Scarlett and the Dogman

“Oh, my little Scarlett. I can’t wait to see you, it’s been too long!”

“I miss you, too, Grandma. I can’t wait to make homemade meals with you again.”

“Is that college not feeding you?”

“It’s edible.”

“Well, I can’t wait either, dear. We’ll make all our favorites as we turn up real music! It’s my kitchen and I choose the music.”

“It was a phase! I still love rap, but I’m into Olivia Dean and Cannons now. You’ll love it.”

“Scarlett, honey, please arrive while it’s light out for your safety. I don’t sit on the porch at night anymore. Something big has been creeping around the cabin. Mitch told me a while back he shot at something big lurking around his sheep pen. I do believe it has moved on to my home. It’s gotten some of the chickens!”

“A coyote?

“Uh, no.”

“Mountain lion?”

“No. I don’t know. I caught a glimpse of it one night. My eyes, the darkness...Oh, I don’t know Scarlett, but it was huge compared to what is, what is natural around here. Coyotes and wildcats don’t scratch on the outside cabin walls above 6 feet!”

“What? Did you see a bear?”

“It doesn’t sound like a bear. Now, no more talk of this. It’s too unsettling for this old woman. You get here safe and sound tomorrow before sundown. I love you, Scarlett. You’re my favorite granddaughter, you know.”

“I know Grandma. As your only grandkid, I love you more than you will ever know.”

“Hugs and kisses, my dear.”

“Hugs and kisses. Love you."

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to go to your Grandma’s?” Talisa yelled over the college radio station playing local bands. She struggled with computer cords twisted in big, confusing knots while glancing back at Scarlett rushing about the room and waiting for an answer.

Scarlett darted around the dorm room, packing her bag for the weekend.

“I wanted to get ahead on the final research paper for the Women in War class.”

Talisa quickly swiveled her chair back around, wrapping herself in the chaotic mess of cords. “I loved Mr. Shelton’s class! So much society doesn’t want us to know.”

“Ya, it’s scary,” said Scarlett, focusing more on which red jacket or sweater she should bring.

Scarlett zipped up her bag, grabbed her purse, and rushed over to Talisa, hip-bumped her chair, and yelled, “See ya!” as she hurried towards the door.

“See ya,” grumbled Talisa as she bent over to pick up the cords that had been tossed to the floor by Scarlett.

Singing along to Cannons, Scarlett sped through the desolate winding road in the mountains. The cool, crisp air rushed through the cracked windows.

The leaves and branches soon lost their individuality within the massive trees as darkness settled in. Scarlett turned off the highway onto a little dirt road with an old wooden, handmade sign at the entrance that read, ‘Grandma and Grandpa’s Place. We didn’t get to this age being stupid.’ Two small, carved images of plump, spectacle-wearing grandparents, adorned in mini hand-sewn fabrics of an apron for grandma and overalls for grandpa, rippled softly in the light breeze. Each carved figure held a rifle with a cute grin on their faces.

Scarlett turned on her headlights to illuminate the dense night, and slowly inched her way on the rocky and uneven road. Tree limbs softly brushed the car here and there as she made her way. She turned down the music and lowered her window to listen for something she saw dart in and out of her peripheral vision. It was large but low to the ground. Maybe a dog or coyote, she thought to herself. On the left, the tree line opened up, revealing a new road that led to Mitch’s place. Lights were on inside the cabin, and a silhouette busily moved in front of the kitchen window. It was almost 8 pm, and Mitch was probably cleaning up after dinner. Scarlett looked forward to making cookies and mini cakes with her grandma and walking the sweet feast the mile to Mitch’s place to catch up on life. After Scarlett's grandfather passed away a few years earlier, Mitch became like a second grandpa for her. Her grandfather and Mitch were Marines in the war. Mitch lived on her grandparents’ land for as long as she can remember.

The bumpy road dimmed to a heavy darkness again from the trees creating a canopy over the road. The car’s headlights bounced upon foliage and tree trunks, revealing unsettling shadows that seemed to have a life of their own. It is only half a mile more to Grandma’s cabin.

The silence of the woods broke with a short guttural howl. Scarlett hit the brakes hard, knocking herself forward. She held her breath and listened. The tiny dormant hairs on the back of her neck slowly awoke, and an unease turned in her stomach. She pushed the buttons on the driver’s side door, and all four windows on the car doors closed.

Grandma, Scarlett whispered to herself. Panic rushed through her body down to the foot pedal. The car lurched forward, red-hued dust swirling from the back of the vehicle, and disappeared into the night. Tree limbs slapped-swooshed the sides of the car in protest. Two, glowing, owl-shaped lanterns high on wrought iron poles on either side of a turnoff became a blur as Scarlett made the wide turn to her grandmother’s cabin. Little amber bursts of light flowed through the trees, revealing the cabin ahead. Scarlett slowed the car down as the road, trees, and bushes widened in the path ahead. The cabin, painted in an eggshell white, was all a glow in soft flickering amber hues from lanterns hanging here and there from the porch’s roof. White camellia bushes and red spider lilies adorned the front of the porch on either side of the steps and wrapped around towards the back of the cabin. Little sticks rose amongst the flowers with solar-lit butterflies, dragonflies, and ladybugs.

Scarlett gasped at the sight of her grandmother’s front door wide open, splintered, and bent in the upper half of the door.

She shut the car lights off and slowly stopped the car short of the worn circular drive. She got out of the car slowly, listening. She heard nothing. The lights were on inside, but no sign of Grandma. As Scarlett neared the steps to the porch, she stopped and listened. It was deadly silent in the woods. She looked around the tree line, but it was too dark to make out anything of importance.

Scarlett gently placed the ball of her right boot on the corner of the first step. Then stepped the ball of her left boot in the middle of the second. She carefully crept up the wooden steps, avoiding the creaks and pops she learned to avoid as a teen sneaking out to parties in the woods with the local kids. Her breath locked tight in the back of her throat. A sickening pit of emotion sank deep within her stomach as she tried to decipher the noise from within the cabin. Wet chomping and squishy sounds entangled with satisfying gurgles of pleasure became louder upon reaching the open door.

Scarlett quietly crept inside, a hand gripping her shirt in front of her abdomen. She held her other hand up to her mouth in fear of losing control of the silence needed. Her whole body screamed for her to run, but she couldn’t. She had to go forward to Grandma.

Stepping in just past the door, Scarlett turned her head to the right to take in the living area of the cabin, but, involuntarily, her head snapped to the left. The living room, the couch next to her, and the kitchen narrowed and vanished out of sight as she focused on the terror happening in her grandmother’s bedroom. Frozen and horrified, she watched a giant, hairy, dog-like human thing, hunched over the bed, slurping and gnawing. It raised its head towards the ceiling, the corners of its mouth stretched back to the corner of its jaw, teeth jagged and sharp, exposed, blood-stained, and covered with bits of dark red chunks. Scarlett realized at that moment, as the creature straightened up, that it was pulling bloodied flesh from a body soaked in dark liquid. Feet adorned with sparkly pink slippers and red splattered white flowers, one on each shoe, hung over the bed. Scarlett clasped her hand tight over her mouth as she gagged and fell to the floor, moving quickly in front of the couch. Snorts and sniffs came from the bedroom. Scarlett did her best to calm her breathing and shrink herself as much as she could to the floor and waited. The squish-like chomping of flesh began again. She carefully rolled onto her stomach and reached under the couch. Carefully, she pulled out a rifle, making sure not to drag it against the carpet. Letting her forehead and gun rest on the floor, she fought against the tears while wondering if a shot could even injure the dogman.

Memories flooded back of some locals talking of a dogman in the area, especially from the kids she hung out with in her teens. She thought it was just the guys trying to scare the girls. Scarlett now realizes the earnest look that turned into anger on a couple of the guys’ faces when not believed by the group that one distant night in the woods was not from too much beer. They were telling the truth. Mitch, she thought to herself. She needed to get to Mitch’s place.

Legs shaking uncontrollably, Scarlett managed to quietly turn herself around in a crouched position towards the door. In a sprinter’s starting position, head low and holding the rifle in her left hand, she listened. It was quiet. No sounds of flesh being torn, pleasant gurgling, or sniffing of the air were heard. Scarlett wiped the tears that blurred her vision.

It snorted. Startled, she looked over the couch and into the creatures’ eyes. With a menacing stare and amber-glowing eyes, it stared back. It drew back the lips of its dog-like mouth into a snarling grimace with sharp, long, blood-stained teeth exposed. The dogman’s face changed from a menacing demeanor to pure pleasure. He has new prey. Straightening its body upright, its head touched the seven-foot ceiling. Its patchy black hair covering its body became electrified, and the dogman screamed a deafening yell, saliva dripping from the creature’s knife-like canine teeth.

Scarlett jumped up, firing the rifle, slamming herself back onto the candy dish-laden coffee table. Falling back into the kitchen cabinets, blood dripping from its shoulder, the dogman released a frightening scream of pain and pure rage. Scarlett ran out the door and down the steps, falling to the ground from slipping on the edge of a porch step. The dogman landed on all fours over her back, shoving her back to the ground. A strange, loud melodic growl from the creature vibrated through Scarlett’s body.

A petrified scream escaped from beneath the dogman. Remaining on all fours, the muscled creature walked forward, scraping his back claws deep into the earth, flicking dirt back onto Scarlett. It turned to face Scarlett, sitting in a partial squat position, long human-like muscled arms resting on the ground beside its body. In its left hand, claws wrapped around the rifle. Shaking violently and stumbling, she got to her feet. It looked to be grinning. Its eyes glowing just a bit brighter than before.

Scarlett stared, unblinkingly, frozen, unable to comprehend this beast with a man’s legs, torso, and shoulders, but a wolf-like head slowly moving from side to side as if it were a curious puppy with a shit-eating grin.

A rhythmic thumping broke the spell of terror she was under. It was tapping the butt of the rifle on the ground. Scarlett’s stomach flipped as a rush of adrenaline shot through her body, and the awareness of what was to come next, excruciating pain, then death.

The dogman stared at her, narrowing its eyes. Its teeth-laden mouth transformed into an angry snarl. It lunged at Scarlett, chomping its mouth, the snap of its teeth echoing through the air. She rushed to her car, but as soon as she grabbed the handle, the dogman landed on the roof of the sedan, denting the roof and frame of the driver’s side door. Sensations of needle-like pain and scrapes overcame Scarlett’s face as shards of glass shattered into her face. She fell back to the ground, avoiding fanged teeth snapping shut just in front of her.

Scurrying up, she ran down the drive screaming as loud as she could, hoping Mitch would hear her. Glancing back, she caught sight of the creature running upright like a hunched-over man into the woodline where a vibrato howl vibrated through the air.

Scarlett ran towards the end of the lane. The leaves of the trees waved in the breeze, flickering an amber glowing light ahead. She knew she was close to the end of the drive. With urgency and some comfort, she tried to run faster to get to the owl lanterns that lit the end of the drive. The canopy of trees over the road started to clear from the center. At the end of the drive, looming between the two glowing owls stood the black, overly muscled silhouette of the dogman, eyes glowing red.

Scarlett gasped for air, stopping just a few feet from the dogman. A horrific scream escaped her in hopes Mitch would finally hear her desperation for help. A deafening shot encompassed the air, startling the creature. In a flash, it was gone, back into the woods, howling and raging with sounds she had never before heard an animal make. Scarlett ran towards Mitch’s place and screamed his name over and over. Bobbing frantically in the dark was a little light getting larger and larger. A voice behind the light, deep and raspy, yelled out to Scarlett.

She fell into Mitch’s arms sobbing, shaking, and yelling, “It killed Grandma, it’s huge, it’s huge, like a dog!”

“I know. I know. Scarlett,” Mitch stated calmly.

Mitch pushed Scarlett aside and aimed his Magnum Remington rifle down the road towards a faint shadow standing tall and rocking back and forth. It howled, snorted, and barked odd noises that pulsed in the air.

Mitch fired a shot at the creature, silencing the horrid sounds it was making. It fell back onto the ground, a dark mass whining and grunting in pain. Mitch focused an intense gaze through the scope and waited. Scarlett stood just behind him, shaking, quiet, and intensely watching the writhing injured dogman.

The dogman raised up from the ground, positioning itself on all fours. Mitch whispered “huh” to himself, surprised at what he thought he heard, the dogman tapping a claw on a rock. The thing slowly walked towards them. Scarlett gasped, looking at Mitch, who stood unwavering and ready. The creature approached closer to them, still a black-muscled mass, making a low, deep chattering sound. The eyes flashed between red and an amber hue. The dogman’s head became more visible, revealing strings of gummy liquid falling from its jaw.

Scarlett moved behind Mitch, gripping the back of his shirt. The being rose on its legs, lifted its head towards the night sky, and let out a reverberating howl into the night. Snapping its snarled face towards them, it charged with excessive speed. Mitch held firm, ready for a one-shot kill to the head. Mitch locked his sight between the dogman’s glaring red eyes and fired.

A blinding blast of light flashed from the middle of the road, radiating towards the trees. Scarlett and Mitch uncovered their eyes. Mitch readied his firearm, backing into Scarlett, who grabbed the back of his shirt again. The road was dark and quiet except for the canopy of leaves rustling from the slight breeze over the road. The dogman was gone.

“Where is it?” Scarlett asked nervously.

“I don’t know. I saw. I saw. It looked like the light wrapped around it and took it.”

“What?”

“I’ve seen a bright light, light up the woods at night a couple of times. Then the howls would start.”

Mitch turned to Scarlett, looking her over. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped blood from the scrapes and cuts on her face.

“We need to get inside,” said Mitch, leading her back to his cabin.

“I’m sorry about your grandma, sweetheart. I’ll call some old Marine friends of mine to come out and help, help with the situation,” Mitch glanced back down the dark road and led Scarlett to the steps of his cabin.

“Why not the police?” asked Scarlett, who looked at Mitch with concern. Mitch wouldn’t look at Scarlett. He pressed his lips, contemplating what to say.

“Scarlett, you need to trust me and let my guys handle it.”

“Is it coming back?” Scarlett shuddered at the thought. Mitch stepped in front of Scarlett and opened the front door of his cabin for her as she glanced back towards the main road. As she walked in, he surveyed his property, the trees, and the empty spaces between, then shut the thick wooden door covered in violent, deep gashes.