The Carcass

Michael was lying on the floor, wounded. Is this… real? Any of this? he thought, praying he would wake up from this nightmare. Unfortunately for Michael, this was no dream — it was a crushing reality. A ferocious beast, the kind you only hear about in legends, had breached the safety of his lodge and attacked him and his daughter, Jane.

Michael fought harder than he ever had, but he still couldn’t protect the one person he loved most. Now his daughter was lost to the beast, he could still hear the echoes of her desperate screams as she was being dragged away in his head. He slowly stood up, his right leg shaking due to blunt injuries, while he could barely feel his left.

He limped through the gaping fissure in the wooden wall, and watched as the snow fell on the blood stained earth. The CVA Cascade rifle that he so desperately tried to reach mere minutes ago now laid elegantly against the snow right beside the lodge. He grabbed it and popped open the magazine, 1… 2… and 3. He silently mumbled to himself as he put the bullets inside, his hands were shaking and dripping with blood, as each drop made it further down his fingers he could feel it decreasing in temperature to match the brutal weather outside.

Gun in hand, Michael slowly limped after the trail of fresh blood that so heavily contrasted the achromatic snow. After several minutes, he had to forcibly drag his feet against their will, and with every meter growing exponentially more painful than the last - he started losing faith in the possibility of finding his daughter.

I need to stop… for a bit. He thought, his lips were frozen dry and his eyebrows were fixed in place. He was so cold that at every surface where the wind hit his skin he could only feel tingles, as if his body couldn’t process any input and just produced static noise instead. He kneeled on the ground, using his left fist to support his body weight. He was shaking all over, and certain he only had a few minutes before collapsing. But then, he remembered something.

17 years ago, senior year - Michael has had a crush on a beautiful lady named Veronica Harbinger. She was a year below him, yet he was terrified to talk to her. She had silky smooth and vibrant blonde hair, and ocean blue eyes that could make you drown in her gaze. Just the thought of her talking to him was enough to get his heart to pump out of his chest and for all of his muscles to tense up. One day, by some stroke of luck or possibly even divine intervention - Veronica approached him.

By that point they weren’t really familiar, but she felt comfortable enough to call him Mike. “Hi, Mike.” - “Oh-hi! Veronica, right?” (as if he didn’t think about her day and night) - “Do you, perchance, not have a date to prom?” He was flabbergasted. Is she asking me out? HER? ME? He thought. But he still managed to play it cool, “Mm, not really.” - “Not really? What does that mean?”, she replied. SHIT! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?! He cried out in his head, maybe he played it off a little too cool. The nerves kicked in and he started getting a little red, but Veronica didn’t mind, and the swooning Michael still managed to schedule a date with Veronica. The prom was fun, they drank, they danced, and they synced together perfectly, both in personality and in quirky dance moves. The following 3AM tacos were even more fun - so fun in fact that Veronica Harbinger went on to become Veronica Moore, Michael’s wife.

Why now? Why did I remember this now? He was unsure, but the reason didn’t matter. Thinking about his wife’s voice, their passion for each other, and their love - it was just enough, enough for Michael to stand back up on both feet. Now refacing the brutal winds with newly found determination, he stepped forward, step by step, the blood trail was getting darker, and the blood had lost its liquidity. He could not help but feel beat down by the fact the beast is moving faster than him, where are you baby? Where did it take you? He pleaded. But then, after he walked up a snowy mound, he saw a cave. An icy, menacing cave, with a slightly glimmery blood trail leading straight inside it.

I'm coming baby girl, just hold on a little longer. He said in his heart, he limped forward, unsure of his daughter’s fate. All he could think about was whether his daughter was still alive, or whether he would meet her in heaven after stepping into that cave. Regardless - he was not able to be stopped. The sadness and the fear became fuel for fury and resentment; he was about to enter the moment that could change his entire life. “Seeing a dead body changes ya, especially if it’s someone you know” Is what his father Sam told him years ago. Michael liked hearing war stories from his dad when he was young, but as he grew up his father started telling him darker and darker stories, whether it was because he ran out of cool heroic tales or just needed someone to share the pain with - Michael understood that there are some things a person should never see.

“She just has the prettiest smile, doesn’t she?” He recalled another memory with Veronica. When Jane turned 5 years old they went on a trip to Japan to celebrate, they rented a spacious home next to a central area that hosted several restaurants and a breathtaking market with many goods. They would pass by there almost every day and pick out flowers, sweets and clothes for Jane. She was a very high-maintenance child but also very grateful and extraordinarily compassionate.

One evening - Michael and Veronica were watching TV, while Jane was running around with a miniature Delta Airlines airplane and pretending to fly it. She was not moving it sporadically and in circles like many children do - but rather she moved it around the air elegantly, making wide, calculated turns and slow changes in altitude while running as fast as her little legs could at the time. She was mimicking the actual movements of the plane they travelled on, including takeoff, several turns and a landing. She could play with it for hours at a time, and Michael was genuinely wondering if she actually tried to complete a 12 hour flight to Japan. Moments later - she slipped and slammed head first into the wall, which caused Michael and Veronica to jump out of their seats. They rushed towards Jane who just laid face flat on the floor, but she then rolled on her back with a bright smile on her face and said “Sowwy mommy… I cwashed” And both her and Veronica burst out laughing.

Jane was encouraged to take a break from aviation, instead - she spent all night playing cards, Monopoly and Charades with her parents. At some point during Charades, Jane was trying to mimic a semi-truck, which looked as ridiculous as it could, and she was just smiling so brightly. That's when Veronica said it - “She just has the prettiest smile, doesn’t she?” A sentence so simple, niche even - but it made Michael’s heart fill with joy and warmth, warmth that he so desperately needed against the cold snow and the violent wind. His fury and his resentment faded and made way for hope and determination. I can’t be mad at the beast, the beast is already dead. He knew.

He walked into the cave, his hands stopped shaking, he felt confident. The beast had sealed its fate as soon as it touched Jane. This beast is no beast, it is already a carcass. Michael went further inside, the more he advanced - the less he could see. He was hesitant as if to walk into the darkness or try and lure the beast out, but then he heard a familiar voice call out to him: “Help! - Help! - Somebody help me!” Jane. She’s alive. He opened his mouth after what felt like forever, his frozen lips immediately started cracking and bleeding, but he could still somehow muster the energy to yell as loud as he could “I’m coming baby! I'm coming!”.

He limped as fast as he could into the darkness, the floor was wet and slippery when he already struggled to keep his balance, but that did not matter - he only had one goal in mind: save Jane. He kept going until reaching the source of the voice at the end of the bloody trail that was barely visible in the darkness, and there she was - Jane. She was sitting down against a wall of ice, with snow and blood covering her face, she did not move but she was awake - and terrified. Michael almost burst out in tears after seeing her alive, but his joy was cut short by a gnarly growl behind him.

Above him, on the roof, a dark figure gripped itself to the ceiling using its claws, 20 of them. A bizarre creature, it wasn’t human, but it wasn’t an animal either. Its head resembled a man’s, but with sharp teeth and small eyes. Its body was large and stiff, and its 4 limbs were twice the length of a regular person’s. Michael wasted no time raising his rifle and sending a bullet straight into the creature’s upper body, which made it release its grip and crash onto the floor, the creature shrieked and yelled with formidable power, but Michael wasted no time - he adjusted his aim once again, this time he aimed for the creature’s throat. Bang! The second bullet soared, hitting the vile creature straight in its larynx, and turning the powerful roars into miserable squeaks; the creature collapsed and lost all of its motorical abilities. There was only one bullet left in the rifle, and with a very clear purpose.

Michael walked over to the quivering brute, aimed his rifle into the space between its eyes - and squeezed the trigger. Bang!. It was done; the foul beast was put to rest, and its days of tormenting had ceased, but the torment did not - Michael turned around again to face his daughter, who had lost consciousness. He dropped his rifle on the floor which cracked the ice beneath it, and he rushed to grab her shoulders. “Baby! Wake up! Jane! baby!” He called for her with despair, “Please wake up! Daddy’s here, I’m here! Wake up!” And yet, she didn’t wake up. Michael was too weak and broken to be able to carry her back to the lodge - or even out of that cave.

He limped out of the cave as fast as he could, which at this point was not fast at all. He tried to think of a way to help his daughter and himself, but as soon as he started forming coherent thoughts - his legs gave up. He collapsed against a boulder near the cave's entrance, the strong winds calmed and gave way to the rays of sun that peeked from behind the clouds. Michael’s vision became more and more blurry, he felt a pulsing migraine, he felt like his broken ribs were stabbing his insides, and he felt as if every muscle fiber in his body was torn.

Michael leaned his head against the boulder, and watched the snow fall once again. He thought to himself: how could the snow keep falling like this? Like nothing happened?. He was almost jealous of the snow, and how it wasn’t affected by any of the tragedies that took place that day. He whispered to himself: “I’m sorry Jane… I tried… I wan-” But he was interrupted by a voice, it was far - but not hostile. “Yo dude! Are you okay?!” It was a man, a fellow traveler, he carried a large yellow backpack, he wore a green jacket and a black cap. He rushed towards Michael which had spontaneously passed out, but it was okay - because the man wasn’t alone. 5 other people who were traveling with the man had helped evacuate Michael and Jane from the cave, which they found by following the trail of blood. But what they did not find - was a carcass.