Coyote (Created: Part 1)

6

I held back tears as the sickening smell filled the watchtower. Decay. Death. It was the worst smell I have ever and likely will ever smell. All creaking had stopped, but the smell was stronger than ever.

Not only that, but the creaking was replaced by a different sound. A very heavy, unsettling sound. It was heavy breathing coming from the other side of the room.

Every breath was terrifying to listen to. It was as though my visitor was struggling with each and every breath. Struggling to inhale and exhale, and almost choking now and then.

I stood completely still, yet my heart beat faster and faster and faster until I feared its beating alone would cause my chest to explode. My whole body began to shake. Something was in the tower with me.

I strained my eyes to see through the darkness, but all I could make out as a faint humanoid outline. That and a pair of pointed ear-like shapes rising from the top of the head.

I wanted to run screaming, but I couldn't. I was utterly paralyzed. I knew that if it wanted to, it could kill me any second, and I would be helpless. No, that couldn't be. Surely it was just Daniel playing some cruel joke. But those choking sounds... no human I know could make sounds like that. That was a creature genuinely struggling to breathe.

The creaking sound resumed, and I realized that it was approaching me. I tried to scramble back, but I found that my back was already flat against the wall. I was trapped.

Creaaaaaaaaaak...Creaaaak...Creeeeaaaaaaaaaak...

It moved slowly, only one step at a time. All the while, both the intense smell of rot and the sound of labored breathing grew worse.

As it drew nearer, its breaths grew more rapid, like it was excited. Yes, that's what it was. Excitement. The anticipation of devouring its cornered prey.

But no matter how long I waited, the killing blow naver came. It simply stepped closer and closer before stopping a couple feet in front of me. Then it just stood there breathing. Not attacking. Not moving any closer.

I focused my eyes once more, hoping that it being closer would allow me to see it better. This time, I could make out its features.

It was indeed human, at least for the most part. It was a thin, male figure about the same size as my own. I could barely make out some hair on the arms and legs.

The body was filthy, covered in mud and other stains, some of which I presumed to be blood. The arms and legs were covered in cuts of varying size. It had probably been living in the wild, fighting with other creatures and living off the land.

Yes, it had the body of a man, but the mind of a beast.

When I say the mind of a beast, I mean so in the most literal sense. As I looked into its face, I saw the head of a beast where the human head should have been. The head of some sort of wild dog... the head of a coyote.

I let out a horrified cry when I saw it. Like the body, it had cuts and scrapes and stains. The eyes were dead and sunken in, and the teeth were rotting. The mouth hung open slightly, and from it came the hot, heavy, choked breaths that I had heard.

Now, perhaps you might be thinking that it was simply a mask. I wouldn't blame you for thinking that. But I don't think it was. You see, as my eyes stared at the grotesque face, they fell on the neck, where the coyote head met the human body.

There I saw stitches. Stitches from a thick thread fastening the head to the body. Small, dark stains surrounded those stitches, and I knew immediately that they were blood stains.

I don't know how it was possible. I don't know how any of it was possible at all. According to all logic and reason, it should not have been; and yet it was.