Chill

Nestor fell back off of his stool, dropping his rod and smashing his had against the wood wall of the ice shanty. The "thing", whatever it was, slowly rose from the hole in the ice. Black, amorphous, pulsating it twisted and squirmed making it's way toward Nestor. He couldn't scream. Fear had stolen his voice. He felt as if he would swallow his tongue. The nightmarish entity became elongated and tentacle like before producing a hideous mouth full of grotesque teeth. Some seemed that of actual teeth, ivory and bone like. Though they were long, jagged and monstrous. The others looked of the amorphous black mass that revealed them. The mouth was circular in shape and made the same undulating movements as the rest of the being. Nestor noticed no eyes as has scanned the beast in horror and as he lie there still, it seemed to be searching for him by sound. What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? he repeated in his head.

Nestor attempted to move very slowly pushing himself up the wall of the shanty. It reacted. perked up like that of a cobra about to strike. Nestor froze. The monster jutted forward at an alarming speed. Nestor screamed as it latched on to his boot and started to tug at him. Terror washed over him but he knew he had to at least attempt to fight back. Glancing to his right he noticed the pan of hot soup he'd prepared still sitting on his running Coleman propane stove. He leaned quickly, snatched the pan and hurled the boiling meal all over the beast gripping his foot. It lurched back. Swinging like a whip it smashed into one side of the small structure then the other. Nestor took advantage and scrambled to the door of the ice shanty before he froze again. Looking over his shoulder the thing had stopped. It just hung in the air ever so slightly swaying to-and-fro. It emitted no vocal sounds but Nestor could hear the pulsing, the churning of its being. From the tentacle or body, whatever it was he could see wisps of the black substance swirling and dancing into the air. The teeth rotating clockwise then back. It had lost track of him. Maybe he had time to think of an escape plan.

He knew that the shore was at least one hundred and fifty yards from the door of his bobhouse. He also knew that running on the ice would not be an easy task. Nestor needed a distraction decent enough to get him out the door and headed for the shore line. His eyes darted around the small hut searching for anything that might allow this. He saw fishing rods on the wall, some pots and pans. A bucket in the corner but behind the monstrosity. The Coleman stove was still running and wouldn't last much longer. It might work. Perhaps he could use it as a shield or weapon to hold the thing at bay? Nestor noticed nothing else of use and he knew his time was running thin. It would most likely start searching for him soon if he didn't make a sound first.

Without any further debate with himself Nestor lunged for the heater. The being instantly shifted, tracing Nestor's movements. The mouth like opening now gaped, a razor filled maw of black other worldly horror. It struck directly at Nestor's head. He blocked the mouth with the heater shoving it hard into the terrifying teeth and goo. The being shuddered and twitched but made no sounds of pain. Only slurps and gurgles. It began to whip about the room again and Nestor took this as his chance. He quickly stood and charged through the shanty door. Exploding into the sunlight face first onto the ice. He scrambled to his feet, slipping this way and that. Running as fast he possibly could fixed on the shoreline, never looking back, His head was spinning. Now halfway to shore Nestor heard nothing behind him. A sense of safety entering his mind when suddenly he felt a shift in the ice under his feet. Nestor fell to his knees. Looking at the ice below him he raised his head, staring at the shore.

The ice exploded below him and Nestor was launched into the air. Everything now seemed to be in slow motion. Dizziness and nausea, he saw huge chunks of ice all around. Shards hitting his face then darkness. Suddenly Nestor woke with a gasp and violent inhale. he was on his back looking at the sky. It was a beautiful blue with fluffy, white clouds here and there. "So bright and gorgeous." he thought to himself. Then it hit him. Where he was. What had occurred. Nestor attempted to sit up but was unable. His arms and legs filled with pain and he realized he felt trapped, restrained to the ice. He frantically looked around him. It wasn't ice he was lying on. It was a huge black mass. Engulfing his limbs up to the elbows and knees was the substance that made up the horrific entity in the ice shanty. Nestor smelled what resembled rot, ammonia and maybe that of sulfur. He was now in utter panic. Nestor screamed for help to the skies. The mass rippled and vibrated. Suddenly all around the thing shifted, huge malformed eyes emerging like boils. The Sclera of these eyes was a milky yellow. There seemed to be no Iris but the pupils were twisted and misshapen blobs of black and red. They all peered at Nestor blankly. He began to cry. The eyes then began to organize, forming a circle around Nestor lying in the center of the mass protruding from the tremendous jagged hole in the ice. The eyes stopped and focused on Nestor again. He felt the beast moving below his body.

Below Nestor, still held by his arms and legs opened a crop. It then slowly took the form of the same mouth he had seen in the bobhouse. The smells now intensifying, the awful teeth materialized out of the disgusting corpus of the wretched monstrosity. Nestor's mind slipped away. Memories of fishing this pond with his father over the years flooded in. The smiles, the laughter, the love, it was all so wonderful. He wouldn't have traded those times for the world. But those memories were quickly assailed by excruciating pain. Nestor's flesh burned like lava. His breathing became erratic. He was going into shock. The teeth of the being were moving, devouring Nestor alive. He had never felt pain like this. Nestor whispered, "dad.." and lost consciousness. The mouth now closed onto Nestor and his flesh began to slide from his body, absorbed into the entity. As his bones sunk into the terrible coagulation the eyes rolled and disappeared as well. The creature descended under the water and ice. The sun shined. The sky was such a beautiful blue.