Bitten and Bred

Curiosity and the Rory

The sun was already setting when Rory finally got home. He let out a huff, thankful that he has finally managed to get out of his uncle’s pick-up after a long drive. He groaned feeling his shoes sink in the mud when he jumped off the vehicle.

He let out another low grunt the moment he saw the creaking, cracked windows, white flaking paint, and dark, lifeless confines of the house. The only thing that was noteworthy about the place was the plants that were nicely landscaped around the whole lot.

Up until now, he still couldn't understand why he had to be in such a place when he could have stayed together with his twin sister, if only he had pleaded more, he was sure his parents would have let him. And being away from the one other person who he could confide with just made his loneliness even worst.

Forcing his legs to move, he felt his whole body become so heavy when once again there was literally only silence and the smell of molds that greeted him when he opened the door.

“I’m home,” he just sighed, stepping within the whole house that pretty much felt like a jail.

After flipping the light switches on, he moved straight for the kitchen only to find dishes piled up again in the sink, even though he left it clean this morning. The other thing that caught his eyes was the note that was on the fridge.

Swiping it from the little bottle-opening magnet, he muttered out several words of disgust recognizing the handwritten note.

‘Rory sorry wasn’t able to buy some groceries, I deposited money on your account along with your allowance. Just buy something you like tomorrow, and there’s still some leftover on the fridge for you tonight.’

P.S.

Make sure you lock all the doors and windows.

Crumpling down the piece of paper he opened the door to find the box of pizza that they ordered a few days ago that still had a slice on it.

Not wanting to have any of that, he goes out, into the truck and takes the long drive back to town, deciding he was going to get some groceries after withdrawing some money.

And with his damn luck seemingly grabbing hold of him right now, the stores, diners, and coffee shops lights were already off when he got there, leaving the hostel signage the only thing that was on at that time, flickering every once in a while.

He looks at his wristwatch, it was only seven in the evening but the whole place was already like a ghost town, deserted as there wasn’t even one single place that was open.

“I hate this,” he grumbles, steering towards the intersection.

The next town was only an hour away and if he drove fast enough he was sure he’d be able to get there before any of the stores would close up, and so he took the long rigorous drive out of that place and into the next one without a care in the world.

Rory was thankful that he had done so as the view and scenery of the place were much to his liking. It reminded him much of the city having more stores, like twenty-four-hour grocers and shops, and even had movie houses, along with a lot of people still walking around at that time.

He somehow felt reinvigorated with the pleasant and much normal environment that he was in, managing to blend in and not be looked upon as he shopped for food. He was even able to enjoy a hot nice meal in one of the diners there, along with watching a movie that he had been waiting for.

He enjoyed himself so much that he did not notice the time fly by, up until he came out of the theater and saw that several of the places there were already closing down for the night.

That was when the loneliness raked unto him once more making his whole mood turn sour as he got into his uncle’s worn-down truck. The whole drive back to their town was much longer than before and it definitely didn’t help that all he could see within the mile-long road was nothing but trees, warning signs, and more road. So he was quite surprised when he saw red blinking lights that were up ahead a few meters as soon as he got past the welcome sign to their small town of Moon peak.

Rory slowed his car down a bit, noticing that it was coming from the middle of the road, it wasn’t that hard to notice as there was barely anything else there to see. He went to a full stop when he finally found out the cause of it.

“s**t!” he cursed, immediately grabbing hold of his flashlight as he jumped out of the truck in haste upon seeing the smoke.

Two cars were blocking the path, parts of it were scattered on the road, along with leaking gas, and glass. There was even crackling on his feet when he walked towards it from the shards on the ground, both fronts of the expensive-looking vehicles were completely flattened and crushed, the silver one is the only one that seemed upright while the other black convertible was flipped over.

Rory felt his heart clench realizing what he might see but he couldn't just stand there so he quickly approached one of the cars.

“Hello, is anyone still there?” He calls out before looking into it.

To his surprise nobody was there when he flashed his light, he then ran to the other car to take a look at the driver's seat but like before there was nobody in it.

“f**k, what happened!” He was panting as he kept pacing back and forth. moving for any signs of the drivers of the vehicles.

He kept looking around, waving his flashlight trying to find body parts or blood yet the only thing that was there besides the broken down vehicles were the bunker, what was once the window, and the doors of it.

Rory stopped when he heard what seemed to be the sound of something grunting coming from a few feet away from him, he thought that it have come from the area where there were broken down twigs and bushes, being able to see it clearly because of the light of the moon but the wholeness of the place was still too dark to actually view.

He swallowed hard feeling his throat suddenly dry. His heart wouldn’t stop racing at that moment as beads of sweat were already running down his face from thinking of what he was about to see but that didn’t stop him from moving forward.

Flashing his light, he was able to catch a glimpse of something moving within the trees but before he could utter a word a huge black shadow suddenly sprang from the bushes on his left side, its loud howl made him lose his footing causing him to fall on the ground.

Rory quickly covered his head when another shadow leaped in front of him, his scream was covered up by the loud roar and howling of the creatures that came out from nowhere.

He wasn’t able to make what it was since he was too busy trying to crawl away in fear and panic from the two.

The howls, growls, and Rory's shout all mixed together as the two creatures from the dark pounced on one another.

Rory was caught in the middle but he was immediately thrown out of the way when the large beings began rolling on the ground as they wrestled.

Feeling the sting on his shoulder, the throbbing on his chest and back, all Rory could think of at that moment was to get back to the safety of the truck. In the sheer moment of adrenaline, he was able to muster the strength to stand and run for dear life, though his knees felt like they would give in at any moment.

He was still trembling when he got inside the vehicle, and his vision was blurry from the mix of sweat and tears were on his eyes as he shakily turned his head around.

An eerie silence came after that, but he was sure that the creatures were still there as he could feel goosebumps on his skin.

Rory stepped on the gas the moment he heard the howls that came from behind. Though it was from a distance, he did not want to linger there any longer, not wanting to find out what it was that he actually saw.

He drove past the broken-down cars, wobbling as he sped into the road. Not looking back nor caring anymore for what was behind him.