text: It was a cold night. Snow wouldn’t fall for another six weeks. The earth was still soft. Clumps of dirt clung onto the man’s shovel. He was three feet deep in a two by six foot hole. Black mounds of fresh dirt grew with each swift motion of the shovel. He was of slender build, but muscular. His face was neither handsome nor ugly; one that you would see often and confuse for an acquaintance. However his eyes you could not forget. They were windows into an unblinking abyss The shovel completed its purpose and was temporarily discarded atop the detritus. The man crawled out the pit and in the darkness fumbled to find a large plastic bag. He gripped the edges tightly and dragged it back into his work. It slipped inside, the sounds of splashing liquids and wet things emanating from inside. The man abandoned the hole and grasped his tool once more. With precise motions he began to fill the pit. When the task was completed he turned and walked into the darkness The night enveloped all things. A normal person would’ve become lost, but the man walked with an almost supernatural sense of direction. He avoided trees, rocks and half frozen puddles. The wilderness soon gave way to cultivation then a dirt road. He walked up the road until he came upon a parked car. He opened the trunk and threw the shovel among the various tools inside. Then took possession of his vehicle and began to drive up the road towards lights in the distance As the car approached the lights the familiar structures of a gas station became visible. The man glanced at his fuel gauge, quarter tank. He gripped the wheel tightly with both hands and slowly turned towards the pump. He pulled in and cut the engine. The fuel cap popped open and he stepped out into the desolate business. A single flickering light illuminated the solitary pump. A small shack a few meters from it had a small neon red “OPEN” sign. He did his business, sixty liters straight not a drop more He returned the pump to its holster and walked over to the shack. Before he could open the door it flung open and a small woman stepped out. As she did the “OPEN” sign faded. The man and the woman silently looked at each other as the door closed shut behind her “Who are you?” she asked “Nobody; I just filled up my tank. Wanted to get a snack for the road” “Tough luck I just locked up” “I see” the man answered slowly. He looked behind the woman then glanced around the empty gas station. “Are you all alone?” The woman slowly began to walk away from the man keeping her eyes on him. “No, I suggest you get going. There are some strange things in these parts” The man’s face contorted into a sinister smile. “But I haven’t had my snack” he chuckled The woman quickly turned and began sprinting away from him. The man didn’t move a muscle. He silently looked as the woman ran up the road. When she was no longer visible, he took in a deep breath with his nostrils and hunched over. Lowering his body to the dirt he stretched out his hands as his smile grew ever larger. The skin began rip and blood flowed from the cracks. His eyes glowed yellow in the dark. Then suddenly he began to run The woman had made it some distance from the gas station when he caught sight of her. She had tried to stay silent in the dark but as he had approached she began to scream. “HELP, OH GOD HELP” The man or the creature wearing the skin of a man stayed silent. It moved with a frightening speed. Tears and blood stained urine fell from the woman. The creature stretched out its hand and took hold of her. She screamed and thrashed violently like a fish out of water. But the creatures hand only dug deeper into her soft skin, its nails drawing blood. It violently forced her to face it. Yellow eyes glared into brown and the woman fell silent. The woman stopped moving, as if in a trance she slowly opened her mouth. The creature opened its own wider ripping its disguise. Hair began to fall in clumps onto the road. Then the ears and the nose fell in a bloody mess. As the skin and flesh peeled away the skeleton underneath was revealed. The white of the skeleton was covered in roots. Black pulsating tendrils coiled around them. They held the frame of the man together and commanded it to hold the hypnotized woman However the yellow eyes stayed glowing in a faceless skull. The tendrils began to writhe, moving slowly towards the woman’s open mouth. They crawled up from the legs up the spine and down the arms into her mouth. As they did the light from the eyes faded. Then eventually they went dark as the last of the roots made their way into their new host. The wet skeleton fell atop the flesh that once covered it. The woman was motionless for a moment then her eyes glowed yellow She smiled and began walking towards the gas station. She opened up the shack and took any cash she could find. Then locked up and drove the man’s car to his remains. She opened up the trunk and took out the shovel and a large plastic bag. The man went into the bag with a little dirt. Once she was finished she threw her previous host in the trunk and drove back down the road. Stopping near where the man had originally taken it. She took the bag and shovel through the woods back to the clearing.