RED DEER

Kim ran through the forest fast but the burning agony in her legs meant that she wouldn’t be able to run for much longer, but she had no choice not with that thing following her especially with what happened to the others screaming in pain and fear as it consumed the very life from them as it tore them to pieces the faces that they made as Kim was utterly useless to help her friends, all she could do was run. After some time Kim had to stop she slumped against a large tree struggling to catch her breath, every breath scraped into her lungs as she looked around to see if It was anywhere nearby, the forest was silent the moonlight casting shadows in-between the trees, Kim tried to rest for a moment she slumped down and sat on the ground burying her head into her knees trying so hard to hold back the shriek of wanting to cry “I’m so sorry, I’m sorry I couldn’t save you” Kim silently wailed, voice spoke out from in front of her “Of course you’re sorry, it’s your fault!” Kim looked out Jerry stood looking down on her his face dark and eyes lifeless his throat was torn open from his chin down to his left shoulder Kim quickly got to her feet “No” she barked but Jerry replied “It’s coming for you Kim charging through the trees, it’s hungry always fucking hungry and YOU FED US TO IT!!!” She screamed “NO!!!” but her cry was interrupted but a sound the wailing cry from a deer Kim froze she slowly looked towards her right as the wail came again and there she saw it crouched low to the ground about a hundred feet away is was too dark to make out any features but she saw the antlers as it stalked around on the all fours, she tried to move slowly in the opposite direction but keeping her focus on it hoping that it hadn’t seen her but it stopped moving and slowly raised itself upright revealing the slender black torso and long spindly arms which had warped clawed hands, its body looked human but the face and head were that of a deer although twisted and evil something only a nightmare could conjure, some vile wretched abomination that had clawed its way from that pit beneath, as it faced away from her Kim froze a moment but it shrieked something that would turned blood to ice and it then turned to run at her “FUCK!!!” Kim continued to run again.

Branches clawed at her face and clothes like the forest wanted this thing to catch her but she barged through she couldn’t see the it anymore but as she looked ahead Sandra stood ahead her with her face covered in blood “I SCREAMED BUT YOU DID NOTHING!” the wind began to carry whispers the whispers of all the people that it had killed the whispers that Kim and the others began to hear a few days ago, they grew loud yelling and shouting at her she tried to ignore them “Let it consume you” “Bitch you deserve everything” “You never should have touch that shrine” “I’M BURNING BECAUSE OF YOU! IT WON’T LET ME GO!!!” “I WANTED TO GO HOME!” “Why the fuck are you still running!” “No NOOOOO!” “You watched that thing rip out my entrails you watched it eat me!!!” Kim wanted to close her eyes and drown out the voices however she knew it was pointless as she looked around she could see the silhouettes of figures standing amongst the trees shadows of the dead watching her white dead filled eyes shining the moonlight there were hundreds all watching her looking in the crowd of ghosts Kim would catch glimpses of her friends, the wail came from the left and Kim screamed as she saw the deer thing stood behind the shadows watching her no matter where she looked it was always there just standing midst the sea of its victims, dead white eyes gleaming at her as she frantically spun in circles desperate to find a way out a flash of claws lunged at her slicing across her shoulders “NO!” she screamed and ran from the monstrosity that had tried to attack, it let out a blood chilling horrific shriek and charged after her desperate to taste her flesh.

Kim barged through the crowd of the dead each one looking at her, screaming at her, blaming her for happened to them she kept thinking about them was it truly her fault? How could she have known what evil would be unleashed from that shrine deep in the woods, but the deaths that followed could she still take the blame for them? for her friends, the farmer and his wife soon who tried to give them shelter, Kim still remembered when it splintered the door the poor boy was only six and that thing clutching him with its teeth shaking him violently that scream the boy made will forever be burned into Kim’s memory along with the father’s cries of horror at the sight of his mangled child, two blasts from a shotgun didn’t stop the deer from ripping out the man’s throat shortly after trying to kill it Kim didn’t see the mother die when she and Laila ran from the farmhouse but they certainly heard it, Kim stopped running suddenly to stare at the figure standing ahead of her, it was the little boy face bloody, chest cracked open on the left side from where the deer had bitten into him and missing his left arm he stared back at her crying “It killed me, why me? I wanted my mummy” Kim put a hand to her mouth “Jesus Christ” she gasped the boy looked to her “It hurt so much, I want my mum!” Tears ran down her face but the boy then stopped crying looking emotionless “It will hurt for you too, he’s coming” his face creaked into a vile smirked “It will rip and tear until there’s nothing but your fractured soul” the boy screamed as Kim shifted to the right running past him, it seemed like the forest was never going to end until she saw what looked like a light a head, it was a house she shrieked with relief “Oh thank god, thank you, thank you” emerging from the dense trees Kim stood before a large Manor house illuminated in the dark night by several spotlights around the building, Kim ran screaming crying out frantically for help, a man opened the door to see what was the commotion and saw Kim slumped to her knees from fatigue “Bloody hell!” the man said with shock he rushed outside and knelt down beside her “My goodness are you alright?” she replied pausing between deep breaths “Please...help...it’s…after…me!” the man looked puzzled “Come on dear we better get you inside” he helped her to her feet and led her inside the house.

The massive oak doors boomed shut a small middle aged woman emerged from the dining room to see the man carrying Kim into the house “Oh my Mr Mason?!” he looked at the housekeeper “Mrs Ellis could you please make some tea and fetch the first aid kit, I’m going to take her to one of the guest rooms” Mrs Ellis nodded “Of course Sir” Mason looked to Kim “Now come along my dear let’s get you to bed” he led her up the staircase Kim held close to him “Thank you, thank you, thank you” he patted her on the shoulder “It’s alright dear”, the room was only small but it had a four poster bed, a wooden mirrored table and even a suede couch Mason sat Kim down on the bed “There we are now, my name is William Mason what’s yours?” Kim looked withdrawn her eyes fixed on the window wondering about the beast lurking within the trees she managed to say one word “Kim” Mason smiled “Well Kim I’m going to go downstairs to help Mrs Ellis prepare you something warm to drink and something to eat, now there is a shower if you wish to clean up” he placed a hand on her shoulder then walked out of the room, now alone Kim slumped onto the bed she had time to rest but all the emotions finally hit her and she burst into tears.

Sleep didn’t bring any comfort here there was only dreams of darkness and blood, Kim’s friends stood amongst an endless expanse of blackened trees and dead souls looking tortured, saddened from being trapped in a never ending nightmare and that thing moving amongst the screams of agony and fear, Kim watched as it waded in the darkness until it stopped and turned to look at her “Kim…ber…ly” it’s mouth didn’t move but it spoke, it spoke in a deep inhuman voice and it knew her name, she couldn’t move all she could was stand there as the deer reared more upright bones cracking with distortion a clawed hand grasping the bark of a nearby tree “You cannot escape from me…” it growled and began to slowly approach hooves crunching the undergrowth with each step “I roam these hills and the plains of the realm of fire, you brought to this world and I shall take you from it” Kim shook her head “No!” the deer was getting closer “Can you feel me Kimberly? I getting closer, I will find you and when I do I WILL FEED ON YOUR GUTS AND RIP APART YOUR SOUL!!!” Kim erupted in her bed screaming she looked around the room she was still in Mason’s house she breathed deeply trying to calm herself, voices where coming from outside Kim got up from the bed and walked over to the window peering out she saw that several cars had parked outside of the house with numerous people talking to each other, the doors opened and walked out and out stretched his arms “Welcome everyone, please do in and make yourselves at home, the event will take place shortly” he gestured to the main door and the guests started walking inside giving polite comments to Mason as they passed by, Kim looked confused why were all these people arriving here at this time of night there had to be a logical reason, she sat down on the bed and took out her phone luckily it still had power left but no signal to call someone “Shit!!” she was about to throw the phone when she saw the background photo on her phone, it was of her and all her friends before they came on this trip to the forest, she stared sadly at the group “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean for all of this to happen” she blamed herself for everything despite the fact that no one could have predicted the horror that would be unleashed upon them all, but still one by one she had to watch them all die as if that beast wanted her to be the last one to witness all the torment, moments of silence passed by but were interrupted when Kim heard noise coming from downstairs it sounded like singing, she got up from the bed and left the room to find out what was going on.

She walked down the hallway and could see the light from downstairs shining up the staircase, as she got closer to the stairs she could hear the voices more clearly it wasn’t singing, it was chanting, Kim had reached the top of the stairs and slowly began to take each step down, the chanting got louder as Kim descended the stairs it was coming from one of the large rooms she could hear Mason start to speak “The Red Deer is coming, the forest trembles with his presence as he charges through the trees, we gather here to tonight to give worship to Irthronaq, born of the Father and burst forth into the world born with blood and agony…” Kim reached the foot of the stairs and cautiously approached the room where the voice and chanting were coming from, she peered through the door that was ajar the room was filled with all the people that had arrived in the cars but they were wearing deep red hood lined with gold, they were stood in a circle with Mason stood right in the middle holding a large leather bound book “You who were born in the Temple of Bones your life was stripped from this world and cast back into the pit and into the eternal fire, but now…now you walk the Earth again gathering you strength so you can unleash malice and chaos on the sinners of this world, cleanse it and bring us into the dark bosom of our dark lord…” Before Kim could turn to run she was faced by two large men in hoods, one quickly grabbed hold of her as the other opened the door, everyone in the hall turned to look as Kim shouted and bayed at the men to let her go, Mason parted through the gathered crowd to look at Kim with a smile on his face “You’re a bit early my dear” Kim shot glances around the room “Who are these people and what the hell is going on?” Mason looked at the people around the room then back to Kim “My dear, my friends and I have gathered here to give worship to The Great Red Deer” Kim’s heart skipped several beats at the words “The Deer?! You worship that monster in the woods?!” Mason smiled “Of course, the dark baron Irthronaq is coming, it is why we are gathered here tonight to worship him” Kim struggled to free herself but the two masked men were to strong, she looked to Mason who kept smiling “Why?! Why me?!” Mason’s grinned widened “Oh my dear we can’t do this without you, you lit the candle summoning Irthronaq, the Great Deer to this world and now he must feed on the souls of the innocent to become stronger” she struggled again “You’re crazy! How can you worship that…thing?!” Mason approached her he caressed her face with the back of his hand “My dear, we’ve done this for centuries and the darkness has blessed our loyalty with wealth and power” Kim barked out “At the cost of your souls!” Mason stepped back slightly “We know the inferno that awaits, the pain and the torment that awaits some but we loyal few with be embraced into it” Looking at the smiling face looking back at her Kim could see that Mason was truly mad, they all were they all believed that the devil or that thing out in the woods would grant them power at the cost of eternal damnation. The room suddenly fell silent and a growl came from right behind Kim the hooded figures moved many steps away from her and Mason, Mason stood with a look of fear on his face as his gaze went passed Kim, she turned slowly and to see those dead eyes, blood smeared muzzle and black antlers, a deep growl rumbled through jagged teeth, tears rolled down her cheek as long crooked fingers caressed across her face and wiped away the tears, all she could do was scream.

END