In the Grass

I was laying in the grass, blood pouring from my open wound, as I wondered, "How did it come to be like this?" It felt like so long ago, but it was only yesterday. I looked up and saw the creature staring back down at me with its large eyes and its puny pupils. Its face is terrifying, yet so simple. It's unnatural, so that's what really makes it so scary. It just stands above me and stares, and things darken, I cough, a deep, smoker cough, and thick blood drips from my mouth as I feel something pierce my stomach. The life began to leave me, and I lied in the grass, waiting, embracing death, I just wanted it to be all over.

This is how it all started...

I knew what I was getting myself into, I had heard all the stories, yet, I still wanted to find this thing and study it. No one knew what it was, and anyone who did is gone now before they could make the information public. I thought it'd be different for me, for some odd reason. I thought I was different, my parents had always told me I'd make a change, and by god I believed them. It was a simple plan, get into the area, get video footage of the creature, study it, and report our findings to my local wildlife department. It was stupid, but simple.

It was just me, I'd always been sort of a loner, so I thought, "I've gone this far, another mile won't kill me." Even if I did have friends helping me, they would've all been killed. I got to the area, this creature had been terrorizing people, campers and the like, even killing them and leaving their bodies out in the open as some sort of...Warning. So I knew it wasn't a normal animal, it was smart, intimidating. But I was a human, I was smarter than anything. God I wasn't prepared for what happened next.

I was going through, planting traps, cameras, bait, everything I could think of just to see this thing, then I found flat ground and made my camp. I put up my tent, lit a fire, and waited. That night at about 3:30 or so, I was awoken by a strange, sound outside my tent, so I got up to inspect it. Bad mistake. When I got out, I saw claw marks in the dirt around the front of my tent, and my fire had been put out. I knew this had to be the creature, so I went to gather my cameras. I grabbed a flashlight and ran as fast as I could to the locations of the cameras. I arrived at the first sight, only to be greeted by broken pieces and wires scattered about. I looked around, and saw two eyes peeking at me from the tall grass to my left, I shone my light on them, revealing the hideous, simple face. It was pale, wrinkly, with a mouth that appeared small, but could stretch to great lengths. It pounced on me and I blacked out.

I'd regain consciousness every now and then, and I'd watch as the creature dragged me away to god knows where. It crawled on all fours and pulled me by my legs, leaving deep wounds. After what seemed like hours, we arrived at our destination, and the creature threw me into tall grass. I looked at it, fully aware of what was going to happen next. The creature sliced into my side, staring at me, holding my face forward with one hand and cutting deep, tearing my skin with the other. It forced me to look into its eyes, they were god awful, yet so simple. And now, here I am. I'm in the grass, begging it to put me out of my misery, but it just stares at me. Then I remembered the warnings. I was going to be an example.

I felt it push deeper and deeper into my stomach, tears formed in my eyes as I begin to really feel the full extent of bleeding out. I spit up more blood and my vision begins to obscure, then, I go numb. I can't feel any more, but I'm still screaming, hoping anyone would hear me and save me, even though I knew it was to late.The creature still forces me to stare at it, and then, nothing. Darkness.

A couple walks along a dirt path, "What's that in the tree?" The man asks the woman.

"I'm not sure."

They get closer to it and realize what it is. It's a body with a large claw mark across its chest and its stomach opened.

"What the hell!" The man screams as the woman vomits.

They run to their car and go to the local police station, who then calls the wildlife department, "We've got another example."

"How bad?"

"Usual claw marks, not very mutilated, but the stomach was tore open."

"Did it feed?"

"No, it just killed him, we sent out a group to check it out."

"Why didn't it feed? Wasn't he fine?"

"Yes, no diseases or anything. Just a poor brave bastard wanting to show the world what it shouldn't see."

"Like all the rest."

"Yeah."

"Well it has to feed, or it will come after the common folk."

"You think I don't know that?"

"Wait, that group you sent out, are they back yet?"

"They radioed in not to long ago, but it's getting dark, so our hopes aren't to high."

"Good, maybe it can still feed."