1 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:29,600 The sound came again, like the trill of a beach whale drying up amongst 2 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:35,079 the kreas, soap and sagebrush. What the hell is that? It's, 3 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:40,359 no doubt some kind of flying insect or other, Jimmy reassured his wife Deborah, 4 00:00:40,439 --> 00:00:45,039 who was half covered by a quilt and hair threaded through pink plastic curlers. 5 00:00:45,759 --> 00:00:49,079 It's driving me up the wall. Can you make it shut up? 6 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:53,439 Jimmy pivoted off the bed and he pulled his legs through a pair of levi, 7 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:58,479 securing the buckle of the belt he'd left inside the loops. Given the 8 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,600 nature of the mountain lions and dope fiends, he opted to bring us thirty 9 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:07,280 eight special. If you don't come back in half an hour, Debora joked, 10 00:01:07,599 --> 00:01:11,680 I'm sending search and rescue. The clock read ten point fifteen, and 11 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:15,400 apart from the occasional hoot of an owl or the chirp of a cricket, 12 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:22,400 the night had fallen into a hush. Deborah was starting to feel anxious about 13 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,439 her husband going out into the darkness, giving his age and frail condition. 14 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,640 I better not find you, rattlesnake bit, Deborah scoffed, as if a 15 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:36,560 simple fall wasn't her husband's greatest threat. Woman, I've made it eighty two 16 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:41,760 years with nary a broken bone. Now go back to bed. Feeling slightly 17 00:01:41,799 --> 00:01:47,120 patronized, Jimmy flashed her a crooked smile and slid his slippers on. He 18 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:52,359 was suddenly a boy again, preparing to stalk cicadas parked on the fence post. 19 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:57,879 After a period of pacing and finally parking himself on the aluminum lawn chair, 20 00:01:57,359 --> 00:02:01,879 boredom began to set in. In order to quell it, Jimmy started 21 00:02:01,959 --> 00:02:07,360 kicking over rocks in hopes of discovering scorpions or lizards. However, there were 22 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:13,319 only beetles and ants to be found, and then he took the spotting constellations 23 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,080 scattered against the tableau of the desert sky. He was ready to call it 24 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:23,560 a night and head back to bed when someone walked into view. Jimmy and 25 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:30,280 Deborah's long driveway spilled across their acreage like ribbon unweun from a spool. A 26 00:02:30,319 --> 00:02:34,080 street light lit up their mailbox. At the intersection of the driveway and the 27 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:38,400 dirt road. There, bathed in light and dust, stood a figure resembling 28 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:44,639 the bastard child of a coyote and a man, and draped over its chest 29 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,439 was a vest composed of beads, the kind carved out of bone. It 30 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,960 stood upright on two legs, like annibus of old. What in the goddamn 31 00:02:54,039 --> 00:02:59,240 hell, Jimmy whispered to himself. The hair on his arms perked up and 32 00:02:59,319 --> 00:03:02,879 eyes squinty to get a better look. As he advanced in the direction of 33 00:03:02,879 --> 00:03:07,120 the brute, making every effort to stifle the sound of crunching quartz bubbles. 34 00:03:07,479 --> 00:03:12,599 He looked back to make sure the doors and windows of his home were closed. 35 00:03:13,199 --> 00:03:17,159 The Deborah was safe. The air was heavy with the pungent odor of 36 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:23,280 trees of heaven that bordered their driveway, reminiscent of burnt rubbers smeared with a 37 00:03:23,319 --> 00:03:28,560 rancid peanut butter. The beef's snout quivered as if to catch a whiff. 38 00:03:29,879 --> 00:03:35,840 Jimmy recalled his grandmother's tales of supernatural beings such as these, though he always 39 00:03:35,879 --> 00:03:39,960 assumed the stories were intended to scare the children into returning home before dark. 40 00:03:42,319 --> 00:03:46,719 With a twist of its form, the thing arched its head backward, jaws 41 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:52,280 gaping wide to the point of dislocation. Jimmy expected it to howl like a 42 00:03:52,319 --> 00:03:57,319 wolf, but instead, like a banshee, it issued the call he'd been 43 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:02,879 sent out to silence. If he hadn't been watching the scene, he might 44 00:04:02,919 --> 00:04:08,560 have assumed it was steam escaping from a teapot, or the distant whistle of 45 00:04:08,599 --> 00:04:13,639 a freight train. And as he inched closer, adrenaline surged through his veins 46 00:04:13,639 --> 00:04:17,399 and his bowels knotted up inside of him. Has the devil come for me? 47 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:23,279 He wondered? Would it do me any good to shoot it? We 48 00:04:23,319 --> 00:04:28,319 wrestle, not with flesh and blood, Jimmy thought as he stood motionless, 49 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:32,199 his fear heightened by the drumbeat of his own heart pounding in his ears. 50 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:38,839 But against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this 51 00:04:39,079 --> 00:04:45,120 world, against spiritual wickedness and high places. What if I miss, he 52 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:49,439 pondered. With his hands poised on the trigger, Jimmy stood ready to discharge 53 00:04:49,439 --> 00:04:55,120 his firearm in the event the monster lunged at him. And what if there's 54 00:04:55,199 --> 00:05:00,000 more of them than I've got bullets for? Jimmy's eyes widened as he realized 55 00:05:00,079 --> 00:05:03,920 as the friend was clutching a lifeless mammal maybe a squirrel, and not a 56 00:05:03,959 --> 00:05:10,079 pull, but a hand bearing four primate like fingers and an opposable thumb. 57 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,120 The head of the small prey had been gnawed on to the point where only 58 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:18,040 a skull remained atop its body. He took a deep breath and closed his 59 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:23,399 eyes, and under his breath he muttered a prayer, he that Dwelleth in 60 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,720 the secret places of the most High, shall abide under the shadow of the 61 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:30,920 Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my 62 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:36,399 fortress, my God, and in him I will trust. Suddenly, the 63 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:42,319 cane had pricked its ears and cast its gaze in Jimmy's direction. The beast's 64 00:05:42,319 --> 00:05:46,959 expression, whether smile or snarl, was indistinguishable to Jimmy. All he could 65 00:05:46,959 --> 00:05:50,839 make out was the display of bare teeth and the fact that he'd been spotted. 66 00:05:53,199 --> 00:05:58,160 Do you want to play it? Croaked? Jimmy pulled his gun from 67 00:05:58,199 --> 00:06:02,839 its holster and fired two bullets in the entity's direction. Startled and unable to 68 00:06:02,879 --> 00:06:08,680 discern if the bullets found their mark, the shots proved effective. Nonetheless, 69 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:13,439 the being dropped its prey and lowered down on all fours and took off running, 70 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,519 pitching a wake of dust into the air. No longer illuminated by the 71 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:23,120 street lamp, the creature vanished into the darkness beyond Jimmy's line of sight. 72 00:06:24,959 --> 00:06:30,079 Jimmy stoodn't shocked for some time, his senses alert to every sound and movement. 73 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:34,199 Eventually he managed to rouse himself from his days to sit down on the 74 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:39,959 stoop, and as the minute stretched into an hour there was no sign of 75 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:46,360 a dog man's return, he decided it was safe to go inside. Jimmy 76 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,399 clicked the bedroom light on, waking up Deborah. What was it, jim 77 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:55,040 did you get it? She rubbed her eyes. I didn't see nothing dead. 78 00:06:55,600 --> 00:07:00,800 Must have been some heartbroken half drunk on his daddy's after shad, But 79 00:07:00,879 --> 00:07:05,639 I wasn't about to go following him into the Jimmy fell silent. Deborah had 80 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,480 already drifted back to sleep.