were almost overflowing. He had needed the tools for when he was fixing the truck, but that was about a month ago. He grabbed the 4 gallon water container and used a rag to wipe off all the grime, blood, and eye matter off of his face and body. He slipped on his jeans and yanked on his shirt when he looked into the mirror. He had a strong jaw, short hair, green eyes, stubble, and a long-ago broken nose. His lips were nice but there was an old scar on his lower lip, it ran through, and almost to the bottom of his chin. His left ear were pierced with a plain black stud. He had black tatoos decoration most of his back that also crawled over his shoulders- a reminder of his younger self. He had a tan body and was a mix of Asian and Caucasian. He wasnt bad looking for a 30 year old. His ex-wife thought so too, or used too. They didnt talk about things like that anymore, they didnt talk more than needed or polite, but that wasnt bad. They were simply not talkative. 

3

 He stuffed the dirty clothes into the black bag along with the meat tenderizer and bloody rag. He was finishing up when he heard the tent unzip. His heart thumped and he hoped everything was hidden enough that his son didnt notice something about the earier fight. Toby gave a small yawn and then sleepily called out. "Dani-Dad?" Toby corrected himself. His dad didnt like being called Daniel from Toby, because it seemed too formal. Daniel walked out from behind the truck with a leather bag. It was old, but sturdy. Toby wasnt allowed to look in it because Da-dad said it had important stuff for work, but also bad things in it that might hurt him. Daniel put it down next to the tent, and bent down. He patted Toby on the head and smiled. "Hey Toby, you hungry? I accidently ruined the food, but I have some yummy apples in my bag." Toby grinned. "Apples?" Daniel chuckled, Toby liked apples, but he loved them when there was peanutbutter. He opened the bag just enough to pull out a brand new container of chunky peanutb and an apple. Toby squealed in delight and snatched them out of his hand and ran over to a small boulder. he slowly crawled onto the top, struggling with his hands full. "Need help?" Daniel asked, voice full of amusment. Toby just answered with a small, crisp chomp, holding onto the apple with his teeth. He scrambled up the rest of the way and sat down satisfied. While he was opening the jar of peanutbutter for his apple, Daniel started to pack up camp. The area was likely dangerous, they shouldnt stay any longer than needed. 

     *   *   *

       

4

 2 HOURS LATER

*   *   *

Although the airconditioner in the truck was on full blast, Daniel was sweating slightly. His knuckles were white from clenching the steering wheel and his eyes darted across the road. No one. There's no one on the road. The redwoods is very popular, exspecialy during July, but there's nothing. Daniel forced himself to relax, even if it was just a little bit. They had been camping pretty deep in the redwoods, so the lack of civilation should be exspected. Even so, the utter lack of cars or people is unnerving. They were only 2 hours into their drive from Los Angeles, and Daniel was definatly not looking forward to driveing the whole way hyped up on nerves. He glanced at Toby, who was sleeping soundly again. Toby's stomach didnt like cars, and tended to voice that often if he was awake with termendous gurggleing. Daniel twisted and grabed a thick jacket from the backseat, and carfully placed it over Toby. He was patting Toby's head when they turned a corner and a car apeared.

It had crashed into a tree front first and was badly broken. Daniel frowned in concern. Was no one alive to call for help? He slowly pulled over the truck.. He unbuckled, opens the door, and then hesitates. Toby will be fine right? He glances around and ponders. Shakeing his head slightly, he desides Toby will be fine. Daniel swings the door closed, and it closes with a "Wham!". Daniel winces. He walks up to the car and sees the windows all crushed. The front of the car is crinkled like alunimum foil, and the tree covered in the cars silver paint. The front window has shattered and air bags deployed. There are no bodies. Daniel frowns. He looks towards the back wheels. Skid marks have torn up the dirt and the air smells of burnt rubber and fresh earth...and something metalic. Daniels stomach knots up. He quickly moves to the front of the car and checkes the windows again. Theres some blood and cloth covering the edges of the glass. Some blooddrops are covering the ground leading to the forest. A loud, ear-piercing scream comes from the truck.

  

5

Daniel imedietly turns and sprints full speed back to the truck. Someone was trying to cimb through the drivers window to Toby. Toby screamed again. His eyes shined with terror and his hands clutched the large jacket tightly. Daniel grabbed the person by their shirt's coller and threw them back out of the car. Daniel jumped into the truck and slammed the door closed. He jammed the key into the ignition, turned the key, and floored it.

The person got up and lunged at them and slammed face first into the side window. A mouth of sharp teeth and wild, dull eyes faced them. Daniel tried swerving the car, but the thing clung on. It nawed on the window and its teeth scratched the glass. Daniel tried to swerve again but it didnt fall off. Crap! He ground his teeth and grabed his leather bag. Steering with one hand, he searched through the bag blindly using his other hand. The creature was actually shaveing off shards of glass when Daniel finally found it. He grabed the cold metal and yanked it out of the bag. He grabbed a bullet, and fitted it into his gun's chamber using one hand.  "Toby, close your eyes, no peeking, and dont look untill I say you can." Toby nodded and closed his eyes tighly. Daniel slammed the window and shattered it with the butt of his Glock 9. Glass shattered eveywhere and cut into Daniel's arm. The thing's head reached through the window and opened its mouth to bite Daniels neck. Daniel shoved the barrel of the gun in its mouth and pointed it up. Its teeth clamped down on the barrel but only made some scratches."Boom!" Its head flew back and its body slowly peeled off the side of the truck. 

Daniel shuddered and took a deep breath, his ears ringing fiercely. The smell of burnt flesh and gunpowder wafted through the front of the truck. Gagging slighly, he grabbed a random shirt and covered his gun and hand so Toby wouldnt see it. "Toby? Toby!" Daniel grimiced as Tobys head popped up from behind the jacket. Toby looked at him with a slightly quizzled and scared face. Daniel forgot that the shot would impair Toby's hearing as well. He slowed the truck just enough that he could grab some paper and a pen. "I'm going to pullover once we get a little farther, ok?" - wrote Daniel. Toby nodded. He got as close to Daniel as the car's seatbelt would alow him, pulled the jacket over himself, and peeked over it. Daniel slowly stopped the truck in the middle of the road and waited for a while.

*   *   *

Daniel was dozing when Toby nudged his arm. "Wha-?" Toby glanced around and shifted unconferably. "I gotta pee." Daniel imediently sat up from his slump, and rubbed his eyes. Damn! I wasnt suppose to sleep! There are probably more of those things... "Dad?" Toby questioned quietly. Daniel sighed, waved those thoughts away and got up. He causiously opened the truck door and looked around. Nothing in sight. Not that it means its safe... "Toby, come this way." Toby shuffled onto Daniels seat and sliped off onto the road. Daniel grabed Tobys hand and led him to a tree at the very edge of the forest. "Dont worry, I'll stay right here." Said Daniel who's body was tense in anticipation. Toby dropped Daniels hand and looked around. He glanced at the forest then back at Daniel, as to say: Do I have to pee next to the forest? 

*   *   *

After the small break, Toby and Daniel got back into the truck. Daniel sighed heavily. Only about 8 hours left till we're back home in Los Angeles...

Impressum

Texte: Me
Bildmaterialien: Google
Lektorat: So far, just me.
Übersetzung: Me
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 20.03.2016

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