The Beast in the Fog

The beast beckoned to me from the fog, the unfamiliar harmony of high pitch cries rousing the hairs on the back of my neck. It was closer this time. I took the last drag from my cigarette and calmly blew the smoke out of the open window. The orange glow inside of my patrol car faded back to early morning gray. A dense fog had snuffed out the usually bright rays of first light, obscuring the visibility of anything outside. It was not as dark as the night had been of course, just dreary. I had not minded the dull colors this morning. I rather enjoyed being eased from the darkness into the light of the day. The fog however, seemed to prolong the process of the rising sun. The fog did not prevent everything from being seen. It merely masked the light of reality. This concealment would not hide a gigantean beast, but rather allowed it to stand in the shallows of the tree line without being noticed. If a larger creature had wished to remain unseen but yet still wander closer to civilization, this would be the morning to do so. The unfocused and not fully awake eyes of any passerby would hardly be able to distinguish between the looming mass and the dark shapes of larger trees.

The roaring of tires across pavement stole my attention towards the front of my patrol car. The red LED display on my radar began to flash as headlights pierced the copious fog. Fifty seven, the LED display read as the vehicle came into range. The posted speed limit on this rural county road was fifty five. A speeder yes, however I rather not spend the energy stopping a car for doing only two miles over. As the radar continued to track the approaching vehicle's speed it sang a high pitch song. I had the volume turned down, but in the quiet of the newborn day the harmonic static mirrored the volume of the approaching tires. As the not so speedy speeder passed my position, slowing as he noticed the county patrol car stationed in a clearing beside the two landed road, the radars static hummed and crackled and then ended.

As if to reply to the radar's unique buzzing, the beast bellowed again. It was even closer this time, I could almost feel the reverberation of its alien cries. Seemingly attracted by the crackling of my radar, the unknown creature loomed just out of sight in the fog. I scanned the tree line to my right for signs of movement. Those echoing harmonic purrs were coming from that direction. There was a slight movement in the trees as if the wind was caressing the tops of the towering loblollies. Had there actually been any wind, the fog would be diminishing by now. The thought caught me off guard, I began to feel a chill across my spine. For a while now these alien calls had been only odd noises in the distance. I was beginning to figure my mind was simply toying with the idea that something deep in the woods was actually calling to me. It was as if I allowed the fantasy of a strange creature bleed into the reality of the noise of the wilderness. Now these noises seemed closer and consistently out of rhythm with the natural order. That movement sparked such a discomfort in me, I began to contemplate finding a new location to wait out the last hours of my shift.

I stretched upright in the driver’s seat, stretching my legs as best I could to avoid mashing the pedals. I reached up behind the steering wheel and gripped the shifter knob, the hard plastic handle was cool to the touch. The brake lights illuminated the empty parking spaces in the church yard I was parked in. The eerie red glow dissipated as I let off the brakes and eased on the gas. The patrol car, shifted now into drive, rumbled to life as it rolled onto the road. I switched the headlights to the on position and grimaced. The dense fog reflected my high beams painfully back into my eyes. I flicked the switch on my left back to the low beam setting so that I could see the road clearly. The lights dimmed, reducing the glare from the fog, but the visibility was still scarce. I mashed the accelerator attempting to hasten by retreat. The fog had relentlessly kept my field of vision reduced to a tenth of a mile at best. I was able to get up to the speed limit before I got to the bend in the road. This bend in the roadway had helped with my original goal of staying out of sight until a would-be speeder entered my radar’s range. I enjoyed this place even more because of the old church I had been parked at. Some would find it unsettling to park in the dark beside an older church. I, however, found comfort in the open area. I was able to see anyone or anything approaching my position from a good distance, and the church sign and fences obscured my patrol car from the eyes of approaching traffic.

I rounded the bend a bit perplexed as to what I may find awaiting me in the fog. I quickly snapped out of my apprehension as my radar began to hum and crackle, signaling an approaching vehicle. My eyes strained to find signs of headlights in the thick fog. Usually any light seemed amplified in these conditions, yet I was unable to see any sort of light. I tensed as the pitch of my radar began to climb. The radar not only displayed the speed of any approaching vehicle, its pitch would increase as the speed of its target did. My heart rate began to increase, the squeals of my radar hurting my ears now. The LED display was reading something’s speed now just above eighty miles per hour, and increasing rapidly. A wave of relief washed over me as I realized that in my haste I had forgotten to switch the radar from stationary to patrol. For reasons above my current level of knowledge the radar needed to be told whether the patrol car was still or moving. That really had an effect on what it was reading as I was now experiencing. With a deep breath I reached up and flipped the switch to patrol, signaling to the radar that I was in motion. Instantly the high pitch squeal stopped and the rushing of the wind was the only noise I could hear. As quickly as the noise had stopped, it started up again.

I looked up towards the road and this time I noticed an orange glow approaching me. The red LEDs flashed seventy, then seventy-two. I heard the familiar sound of an approaching vehicle and forgot about the odd events that had transpired. It was time to work. This driver had felt confident driving with only their running lights on. The dimmer lights probably prevented any glare coming off the fog, allowing the driver a better visual field, hence the speed. As soon as the vehicle passed me the brake light flashed to life. The driver had realized, albeit too late, who I was, and what I was about to do.

The vehicle rounded the bend before I could turn around. I jammed the brakes and pulled off into the grass. As I whipped the steering wheel to the left, I heard the bone chilling cry, almost mimicking the high pitch scream of my radar from just moments before. I jammed the accelerator, my tires shredding the grass. As the rear tires of my patrol car caught traction the car began to whip around. Back on the pavement the car soared forward, closing the distance between me and the bend in the road. I needed to round that bend and punch it if I was going to catch up with the speeding vehicle. As I approached the bend I let off the accelerator and steered into the curve. Approaching the apex in the curve I fed the engine more gas, the roaring exhaust shattering the mostly quiet morning. As I came out of the curve my leg muscles tightened and prepared to jam the accelerator as soon as I saw the tail light.

The dense fog made finding those tail lights a bit more difficult. The fog usually gives off a glare if there is any light around. Though fog in this area seemed to swallow any traces of said light as soon as it passed. I did manage to spot two red specks of light in the white and gray expanse ahead. The red specks suddenly disappeared as a large black bipedal creature stepped onto the pavement. I jammed the brakes, tires barking, as my headlights revealed the monstrosity looming in the roadway. The fog around this hulking mass had thinned considerably allowing an unobstructed view of what stood before me.

Unlike anything I had ever laid my eyes on, this creature stood almost as tall as the towering pine trees that bordered the road. There was no head on this creature. That being the second thing I noticed as I eyed this horror. The first thing that had registered was its arms. Starting at almost the top of this bulky mass two tentacles slumped all the way to the pavement. These tentacles protruded from bulbous shoulder joints that were only about two feet from the top of its mass. These tendrils snaked across the road for about four feet, the outer sides dotted all the way down with rounded bulges. It stood upright on two massive legs. These legs were short but thick, at least three feet across. The area that I would have associated with its knees appeared about five feet off the ground. The bulky mass of the creature was covered with leathery looking black skin. The texture resembled that of a toad, riddled with bumps and odd shaped orifices.

As quickly as my patrol car came to a halt, I reached up and snatched the shifter into the reverse position. I backed away before the creature could make a move towards me. I had covered enough distance that the creature was no longer illuminated by my headlights. Even in the dim light of the morning this massive beast was easily seen. The bulges that dotted the tendril arms popped open as my headlights backed off its mass. To my horror these bulges were eyes, glowing green in the low light. My heart jumped into my throat as a static crackling chirp erupted from my radar. The LED display flashed but no numbers were displayed. I had seen this radar pick up odd readings all due to the weather or reflective signs near the roadway, but I had not seen this kind of reaction before. The noise seemed to provoke a reaction from the beast in the road. As the screeching sounds blared out of my vehicle the glowing green eyes flashed red. The monstrosity stepped towards my position, turning its bulky mass in my direction. The creature stood, one leg in each lane, blocking the entire road.

I had not noticed a face or mouth of any kind until I heard the chilling but familiar bellowing of the beast. The sound came from a vertical opening that was near the top of this creature's mass. The vertical opening seemed to function like a mouth, simply turning ninety degrees from that of a human mouth. Inside this mouth, even from my distance, I could see rows of pointed teeth, similar to that of the sharks. These large pointed teeth were not all the same size nor were the gaps between them the same. The sounds that reverberated from the jagged hell hole reminded me of those recorded in the ocean around pods of whales. This noise was not as smooth and flowing like the songs of the whales. It seemed crackled and broken, yet booming in an alien manner. Quickly I reached up and turned my radar off, hoping that would stop this monster's advance.

As soon as my radar went silent the creature did the same. The red eyes flashed back green and a series of clicking and snapping noises came from its now closed mouth. In a few short steps this massive beast was almost halfway into the tree line. I sat, frozen in a fear induced awe. In the next moments the fog and trees had almost completely hidden the beast from my view. I slapped the shifter knob into the drive position and stomped on the accelerator. My patrol car sprang forward as the engine roared. My tires squealed before finding the proper balance in torque and traction. In less than a full second I was passing the area where the beast had entered the woods. I stole a glance into the trees, my blood freezing at the sight of numerous green glowing eyes peering back at me from between the trees.

I left the monster and the old beautiful church in the now thinning fog. I even passed the speeding vehicle I had turned around to stop. Their speed had greatly decreased and as they contemplated pulling over I went around them. I no longer felt the need to stop them or anyone near this location ever again.