The Children of Yig (Cthulhu Mythos)

1

Hazel and Ira Fuller lived the simple lives of retirees. The Fullers resided in Salt Creek; a small community nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginia. Twenty miles from the nearest town, Salt Creek appeared to be untouched by the last few decades of time. It was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone, and people could (and often did) leave their doors unlocked and windows open at night and still sleep soundly.

One lovely spring day, Hazel was tending to her beloved flower garden, while her husband, Ira, was in his woodworking shop, a ramshackle building next to the garden. His work was abruptly interrupted by a scream from outside. Startled, Ira poked his head out of the door to see what the fuss was about and saw Hazel standing there, one hand clasped over her mouth and the other pointing to the garden. "Snake!" was all she said. Ira thought this was odd because this was far from the first snake his wife had seen and she had never gotten so worked up about it before. He grabbed a garden hoe from his workshop and hurried outside. When he caught sight of the snake, he almost screamed as well.

There, emerging from the flowers was the most hideous snake Ira had ever seen. It was probably six feet long, milky white and had a rattle on its wide tail. The middle of the creature was unnaturally bloated and its head... The head was the most unsettling feature of all. It resembled that of a human, but everything above the mouth pushed back and flattened into a disturbing mockery of a man's face. The snake did not hiss, nor did its rattle shake. It just lay there, unmoving, staring at Hazel with glassy, humanlike eyes. Ira did not know what kind of abomination this beast was, but he knew one thing. He should kill it.

He quickly swung the hoe downward, attempting to sever the snake's head, but it moved forward, and he ended up catching part of its swollen body, cutting it, but just barely. He immediately swung his makeshift weapon down a second time, aiming for the head. But, again it moved and again he struck the body, but this time the hoe cut deep. And the snake screeched, a piercing and unholy shriek that chilled the Fullers to their bones. They both slapped their hands over their ears, taken aback. In that moment the snake struck out at Hazel, sinking its fangs into her leg. As she screamed again, the beast was already retreating up the hillside, through the underbrush and disappearing into the woods.

Right away, Ira helped his wife to their pickup truck and drove a short way down the hill and up the road to the home of his nearest neighbor, Janice Counts, who was a nurse. Unfortunately, she was not home, so they had no choice but to head to the nearest clinic, in town twenty miles away. During the ride there, Hazel was in a state of shock, eyes glazed and locked straight ahead. It seemed she was getting paler by the minute.

At the clinic, the two puncture wounds on Hazel's leg were determined to be a typical non-venomous snake bite. When Ira tried to describe the creature's appearance, the doctor said it was probably an albino snake that had just ate, thus the bloated body. As for Hazel's paling skin, the doctor explained it was due to the shock of the experience, and he would prescribe he a couple of days' worth of something that would calm her nerves and an antibiotic ointment to treat the bite marks. So, with Hazel's shin wrapped, the Fullers were sent on their way.

The car ride home was silent.