text: The deer carcass on the edge of town was found lying next to an old tree by Heather on her morning walks. Her screams woke the tiny town of Hawthorne from its slumber. Dead animals were a common sight in the village. Hunting was a way of life, and if humans didn't kill it, a larger animal surely did. This deer's killer was clearly neither human nor animal. It had chunks of flesh torn in a symmetrical fashion, and a purple substance in the wounds. A few yards into the woods from the deer; two piles of the purple substance mixed with meat was found. Alien invasion hysteria gripped Hawthorne. Heather was briefly accused of killing the deer herself and being a traitor to humanity. Heather responded by slapping her accuser, and the matter was resolved. Three lone hunters took it upon themselves to hunt the beast themselves. One got lost and returned at sunset. One was found dead the next morning. The last survived and was traumatized by what he saw through his binoculars. Six long scale covered legs climbed through the trees like a car. Four tentacles vibrated around it. Two faced in the direction it traveled while the other two were constantly changing directions. The body was oblong and covered in fur. A fur pouch on the side covered a small slug with a mouthful of teeth drooling purple slime. He assumed another slug was on the other side. The town was divided on how to handle this alien threat. One group wanted to carry on its life as normal. This creature was no different than a bear or a puma. If it got in their way, they would shoot it and hope that it had enough meat for dinner. Another group wanted to leave town and start a new life. They were reminded that the world outside of Hawthorne was a wasteland, and the creature could follow them. The group decided to stay, but they would be sure to propose moving at every opportunity. A third group wanted the glory of the hunt; the surviving hunter reminded them that another hunter had died hunting the beast. The last group wanted to do a combination of setting up a watch around the town for security and send out parties to gather information on the creature but not confront it. In a shocking twist of events, reason prevailed, and the last group won. The watchers observed the creature never went near the town. When small parties of six were sent to the forest, they found a variety of animal carcasses and purple slime near the bodies. The creature was sighted running past the information parties, but it never confronted them. With this information, it was hypothesized that the creature was intelligent enough to not attack large groups, and it needed nutrients that were lacking in Earth creatures. This information changed group dynamics at the next meeting. The group that wanted to live life as normal proposed to continue living life as normal. The group that wanted to leave, proposed leaving again. This time, they proposed moving somewhere with nicer weather. The cautious group desired to continue studying the creature. The hunters had already left the meeting to kill it. Chip and Ken were two of those hunters. Their heads crouched and scanned the perimeter for signs of the creature. Their shotguns were close to their chests prepared to fire. When a deer ran behind them, Chip turned and shot it. Ken castigated Chip for wasting ammo especially since he missed the deer which was now running away from them. Fortune favored the stupid, and the creature dropped from the canopy to consume the deer. Ken stopped criticizing Chip and began running towards the creature shooting at it. Chip followed and fired his gun as well. Chip continued to be a poor shot as every pellet misses the creature. He did manage to hit a bird fleeing the fight. The creature did not move from its meal. Several of its tentacles were struck by bullets and drop to the ground. Its legs went limp crushing the carcass beneath it. The two slugs drooled purple slime. Chip and Ken stood over the body and fired several rounds into it until they were certain its dead. The town had no research facilities to study the creature so they buried it. A minor cult formed around the creature in the weeks after its death. The location of its burial was forgotten causing the cult to disappear quickly. Chip and Ken were briefly treated as town heroes until Chip crashed his car into Gayle's farm. They were then regarded as idiots again. Some long for the chance to study the creature further. The presence of an alien briefly made life exciting, and the existence of life in the stars posed engaging philosophical questions. If only Hawthorne could be graced by another alien creature, one that would not be murdered by local hunters. Until then, it was luck and stupidity that killed the beast.