Snake Face

The Cannibal

The basement was pitch black since there were no lights this time, due to the power outage, and the whooshing from the wind was rather loud circulating through the basement.So it was no surprise when Hazel didn't see or hear Haley walk up behind her.
Haley grabbed Hazel by her arm with her right hand and slapped her other hand over Hazel's mouth, for she knew Hazel would either scream or drop what she was carrying because of the sudden unexpected contact.Which wouldn't be good due to the recent circumstances.

As she grabbed Hazel, she immediately leaned forward and spoke in her ear loud enough for her to hear,"It's me Haley, don't worry.But we need to get upstairs Hazel.Right now!"She hissed letting go of Hazel.

About that time they heard it.
Slap.Slap.Slap.
The sound of bare feet walking rapidly across the linoleum floor.
"Hazel come on!"Haley begged,"I was fixing the door and I guess it heard me and it came and started smashing it up, so I ran.I couldn't see it's face.But that must be it."Her voice sounding more and more fearful.

The Cannibal

11:30 P.M

Mark came staggering down the stairs with an arm load of firearms.
He maneuvered over to the living area and layed them down on the coffee table and spread them out.
Amos, James and Terrence strained to push the huge couch up to the front door.
All the windows were latched shut and the blinds and curtains pulled down all through the house, phone lights were shining about all through the building as everyone scurried about to complete their tasks.

Amos and the guys had finished with the front door and were now in the back part of the first floor, pushing chairs and other furniture up in front of the back door.

Makaya, Courtney, and Abby all gathered in the living area.
"Where's Haley and Hazel?"Abby asked.
"I think they are still downstairs.Locking up the basement door."Makaya said.
"It shouldn't take this long should it?"Abby asked worriedly.
"Hazel went down after candles and flashlights I know, I heard the old guy tell her to go look for some of both."Courtney said.
________________________________________________________________

Down in the basement, to the very back section, the door that lead outside was totally demolished.Broken and cracked up splinters and chunks of wood lay scattered all across the floor as far as ten feet away from the door.
Snow was being blown in and was collecting all across the floor.
A pair of large out of kilter barefoot footprints lead off into the dark and otherwise silent basement.The only sound being the low whoosh that circulated throughout it's halls from the wind blowing in...

The Cannibal

Amos nodded,"Yes, we're more likely to be safe inside.We need to secure this place and get some protection for ourselves.I have seen it break into houses before, it usually prefers to try and wait it's prey out, but eventually it will lose patience and come for us."

Courtney spoke up,"Mark, didn't you say your dad has a bunch of guns upstairs?Could we use those?"

"Uh-uh yeah,"Mark stuttered,"I'll go get th-them."
He turned and headed for the staircase.
"Is there anything we can do?"Makaya asked Amos.

"Yes,"he nodded,"go around and lock every door and latch every window, make sure that nothing is left open or can be opened.Nothing at all."

"Okay, we can do that."Haley spoke as all four girls rose from their spots and began dispersing.Haley headed down to the basement, Courtney and Abby headed upstairs, and Makaya began going room to room downstairs, latching and blinding every window and locking every door that was not locked already.

"What about us?"James asked Amos, indicating himself and Terrence, who had both stood as the girls headed out to check all the doors and windows.
"You fellas help me barricade all the doors, but we'll leave the basement door free.In case we have to run.You,"he pointed to Hazel,"go search around for candles and or lanterns."

"I think there are some of both in the basement."Terence sloke aloud.

The Cannibal

Amos looked Hazel dead in the eye.
"One tactic I used was forcing my way downwind from the creature and keeping totally still.That way, it can't smell or hear you.It might can still see your heat signature yes, but with just that alone and no other signs of live prey it might disregard you, thinking of you as something else, a decoy perhaps."

He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small wooden carving on a piece of leather cord.The carving was ivory and was of an eagle, with every design flawlessly crafted right down to it's beak.

"This is a totem representing the eagle of guidance, the symbol of the great spirit.The Tartok fears it like a plague.A friend of mind gave it to me, but it never worked for me, although I have a feeling as to why it didn't.Your a Native American girl, it's obvious.It will work for you."He said handing it to her.

"What about Paulie?"Demanded Terrrence.
"Nothing."Amos replied flatly,"He's already dead, there's nothing we can do for him now.The Tartok has had its first kill of the night."

"What!?"Mark demanded.
"You heard me."Amos replied.
"There must be something we can do!"Mark said frantically.
"There's nothing we can do about it kid!Worry about yourself!"Amos snapped irritably.

The Cannibal

"Come on Abby, we'll go get him."Terrence said.
Abby nodded meekly, she rose from the floor and followed Terrence who was already heading up the stairs.

"Who are they going after?"Amos asked.

"Paulie, our other friend."Haley said.
"Why is he upstairs?"Amos demanded.

Mark explained about Paulie and his mental based eccentrics, listing off and revealing for the first time to Hazel that Paulie had ADD, Aspergers, Bipolarism, Elevated Anxiety, Depressive Flashes, and anger management to boot.
It was noticeable that with each condition Mark listed, Amos's face grew more and more grave.
"Dammit,"he hissed,"well, we'll worry about that when it becomes a reality?"
"What does that mean?"Makaya demanded.
Amos simply responded,"The Tartok only preys on the weak minded, people like your friend.Meaning that if we destroy the creature, the spirit will be free and searching for a new host.By bringing him up here you've provided it with a new host for when it's current body is destroyed."

"What!?"Squeaked Haley.
The others were all deathly silent.

"We've got a problem."Came Terrence's voice.
"Paulie's gone!"Abby yelled down as she ran up to the railing.

Terrence stepped up beside her and called down,"The bathroom window was wide open.Looks like he opened it and jumped down outside."

The Cannibal

Amos immediately responded,"Trust me, I'm not.Im far to handsome and linguistic to be the Tartok.The Tartok itself looks like a half rotted corpse, since that's what it is.A mindless un-sustained cadaver housing an evil spirit that controls the body itself.It cannot talk, it has no emotions, no lingering sense of humanity, no empathy nor morality.Its a demon possessed shell."

Amos pulled a small book from his back pocket, and began madly flipping through the pages till he found what he was looking for.

"Here."He said, holding the book out for them all to see, it was a sketch of the Tartok.

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"Jesus..."James muttered.
Courtney and Haley both grabbed their mouths in fear while Makaya was forced to look away.
"That thing is outside right now?"Mark asked, now paler than ever.

Amos nodded and continued speaking as they looked,"I've used a number of self taught techniques to elude the beast when on the defensive end, and help from my brother, my former partner."

"Former?"Terrence asked, though he already knew what the man meant.

Amos simply nodded.

The Cannibal

Mark, half frozen with shock at the idea of nearly being eaten alive, took a minute to finally respond to Hazel,"N-no.This is my first time coming here alone.Every other time i-it's been me, mom, and....d-dad.We never knew anything about this.We've never ever heard something like this t-this bef-before."

Amos spoke up again,"The Tartok only hunts at night, from sunset to sunrise.It also can only possess one form at a time.So right now, with the spirit confined within the foreman's body it poses no danger along the lines of possessing others.Only devouring them.As for how to hide yourself from it, well, that's both simple and complicated at the same time.The Tartok's scent and hearing are like that of a wolf or a bear, very enhanced.
It can hear a squeaking floorboard in another room and pick up your scent over a hundred yards away, trust me, I know.Its vision is weaker however.It relies on motion and heat signatures both at once.So there's no use in trying to trick it with a bonfire or a moving manican."

"How do you know all of this?"Makaya asked.

"Because,"Amos replied,"I've been tracking the thing for thirty-five years now.I won't rest until I've destroyed it.

"Why?"Asked Terrence.

"Personal reasons, plus, that thing has murdered a lot of people these past forty years just to satisfy it's dark craving for human flesh.It must be destroyed, so that the evil spirit will return to Dark Mountain."

The Cannibal

Everyone was sitting as the man had ordered.
Mark sat in his chair, while Courtney, James, Terrence, and Haley sat on the couch, and Abby and Makaya say on the floor in front of the couch.Hazel of course was sitting in her own chair.

The man reached up and slid his goggles down to his neck, and then he grabbed the top of his ski mask and pulled it off, it snapped together in a was as he pulled it from his head .

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He tucked the mask into his front right pocket.

"Who are you?"Mark asked.

The man looked to him, and spoke in his deathly raspy voice,"Amos Sokolov."

"Why are you here?What were you shooting at?Were you the one who fucked up our generator?"Mark snapped, his face flushing with anger.

"I'd suggest you watch your tone and language boy, show some respect.I don't much care for your attitude or you and your little friends trespassing on my land."The grizzly looking man sneered.
"Your land?"Mark scoffed.
"I'm sure that the Spinelli's would disagree."James chimed in.

The man snorted and replied,"Alright, I admit, this land doesn't belong to me no, but I can assure you also, this land sure as hell don't belong to the Spinelli's either.This land belongs to the Tartok."

"The what?"Courtney whispered.
"What the hells a Tartok?"James asked aloud.
"Ay' y'all let's here the man out."Terrance said.

Amos shouldered his rifle by it's strap and began speaking.
"This land is sacred land to the Inupiad natives of Alaska, and so is that mountain across the River, the one that the old sawmill sits at the base of, where that terrible tragedy back in the seventies occurred at.The mountains is called 'Dark Mountain', for the Inupiad legends say that evil spirits and wicked demons make their home in that mountain.The most dreaded of which is the Tartok.An evil spirit that has a hunger for human flesh and the ability to possess a human and seize their mind and will as well as their body.
Well I'm here to tell you this; it's no legend, this land is sacred, that mountain is an evil place, and the Tartok is as real as you and I are."

The man stopped to take a breath while everyone say frozen, unmoving in their seats, listening to this increasingly wild tale this strange man was telling.

He continued,"The Tartok preys upon the weak minded, they are easy pray for it.It enters their mind, and swirls around in their head like an evil fog, slowly driving them more and more insane.Once their minds are broken, it asserts itself and seizes total control of their form.It hunts down and slaughters any living creature, and feasts upon it raw.It has a favored taste toward the flesh of humans.Supposedly, consuming human flesh helps it sustain the body it is occupying, otherwise the powerful presence of this dark spirit would deteriorate the human body it presides in."

Amos nodded toward Mark and continued speaking,"You wanna' know what I was shooting at?It wasn't you two that's for sure.It was the Tartok.It was stalking you boys from nearby.I was up in a tree when I spotted it, it was already moving towards you from the cover of the trees.If I hadn't opened fire on it, you two would be dead right now."

Mark and James both were as pale as ghosts.
"That's right,"Amos stated,"it also destroyed your generator.It was attracted to the sound.When it realized that it wasn't live prey it destroyed it, so then it wouldn't be working and making noise to confuse it from the real thing."

"Your lying!"Courtney cried out, snuggling up close to James.
"No, I'm not."Anos replied.
"How do we know that?"Demanded Terrence.

A sneer crossed Amos's face,"Go outside and jog a lap around the house while singing 'Yankee Doodle'.If you make it back inside I promise not to say I told you so."He said nastily.

"Y-you mean..."Abby stuttered motioning to the door.

"Yes,"Amos said,"he's right outside.He was drawn in from all the noise of you kids' activities here today, along with all of your combined smells.Hes outside right now, stalking around."

The Cannibal

"Five miles away."Mark said in a almost dead voice.

"I don't think it's anyone dangerous to us."James said in a low tone.
"Why?"Haley whispered loudly.
"They wouldn't just knock on the door.They'd just kick it in."James whispered back.

"Well let's see who it is."Terrence said.

The person pounded away again, rattling the whole door.
"Dammit, open up!"The hoarse voice called.

Mark rushed over to a nearby table with matching drawers, he opened up the left draw and pulled out a shiny, well polished .22 Pistol.
He popped open the firing cylinder, it was completely loaded with six bullets.
He popped off the safety and aimed it with both hands at the door.
"Terrence, open the door."

Terrence nodded and steadily walked up to the door, he turned to Mark, who nodded in confirmation.
Terrence grabbed the door handle and turned it.
The second the door handle clicked, the door suddenly crashed open into Terrence and sent him reeling backwards, although he caught himself before he collapsed.

In stepped a tall figure adorned in a heavy black snow jacket, khaki like trousers, tightly laced brown snow boots, and a ski mask and goggles to cover his face.

He carried a .375 Ruger African hunting rifle in his right hand.
"Hold on, stop right there."Mark commanded, aiming the pistol at the mystery man's face.

The man kicked the door shut with his left foot and hissed in a raspy voice at Mark,"Get that thing out of my face!"
He swung his left hand up surprisingly fast and slapped the pistol from Mark's hands and sent it flying across the living room.
It clattered to the floor and slid across it, stopping at the bottom step on the stairs.
The man raised his rifle, Mark and Terrence went stumbling back with their hands up.
They slowly backpedaled away from the door with their hands up and toward the living room area where the others all either stood or sat frozen at what they were seeing.
"Now, all of you,"the dark figure commanded,"have a seat.Let me say what Ive come to say."

The Cannibal

"N-n-nothing!,"Mark stammered,"the only thing back there was the generator.And it wasn't bullets that destroyed it.It was torn apart, like I said, with bullets all you would have to do is shoot the gas tank.Which at worst would blow it up, or just drain out the gasoline.And we never heard an explosion."

James spoke up,"I've got an idea, somebody take the dirt bike in the shed and go to Deadhorse for help.Or maybe the snowmobile."

Terrence shook his head,"Deadhorse is half an hour away by car, it would take an hour by snowmobile or dirt bike, provided you drove fast, and with these icey roads and the snowstorm you'd just crash and probably get killed.And you can't afford to go slow, not with a gun hand outside blasting away.Was he shooting at you two?"He asked the other two guys.

James shrugged,"We don't know,"he said,"all we heard was two gunshots and we took off running."

Just then a loud pounded came from the door and made everyone jump.
It was somebody knocking, fast and hard.
The pounded knock intensified and a hoarse voice could be heard outside the door,"Open up!"