The Baited Breath Of Beasts (Short Horror Story)
It took three days for her to face that he was never coming back. That he had left her here, alone.
She had known he would. Every time he swore he would stay there, keep her safe, she had known better than to believe him. She had realised the day she met him, he would leave her.
Mankind had outlived their humanity. She had known the dangers, she had avoided people for years now, yet something about his blood stained figure on the shoreline had caught her attention. She had saved him then, knowing he would only live to hurt her.
There was no room for compassion. Compassion only got more people killed. Yet when she had seen him there across the water, stumbling along the beach, staggering forwards as he gripped his insides, she couldn’t help herself.
She had lowered her skiff into the water, climbing in. The boat sat low in the lake, the oars silently dipping into the unperturbed water. She could see the trees crashing down the hill. He was being hunted. She could have given up then, she could have laid on the bottom of her skiff, waited for the beast to claim him and pass her by.
Everything inside her screamed to stop, to freeze, to turn back, her arms took no heed to her rising panic; steadily propelling her through the water towards the shore.
He had seen her now, and was wading into the lake, blood unfurled from his legs in drifting explorative tendrils. Tainting the water with his taste.
She cursed inwardly at his stupidity.
The creaking snap of trampled trees grew louder, birds streaked the sky, scattering ahead of the inbound wreckage.
She felt ripples through her light touch on the oar. The lake was stirring.
She abandoned caution, past the tipping point of risk. Rising in the skiff, she plunged her oars down, forcing them through the water, sending the boat skimming forwards with rising speed.
His pale skin glistened with a red bloody glaze, his hair plastered to his face in clinging, clotted tendrils. Blood knotted around his arms in spidery webbing. Droplets exploding in pink blooms as they flowered in the water.
A crack echoed across the valley as a great bough gave way in the face of the charging creature. It would be upon them in moments.
She risked a glance behind her, the glassy lake turbulent with the wake of an underwater approach.
She rose in the boat, standing on the rocking wood, letting the last push of her oar carry her. She poised, ready to jump into the shallows as she came alongside him.
Blood smeared in glistening smudges across his chest, dark wary eyes met hers. She leapt from the skiff, pulling it behind her. She caught him in her momentum, not aware of her hand on his arm as she pulled him with her.
The shore was awash with cover, broken trees harboured drifts of debris, the bleached remains of shattered boats.
She dropped flat on the sand, yanking him down next to her, letting the skiff fall over them. She pressed close to him, pulling her feet under the shell.
He hadn’t said a word to her, she felt his eyes seeking hers in the gloom. The snap and tumble of broken trees grew closer, the sand vibrating with each crash. The water behind them was splashing in a broiling swarm of jaws as the beast extended its snapping proboscis.
Her skin prickled under his hot frantic breath as they huddled beneath the wooden frame.
A bulking form broke through the trees, crushing the foliage. She watched through the thin gap where boat met beach as a jagged, plated foreleg pressed into the sand inches away from the flimsy, tarred wood.
Fine sand heaved in plumes, dancing across the beach, as the beast sniffed the ground, following the scent of blood towards the water.
The other worldly screech that emanated from the waves grated through the strings of her being. Her pulse swam in her ears, distorting the sound. She pushed into him, closing her eyes as she buried her head in his chest. His racing heart beat resounded in her head, out of sync with her own. Light-headedness overtook her as she sank into the sensation.
A roar erupted in a spray of foamy water as the beasts crossed paths. Barbed tentacles strained against serrated tusks as each struggled to drag the other away from their oxygen.
The beast staggered sideways down the beach, heavy footfalls crushing fallen trees as it narrowly avoiding the overturned skiff. He held her close as the ground shook, splintered wood shards showering over hull.
Back and forth the beasts dragged each other, tentacles thrashing in the surf of wet sand, lumbering legs sinking in the shallows as they collapsed backwards. Rolling shudders came like thunder across the sand as each sought to bring the other down.
The numb twinge and prickle dancing through her limbs burnt with every moment. Slicing muscle twinges raged in the rising need to move. She let him overtaken her focus, losing herself in the faint, controlled rise and fall of his chest.
They fought for hours. The crashing creature that had pursued him, and monster from the depths of the lake that had lain in wait. They matched each other in bloodlust and rage, relenting only when exhaustion set in. They retreated, their hides ribboned with the marks of the other, welts cracked through plating; trickling foul blood, leathery skin torn to reveal bare flesh; oozing into the water.
The thin crack of light beyond the boat had dimmed, failing in the creep of dusk, before the creatures had retreated. There was no victor of the carnage they had laid to waste. Blood soaked the sand in dark patches. Barbs, shattered plating, pulverised wood scattered the beach with battleground confetti.
The moon sat high in the still sky. Movement didn’t come easily to her stiff limbs as she wriggled free of the skiff. She lay on the scuffed sand, forcing the blood flow back into her legs, scrambling in her effort to stand, drunk with the relief of a narrow escape.
Ecstasy ran through her and she sank back on the soft dunes.
He crawled out of the overturned boat, collapsing next to her, sand caked to his bloodied skin. His head rolled as he looked at her, his swollen lips cracking as he spoke in a wheezy whisper.
“Thank you”
They were the first words she had heard another person utter in two years, the first not screamed in horror in far longer. The last of the hardness that had protected her for so long melted in that moment.
There was a rich iron tingle to his brushed kiss. In the recklessness of relief, the narrow escape with their lives triggering instincts almost forgotten.
Something deep inside her took over, lost in the moment, the dangers around them meaningless in the face of the urge that gripped her. Pain slipped away as everything about him took over her, filling her world with excruciating bliss. The electric sensation of his skin against her, his soft bruised kiss, his hands slipping under her clothes as he pulled her onto him.
It only lasted minutes before they were breathless, collapsing back into the welcoming dunes. Euphoria hung heavy in the still night air, drifting in the hot breath slipping into the dark.
“Where were you going?” she murmured, the words soft in the dead of night.
He shrugged, wincing as pain returned to his awareness.
“Where’s anyone going…?”
The words echoed in the silence. Nowhere. There was nowhere for anyone to go. No way to outrun death snapping at the heels.
A distant crash from deep in the forest jerked them back to the ever-present danger. She staggered to her feet as she turned to him, lifting the skiff onto her back, every muscle burning with the effort.
“You coming…?” she asked, the words leaving her mouth before she had thought about what she was saying.
There was no safety in numbers, nothing to be gained by clustering together, it just made them easier to hunt. They both knew that, but something inside her stopped, waiting for him. It had been so long, her resolve wilted, she couldn’t walk away from the only human connection she had felt in years.
She stood there, her heartbeat climbing as long seconds elapsed.
“Why not?” came the eventually reply.
There were a long list of reasons why not, as she began to contemplate them, she walked the same path he had just trodden, also finding each lost its weight in the face of disappearing into the night alone.
Each step hurt, with each movement, her body begged her to stop. The outcrop seemed further in her worn state. They dragged their battered bodies over the sharps rocks above the water line to reach the softened step, a few inches below water. She lower the skiff, carefully letting it slide into the lake.
The beast that lurked beneath the waves was easily summoned. She was grateful for a hand to steady her step as she eased herself into the boat. The slim-line oars were still secured to the inside. She waited for him to climb in before she tentatively worked them out of the plastic clips. The boat sank low in the water, barely afloat with its increased load. The row back to the island would be slow and arduous, as cautious oars slipped silently into the still lake.
To be continued...
I hope you enjoyed part one of my first real attempt at romance, ok, romantic horror. There are two more parts, which I have already written. I was tempted to post it all as one but at just over 4600 words, maybe a bit much. Another steemit exclusive here for you! This has been an emotional write, but I have really enjoyed going on this adventure. I know at the moment, there are plenty of beast related questions unanswered, but fear not my horror loving friends, there is more action to come, with hopefully, a few answers for you.
For any UK readers, this is set at Derwentwater in the Lake District, the Island they has sought refugee on is St Herberts Island - also known as the inspiration for Beatrix Potter's Owl Island where a very cheeky squirrel lost a tail...
This story is greatly inspired by an awesome friend who's suggestion started me thinking along these end of the world lines, and regularly sets me off on plot lines, but isn't on this platform for a tagged thank you - but thank you <3 It also wouldn't be up here without the patience of the beautiful @neenarose - who proof read this for me and dealt with my parent like anxiety while I waited for her verdict - thank you my dear <3 Drop her a follow for a eclectic mix of entertaining writing.
Photo Credit Rowing boat on southern side of St. Herbert's Island cc-by-sa/2.0 - © DS Pugh which I have edited for effect.
You have written about this couple before, yes? I'm trying to remember, it seems so. I love the world you are making.
Hmmm ok, that is a bit uncanny. I didn't think I had written about this couple or world before, but thinking about it now, maybe I have. The characters bear a great resemblance to ones I have had in stories before, although they have had different back stories in each one. There is also The Last Ones, which now I think about it, has a similar character and some of the same emotions, as well as being set in a world with beasts. The backstory I had for that was quite different although the perspective I chose to tell it from didn't really do much towards giving that away. I have had to rewrite this a few times not to give anything away, but you do find out more about this world ;)
Hey @calluna come hang out with the #heclgang in the STEEMPUNKS discord server
Love can blossom everywhere and, sometimes, right from the most unlikely situations, it gains strength. I loved the words between the two as much as their silences. Really an authentic and convincing story.
Aww thank you so much! I spent so long looking at it, I couldn't remember how humans actually speak to each other lol but I didn't shy away from it, thanks to all the contest practice!
I was going for love between the jaws of death, and how the uncertainty of a life of survival makes you a little more reckless maybe. Something about death and sex lol I just loved writing this, sadly it dominated my week last week, but does mean this week i have stuff to post, and plenty of time to focus on reading my entries - I also have a story of yours saved to read on my laptop at home, catch up week!
Cal, I can Imagine it dominated your week.. it's complex and really finely crafted. It's seeable. Plus I always love to have a peek behind the curtains to your mind process!
I know, it's not easy..hahah!