The Return

Two middle-aged men sat at a gas station along a deserted stretch of highway. One of the men was napping with a straw hat over his dirty face. He snored like a broken chainsaw while the other man stared aimlessly down the highway, and saw nothing but the occasional tumbleweed. Yes it was a boring life here in Scutsville, Utah, but it was the life they had.

As time passed the man left his snoring friend to go inside the small station and get himself a beer. As he walked to the door he saw a shimmering off in the distance. He blinked twice, and assumed it was just the sun baking his brain and making him see things. The man went inside and grabbed a cold beer from the cooler. It opened with a satisfying pop! And the man sipped from the bottle as he went back outside. The first thing he noticed was that the shimmering was gone. The second thing he saw was the tall figure walking down the highway towards the gas station.

The man walked over to his sleeping friend and shook him awake. “Hey! Wake up Rainy. Come an’ look at this.”

Rainy groaned softly and rose from his seat, “The hell is it this time Abner? I ain’t gon’ look at a vulture eatin’ road kill again.”

“It ain’t no vulture Rainy. Look!”

Rainy squinted into the sun, and looked where Abner was pointing. “The fuck is that?”

“I ain’t got a clue.”

“Well there ain’t no sense in gettin’ all worried about it. I’m gonna get a beer.”

…

A tall pale creature walked down a hot dusty highway. Its black clothes seemed to be a part of it. Even though it was unbearably dry, its skin glistened with moisture, and it left a trail of water behind it.

The creature looked at its slender hands and long fingers. It was good to be back. The creature saw that about fifty yards down the road was a small gas station. Maybe there would be humans there. It kept walking steadily until he could see two men sitting in front of the gas station.

One of them, wearing a straw hat, raised his hand and said. “How y’all doing? You need help findin’ yer way somewhere? The creature raised his hand in response. What strange greetings these humans had. He walked closer to the two men.

The one who had spoked looked confused. “Can you hear me stranger?” The creature nodded once, and kept walking. What an odd question. Of course he could hear them. Finally the two men stood, and the hat wearer spoke again. “Look, I don’t mean to be rude or nothin’ but is there somethin’ wrong with you? You’re lookin’ mighty pale.” The creature ran at the man faster than he could react and grabbed him around the throat. With a quick twist the creature snapped the man’s neck.

“Jesus Christ!” The other man yelled. He swung his empty beer bottle and smashed it over the creature’s head. The creature screamed, an awful shrill noise that would have woken the devil himself. The man covered his ears as the creature picked him up and hurled him into the side of the building. Bones snapped with an audible crunch, and the creature smiled. With a smile on his face he knelt down and went to work.

…

The bodies of Rainerd “Rainy” Akins, and Abner Dailey were found on the evening of Saturday July 14th 2018. Their bodies were mangled horribly, but the one thing that the police found especially disturbing, was that both men had had their arms torn off and missing.