Mogwai paused in the middle of the trail, her head turned to glance back up the path. Sighing, she stepped with uncertainty, with a scowl on her full cheeks.

“What is up with you and that Jeep? You love it more than I love my family,” I said and hopped over a small bolder that blocked the trail.

Mogwai sighed again, “I won it.”

“You won a Jeep? Hell’s bells I wish I were that lucky,” I laughed.

Mog struggled over the same rock I’d hopped. She’d opted for a hiking rucksack for this little trip, though it was almost certainly the only thing in it was her coffee supplies.

“It was a social media contest. I even doubled the prize. Fifty thousand dollars and a lifetime service contract. It was the only thing I ever won.”

“You won?” I said, emphasizing the word ‘Won’, and when I did, an oddly large moth flew nearly into my mouth.

Spitting, I waved it away and waited for Mog to make some joke about my breath or something.

Mog was too busy staring sadly off into space, “It’s my command post. I had it custom painted, leather seats, the upgraded entertainment package. I am safe in my command post.”

Something flittered past Mogwai, and her hand shot out like a viper strike and crushed the bug that flew by her.

“These moths bite,” she whined.

I laughed a little and waved another one away from my face. “Moths don’t bite, don’t be silly,” I teased, but just as I did, something smacked into my eyebrow. It was like when I was in a convertible and a small bug slammed into me at fifty-five miles an hour. It didn’t really hurt, but I didn’t want to do it again.

“These are some really weird moths,” I admitted after the third one fluttered next to my ear. “I can almost swear their wing beats sound musical.”

Volcanic rocks protruded from the surrounding slopes and cow trails we were making our way down. Years of erosion and ranching had made this once impassable landscape a fairly refreshing hike. It wouldn’t take long before the new locals found it and turned it into an official hiking trail. A place where dogs crapped everywhere, and recreational vehicles ended up camped precariously on the side of the hill to enjoy the view.

I had to admit the view was breathtaking. Reaching out in front of us were the city lights, but better still, to our north the stars shone, free from light pollution and human fuckery.

Mogwai was getting more annoyed by the second. The moth's annoyance had become a moth swarm, and all around her the little flapping were peppering her like she was a flame that was drawing them in.

It was like I was a glow stick, and she was the bug zapper. Nothing she did seemed to dissuade them until Mog pulled out her bug spray and shot little clouds of death all around her.

“Damn girl, I need you around when it’s mosquito season,” I laughed.

“Die! Die you disgusting little jerks! All you have to do is leave me alone, but NOOOO, you just have to get in my face and,” Mog was on a real tirade before spotting me and shutting up.

“What the hell Mog? You must have killed a few dozen by now. If you keep that up, the sasquatch will smell us coming,” I said, but Mogwai sprayed two more and scowled as they twitched on the ground.

“It’s all I have, the combat claws won’t work,” she growled and stomped one moth.

Rolling my eyes, I detached my laser site and handed it to her, “There is a button on top you can push to activate the laser, just be careful with it,” I said but she was already using it like Excalibur, swing the light and making a swooshing sound. Each time a moth flew into the beam a wisp of smoke went up and the moth fluttered to the ground.

Scanning the area, I couldn’t see much of anything living. I’m sure the bug spray and battle of the Death Star had nothing to do with it. “Try not to scare off everything in the---“

Something to my front crossed the trail in a flash or red fur, and disrupted growl, “What was that? I hissed and wished I hadn’t given Mog the laser site. I had the flashlight under the barrel, but it was so bright I knew it would just pinpoint us for anything on the prowl.

Mog, seemingly more alert than I’d thought, pointed the laser at the spot the creature had crossed. “Not Drop Bears, they scurry more fluidly.

Something broke cover, a flurry of wings, and squawks of surprise. I nearly screamed as the rush washed over me. I didn’t like being surprised. Worse I didn’t like feeling like a fish out of water.

Give me a domestic abuser who skipped bail, boy I’d have him trussed up so fast his ego wouldn’t even have time to realize it was a girl kicking his ass. Give me a meth head, and I’d keep her as cool as a kitten until the ambulance rolled in, easy peasy. But this outdoor shit was for the birds!

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Quail! We’ve got Quail,” Mog yelled and tried to get the laser on the bird.

“For Fuck’s Sake!” I said way too loud and knelt down to catch my breath.

Mogwai knelt as well, the moths gave up on their prey for a little while anyhow.

“Freaking birds,” I panted, “Just freaking birds.”

As I knelt there, I felt silly, but the hair on my arms was still standing on end. It was a strange sensation, like relief was just inches away, and yet…

Mogwai screeched.

It was a feral sound, like a cat roaring its war cry, but finding only agony and distress. If my hair wasn’t already on end, it was after that.

“Mogwai! You okay?” I yelled and shone the flashlight on her.

Mogwai sat on the ground blood on her shirt and feathers all over. She looked confused and frightened, but in a way that made me think of a badger not realizing it was going to have to attack, not yet anyway.

“Its dead. Someone killed it,” Mog lifted the bird up, and I could see its headless corpse was still squirting blood.

“What would do that?” I tried to ask, but the words were cut off as something massive with leathery wings flew over our heads.

Something touched my head, and hair was jerked out by the root. Screaming, I dove to the ground, then rolled onto my back so I could search the sky through the steel sights on the rifle.

“I should have grabbed the shotgun,” I heard myself say, but even though The Judge had buckshot loads, I opted to keep the weapon already in my hands.

“Mog, do you have cover?” I used my best war fighter’s voice and Mog popped right, too.

I heard Mog pant for a second, then proclaim, “I’m between two big rocks. I can cover one side, but my back is exposed.”

Looking around, I realized my own cover was shitty at best. To my sides the gentle slopes of the hill, to my front an open downward path. “I’ll come to you!

Quickly, I rolled to my side and sprung to my feet. I didn’t know where that thing was, but as I moved, I felt like it was breathing right down my neck. “Mog get down!”

Leaping for her position, I felt the tug of claws at the back of my shirt, and a sudden cold that turned in an instant into a searing pain. “Shoot it Mog!”

Mog didn’t have a gun, something I realized a second later as Mog shined the laser at whatever it was. The creature, however, sounded like it had been shot.

The agonized sound it let loose was worse than Mog’s cry. It was an ear splitting mountain lion’s scream mixed with the voices of demons from hell.,

Zeroing in on the sound, I let loose a burst from the H&K that split the night with flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder that everyone for miles would hear. Not that they would have missed the hell beast's screams.

“Get back-to-back Mogwai! If it comes from your side Laše the fucker, I’ll spray it with bullets,” I commanded. I felt more than seen Mogwai nodding, and we both scanned our sectors for the dark creature.

Then it got quiet.

We sat there for a few minutes breathing heavy and scanning the night, but nothing came for us. Whatever had been so close to ripping my head off was either gone or hidden somewhere in the rocks.

“What should we do?” Mogwai asked, but I was fresh out of ideas.

Where the flash of fur had been a few moments ago, a new figure emerged, this one tall, willowy and made of shadows and contempt.

“Little lights and mortal weapons won’t save your soul. That tasty little wisp belongs to me, the lady promised it,” the creature hissed, and both Mog and I stiffened.

“Fuck that,” I said with a Shakey voice and let loose a long burst with the H&K. With the short compact design, it wasn’t as accurate as other semi-automatic combat rifles but tucking it in close and letting a string of bullets fly sure made me feel better.

The creature hissed again, then screamed as the rounds tore into its wings and flesh, and in a flash it was gone again. “Was that a Drop Bear?” I asked Mogwai, but she only shook her head.

“No, too tall. I think it was a Night---”

The creature screamed again, and a rush of air went over our heads just as fast as the cold ice running through my veins. This didn’t feel like a situation I would be walking out of.

This whole thing didn’t feel right, it was like a dream I couldn’t wake from. Like a nightmare that trapped me in its embrace and refused to let go.

Second by second, the sensation got worse. Stark fear, compounded by the assurance that I was going to die horribly rushed through me and I let a scream slip from between my lips. There was no escape.

Around me darkness grew, and as I turned to face it, I realized even Mogwai was gone.

“Trespassed into the darkness.”

    “Trespassed into the realms.”

  “Trespasser must stay forever, devoured for eternity.”

“Devoured.”

Each voice rained down like a call, and echo, but the echoes said their own piece, and the fear was sending me over the edge.

In the darkness, I could make out the creature that was abrading my sanity. Lanky, like a shadow stretched too long in a street light it moved with a stuttering, halting step, but its progress was unrelenting.

From its back massive dark wings spread, both encompassing the night, and blocking out the evening, so not even the stars’ light could wink through the haze. It was a horror unlike anything I dreamed, or read about, and yet I knew it.

It was every shame I felt, every fear I denied. It was my failure in the military and the life still ahead of me. It was my destiny, and it was eternal.

“You’re not a Drop Bear!”

A loud savage voice split the gloom, and the beast shrieked as the red light from the laser sliced through it, and there was Mogwai. Wolverine Claws out, flying at the creature with rage boiling out of her every pour like inky black death.

The creature shrank back, stunned like a bear facing a honey badger, and with each fierce strike the screams grew louder, angrier and uncertain. Then, with Mogwai’s fury peaking, her flight stopped midair, and she froze for just a second before flying backward into the hillside.

Her body hit the ground like she’d jumped from the sky and dirt clods flew up, then rained down all around me.

“MOG!” I screamed and tried to move toward her, but the creature was in my head once again, this time a razor splitting my mind like the tongue of a meth addict.

    “Vile, traitor!”

  “Vile, monster!”

    “Vile creature!”

“Vile, gremlin…”

The creature’s hiss became a broken, rattling thing, and I realized it was laughing.

“The lady said it was a fluke, this little human couldn’t have kiilllled…” it moved in the between shadows as it headed toward Mogwai.

    “The lady didn’t know.”

  The lady didn’t know this.”

      “The lady will be amused.”

    The lady will be furious!”

Shaking my head, I tried to clear the voices, but they lingered like the night terror they were. I was both numb and yet ready to bolt. Fight or flight response was in full swing and I was clearly the rabbit in this scenario.

That’s when Mogwai moved.