Jake
The sun was high in the sky, the ground thick with mud from the heavy rains, and David and Alan were the two happiest guys on the planet because of it.
They were covered in as much mud as their machines but they would not have it any other way. They waited for weeks to escape from the city and enjoy their favorite pastime. They might be partners and spend their days in a cruiser but they were mud dogs at heart. They had to cancel 3 previous trips to the mountains because this spring was usually wet .
Three hours into the ride a deer dashed across the trail in front of them. It wasn't the deer that alarmed David but what was chasing it. It was nothing more than a blur of red before both the deer and its pursuer vanished into the trees.
David was afraid the deer would double back across the trail so he brought his quad runner to a stop. Alan stopped behind him and pulled off his helmet. He had only caught a glimpse and was not sure why David stopped.
“What the hell?” Alan asked.
David pulled off his helmet and half turned to Alan. “What the hell indeed? Did you see what was chasing that deer?”
Alan just shrugged. “I don't know, dude. All I saw was a flash of fur. Maybe it was a bear or something.”
David was beginning to feel uneasy. “No way man, I ain't never seen a bear that color red.”
Just then an unearthly howl pierced the air and both men jumped. “Jesus, what was that?” David asked with a shaky voice when the howling subsided.
Alan was also looking clearly shaken. “I don't know but that wasn't anything I ever heard before. Let's get the hell out of here.”
David didn't respond but quickly put his helmet on and popped the quad runner into gear. He considered turning around to return to the ranger station but the trail is too narrow so they had to go forward and then backtrack. The easiest place for them to turn around was an old hermit's cabin about a half-mile up the trail.
The old hermit was known only as Jake. David and Alan talked to the old man a couple of times in the past several years.
Last fall they were part of the search party combing these hills for a hunter who disappeared. Two hundred men spent a week combing the forest but never found any sign of the missing hunter. The search was finally called off due to bad weather and the family accepted the fact he did not survive.
The sheriff interviewed Jake extensively during that search but the old man claimed he never saw any sign of the hunter. David was with the sheriff when they interviewed Jake and there was something about him that just didn't sit right and David knew Cory sensed it as well.
The men did not stop until they reached Jake's battered cabin. David stopped several hundred yards from the front door and killed the engine. Alan pulled to a stop beside him but was slow to silence his engine. Alan was still unnerved by the howl they heard in the forest so he was eager to get back to the ranger station which was 2 hours away in the opposite direction.
The expression on his face was an odd mixture of fear and anger as he pulled off his helmet. “Now what are we stopping for?”
David pulled off his helmet and climbed off the quad runner. “I just thought I would check on old Jake while we're here. No one has probably checked on the old man since we were here last fall.”
“You are the one who said the old man gives you the creeps.” Alan pointed out as he climbed off his quad runner.
David made his way toward the door. “He does but I figure we might as well check on him anyway.” He stated over his shoulder.
Alan reluctantly followed him. “Makes sense I guess.” He mumbled with a shrug.
David was a former college fullback so he was considerably larger than Alan and his massive form nearly blocked the old man's door as he stopped in front of it. He doubled up his huge fist to knock on the door and when he did it sounded more like he was here on a police raid than a friendly visit.
“Jake, Jake you home?” David called out. When no one answered the door he pounded on the door again. “Hey Jake open up. It's David Jackson and Alan Langford from town. We just wanted to make sure you are okay.”
Still no answer came and David tested the door to see if it was locked. He carefully opened the door and poked his head in. “Jake, you here, man?” He called and stepped inside.
Alan walked up to the doorway and curled his nose up at the smell coming from the old cabin. The odor of greasy food, oil lanterns, poor hygiene, and moldy old clothes rushed out at him. “Ugh, it smells like old Jake hasn't cleaned house in about 30 years.”
David reappeared from inside the house. “You think it is bad out here you should smell it in there. My God, the place reeks but there is no sign of him.” He remarked as he stepped out onto the porch and pulled the door closed.
“I'm going to check out back and then we'll get the hell out of here.”
Alan and David stepped off the porch and made their way toward the back of the house. They just walked around the corner of the house when old Jake appeared from the forest. The three men stopped in their tracks.
“Hey Jake, you remember me?” David greeted him “My name is David and this is my partner Alan. We've been up here a couple of times. We were just in the neighborhood and wanted to make sure you are alright.”
Jake is obviously not pleased to have company. “Yeah I remember you.” he growled. “You are the city cop who was with that Sheriff. You two clowns seemed to think that I knew what happened to that hunter. Why do you care how I am doing?”
Something caught Alan's attention just outside his peripheral vision and he turned his head to see what it was. He gasped as he noticed the end of a human finger. It appears that the rest is still buried but the recent rains have exposed a shallow grave.
“Jesus Christ!” Alan exclaimed and hit David in the side to get his attention.
David looked to where Alan was pointing. “Holy Shit, is that a hand?”
Both men focused on Jake and David was clearly angry. “Is that the missing hunter, Jake? What the hell you doing up here? You know we are going to have to contain you until we can get the sheriff up here.” He declared and reached into his pocket for his phone. Alan reached into his pocket as well but his hand went to his pistol.
Jake's eyes followed theirs, his face suddenly turned ugly, and it took him less then 3 heartbeats to reach them. Before David could defend himself he was flying through the air and crashed into a nearby tree. His phone sailed through the air and disappeared in the tall grass.
Alan stop thinking and instinct took over. He pulled the pistol from his jacket and unloaded the clip. Each shot pierced the old man and Jake staggered back but did not fall. Alan was so zoned into his training that it didn't register the blood coming from the old man was black and reeked of sulfur and vinegar until Jake transformed in front of him. The old man disappeared and standing in his place was a hideous red beast with razor sharp fangs, claws instead of fingers, and horrible yellow eyes. Alan stumbled back in disbelief. He has seen a lot of things working as a cop but this was beyond his comprehension.
He remembered the rifle strapped to the back of the quad runner and started to run back toward it. It was the fastest he had run in his life but the beast was faster so it stood between Alan and the quad runners.
Alan backed away, reached into his jacket, and grabbed the second clip for his pistol. He popped the empty clip, replaced it with the full, and emptied the clip into the beast. This time it fell to the ground and Alan quickly dashed past it to get his rifle.
David was still dazed but he reached the quad runners the same time Alan did. As they silently removed their rifles from the back of the quad runners they heard a disturbance behind them.
They turned around to find the beast once again on his feet but staggering and covered with its own foul blood. Without thinking both men unloaded their rifles. The demon collapsed to the ground and stopped moving.
David grabbed the ax, marched over to the still demon, and with one blow severed the demon's head. The foul smelling, black, blood smoked and hissed as it pooled. Alan grabbed his lighter from his pocket, ignited the flame, and dropped it onto the body.
He had no idea why he did it except he had seen it in the movies so it seemed like the right thing to do. The men stared as the blood ignited and the body was quickly consumed in flame.
Alan dropped to his knees and tried to catch his breath. He heard David drop down beside him but didn't acknowledge him until his breathing stabilized and his heart rate slowed. David was sitting cross-legged with his face buried in his hands and trembling from head to foot.
Alan crawled to him and wrapped an arm around the big man's shoulders. “It is all over.“
David slowly lifted his head. “What the hell did we just do?” Is all he could manage to say.
“We did what we had to.” Alan assured him as much for his comfort as David's.
David looked toward the flames. “What the hell was that thing? I have seen a lot of shit over the years but nothing like that.”
Alan looked at the flames and then back at David. “I have no idea. It was like one of those demon things you see in a horror movie but that thing was very real. Has Jake always been that way or did that thing do something to the real Jake?”
David looked toward the hand then back at Alan. “We have to call Cory but how are we ever going to explain this shit? I have known Cory for a lot of years but he is going to think we have lost our damn minds.”
They both looked at the body. The flames are dying out and there is enough left to clearly prove it was not human. Alan just shook his head. “I don't know but I know when we get back to the Ox I am going to need some serious therapy with Captain Morgan and maybe the department shrink after this shit.”
David actually chuckled. “Well you have your therapy with Captain Morgan I prefer to have mine with Jose and I might even throw in a little black velvet just for good measure. I don't know about the department shrink though. I don't think the department shrink or any shrink for that matter is going to get us through this one. I think we are going to be on our own.”
Alan chuckled as well. “You know you are probably right. There is no way in hell anyone is going to believe our story. Shit man, I am sitting right here and I don't believe it.”
David painfully stood up. “Probably not but you and I know that thing that was pretending to be Jake was on the losing end of a serious redneck ass whoopin.”
Alan stood up as well. “You alright? You took a pretty good flight there. Good thing you are built like a brick shit house. That would've probably killed me.”
David laughed. “Oh I am going to hurt like hell for a few days and I might even have a broken bone or two but I am alright. Lucky for us that sonofabitch thought my size was going to be a bigger threat than your aim or we both would've been dead.”
