31 Short Horror Stories for Halloween

Animal

We get avalanches a lot here and they sometimes cut off connection to the outside world. We're used to it and we can hold up for a whole winter if we have to. We just weren't expecting the animal. It took five men in the first night; all that was left was bones. We set up watch to kill it.

The animal was smart. First time I saw it, it was just a shadow and it ran off before I had even started the truck. I chased it to the edge of the forest where I had to stop and wait for backup.

We patrolled more heavily around the forest edge and it wasn't spotted again for five days. It struck elsewhere and killed a woman, again only leaving bones.

People were scared and more of them joined the patrol. We did our routes in pairs. The animal couldn't be tracked. We found no den and we weren't sure if it was a wolf or a bear.

On the tenth night, we were patrolling where the animal had given us the slip the first time and it came. We never heard it coming. I didn't see it until it was just a shadow dragging my friend away. I shot at it and I know I had a direct hit but the animal didn't stop. It left no blood stains save what came from my friend. We found his bones in the morning.

By the twelfth day, the snow had been cleared. The world was open to us again. We decided to go into town and get better supplies, more traps, and more guns. We set out that very first day.

There were so many of us in the watch that not everyone knew the others name. I sat next to a guy I'd never seen before. He was big. He had a scarf wrapped around his face to keep the cold out. I saw bright amber eyes peek out from under his hat. His clothes were too small for him; his back poked out like a hump in the thick coat he wore. His legs seemed to bend oddly. The gloves on his hands stuck out. He didn't talk once through the trip.

Once we got off at town, the head of the watch grouped us together. Imagine my surprise when they found one man was extra; the one I'd sat with. We turned to him, asking him who he was. He didn't answer. Instead, he ran. I can almost swear that I saw him run on four legs. We chased him and found nothing but a trail of clothes from the man, and bits of skin, human skin.

That night, three people in town were killed. There was nothing left but bones.