The Beast That Haunted Me For 20 Years

ENTRY II – July 10, 2013

I pulled into Dent County on Highway 4 just a little past noon. The small town was just as I had remembered it, quiet and friendly. The search party was to meet at the edge of the woods near the Dent County Park entrance around three in the afternoon, so I decided to stop at the local diner my parents had talked about up until their death. I didn’t remember it, but there are few happy memories I can recall from those days.

I pulled into the parking lot which was empty. “Must not be too great,” I said to myself. I noticed a missing person flyer on the door with the picture of the young girl, Marissa Stanton.

I found an empty booth and slid into the seat, opening the menu to the lunch section.

“How you doing?” a soft voice asked.

I jumped slightly and turned to face a good-looking waitress who held a pitcher of water. She was quite attractive, perhaps a little too attractive. Her salt and pepper hair draped over her left shoulder. She wore a white tee-shirt that was stained with ketchup, and her yellowed nametag read Rose.

“I’m fine, Rose. And you?” I asked.

She rounded the table and when she saw my scar her eyes widened. “Oh my, that’s a big scar.”

I felt my hand rub against the raised tissue without much conscious thought. “Yeah, an old childhood injury.”

“Forgive me… that was rude,” Her face turned a fiery red. “What can I get for you, Mr…?”

“Call me Danny.”

“Okay then, Danny. What can I get for you?”

I scanned the four items on the lunch menu and then looked up to her soft brown eyes. “I’ll take the fried chicken and coffee, please.”

“Sure thing, sweetie.” She turned her back and walked through a pair of swinging doors.

She had to be hitting on me. Though her hair was graying, she was far too young to be calling me sweetie.

Rose returned a few minutes later with a plate of fried chicken and a towering pile of mashed potatoes, soft steam rising from them. A man followed closely behind her. He was about the same age with similar graying hair, except his showed signs of a failed attempt at dyeing.

She set the plate of food and coffee in front of me. She turned to the man and took his hand.

“This is my husband, Dave,” her eyes lit up.

Shame, I thought.

Dave extended his hand to mine. “Nice to meet you.”

“Same here.”

“Don’t mean to pry, Danny, but what brings you to our little town?” Dave asked, his voice as gentle as his wife’s smile.

I thought for a moment, but realized there was no reason to hide my motives. “Old ghosts,” I said. “And I came to help in the search for the missing girl. Marissa.”

Rose’s soft eyes went sad. “Yes, poor thing,” she said. “We are actually heading out there soon as you’re done. If you want you can ride with us.”

Dave nodded at his wife.

“Sure, sounds fine,” I said.

The two smiled and retreated behind the swinging doors, leaving me my cooling plate of food.

We passed Main Street and headed toward the park that sat in Dent County, but the woods just 20 yards away spread through two neighboring counties to both the east and the west.

There was a small group standing solemnly at the entrance to the park. The sheriff was explaining his plan of attack and then introduced the minister of a local church to say a prayer for Marissa and all of the warm-hearted souls that had gathered to search for her.

As he wrapped up the Lord’s Prayer I spotted a woman and man standing a few feet to my left. Undoubtedly Marissa’s parents by the way silent tears fell from their eyes. Every few minutes random people from the crowd came to console them.

I turned my attention back to the woods. I could feel it. Something was watching us. Something was waiting.

Rose, Dave, and I headed in with the center crew. After about 200 yards I stopped. Rose and her husband stopped as well.

“Are you okay, Danny?”

“Fine.” I looked around and lowered my tone. “I think I know where to look.”

A confused look came over Dave, “How would you know that?”

“A hunch,” I lied.

“Lead the way,” Rose said. “I’ll tell the others.”

“No!” I tried not to yell. “I’ll go alone. I’m not sure how safe it’ll be.”

“What’s going on?” Dave’s eyes were stern.

“Just trust me. If you want to come that’s fine, but be careful.”

Dave took his wife’s hand and took a deep breath. They followed me as we slowly separated from the other 200 searchers.

The hike was a lot more rugged than I remembered. I’m not sure if it was my 20-year age difference or just the wild growth of nature. We stopped at the top of a hill and looked down to the clearing Grandpa and I had camped. It was still clear for the most part, with a few newer trees towering at its edges.

Dave began to head down the hill. I stopped him with a trembling hand.

“What’s wrong?” I believe Dave felt my hesitation because he knelt beside me concealing himself in the overgrown brush of the hill like a soldier taking cover.

It was hard to catch my breath for a moment. “It might be down there.”

“What?” Rose asked, “What might be down there?”

“I don’t know what it is.” I shook my head. I started down the hill. I was halfway down when I turned to see Dave and Rose following me slowly. I looked to the horizon and noticed the sun was halfway down, but with the towering trees sunset would be quicker.

“You really think she’s this far from the park?” Rose asked, trying to hide the shake in her voice.

I looked at her and answered honestly. “I don’t think she’s alive.”

We headed a little further into the shade of the clearing. We stood in the middle of the small opening. From our left I heard a cry. “Heeeellp.” The voice was faint and muffled.

We ran at a sprint to where the voice came from. I was as amazed as Dave and Rose to see Marissa lying on the ground. Dried blood covered her entire body. Darkened dirt plugged her once-open wounds.

Rose jumped between me and Marissa, putting a hand to her neck. “She’s badly dehydrated and lost a lot of blood. We have to call the sheriff.”

I looked to Dave, then back to Rose.

“I was a nurse before we opened the café.”

Dave pulled a cell phone from his pocket. He looked at it frustrated. “Dammit!” He let out a sigh. “No service.”

Marissa let out a pain-filled groan.

“We have to get her out of here!”

No sooner than the words left her mouth than we heard a long low scream from the darkening woods. An icy freeze ran up my spine, and I couldn’t help but shake. Its face flashed in my mind.

Rose and Dave looked to the woods, their eyes wide. Marissa was tugging at Rose’s arm crying so heavily she was almost heaving.

“Shhh, you have to calm down,” Rose told her, lying to herself and Marissa.

I pulled a .357 Magnum from my waist, a gun I had only fired once the day I bought it. After nearly snapping my wrist from the recoil that day, and almost giving myself a concussion in the process, I put it back in the case. I had never touched it again until I retrieved it earlier that morning. I wished I had practiced more.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Dave’s voice was hoarse, sounding as if he had been holding his breath since hearing the Beast’s screams.

“Be quiet,” I whispered, not because I meant to but because I was afraid to raise my voice.

To our right the woods came alive. A flock of birds exploded from the treetops and turned the darkening sky fully black. The fallen limbs and leaves on the ground crunched beneath something heavy and fast. The creature in the woods let out long and blood curdling screams.

I turned to Dave, “Take Rose and Marissa and run that way.” I pointed west. “There’s a small cabin about a mile from here. Tell them you’re a friend of Danny’s, they’ll remember me.”

“We can’t move her!” Rose hissed, her eyes glued on the shaking trees just ahead of us.

The woods fell silent.

“Maybe it’s gone?” Dave wished aloud, more to himself than the rest of us. He knelt beside Rose, putting an arm around her. That would be very little protection against the Beast. But he didn’t know that. How could he?

I kept a watchful eye to the woods hoping that maybe it had gone.

Dave looked at his cell again, “Hello… sheriff… Can you hear me? Yes, we’re at the clearing in the woods, two-and-a-half miles from the park… We found her. She’s in God-awful shape! We need someone to fly in and get her, and there’s some type of animal in the woods… Hurry!”

“What’d he say?” Rose’s voice was still a whisper.

“Be here in 15. They have to find Roogy for the ‘copter.”

My attention was still on the edge of the woods. I could still feel the Beast’s eyes peering into my soul, craving the blood that flowed through my veins.

Suddenly there was another crack from the woods. A massive Beast emerged from the depths. Its face was too familiar. I could feel the earth shake beneath its massive size. I faintly heard Rose and Dave yelp, but the blood pounding in my ears made it impossible to tell.

I raised the .357, slippery from the sweat in my palm. I aimed for its center mass, hoping I’d connect. I squeezed the trigger – again nearly knocking myself out – and the gunshot echoed through the woods, making my ears ring painfully.

The Beast let out a horrid scream. I opened my eyes and saw that it was right on top of me. It leaped from the ground and landed on me. Its force knocked all the air from my lungs. I could taste copper from the blood in my mouth.

Dave stood behind the monster, his face partially hidden behind the Beast’s shoulder. He held the gun and hesitated. He finally swung the butt of the gun down on the monster. It hissed at me, and its eyes glaring deep into mine.

The Beast stood and backhanded Dave. Dave flew over Rose and Marissa, landing hard on the ground. The Beast stood well over seven feet when on its hind legs. I grabbed the pistol that Dave had dropped when he was struck. In the distance the sound of the helicopter grew. I pointed the gun at the back of the Beast’s head and pulled the trigger.

It fell to the ground. Gargling blood came from deep in its throat. Rose left Marissa’s side and tended to her husband. He lay there, seemingly dead. I hoped not.

I walked up to the creature, not noticing the helicopter was right overhead. I looked down to the creature. Its face ran through my mind again, along with the image of the creature I remembered from twenty years earlier. Its empty, lifeless eyes stared up at me with its mouth partly open.

The helicopter landed and an elderly man jumped out with the Sheriff. They ran past me and the Beast straight to Marissa, Rose, and Dave. They looked Dave over and shook him awake. He stood on his own, but was a little wobbly. Rose turned her attention to Marissa when she was convinced Dave was all right.

David, Rose, the sheriff, and the pilot all checked for a pulse on Marissa, but none could be found. They bowed their heads and said a short prayer.

“She gone?” The pilot asked.

Another victim claimed by the Beast.

Dave and the Roogy wrapped Marissa with a blanket and carried her to the helicopter. Rose followed closely behind. The sheriff stopped behind me and looked down to the Beast. He gagged at the smell and the scene.

“What in Christ’s name is that?!” His eyes were wide with a mixture of fear and amazement.

“I don’t know.”

“Look, we have a storm heading in. We gotta get Dave to a hospital.” He looked down at the Beast one more time. “We’ll send someone back tomorrow to get,” his eyes narrowed on the Beast, “that thing.”

I nodded and started to follow the sheriff back toward the helicopter. I stopped just a few feet from the helicopter as a cold and familiar chill ran down my neck, the hairs standing on end. I could feel something watching me, something staring at me.