—Jasmine—

July 23rd, 2023 3:15 AM

Another day of getting ready hours before the sun would rise. Jasmine was no stranger to waking up early. Sure, growing up, she’d whine and tell her parents how she’d find a job that would let her sleep in… Yet her move from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania ended up with her working at a bakery… One of the few jobs that had her getting up earlier than she ever did in the decades past at the ranch.

She pulled her hair back into a ponytail. As the peppered auburn locks settled, she flashed her teeth. “Good to go,” she said to herself before switching off the light.

Out of the bathroom and into the living room, the music playing on the radio softened as the song entered its coda. The calming last notes gave way to a woman speaking.

“Soooo, we have a few more ads and songs to play until my favorite segment.” A silence dragged as a chuckle came from the speakers. “Morning, Mingling! I get to talk with all my favorite people and maybe even meet someone new to strike up a conversation with as we run down the witching hour.” A squeal of joy followed. “I also get my treat for the day when we’re wrapping up!”

Jasmine couldn’t hold her chuckle in from the ramblings. “One of these days, the sheriff’s gonna send someone after you,” she mused to herself before turning off the radio and switching off the light.

With her morning routine nearly complete, she made her way to the kitchen. Her soft footsteps paired with the ticks of the wall clock were something she savored: the last quiet moments of the morning before heading to the bakery. She crossed the archway into the kitchen when something outside shattered the quiet atmosphere.

A scream.

It came from outside and robbed Jasmine of her comfort. She stopped and listened for it again.

The high-pitched scream returned, and her feeling of dread subsided.

A vixen’s scream.

Rare for this time of year but nothing to be afraid of.

“Sounds like a fox is looking for some company.” She said, relieved, as she made her way to the window above the sink. “Will I see the deer today?” Jasmine peered outside into the inky black void of the forest all around her while the fox’s wails continued.

Her cozy little home that sat a little way into the forest had always been abundant with wildlife day or night.

But not so much anymore…

Until recently, she would usually see a deer or even a small herd trying to make their way into her deer-proofed garden.

It wasn’t the same without them.

Jasmine continued to scan the short distance. The kitchen light seeped out into the night in the form of a square cookie-cutting into the sheet of shadow. As she was about to give up and head out, something moved at the edge of the light.

“Oh!” She leaned in towards the window and the slow-moving figure. Only the lower half of its legs showed in the light as its hooves clopped against the ground. “A deer?”

Yet something in the way it moved seemed wrong…

Every step graceless, as if it were shambling in pain.

Injured?

Sick?

Jasmine watched as it approached. With each step, more of it came into view as the light crept its way up the deer’s legs revealing patches of missing fur and streaks of dark red liquid that had run down and stained its legs.

“Oh, the poor thing.” She said, unaware of how loud she was.

The deer stopped. Its body was still in the dark. She could only imagine what the rest of it looked like.

The poor thing needed help… or perhaps mercy.

Jasmine tapped on the thin glass barrier that stood between her and the deer. Its body shifted when it shook and black wire-like strings fell to the surrounding ground.

Had it gotten itself wrapped in a net or some kind of trap?

Before she could react, the Vixen’s screams returned and the deer resumed its slow trek. As the wires dragged along the ground, she saw something glinting in the light at the ends of the strands.

“Did it get caught in a net?” She paused in thought at what could have happened to the deer.

She couldn’t leave it to suffer.

She backtracked to her bedroom. The silence of her house now felt tense as she opened her closet and unlocked her gun case. Jasmine pulled her Winchester from the case along with a box of shells.

She made her way to her bed and took a seat as she loaded the shells. With the shotgun loaded, she pumped it. Jasmine rose from the bed when she heard a bark from outside.

Had that fox crossed paths with the deer?

Odd foxes rarely attack adult deer. They usually go for the fawns.

Though… it might have seen an easy target with its wounds.

Jasmine returned to the kitchen when she heard multiple growls and gravel being scraped. A moment of silence gave way to a pained yelp.

What the hell was happening outside her house?

Standing before the sliding glass door that led to her patio. Jasmine peered through the glass. The darkness hid everything beyond her patio furniture, a short distance from the door. She flipped the light switch when a bright flash went off outside and made her jolt.

“Damn, the bulb went.” She looked at her weapon. Thankfully, she had bought the flashlight attachment for it. With it switched on, she had a beacon out to the darkness. She aimed the light around.

No fox, no deer, nothing.

Jasmine took a deep breath. She needed to hurry before she made herself late for work. The sliding door creaked against the track when a gust of wind blew in.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The weather said a storm was starting early this morning. Hopefully, she could get to work beforehand.

Jasmine stepped out onto the small porch, and the wooden boards creaked under her feet. The warm air carried the scent of pine and earth she loved. Branches swayed when a snap caught her attention. Her light rose from the wooden patio to the countless trees that surrounded her home.

Just the wind snapping a branch.

Her chest eased, and she aimed the light towards the short set of steps down to her gravel driveway. She paused and swept the light over the area, when something in her driveway glinted against the light, just like the ends of that net stuck on the deer.

Jasmine made her descent down the steps to her driveway and the creaks of wood became crunches of gravel under her shoes as she closed in on the reflective object.

A piece of jagged metal stuck out of the gravel and dirt. “Let’s get a better look.” She knelt and reached her hand out towards the metal shard.

Before she could grab it, a rustling came from the shed at the edge of her driveway. Taking the shotgun back into both hands, she aimed the light towards the shed.

Her pulse quickened, yet nothing appeared. As she lowered the light back to the metallic mystery, she noticed something odd about the grey rocks that made up her driveway;

dots and streaks of crimson led towards the shed.

Maybe the deer went that way?

With no other clues, she took a last look at the piece of metal.

“Probably a bad idea to grab that with my bare hands.” She rose. “Find the deer and give it peace.” Jasmine paced towards the shed. “Then clean that thing up so you don’t pop your tires on it.” She muttered her objectives to calm herself. She was halfway to the shed when the wind calmed. Its symphony, created by the trees, entered its outro. With their performance done, the area fell quiet.

Too quiet, even the bugs had gone silent.

Something was wrong in the forest.

A cry sounded from the shed.

She took a breath and tightened her grip on her weapon. The light swayed with her steps as she reached the end of the gravel. Her feet squelched over the grass.

The animal's cries grew louder as Jasmine pressed her back to the shed. With a quick turn, she stood past the corner of the shed. A red fox leaned up against the wall of the structure as it seemed to bite at its hind leg, only to yelp in pain and jerk its head back.

The fox jolted at her presence and tried to rise to its feet, only to cry out again as it fell to the ground. “Oh, you poor thing.” The fox lowered its head and showed its teeth at her. It rose again when Jasmine saw a patch of fur matted in blood when something glinted in the light.

Another piece of that metal, embedded in the hind leg it kept raised off the ground.

How could she help it when it seemed ready to bite her?

“It’s okay.” She said, skeptical it would do anything. “I just want–” A snap came from behind the fox. Jasmine raised the light; the head of a deer stuck out from the back of the shed. “Oh, it’s just–” her words came to a pause at the cloudy eyes, milky-white with a tinge of purple.

Was it blind?

How was it still alive wandering the forest, blind and injured?

The deer stepped out into the light. A chill rushed over Jasmine’s at the sight of the deer’s body.

So many moving limbs that clawed at the air aimlessly.

Rabbits, squirrels, even a raccoon, all of them stuck on the deer, trapped in the black wires that undulated around and inside their flesh stitching them to the deer.

Whatever the dark strings were, they were alive.

“What in god’s name?!” Her breathing went shallow. She fought the urge to hurl as the wind picked back up and the stench of decay hit her. Pulse pounding, she stared at the amalgamation of forest creatures bound and woven into a gruesome collage.

The fox crept back towards the shed wall and barked. The black strings that bound the deer stirred and threads fell to the ground lying lifeless.

The deer’s head rose, as did all the other creatures bound to it, and they all let out a cacophony of roars.

Pained yelps escaped the fox as it fell to the ground again and began violently thrashing about. The protruding metal in its leg shook as it burrowed its way into the creature.

Jasmine froze as the deer shambled towards the fox. Once close, the metal emerged as it pulled a red thread of muscle and tendon from the fox’s leg before burrowing back in. The deer turned to its side and more metal bits pierced through a vacant part of its pelt.

The jagged shards of metal swayed as they rose with the threads. Like snakes, the heads of the strings pulled back and shot forward, striking the body of the fox.

Its previous screams were nothing compared to the wails that rang in Jasmine’s ears before its body went limp.

She sobbed. “God,” she muttered when the strings tensed and pulled the carcass towards itself.

Jasmine trembled as the threads lifted the fox off the ground, legs and body dangling in the air until it reached the open patch of the deer’s body.

It was dead; it had to be.

All of them were dead, even the deer.

She couldn’t handle the thought of the mass of suffering creatures being alive.

The fox’s limp limbs pulled into place as red and black strings joined it to the deer’s body, like a patch on a quilt.

She needed to stop it.

If she didn’t, it would find more victims.

She took a breath. Despite the light being shined on the deer, it was unaware of her presence.

This was her chance.

She moved the light towards its chest until she had its vitals in her crosshairs.

After a final breath, she pulled the trigger. The point-blank buckshot made the deer stagger, yet it wouldn’t go down.

She pumped the shotgun and aimed for the head this time.

She pulled the trigger again.

The jaw of the deer blew off, yet it didn’t fall over.

Another pump.

Another pull.

A third shot blew most of what remained of the head off.

Yet it wouldn’t fucking die.

Jasmine screamed, repeating the process until the pump bar locked up.

“Fuck, jammed?” The sound of meat squelching caught her attention.

The nearly headless body of the deer faced toward her. In the blown-open part of the corpse, dozens of wires and bits of metal slithered about like a den of snakes within the carcass of the deer.

The threads that had fallen to the ground rose.

They pulled back.

Jasmine knew whatever was about to happen would be bad.

She turned on her heels and dove. Wood crunched underneath her.

The rough ground and landing on the shotgun made her chest ache.

But she was alive.

She had to move to stay that way.

Despite the burn from forcing air in, she rose and ran towards the house, her heart pounding as adrenaline carried her.

She needed help. She could call for help. Jasmine just had to stay alive until they could get there.