Symbol of Terror

1.

Mark shivered, sitting in a corner, hiding from the beast that began to stalk him and his friend days ago. His friend, Wade, sat at his side, grasping a shotgun tightly. They felt like they were trapped in some sort of diabolical game, but the reality of it all hit them hard. Their other friends, Bob and Aaron, had disappeared completely, no trace left behind except footprints that became overtaken by large hooves. The real dilemma was that there was no blood, no signs of struggle, and no corpses left behind, which had them thankful for no death so far, but no trail.

"Should we move out of this shed?" Wade murmured to his paranoid looking comrade. Mark ran his fingers through his hair, sighing.

"I don't know. That thing might still be out there," he said, staring at Wade fretfully. After two days of utter mystery as to where their friends went, they saw what they thought to be the thing that carried them off. They made the sorry mistake of looking at it too long. Its yellow stare reached the men, as well as a high, gurgling shriek and a rush of what sounded like hooves. Mark almost met its unusual beak and claws, leaving a couple gashes in his clothing and left arm, losing his glasses in the process of running away. The two bolted to a shed, a source of protection for the moment.

"I got this shotgun now, though."

"Wade, shut up, I'm thinking. This was just gonna be a nice meetup, an outing, now we've got a freakin' demon after us."

"Where did it even go--" Wade's muttered thought was cut off by Mark clamping a hand over his mouth and wildly flickering his eyes to him. Rough rustling and footsteps came from outside, increasing the pace of both the men's hearts and breathing.

For a moment, it was silent.

The steps came closer to the wall of the shed they were resting on.

Fluid-choked growling issued through the flimsy, loose barrier, and the two held their breath. The thing outside retched and snuffled about the edge of the structure.

Mark, terrified and hoping it couldn't smell them or their fear, took his hand off of Wade's mouth as he heard the thing come around the building. Poking Wade's arm to get his attention, he mouthed "Aim," and he lifted the barrel to the open doorway, overcast sky barely letting light in. Pairs of clawed hands and hoofed, backwards-bending legs came into view as Wade cocked the weapon. The noise startled the form, moving its head into full view of the men. Six circular yellow eyes met the two's own dark eyes, deer-like antlers sprouting from its bald skull, beak mouth dripping. Wade shot at its face before he could think about putting the gun down, and the creature squealed.

The powerful kick of the shotgun rattled the weak wall down, causing Mark and Wade to tumble backwards and off the cracked concrete foundation, down the small hill behind it. The roof of the structure caved, and the other walls fell in with a dull metallic thud. The two scrambled to a standing position, getting a full look at the beast. It was at least six feet tall when it straightened itself out, including its bent legs. Two of the yellow circles for eyes were gone, and oily black liquid drained from the hole in its face. Wade had dropped the gun, holding his bruised shoulder and gritting his teeth, the uninjured Mark inching behind Wade to grab it. The beast was walking over the fallen walls as Wade stared it down, trying to intimidate it, as they were around the same height, taking his hand off his shoulder and puffing his chest out. It growled and to the two's horror, it ran. There was a click of a reloading weapon.

"Wade, duck!" Mark said urgently, rapidly bringing up the shotgun, almost hitting his friend with the barrel. Wade crouched to the ground as the beast got closer. Its hooves were mere feet away from them, and Mark fired another shot to its face, the skull caving to the close-range buckshot, sludge spurting from the thing's head as it cried out and fell, immobile. Mark was nearly toppled by the firing force, and Wade got back up to look at the collapsed lump from a distance.

"Is it dead now?" Wade said, staying in his spot as Mark got closer. Mark used the barrel of the gun to poke at the body, which didn't respond to the touch.

"I think it is," Mark said, Wade now coming to where Mark stood, then stooped, in front of the creature. Wade imitated his action, examining the claws of the beast. "There's nothing on the claws. Good, it didn't kill anyone."

"Then that means that Bob and-- and-- aaah, I know his name."

"Aaron."

"Yeah, Bob and Aaron could still be alive."

"I hope they are," Mark said, still looking over the beast, pitch-black skin taut over its bones. His attention kept going back to the face, covered in dark flesh and syrupy black blood, the thick, short beak unharmed.

The crunching of grass came up behind them, drawing their attention. Mark held the gun tightly, ready to fight, and Wade had his thoughts on the good-sized pocket knife he had found earlier alongside the weapon Mark was now in possession of.

They stood and turned around in unison at the approaching stranger, who promptly jumped back in fear, raising their forearms in surrender.

"It's just me guys! Don't hurt me!" the stranger said urgently, an English accent cutting through the tense silence. The two at the beast's corpse sighed in relief that Aaron had found his way to them.

"Oh, geez, you had me thinking this guy's buddy found us too," Mark said, lowering the gun and pointing at the creature.

"What is that?"

"I dunno. Whatever it is, it was out for us."

"Oh wow," Aaron had walked towards the body on the ground, and was across from Wade and Mark. "Eugh, that's disgusting, how its face is blown apart. Are those antlers?"

"Yeah," Wade said, "it had six eyes too, but those are gone."

"Six! Well, I'll be."

"It's weird, definitely," Mark said, "We should probably go now."

Aaron looked back down at the corpse, and Wade had zoned out, barely noticing anything. He suddenly felt two tiny spikes drive into the lower part of his neck, attached to something fleshy. He began to fall backwards and nearly all of his senses were being muted out swiftly. The sky turned white and the forms above him were distorted and black. He heard a minor commotion from them, although garbled. It was something about Mark, from what he could hear before going completely deaf. Everything was fading into a dark sleep, but not before he saw one of the forms force the other to the ground near him.