Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

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He drives the baseball bat into the thing’s skull, knocking it to the ground. “RUN!” he yells. The boys, at first, look on in fear as the thing slowly gets to its feet again. He turns to them, his face stern, resolved. “RUN FOR FUCK’S SAKE! Let me do this!”

“DAD!” one of the boys yells as the thing attacks. He crashes to the ground, screaming in agony as the thing rips into him, tearing his flesh from the bone. Then he is silent as the thing starts to stuff its mouth full of his flesh. The boys stand there, petrified, staring, watching the thing as it devours him. It looks up towards them, continuing to chew.

“W-W-What, what should we do?”

“Are you seriously asking that?”

“Of course I am. Look, the bat, it’s—”

“It’s what, another way for us to get killed? Jerry’s dad just tried, and that thing slaughtered him, like it has everyone else who’s attempted to stand up to it. I say we fucking run, we keep running, and we don’t look back. EVER!”

“It WON’T STOP! That thing’ll catch up, it’ll kill us one by one until we’re all dead. Our only chance is to stop it NOW, while we have the chance!”

“What fucking chance have we got? We’re kids! Jerry’s dad was a big guy, and that thing smashed him into nothing in a few seconds, just like your brother. And he was a BIG GUY! But this thing—it took him out like he was nothing. We’re snacks to it, not even worth worrying about. I say we run while we still can.”

“Look at it,” Jerry says. The other three look over towards it, where it sits, watching them, its head tilted to the side.

“I-I-Is it l-l-listening to us?”

“I think so,” Jerry says.

“What should we do? Do you think it understands what we’re saying?”

“W-Why don’t we ask it,” Jerry says as he takes a nervous step forward.

“Jerry, DON’T!”

“I’ll be alright, Froggy. I don’t think it’s going to hurt me,” he says, taking another step towards it. “Can you understand me?” he asks. It just stares at him, its head tilts to the other side, and then it nods in understanding. Jerry looks back to the others, then back to the thing. “Why are you here?” Its head tilts back again as it stuffs more flesh into its mouth, then it holds out its hand, offering Jerry a piece of his father’s torn flesh. He shakes his head, and the thing tilts its head again, then stuffs the flesh into its mouth.

“Just leave it, Jerry. It seems happy right now. Let’s just get the hell out of here before it changes its mind and comes after us!” Froggy says.

“No, it’s intelligent. Maybe we can reason with it, find out what it wants,” he says, turning to them. The look on their faces tells him all he needs to know, and the warmth of its breath on the side of his face does the rest. Slowly, he turns to face it, as it stands there, staring at him, still chewing on pieces of his father’s flesh. “P-P-Please,” he says nervously. It stops, and once again tilts its head to the side before it attacks.