The Beast Within (standard:horror, 372 words)
Author: kendall thomas	Added: Dec 13 2002	Views/Reads: 3617/0	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A woman alone in a cabin in a snow-covered wilderness.

The Beast Within 

By Twisted Wabbit 

. 

The snow lay deep on the ground.  There was a flat, trackless expanse
around the log cabin, whose roof was hidden with snow, its sides half 
buried.  There was a white forest of pine farther on that surrounded 
the cabin.  And beyond, a night sky full of bright stars and a horned 
moon. 

Silence reigned everywhere.  Except.... 

Karey heard the howl.  Closer now.  She got up from the rocking chair
and went to the corner of the cabin, near the front door, and picked up 
the double-barreled shotgun. 

It had returned.  How many times she couldn't remember.  Always coming
closer.  Tonight, she sensed, it would come for her. 

She had never known any animal to howl as it did.  It was not a wolf;
she was certain.  She was not a believer in the supernatural, but she 
could not put aside the Indian legends she had heard as a child, some 
about a creature that was half human and half beast that roamed about 
the hills and vales, ravenous for human flesh, carrying its victims off 
in the night and devouring them alive. 

Silly legends, but still.... 

She sat back down in the rocker, cradling the shotgun across her lap. 
She dozed. 

Suddenly she started.  A chill breeze reached her.  She glanced over to
the door.  It was wide open.  She could see the snow-covered pine far 
beyond, glowing in the moonlight. 

Then, with a rousing sensation of prickly horror, she knew.  It was in
the cabin with her!  She heard a thump in the bedroom.  Cautiously, she 
rose, holding the shotgun aimed before her.  The bedroom was cast in 
shadows.  A small lamp glowed dimly on a nightstand. 

It was there!  She saw its reflection in the vanity mirror.  A scream
was buried in her throat.  It was too horrible!  It was beyond belief.  
She was gazing into the very heart of evil. 

Shakily, she raised the barrel of the shotgun and squeezed the triggers
simultaneously. 

The next day, the postman found the cabin door open and tracks leading
out, disappearing into the forest beyond.  Inside there was a shotgun 
on the bedroom floor.  Lying about were fragments of the vanity mirror. 


The End 


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