The Hotah
Taylor Craft
copyright 2016, Taylor Craft
This story is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are invented by the author or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any similarity to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in form or by any means without the prior written consent of the author.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my friends, both new and old, who've helped me along the way. A special thanks to my friend S.A. Meyer who finally talked me into publishing my short stories while I create long books. Here's too all those coffee filled days at Panera and Denny's. And Also to Dylan, my little brother. You had to deal with a lot of my ideas over the years; it's a wonder how you're still sane. Cheers.
There was a legend that ran through our people. Never go into the woods at night alone. For years we heard stories about the monsters, we called them Hotah, that would attack us and take us away to eat and sometimes even worse. Of course, us being children, we never believed it and would venture out at night anyway. There was an old dwelling in the forest that we were absolutely forbidden to go to but that was where we most likely would end up. Daring each other to stay in there for periods of time, we would play jokes and lay traps for each other. My early years were the best days of my life and I would never forget them; and neither would I forgive them.
We were caught by our parents in that forbidden dwelling only once. Mama beat me raw. From the tears that I saw her leak I swore that she was more happy she had found me than mad at me. Mama believed the monster stories more than I did. I always thought she was being a child but one summer I found that me and my friends should have listened to the old stories.
It was another night that the three of us had snuck out of our homes and met up in front of the lake. Ayita, my little sister, had followed after me. She did that often enough to where me and the guy were used to her. She was normally placed as our lookout in case anyone got close to us. Dichali and Rowtag, both a little older than me, had been my friends since I was born. It was Rowtag's idea to go to the haunted dwelling that night. He said that he had created a new idea for a game there.
The lone building sat right in the middle of the forest, not far from the lake at all. The dwelling had been abandoned since before my Papa was born. It was also, according to Mama, where Papa died. I think that was why I liked it so much. I felt...closer to Papa when I was here. When I was dared to stay in the dwelling alone at night by the others I never had a problem with it. I would imagine that Papa was there with me, protecting me from the evil Hotah that we were always told about.
The night started like any other. A scary story about the Hotah before we would begin our games. Rowtag set us in the middle of the main room and made us sit in a circle and then began to tell us the story of the Great Elder. He was said to have died in these woods but the creatures that plagued our parents stories.
The Great Elder had ventured to find help years ago during a winter. He was never seen again so the story expanded over time that the creatures had laid a trap for the Great Elder and ate him alive. It was said that it was because of the Great Elder's flesh that the Hotah had even survived through that winter and even longer than that. I just believed it all to be stories but tonight...tonight I just felt that something was off.
The dwelling fell silent as Dichali's story came to a halt. I opened my mouth to speak but paused at the sound of a click. I tilted my head, searching for the cause of the sound, when the gunshot went off. I had heard the sound multiple times before but never this close. It made my ears ring; made me wince in pain. Rowtag's body fell forward beside me. It was too dark to see but I could make out the dark liquid that was spreading out beneath his body. There was a second shot before I could even move and I felt Ayita's blood hit me; hear head had exploded, raining chunks of her flesh and hair all over me.
“Not the head, ya damn idiot!” A voice screamed from the window to the back of the dwelling. “We want them alive; alive!”
Dichali didn't even have to say a word to me. Both of us had been on our feet in seconds and were rushing out the door, trying to escape our attackers. I knew that my bad feeling had been spot on. We shouldn't have come here. It seemed like a dream, a slow one as I burst out of that dwelling. I tripped going down the stairs, thankfully missing getting shot myself as another bullet was let loose. I had never encountered the Hotah before; now I can say that I have. Those damn creatures that lived in the town outside of our forest, chopping down our trees and trampling through our homes. It was their fault that most of the creatures that once lived there were now gone; and now they were working on running us out too.
Damn those Hotah.
Dichali and I ran for the only place we could think of. Home. There were more of those monsters waiting for us outside the dwelling, though; at least eight more. They had been waiting on us, just like the stories had said that they would.
Panic made my legs run faster. I could feel the air shoot past me as the bullets missed me. I thought that I was safe when I reached the trees but a searing pain hit my right leg. It felt like teeth had latched onto my limp and didn't want to let go. It was a bear trap. I had only seen these metal contraptions of the Hotah once. An older member of our home had dragged it back home on his leg. Said that he had venture too far towards the out region of the forest in search of food and gotten hit by one. It took three of us to open it wide enough to get his large leg out of the teeth.
I tried to crawl but the trap was pinned to the ground by something to where I couldn't. Dichali was already gone, I could hear more gunshots as he continued to run, leading them right to our home. I prayed that the others killed every last one of them.
I laid as still as I could as the sounds of moving leaves hit my ears. I hoped that the Hotah would move right past me but I wasn't so lucky.
“Pa! It's over here!” A young voice cried out from behind me. Hurried footsteps, and then two shadows fell over me. It was too dark to make out any visible features. All I could tell that one was a lot smaller than the other.
“Good job, Benny. I told you you could do it.”
“What is it, Pa?” The young boy asked, poking at me with his gun.
“It's a Sasquatch, Benny,” The older man grinned happily. “A young 'un, too. It means that there are others around here.” He gave a little dance, hollering in the old dwelling. “I told him! Richard Prakton's gonna regret not believing me!” He put his face close to mine. His breath repulsed me; stale and clearly announcing that he had been drinking. “You're gonna make me billions, my friend.” I lashed out with a hand, swiping his face away from mine. It resulted in Benny smashing the but of his gun into my own face. I gave a cry and curled up on the floor. I tried not to move much; the pain in my right leg was getting worse.
“Do you think we should go help the others?”
The older man shook his head. “Hell no. We got what we came for,” He turned to stare off into the trees for a moment. “This bastard here's too heavy for just you and me to carry though,” He reached into his pocket and tossed something to his son. “Go back up the truck. We need to get him to Kenton's place. I don't want him dying from blood loss due to the trap.” Benny took off, leaving just me and his Pa. The man gave me another smile. “Oh yes, you're going to make me rich, you ugly, hairy bastard!”
He went off into a rant about all the things that he was going to be able to afford, about finally getting out of this piss-poor town and making something out of the life that he had ruined. He even talked about getting back at his ex wife before saying he was glad s
he left him with Benny. If the boy and his friends hadn't of lurked out of their houses a few night ago and seen me and the others playing in the trees then he wouldn't have caught me.
I started to cry. This was my fault. If I hadn't left the cave that night then Ayita and Rowtag would still be alive. I wouldn't have gotten caught. I wasn't sure if Dichali was alive anymore; the gunshots had stopped. I wanted to rewind the night. I wanted to go home. I wanted Mama.
“Aww, don't cry,” Pa told me, leaning down again. “We're not gonna kill you. We're just gonna put you on display. And then we'll come back for the rest of your little family. There can't be just four young ones out here; there's a herd of you out here, isn't there? I always knew you damn monsters were-”
When he called us monsters my hands shot forward, my fingers clawing at every piece of him that I could grasp. I felt the skin tears and the warm, thick liquid that was beginning to dye my hands red. The man gave a cry and pulled back. Curses and swears flooded out of his mouth as he lifted a leg and began to stomp my head into the ground. The pounds got harder and harder and I felt my grasp fading; and then I felt it.
The ground shook beneath me. Pa had felt it too. His stomps had stopped and he turned in time to see a large form, well over his six foot in height, charging at him from the trees behind him. Pa tried to run but he was grabbed before being smashed face first into the ground himself. It only took one try to kill the Hotah, though the one that had killed him smashed him into the ground over and over; much like he had me.
“Mama,” I cried to her, reaching for my savior.
“Oh, Atohi,” Reaching down, Mama pulled the claws off of my leg, my leg was small enough to slip out, and gathered me in her arms. I could see others of our people moving out of the trees around us. Some of them carried bodies of the people that had chased Dichali down. I even saw Dichali; he looked unharmed. As the headlights of the truck hit us, I buried my face into Mama's fur, not wanting to watch as the others marched out to take care of the last hunter. “Atohi,” She began to rock me, both of us crying now.
We were always told about the monsters that lived outside of the forest. We were warned never to go out into the woods at night. I wish I had listened to my parents.
About the Author
Taylor Craft
Writing since she was ten, Taylor's tastes travel to all corners of the world. We can be sure this woman will be writing until the day she dies.