Wergild

Preface for context: Kieran’s beast is based off of the dispacer beast from Dungeons and Dragons lore, one of my personal favorite monsters in the bestiary!

The tents are already set up by the time we shuffle into camp. The other groups gather in a cluster around the campfire, milling about anxiously. Some glance back and forth from their phones into the surrounding darkness. Whispered fragments of conversation end abruptly as we step into the light.

“Where were you?” Lorraine, one of the group leaders, shouts as she rushes over to us. “We’ve been waiting for hours! We called the park rangers and the police. We thought someone had gotten lost, or hurt!” She stops as she sees Michael, our group leader, supported by another camper. “What happened?”

“We ran into a wild animal out there, probably a stray mountain lion or bear,” huffed Michael.

The other campers move closer now, trying to get a better look at us but still keeping to the light of the campfire, as if the shadows were infectious. I almost laugh. They had been perfectly safe here in camp. I wish our group had been so lucky. A couple campers run to the first aid kit. The rest grab our group and yank us over to the campfire. I shy away from the flames- they’re too much like those horrible, glowing eyes.

“What did you see?” “Did it try to eat you?” “Did you get any cool scars?”

“It was huge!” Sam, my best friend, is always one for theatrics. “It jumped us out of nowhere and nearly ripped Mike’s head off!”

“What did it look like?” an eager camper asks.

“It had mangy fur and super sharp teeth, like a rabid bear or something,” says someone from our group.

“No, it was more reptilian, with scales and claws!” a second replies.

Another jumps in. “It was long and had tons of legs, like a giant centipede.”

“No, no, it was short with tons of spines all over, I swear!”

“It was really spooky, though,” Sam continues. “And it was fast too! We could never keep our flashlights on it. I thought for sure we were dead until Kieran pushed it off the cliff! Tell them, girl!”

All eyes turn to me. I hate being the center of attention. Sam’s grinning face and the rest of the campers’ half-amazed, half-skeptical smirks make me feel like a specimen under study. Sharing what happened out there like a ghost story is the last thing I want to do.

“Well, I didn’t really push it off,” I say, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks. “I just saw it for an instant. I guess it lost its balance near the ravine and tumbled over.”

“Don’t be so modest, girl,” Sam said. “It was amazing! There we were, running around like scaredy-cats, when Kieran barrels out of the shadows and tackles it, wham! She was like a mini tank!”

I shrink down, trying to bury myself in my shirt. Maybe if it covers enough of my face, I’ll disappear. “It was nothing, really, Sam,” I mumble.

“Alright, everyone!” Lorraine claps her hands, drawing our attention to one of the tables where Michael and a couple campers from our group sit, all bandaged up. “Group A, let’s help Group C set up their tents after their close encounter tonight. Group B, you’re still on dinner duty. Hop to it!”

A collective groan rises from the remaining campers. I breathe a sigh of relief as they turn their attention away from me and back to their campsite tasks. Sam pouts at the interruption to her story, but as she walks away, I can see her hands shaking. Beneath the surface, I know she’s just as scared as I am.

Usually, I didn’t mind telling a good story. Heck, that’s one of my favorite things to do with Sam- we have loads of shared Word documents with snippets of various fantasy stories we’d go back and forth writing together. We even started a couple tabletop roleplaying games with our friends back in high school, campaigns that are still going to this day. But I couldn’t bring myself to share the story of our encounter with that beast.

You see, I was the only one who actually saw it.

We had gotten lost on our way to the campsite. I don’t know if Michael misread the map, or we took the wrong trail, or we stopped for too long during our breaks. How did he become president of the environmental club again? But somehow we ended up on a side trail with no landmarks. The sky grew darker as the trees rose up to extinguish the sun. Now, our crew was relatively experienced with hiking, each of us having gone on plenty of backpacking trips growing up, but that didn’t mean we weren’t starting to feel nervous. Sam and I hung at the back of the group, already sweaty and exhausted from the full day.

“Do you think we’ll make it to camp before it gets really dark?” Sam asked.

I glanced at the forest around us. Maybe it was just the poor light playing tricks, but the branches of the trees seemed to curl down towards us on the path. The leaves had a darker sheen and the wind had picked up, grabbing our hair and making the pots and pans on our backpacks clang together.

“I don’t know, Sam,” I answered. “This place is giving me the creeps.”

I tried to listen for an owl, crickets, anything to calm myself down. Nothing. I couldn’t even make out the sound of our footsteps. I put a hand to my chest. My heart was hammering.

As we climbed around the next bend, we came to a halt. Michael took out his map for the upteenth time and squinted at it, as if our location was going to magically appear. Some of the other campers started flicking on their flashlights. I sat on the ground, pulling my knees up to my chest. I was hungry, I was tired, and I shivered as the warm day slipped into a chilly night.

I had begged Dad incessantly to let me go on this trip. He had no qualms about me spending the weekend out in the woods, but on all the trips I had gone on growing up, he was always a member of the crew. Since the Conservatory’s environmental club hosted this trip, though, it was student-led—no adult supervisors. I could tell Mom was nervous, but I think Dad convinced her to let me go. They’ve been pushing me to get involved with people my age since I’m not in school right now. I know they want me to attend the Conservatory, the state’s most prestigious four-year school. Dad’s a professor there. And it’s not that I don’t want to go to the same school he’s teaching at—actually, that would be rather fun. After hours access to all the classrooms and labs, free crash spaces between classes, extra study help outside of office hours - it all sounds great. But I’m just not ready for that step yet, moving out and moving on to college. The reason I’m on this trip at all is because Dad talked to the environmental club’s advisor and got me a spot. I convinced him to ask for a spot for Sam, too, since she was home for the weekend. I don’t think I could’ve gone by myself. Baby steps, you know?

I just wanted to be at our campsite already.

“I think I figured out where we are.” Michael looked up from his map. “We must’ve taken the long way around the base of the mountains. If we keep going along this path, we should make it to the campsite in the next half hour.”

Thank goodness. This place was starting to feel more and more like those haunted houses I hated as a kid. I always screamed when the actors dressed up like monsters jumped out at us. The deepening shadows made it feel like anything could be hiding out there, not just actors, but something more dangerous…

My thoughts were interrupted by a thud and a choking noise. I jolted forward to see... nothing. Some of the others aimed their flashlights toward the sound. Michael laid prone a couple of feet from where he had just stood, grimacing. His map was in tatters on the ground. Sam and some of the older scouts leapt to their feet and rushed over to him, helping him up slowly.

“What on earth was that?” Sam asked.

“I... don’t know,” Michael wheezed. “Knocked the wind out of me, that’s for sure! Look around, it may still be nearby!”

With a whoosh and a feral yowl, one of the campers fell. He let out a surprised yelp as his flashlight cracked and went out. That was all it took to get everyone screaming. It was utter chaos. I stumbled backwards, planting my back against a tree. The clearing became a blur as flashlight beams wove in and out of the branches. I found myself suddenly in the mud as someone slammed into me. My head cracked hard on the ground. Dazed, I think I caught a glimpse of something leaping into the trees, but I couldn’t be sure.

Pawing in the dark, I slowly rolled over to where my pack lay crumpled on the ground. I tore through it, dumping out extra clothing and food. Flipping it upside down, I shook it frantically, desperate to find a torch. “Where. Is. My. Stupid. Flashlight?!” Finally I grabbed it, fumbling with the switch. It flickered, then lit up.

And there was the beast.

It turned towards me as my flashlight illuminated its monstrous form. Its body, longer than two people head to feet, was smooth and slick, a deep bluish black like the encroaching shadows. A cluster of muscular legs supported it, with at least four sprouting from its chest. Coils of toothy, black tendrils writhed above its head, connecting somewhere on its neck. The closest thing I could compare it to was feline, but it was undoubtedly not any feline I knew. We locked eyes.

They were brilliantly orange, glimmering like twin candles. They drew me in; I couldn’t look away. My head yelled at me to run, to cry, to scream… but I couldn’t move a muscle. I was frozen, entranced. As I stared, my flashlight beam seemed to ripple around it. I blinked, and it was gone.

And then it was on top of me. I screamed and tried to duck out of the way, but it shoved me to the ground. It growled, low and rumbling, leaning in towards my neck. Is this how I’ll die? Instinctively, I held up the only thing I had—my flashlight—in front of my face, shining it into its eyes. It hissed, rearing back, and I felt a breeze as one of the tendrils whipped over my head.

The beast backed away from me, pawing at its eyes. Hands shaking, I kept my light on it, but the beam rippled again. Instead of pointing at the beast, it flickered and arched up into the tree branches. It looked like someone physically grabbed hold of the beam and pointed it upwards. But… that’s impossible! Light can’t just stop in midair! I tried to twist my flashlight back, to point it at the beast, but it was gone again.

What the heck was that thing? And why was it attacking us?

Lights weren’t working. I couldn’t rely on sight, a thought that terrified me nearly as much as the beast did. I had to be smart, come on, Kieran, think, think, think! A hiss and a scream came from across the clearing.

It was going to keep coming after us until we were all down. It was fast and powerful, easily slipping in and out of the trees. We couldn’t see it until it was already attacking us. Our senses were unreliable; it was too quick to catch once it made its move, simply disappearing back into the shadows. If we couldn’t use our lights to see where it was at, and once it attacked we were too late, what could we do?

We have to anticipate where it is going to be.

I pressed my hands against my head, trying to stop the incessant throbbing. As I did so, I noticed one of the campers (Danny? Donny? Johnny?) standing a little ways apart from the chaos of the clearing. He was a curly-haired guy with too-large glasses, clutching his flashlight in trembling hands. I would’ve just ignored him if I hadn’t also spotted those two golden eyes again, this time in a scraggly bush just behind the boy. The beast paused, tail and tendrils waving slowly back and forth as it lined up to pounce.

“Get out of the way!”

He turned towards me, eyes wide. I ran forward, shoving him roughly out of the way. He fell to the ground, his glasses tumbling off his face. I didn’t take my eyes off the spot where I saw the beast. But it wasn’t there. I looked around, then inched forward, kicking the bush with my boot. Nothing. The camper had managed to find his glasses and stared at me. He backed away, aiming his flashlight towards me as if I were another beast trying to attack him. My cheeks flushed. It was right there, wasn’t it?

Michael’s voice carried over the fray, telling us all to get to the center of the clearing. We rushed to him, desperate to find a shred of safety. I grabbed Sam’s arm, pulling her close. She hugged me, squeezing my hand.

“Everyone here? Paul? Gretchen? David?”

David! That’s his name!

“We’re not far from the camp.” Michael turned on his leader voice, that ‘listen to me, I know what I’m doing’ tone. Any other time, it would have been annoying, but we were in no position to complain. “If we stick together in a group, we should be able to make it. Let’s get a move on, before whatever that was comes back.”

We quickly continued up the path, nervously keeping our eyes and flashlights on the forest around us. I must’ve been wrong about what I saw. It was just a normal mountain lion, right? Nothing like what I saw could exist. I must’ve hit my head harder than I thought when I fell. I touched the spot tenderly. It smarted, making me wince. I’d have to check it out when I got home. Yeah, my imagination must’ve gotten the best of me. Just a trick of the light.

But I couldn’t shake my mounting paranoia. I jumped at the slightest things. A shifting of the bushes. Someone kicking a branch off the trail. Catching a flashlight beam just out of the corner of my eye. Anything could be the beast, anything could be it getting ready to pounce again…

Nervous whispers turned to excited ones as the campers up front spotted the main path. We rushed forward, eager to see the tracks of the other groups on the trail. Almost home free, we’re almost there.

But my eyes weren’t on the ground. I still scanned the trees. Of course, I prayed that I wouldn’t see anything. But a small part of me wanted proof that my beast was real. That it wasn’t my imagination or a trick of the light.

Ask and ye shall receive.

Where a moment before there was nothing, the beast crouched in the middle of the trail. It wasn’t even trying to hide anymore. Like it was mocking me. Mocking me for discovering its existence. Mocking me for being the only one to see it. Mocking me for believing it was real. But it was right there, standing in front of me. My head pounded.

With a scream, I rushed at the beast. I didn’t care if the rest of the group thought I was insane.

We tumbled to the ground, rolling a few paces into the bushes. I dug in my heels just before the edge of one of the drop-offs. I wheezed, trying to catch my breath again. The beast pulled itself to its feet. It narrowed its eyes at me. I felt that same allure as it tried to paralyze me but looked away quickly. Instead, I raised my flashlight into its face. It blinked rapidly, hissing in frustration.

I rushed at the beast again, giving it a shove. It was like slamming into a brick wall. My flashlight flew out of my hands and clattered down the drop-off. I fell backwards, realizing my mistake. I should’ve stayed with the group, I should’ve stayed with the group! The beast growled at me, the glimmer in its eyes almost triumphant.

It jumped, but I barely rolled out of the way. The beast’s tendrils thrashed around my head. One caught my arm, tearing a gash in my shirt. I felt myself slipping, sliding towards the edge. I reached up for something, anything to hold on to. I found purchase around one of the beast’s legs. It was oddly smooth, like a stone statue.

Unbalanced by my weight, the beast staggered. It stumbled, rocks clattering around its paws. I don’t know how I managed it, but somehow I scrambled back up towards the trail. The beast wasn’t so lucky. It screamed, a shrill, piercing sound, as it tumbled over the edge. I leaned as far over the edge as I dared, watching its fall. Its glowing eyes glinted at me one last time as it disappeared. The darkness swallowed it whole.