What's Happening On Hell Bent Road?

The Damnedest Thing

There's a place like this in every small mountain town. A place that everyone knows about but no one wants to visit. It's always shrouded in mystery and covered by trees. Winding roads that seem to last forever and corners that careen off cliffs. The death toll is unreasonably high and rumors spread like wildfire about the things that go on and the people that live nearby. I am one of these people. The people of Hell Bent Road.

I live in a small, partially maintained shack, on the inside of one of the many curves you'll come to, traveling through these parts. My closest neighbor lives past a monstrous amount of trees, up a dirt road, and almost a mile away from me. In the other direction, you won't find a living soul for damn near three miles. Behind my house, rises a mountain, whose peak you can't see from standing. Down in front, you'll find nothing but road and cliff face, jagged rocks staring up at you from too far down below.

The casa itself isn't exactly a mansion, but it suits me just fine. I'm not one to need much in the way of electronics or technological what have you. There's always plenty to see and do out here on The Road. Many a time, have I seen a group of young teenagers, out here revving their engines up and down the road, speeding around these treacherous curbs, when, all of a sudden, one of their cars goes spiraling off the edge of the cliff, sometimes exploding when it hits the bottom. Sometimes, living out here is better than anything I've heard they put on that damn television everyone raves about.

I remember one time, it must have been five or six years ago now, this group of youngsters came speeding down the road, barreling towards this sharp turn here in front of me, when the damnedest thing came crawling out of the trees and stood in their path. The kid behind the wheel had this look on his face that seemed lost somewhere between shitting himself and sheer terror. I watched him as he watched the thing in the road watching him. We all watched with matched intensity until the kid steered away from the beast and into the ditch between my house and the road. Normally, I like to keep my ditch clear of clutter but I decided to wait and see how things played out before making too big a fuss.

The creature from the trees made its way over to the damaged but still running car and put its face against the passenger window. I heard the screams of the kids as he put his fist through it and pulled a girl from the car. The driver kid didn't seem to be moving or responding like the others and he was calmly resting his head against the deflating airbag. I thought it quite a smart maneuver to play dead and figured the boy must have spent some time in the woods growing up. Even small things like that could save your life one day. You remember that, now, ya hear? But as I was saying, the kid was dead still, while the others were flailing around, acting the fool, as the hungry hunter from the woods feasted on their friend.

The beast had only dragged his beauty a few feet from the car and had started by eating her nose and then working her eyes loose with his tongue. He continued to eat until he had nearly devoured both of her breasts and then finally seemed to notice the sound of the other kids screaming in the car.

I was up off my rocker at this point, and was leaning against a post that holds up my roof, straining my eyes to see what was happening. The thing came around to the other side of the car then, and ripped the rear driver side door from its hinges. I could see two of the three kids in the back squirming around, pushing into each other like they were trying to morph into something larger than their attacker. From my new position, I could see that one of the three in the back had taken their cue from the driver and was bumbling around limply, like they hoped the beast only liked live meals. Unfortunately for that little lady, the creature was not a picky eater, and pulled her next, not caring or not noticing that she wasn't even screaming as he bit into her left arm and soon severed it at the elbow. The thing from the trees gnawed on her arm until it was mostly bone and then turned back to the car.

In one leap, it was inside, pinning the two still screaming young men against the jammed door they had their backs against. It wasn't long before the screaming subsided and I watched the creature slink back into the woods, its stomach bulging from a hearty meal. The kids all looked pretty healthy, so I imagine it must have been pretty nourishing.

After I was sure the thing was gone, I made my way down to the car to take a look and tell the driver it was OK to wake up. When I got down there, I realized that all of the doors were jammed shut. There was blood all over the place and I had even stuck my boot into a goddamn puddle from one of the kids. I wiped it off on the chest of the one armed girl and knocked on the driver window to get the kid's attention. I knocked and hollered and bellowed but the young fellow just wouldn't budge. I lifted the discarded bone that once fit into place next to the girl's stump and used it to bust the remaining window out of the car and began to shake the boy.

I realized soon after that he was dead and probably had been the entire time. Though he had died in a car accident, I believe he fared better than his companions on this trip. He was at least spared the indecency of being ripped apart and eaten for lunch. I'd say, as far as death goes, he got off kind of light.

Now, like I said, I usually tend to keep my ditches pretty clear of clutter so I decided it was time to move the car out of my yard and put things back as they should be.

I went around behind the old shed, fired up the rusty tow, and hooked up the car. Before lifting it, I put the remains of the kids back inside, trying to remember where each one had been sitting. Reasonably convinced that I had returned the contents back to their original packages, I pulled the car free from the crevice and dragged it down the road about a quarter mile to a spot where the guardrail don't fully close. The gap is big enough to back anything smaller than an SUV into and I've been using it regularly for the past few years. I lowered the wreckage into place and unhooked it from my truck. I watched it turn and tumble over backwards down into the ravine and out of my hair.

I went back up to the house, settled back into my rocker, grabbed a beer, then decided to call the law. I told them we had another event out here on The Road. He asked what had happened and I told him that it was another tragedy. Another case of drunk kids careening off cliffs. Just another happening on Hell Bent Road.