The Winter Creek Beast Read Free

ability of the fire to light so much area. He knew it was a simple thing, but he couldn’t help himself.
    Jock was so preoccupied with the fire that he didn’t hear the heavy footsteps behind him until they stopped. He turned with a smile, expecting to see Janet. Instead of his girlfriend, a fur-covered face and snarling mouth greeted him. He tried to scream, but no sound came out as the muscles in his throat seized. His bladder let loose a second before the beast growled and swiped at him.
    Janet heard what sounded like a growl and thump from outside the tent and pushed herself onto her elbows. She strained her ears for several long seconds, but there was nothing besides the sound of the fire burning. She knew there were wild animals in the area, but nothing she could think of fit the sound she heard. After a moment she let out a quiet laugh. It had to be Jock messing with her. He was trying to prove he wasn’t scared by scaring her. Some people never learn.
    “Knock it off, Jock. You’re not scaring me.” She waited for a few more minutes, expecting him to say or do something to try to prove her wrong. When he didn’t, she couldn’t help becoming worried about him. That was when she smelled something burning.
    After a couple of sniffs, she covered her nose. “Oh, gross.” The smell was a mix of burning cloth and meat, causing her heart to skip a beat. Images of Jock having fallen into the fire flashed through her mind. But if he had, why wasn’t he screaming?
    Somehow knowing he needed help, she pulled one of his shirts on and crawled towards the front of the tent. When she stuck her head out of the opened flap a scream she never thought herself capable of making erupted from her at the sight of Jock laying half in the fire with a wide gash across his front from hip to shoulder. For a moment she thought she could see his blood bubbling before she pushed herself back into the tent.
    After seeing the size of the wound, her mind screamed bear attack and she pulled her legs up to her chest as tears flowed down her cheeks. As fear surged through her, she fought to remain in control as much as she could and focused on what she knew about bears. There was an old saying about what trees to climb to get away from certain ones but she couldn’t remember more than that. The only weapon they had was her pocket knife. They didn’t even bring their cell phones, choosing to leave them in the car instead.
    With each passing second, her fear began to fade as she was sure the bear was chased off when Jock fell into the fire. That was the only reason she didn’t hear anything. Janet knew the tent was a poor defense against whatever it was that killed Jock and that knowledge helped her to decide on trying to reach the car.
    After taking a few deep breaths to try to calm down, she pulled on her pants and shoes before making sure the keys were in her pocket. There wasn’t anything she could do for Jock except to get away. With a trembling hand, she pushed the tent flap aside and looked out. Nothing around her was making a sound except for the fire. Even the crickets had stopped their chirping.
    With a shaky breath, she pulled herself out of the tent and started to make her way towards the car. The last thing she wanted to do was panic and run. If the bear was still nearby running would entice it to chase after her and she’d be dead.
    Each step moved her closer to the edge of the clearing. When she reached the brush a menacing growl behind her made her freeze. Her mind screamed at her to run, but out of some morbid curiosity she couldn’t explain, she slowly turned her head to see what had made the sound. Her eyes settled on the large beast standing behind her tent. It had to be seven feet tall and looked as solid as a fur-covered brick building. Saliva dripped from its mouth as its tongue lapped back and forth.
    It’d been waiting for her, like this was some sort of game! The realization dawned on her as it continued to stare