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Description

I couldn't say how much time or how many miles passed since I witnessed that bizarre metallic thing, and the unending road didn't offer much help either. Ever since it strolled past and I returned to my ceaseless driving, my mind was consumed by it and I could think of nothing else. It brought up the obvious question of "what was that?" but it also plagued me with the thought of "where am I?" Before pulling off the road for that nap, I was already pretty lost. Just trapped on a road with no end, driving through the night without any clue where I was. Even after continuing my journey, I failed to spot any road signs or clues of civilization. Then again, I was so focused on that strange meeting that I could have probably driven past fifty billboards without even noticing. I was heading even further into the void, with each passing mile turning into another chain that tied me to this path. Who knows how many dozens, if not hundreds, of miles I already committed to this road. How could I turn back now? There was truly nothing behind me, well, only one thing behind me now. That brief encounter also kept me from turning back, as I knew I didn't have the strength to face it again. It was true that the thing did nothing but glance at me as it marched down the road, but how could I know that would happen again? The mind is not easily convinced that one good moment is a guarantee for the future. Maybe me coming back would anger it, or perhaps it only passed me by because I was off the road and not moving. There was a thousand reasons in my head on why I was miraculously spared a gruesome fate, and I was not about to tempt it a second time. So without any other option, I drove on.

At some point during my mindless trek, a brief hope suddenly arrived. My headlights illuminated a change in the road, and I snapped from my dull trance. The road had only been two lanes, one for each direction, but now it yawned wide to add another two. This had to mean something, as lonely country roads out in the middle of nowhere were rarely given such space. I had to be approaching a town, or maybe a highway, something that would have more traffic to require these extra lanes. I perked up in my seat and scoured the road for any more clues. Soon a sign would appear, or maybe even another car. If I was so lucky, maybe I could flag them down and ask for directions. It was a wild hope, but one I held onto now that I had been given this crumb. Unfortunately, my vigilance did not reward me, as I still failed to spot any of these desired changes. However, my eyes did pick up on something new, though I was not happy with this find.

As I navigated this larger road, there were blobs in the asphalt. Mounds of tar that were scattered aimlessly throughout the road, with no rhyme or reason to them. Sometimes I wouldn't see any for ten minutes, but the next I would be swerving past these bumps as if they were a minefield. They were black and clumpy, drips of glistening tar still ran down their misshapen forms as if a road crew just drove by and dumped these horrible loads. That wasn't what truly unsettled me, it was the things that protruded from these wet masses that put me on edge. Broken limbs and mangled shapes stuck out from these black bubbles like random needles in a pin cushion. When I first spotted them, I slowed down for a better look. What I saw emerging from these tar blobs were appendages that belonged to animals, the kind that you always saw dead on the side of the road. Things like raccoons, opossums, deer, rabbits and the likes. During my travels, I have even seen roadkill birds before, mainly hawks and other hunters who made a fateful dive and wound up splattered on a windshield. Seeing dead animals on a road isn't uncommon, but what didn't make sense was why they were covered in this tar, and why these arrangement of limbs didn't fit. These blobs were like the size of a deflated basketball, yet in just one I saw the smothered wing of a large bird, the hands of a raccoon and the snapped twig-like legs of a deer. Every one of them was a bizarre mishmash of body parts, as if someone threw a highway's worth of roadkill into a meat grinder and then gave the mangled chunks a nice ebony glaze. How these horrible things came to be was something that I both wanted to know and hoped to never find out.

Staring at these macabre road decorations, I suddenly saw a flash of movement ahead in my headlights. I instinctively pushed on the brakes, slowing my car but not stopping it. Where I was from, deer were a common night hazard, darting across the road at the worst moments possible. Seeing movement made me immediately think "deer," and the one thing I was taught was to never slam the brakes and never swerve. Just slow yourself down and hope that the animal gets out of the way in time. Thankfully in this case, there was plenty of distance between me and the beast that I could bring my car to a reasonable stop. I guess I should be happy that I didn't realize what I was staring at until I came to a full halt. Had I comprehended it while I was still moving, a part of me may have just hit the gas and nailed it.

What stood in the light of my high beams was something alike to the strange glowing beast I saw before. A frame of jumbled, angular metal shrouded in a dripping coat of tar. While the other could be described as having the body of a beast, this one felt more insect-like, despite it having no connection to any living creature I ever saw. Limbs that looked ideal for skittering and creeping, a long hooked tail that would fit a junkyard scorpion, and then there was that "face." I had no clue what to think it was even made out of it, it was just a horrible red triangle that held a malformed tar blob in its obscenely white teeth. It frozen in my headlights made me think of a coyote being caught in the act as it raided a chicken coop, but I was no angry farmer with a shotgun. Though I sat in a mighty machine of steel and power, able to pancake almost any of god's creatures, I was focused on not soiling myself out of fear. I stood still as a statue, hoping my motionless state would bless me with the same mercy that I received from the other beast. For a moment, we both just sat there and stared at each other, assuming that warped thing even had eyes. At last, it made the first move. Its awful teeth retracted into its face to drop its prize and let out some mangled hiss, as if it thought I was going to steal its kill. It then clamped back down on the horrible dripping gob and then slowly slunk across the road. There was one last quick glance in my direction, and then it left my light and was swallowed by darkness. Though I looked out my side windows for any hint of it, the night hid it completely. I would have no way of knowing of where it went, or if it was looping around for an attack. All I could do was put my foot back onto the gas and drive forward. That was all I could do. I just had to drive on and pray for morning....

--------------------------------------

A probably unneeded continuation from my weird road creature Caution awhile back, but I did draw others around the same time, so I already committed! Felt fitting for both the time and the spooky season to go back to the scary road! Spoooooooky!

Description

I couldn't say how much time or how many miles passed since I witnessed that bizarre metallic thing, and the unending road didn't offer much help either. Ever since it strolled past and I returned to my ceaseless driving, my mind was consumed by it and I could think of nothing else. It brought up the obvious question of "what was that?" but it also plagued me with the thought of "where am I?" Before pulling off the road for that nap, I was already pretty lost. Just trapped on a road with no end, driving through the night without any clue where I was. Even after continuing my journey, I failed to spot any road signs or clues of civilization. Then again, I was so focused on that strange meeting that I could have probably driven past fifty billboards without even noticing. I was heading even further into the void, with each passing mile turning into another chain that tied me to this path. Who knows how many dozens, if not hundreds, of miles I already committed to this road. How could I turn back now? There was truly nothing behind me, well, only one thing behind me now. That brief encounter also kept me from turning back, as I knew I didn't have the strength to face it again. It was true that the thing did nothing but glance at me as it marched down the road, but how could I know that would happen again? The mind is not easily convinced that one good moment is a guarantee for the future. Maybe me coming back would anger it, or perhaps it only passed me by because I was off the road and not moving. There was a thousand reasons in my head on why I was miraculously spared a gruesome fate, and I was not about to tempt it a second time. So without any other option, I drove on.

At some point during my mindless trek, a brief hope suddenly arrived. My headlights illuminated a change in the road, and I snapped from my dull trance. The road had only been two lanes, one for each direction, but now it yawned wide to add another two. This had to mean something, as lonely country roads out in the middle of nowhere were rarely given such space. I had to be approaching a town, or maybe a highway, something that would have more traffic to require these extra lanes. I perked up in my seat and scoured the road for any more clues. Soon a sign would appear, or maybe even another car. If I was so lucky, maybe I could flag them down and ask for directions. It was a wild hope, but one I held onto now that I had been given this crumb. Unfortunately, my vigilance did not reward me, as I still failed to spot any of these desired changes. However, my eyes did pick up on something new, though I was not happy with this find.

As I navigated this larger road, there were blobs in the asphalt. Mounds of tar that were scattered aimlessly throughout the road, with no rhyme or reason to them. Sometimes I wouldn't see any for ten minutes, but the next I would be swerving past these bumps as if they were a minefield. They were black and clumpy, drips of glistening tar still ran down their misshapen forms as if a road crew just drove by and dumped these horrible loads. That wasn't what truly unsettled me, it was the things that protruded from these wet masses that put me on edge. Broken limbs and mangled shapes stuck out from these black bubbles like random needles in a pin cushion. When I first spotted them, I slowed down for a better look. What I saw emerging from these tar blobs were appendages that belonged to animals, the kind that you always saw dead on the side of the road. Things like raccoons, opossums, deer, rabbits and the likes. During my travels, I have even seen roadkill birds before, mainly hawks and other hunters who made a fateful dive and wound up splattered on a windshield. Seeing dead animals on a road isn't uncommon, but what didn't make sense was why they were covered in this tar, and why these arrangement of limbs didn't fit. These blobs were like the size of a deflated basketball, yet in just one I saw the smothered wing of a large bird, the hands of a raccoon and the snapped twig-like legs of a deer. Every one of them was a bizarre mishmash of body parts, as if someone threw a highway's worth of roadkill into a meat grinder and then gave the mangled chunks a nice ebony glaze. How these horrible things came to be was something that I both wanted to know and hoped to never find out.

Staring at these macabre road decorations, I suddenly saw a flash of movement ahead in my headlights. I instinctively pushed on the brakes, slowing my car but not stopping it. Where I was from, deer were a common night hazard, darting across the road at the worst moments possible. Seeing movement made me immediately think "deer," and the one thing I was taught was to never slam the brakes and never swerve. Just slow yourself down and hope that the animal gets out of the way in time. Thankfully in this case, there was plenty of distance between me and the beast that I could bring my car to a reasonable stop. I guess I should be happy that I didn't realize what I was staring at until I came to a full halt. Had I comprehended it while I was still moving, a part of me may have just hit the gas and nailed it.

What stood in the light of my high beams was something alike to the strange glowing beast I saw before. A frame of jumbled, angular metal shrouded in a dripping coat of tar. While the other could be described as having the body of a beast, this one felt more insect-like, despite it having no connection to any living creature I ever saw. Limbs that looked ideal for skittering and creeping, a long hooked tail that would fit a junkyard scorpion, and then there was that "face." I had no clue what to think it was even made out of it, it was just a horrible red triangle that held a malformed tar blob in its obscenely white teeth. It frozen in my headlights made me think of a coyote being caught in the act as it raided a chicken coop, but I was no angry farmer with a shotgun. Though I sat in a mighty machine of steel and power, able to pancake almost any of god's creatures, I was focused on not soiling myself out of fear. I stood still as a statue, hoping my motionless state would bless me with the same mercy that I received from the other beast. For a moment, we both just sat there and stared at each other, assuming that warped thing even had eyes. At last, it made the first move. Its awful teeth retracted into its face to drop its prize and let out some mangled hiss, as if it thought I was going to steal its kill. It then clamped back down on the horrible dripping gob and then slowly slunk across the road. There was one last quick glance in my direction, and then it left my light and was swallowed by darkness. Though I looked out my side windows for any hint of it, the night hid it completely. I would have no way of knowing of where it went, or if it was looping around for an attack. All I could do was put my foot back onto the gas and drive forward. That was all I could do. I just had to drive on and pray for morning....

--------------------------------------

A probably unneeded continuation from my weird road creature Caution awhile back, but I did draw others around the same time, so I already committed! Felt fitting for both the time and the spooky season to go back to the scary road! Spoooooooky!