Katie Summerfield was having a really bad night. First, her boss had told her she needed to open the Ivanhoe Diner in the morning, which meant she had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. the day after graduating from high school. Second, her boyfriend had flirted with an incoming freshman at the quarry party. An incoming freshman! Third, the battery on her phone was almost dead; she had forgotten the charging cord in her boyfriend’s truck and was still fifteen minutes from home.
She decided to take a shortcut from the quarry party by driving along the half-paved road that connected the Potter farm to the main highway. The road was still muddy from the afternoon rain, and Katie had some difficulty avoiding large puddles and potholes while texting—so much difficulty that she almost veered off the road twice while crafting a particularly long and poignant breakup text to her boyfriend.
She was debating with herself whether to push send or not when a shape darted out in the road in front of her.
“Sugar!” Katie shouted as she slammed on the brakes.
Her phone flew from her hand as the car skidded to a stop.
“Perfect! Stupid deer,” Katie muttered under her breath. “I bet I cracked my screen again.”
She felt blindly along the floor of her car and found her phone wedged just beneath the emergency brake release. She picked up the phone, looked down, and for a brief moment felt things weren’t a total disaster. No cracks on her screen, breakup text still pending.
Then Katie glanced up at the road in front of her. The figure she had mistaken for a deer was still there. But it was no deer. At first she thought it was a kid dressed up in a Halloween costume, but then she realized its arms and legs were too long, too thin. And its skin shimmered black in the glare of the headlights.
“O . . . M . . . G,” Katie whispered each letter.
The black-as-night creature stared at her, unmoving and silent. Its large, plate-like eyes blinked. Slowly, Katie raised her phone to eye level.
“Hey Hooli . . . take a video,” Katie whispered a voice command to her phone.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t understand your command. Please try again,” her phone replied at a volume that seemed to echo out to the hills and beyond.
“Hey Hooli. Take a video,” Katie whispered frantically. Her heart was racing. “Stupid phone.”
“Searching for Wi-Fi hotspots in your area,” her phone cheerfully answered.
“Shut up,” Katie whimpered.
She could barely breathe and was almost too terrified to move. Her left hand trembled as she reached over to manually press the video record button on her phone.
“You’re in luck. There is a Wi-Fi hotspot within three miles. Mapping directions now.” The voice assistant on her phone sounded pleased.
The timer on the video camera ticked off the milliseconds. She was getting this strange creature on film. The fear that had paralyzed Katie was slowly giving way to the realization that she was quite possibly going to be famous. Once she posted this video, she would be trending for days to come. Maybe a spot on television. Katie was counting the possible number of retweets in her head when the black creature took a step toward her.
“Ghuuug,” was the sound that came from Katie’s lungs. It was a totally involuntary response to a deep and primitive fear she had never felt before. It was also totally uncool, and she knew, even then in the grip of panic, that she’d have to edit that sound out later. If she survived.
The creature took another cautious step toward the car. Katie began fumbling for the gear shift with her left hand while she held her phone with her right. Her body twisted. She was whimpering now. Tears welled up in her eyes. Before she could put the car in reverse, the creature suddenly leaped toward it. Impossibly fast.
Katie screamed and dropped her phone again just as the creature landed on top of the car. She sat frozen, sobbing, straining her ears to hear the slightest sound.
“Proceed down Potter Road for a quarter mile, then take a left at Dewey Road.”
The sudden sound of the automated phone assistant made Katie jump, but it was enough to get her moving again. She slammed on the gas pedal and sped away, not looking back—not even reaching for her phone.