THE TOPIC OF THIS CONTEST WAS:
Did she just see what she thought she saw? She stepped off the path, intending to only walk a few feet. It was only later that the group noticed she was missing. They quickly backtracked, yelling her name. Tensions rose as the sun began to set. And, that’s when they, too, saw…
(Stories need only touch on this topic in some way to qualify. And, they could not exceed 850 words.) Before you continue reading, take a moment to consider where you would take that story…
As the stealthiest member of the Pei-Ewe Crew, Odrossa was slyer than any fox. She slinked closer toward the forest margin and crouched behind a shrub. She held her breath. Moving as slowly as her muscles would allow her, she peered through the branches at the old shack on the edge of the woods. She could have sworn she saw a glimpse of little Rosie’s face reflected in the dirty window, if only for a moment. It had been a long night last night, but Odrossa did not think she was imagining it.
Members of her Crew had been going missing for too long. It started when an outsider showed up around the borough. He’d taken up in the old shack, and soon after, Narys disappeared. The Crew suspected he might be a supervillain from the get-go, the way he snuck around, clearly not wanting anyone to notice him. They called him The Trapper.
Several days later, no one could find Pepper. The others in the borough didn’t seem to care much—the Pei-Ewes were not liked at all. Odrossa reasoned it was because of the Pei-Ewes’ superpower.
Their superpower is what linked the Pei-Ewes as a crew. Given the right combination of adrenaline and concentration, each of them could direct a stream of pure energy at any foe. Sure, a time or two, when someone had unexpectedly startled a Pei-Ewe, they took an accidental blast to the face. But it was more like getting energy-sprayed by a supernatural super-soaker than anything else; it wasn’t so bad. The victim would stumble backwards; maybe they would vomit—but just a little. Some would be temporarily blinded. It’s not like it killed them or anything. But they did all retreat. And that was really the purpose of the Crew’s superpower. The Pei-Ewes didn’t want to fight… although each of them would if they found themselves backed into a corner and fresh out of super-juice.
So, it was no coincidence that the Pei-Ewes—the only ones with superpowers—were the only ones disappearing.
Yesterday, when the twins disappeared, the Crew knew they were not dealing with just another supervillain; this was a serial killer supervillain. Poor Rosie and Fuchie were still just little kits.
The Pei-Ewes had gathered the entire Crew together this morning to comb the woods around the boroughs. The others did not like it when the entire Crew gathered. And they were not afraid to make it known. Snide insults salted their fresh emotional wounds as the Crew left the borough together: Pest. Varmint. Good riddance ya’ damned polecats. Such trash. Despite the gravity of the current situation, the Crew was not going to get any help from the others. Not even against a cold-blooded killer who had maybe already murdered the innocent little twins.
Still hidden by the flora, Odrossa kept her eyes on the shack’s window as she began to inch closer to the dilapidated building. A sudden, searing pain burned through her right leg just before she heard the SNAP.
She looked down at her foot. A toothy metal ring pressed tight around her ankle, a dozen sharp points biting into her flesh on either side. Hot drips ran down her foot as a circle of red grew on the ground beneath. As she reached down to pry open the metal jaws, a swift shadow passed over her. She instinctively released her energy wave, not quite sure in which direction to fire it. But darkness quickly enshrouded her. Her superpower had failed her. An intense crack of agony undulated from the outside of Odrossa’s head, spreading like gravity ripples away from a black hole. And the universe went dark to her.
Empty barrels of salt and boric acid dotted the landscape behind the old shack. Mal, the leader of the Crew, stopped cold in his tracks. He turned his head slightly, signaling Chanele, Reeka, and the rest of the Pei-Ewes to halt. It was only then that they noticed Odrossa was missing.
Panic set in as they quickly backtracked to the cover of the woods. Once safely hidden in the scrub, the Pei-Ewe Crew turned back to see the sun beginning to set over the treeline behind the shack. The day’s last gust of hot wind swung the door to the shack open. And then they saw it.
Odrossa’s cold, lifeless body swung gently back and forth, hanging from a line attached to a crossbeam. Next to her swung the fleshless pelts of Rosie, Fuchie, and ten other skunks.
Mal turned away from the shack, lifted his furry rear end into the air, and released his energy spray.
