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Speaker 1: Fast Food Horror is an abbey Normal production.

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Speaker 2: Welcome listeners to Fast Food Horror. In this episode, our

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runner goes for a run in the woods but encounters

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far more than he could have ever imagined. In this

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episode titled The Runner by E. J.

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Speaker 1: Miller, I couldn't have planned it out better. Seven in

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the morning, enough time to get a fifteen mile run

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in before the kids or their wife woke up around

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the lake, through the rolling hills of yellows, oranges, and

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reds in the state, parking back again. By the time

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I got back, they would have just started breakfast, and

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I really wouldn't have missed a thing. I quietly exited

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the cabin so as not to wake up anyone and

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draw their fury. Took a deep breath and filled my

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lungs with the crisp morning air, and stretched out. The

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sun was just coming up over the top of the hills,

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a beautiful sky painted of cotton candy pinks on a

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baby blue canvas. On this autumn morning, I could see

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the lake from our cabin we had rented. The water

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was still and serene, with a light valve of fog

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that snaked its way from the lake into the woods.

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The whole scene was something out of an Ansel Adams pitcher,

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only in color, just perfect. I double checked my cellphone's

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battery full charge. I glanced at the route I had

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planned out the night before on my map app just

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one more time, then hit play on my running playlist.

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The rhythmics sweet dreams filled my AirPods. What a great

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way to start my morning, running in a place right

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out of my dreams. I made my way from the

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cabin down the incline towards the lake, enjoying the feel

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of the autumn leaves crunching underneath my feet, the sight

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of my breath as I exhaled, and the smell of

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pine and earth. What a great vacation this was, spending

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time with my girls and my wife, away from technology

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and all the other distractions. Yes, I know where were

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they right now? Fast asleep? This morning was all about me.

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I had a marathon in two months and had to

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make sure I got all my miles in no excuses,

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so I made sure to do all my running when

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they were otherwise engaged in another activity, the favorite activity

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of most preteens and teens and overworked mothers everywhere sleep.

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Most of my route was a simple lap around the lake,

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with some zigzags here and there, just to make sure

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I got every inch of my miles. In the first

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few miles were scenic. I enjoyed the peaceful scene before me,

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the stillness of the lake on my left, the sun

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reflecting off its mirrored surface, A smattering of wildlife going

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about their day as I passed by them at my

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rhythmic pace. A fox, a bunch of squirrels, rabbits, and

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a family of raccoons, presumably heading back to their home

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after a night of pirting the campgrounds dumpster. At mile six,

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I turned into a well worn path that wound into

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the woods. Gone was the warm rays of the sun,

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and now my skin was cooled by the shade of

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the shadows of the trees. I wound my way down

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the path. It varied from incline to decline, but mostly

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decline into an abandoned creek bed that fed into the lake.

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If I stayed on this path, it would wind me

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back to the lake and back to the main road.

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I had definitely found my pace. Looking at my watch,

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I was at my regular eight minute mile. My breath

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was steady, and my legs ran effortlessly. But between the

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bangles walked like an Egyptian and Queen's under pressure. In

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that brief respite of three seconds between songs, I heard

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the earth shattering shriek that echoed in the abandoned creek bed.

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I stopped in my tracks and took out my AirPods

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and listened. There it was again, a high pitched scream

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of a call, not human. I could recognize it as

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not being that, but me being a city boy, I

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could not identify the animal calling out. I only knew

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that whatever it was, it was in pain. I thought

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about turning back. It was at least a mile back

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to the main road if I went the way I came.

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But if I pushed forward and at a quick enough pace,

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I did it back to the main road in no time,

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all the while remembering there were predators that could be

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in the park. After all, this was a forest, not

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a Disneyland attraction, but a real forest full of wild animals.

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I had read the pamphlets wolves, bears, mountain lions, and

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something called a fissure. I had to google that last one,

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nasty little thing to be avoided. What was I thinking

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to run through the actual woods? I decided to step

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up my pace and push my way through air pods

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out so I could actually hear if there was danger

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until I got back to the relative safety of the

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main road. Down the creekbed. I went that wound back

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and forth, and as I made my way around the

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fourth turn, it hit me. A stench of a smell

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assaulted my senses. I slowed my pace and covered my

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face with my shirt and tried to stop gagging. What

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was that? I've never spelled anything like it. I continued

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up the creek bed and then found it lying in

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the middle of the bed, a tan brown mass, barely

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identifiable as the animal that it was because it was

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no longer in one piece. The antlers still attached to

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the head gave it away, though too bad the head

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was no longer attached to the body. It was fairly large,

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but I really had nothing to compare it to. Again,

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not an outdoorsy type. It had been gutted, though organs

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strewn about the river bed like Christmas wrappings tossed by

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a child. One of its rear legs had been clean

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ripped off. I don't know where that went, and the

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smell I'm guessing was from its bowels being emptied out.

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It was the only comparable odor, though it was just foul.

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I walked up on the animal. The gash marks were huge.

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Immediately I started thinking about bear or mountain lion. And

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that's when I noticed something that I should have noticed

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all along. Its chest still gently rising and falling ever

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so slightly, and the blood was still slightly escaping the wounds.

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This was a fresh kill. I had stumbled upon some

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fairly large predators wrecked. My mind immediately flashed to documentaries

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I used to watch when I was a kid about predators,

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about them being territorial. I needed to get out of

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there immediately before I found out exactly what kind of

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predator did this kind of damage. The crash of sound

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shook me from my thoughts. It sounded like a tree

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had fallen. It had awakened the entire forest. A cacophony

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of sound erupted from everywhere where. Was it coming from?

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What it made?

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Speaker 2: It?

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Speaker 1: It was getting closer. Where was it? I looked all

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around me and couldn't see anything. I looked up at

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the top of the tree canopy about one hundred yards

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Something large was coming. I ran out of the creek

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bed in the direction of what I was hoping was

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the main road and the lake, but in its territory,

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in its forest. I looked back. The dark mass seemed

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to be clearing three trees at a time with each leap.

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I wasn't sure how it was even moving or what

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it was. What could be so high in the trees

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pursuing me. I had to stop looking back. I was

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losing seconds turning to look. Just sprint forward, I told myself.

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I pumped my legs as hard as I could, lean forward,

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trying to get any momentum, trying to separate myself from it.

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Closer still, I could see to break in the trees daylight.

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Would I even be safe on the road? Sprinting trying

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hard not to stumble. Oh God, please don't let me fall.

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I broke through the trees onto the road and glanced

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back with a huge dark form swinging lower to the ground.

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It was still pursuing, It wasn't stopping. I reached the

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end of the other side of the road and to

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drop off into the lake below fifty feet. It was

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my only escape. I left. I felt the air cutting

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through my clothes and hope the water was my escape.

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The last thing I remember was a searing pain across

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my back before hitting the cold water below. I awoke

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in a hospital bed to the soft beep of a

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monitor like an annoying electric metronome. I had no idea

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how I got here or for how long. But I

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wasn't in the forest of the lake, and I was alive,

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so that was good. As I was collecting my thoughts

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and about to call out for a nurse, my wife

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and daughters burst through the door. Tears and questions filled

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the room. It was dizzying trying to keep up with

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who was asking about what. The rapid fire questions from

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all four at once, and the cacophony of sound was

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just overwhelming. Finally I got a word in edgewise and

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blurted out, how did I get here? My wife stopped

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my daughter's barrage of questions with a wave of her hand,

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a trick I could never pull off. She explained that

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a camper was fishing and found me washed up along

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the lake, barely conscious. The camper quickly rushed me to

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the hospital, where the doctors were treating me for dehydration, lacerations, contusions,

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and a suspected concussion. Before I had a chance to

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follow up with a question. She gave me a big

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hug and started crying again, then followed up with telling

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me that a driver had seen me burst out of

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the woods, running across the road, stumbling off balance and disoriented,

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before sprinting and jumping off the overhang and into the lake.

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She got very emotional, telling me that I pushed myself

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too hard and running by myself in the woods. What

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was I thinking? My wife then told me the doctors

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think I bumped my head at some point, which gave

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me a concussion. She went further and stated I probably

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hid it before jumping in the lake, which explained my

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stumbling disoriented out of the forest. All the cuts on

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my back were from the shale and rocks along the

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edge of the lake. My middle daughter quickly saw my concern,

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retrieved her phone and showed me a picture of my back.

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Long deep gashes ran its length from shoulder to hip,

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not scratched gashes. I was stunned and scared all at once.

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I didn't know how to tell them that I remembered

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getting the lacerations and the pain that came with them

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well before I hit the water, which means they weren't

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from what was in the lake.

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Speaker 2: It Rott