Trees

Jason stared out the window. Outside the car, out in the trees, several hundred shoggoths danced. He stared at them, transfixed, and then turned and looked at his parents up front, "Can we drive any faster?" he asked nervously.

His father, face impassive, adjusted his rear-view mirror, "Don't worry son," he said, "We'll be ready to get out of the car very soon."

His mother turned around to look at him. "Anyways, I'm sure you have to go to the bathroom," she said. Her voice was smooth, reassuring. "Look at me."

Jason managed to pry his eyes away from the orgy of monsters outside and concentrated on looking at her nose. She was smiling, but a few muscles in her jawline relaxed at this display from her son. She turned around, pulled out her tablet, and started looking for a Denny's in the nearby town. Denny's was Jason's favorite.

Jason, ignored once more, turned his attention back to the shoggoths. He'd grown used to the decapitations, the carnage. A few days ago when he'd been looking out his window at home they'd attempted to pelt him with eyes. This had frightened Jason because he didn't know where the eyes had come from; shoggoths don't have any. But them mutilating themselves, that was no problem, which is why Jason didn't say anything when one of them jumped out in front of the car and got run over.

"Dammit!" his father cried. He pulled over to the side of the road, then turned to his wife. "Goddamn deer. I'd better have a look at the damage." He got out and walked around the car towards the sunken ditch. Then he knelt down and examined the twitching monstrosity. "It's dead," he said flatly, not looking up.

He then walked past two more creatures attempting to devour the corpse at the man's feet. They climbed onto the ashen flesh and started tearing away with abandon. Jason expected to see bones as they feasted, but as they feasted he remembered that these creatures don't have bones the way most animals do.

At this point he felt a rumbling in the earth, the ground split, and a tentacle of some sort came out of the earth to capture all three piles of flesh. Perhaps all four if his father didn't move quickly. He heard some sort of muttering from behind the car, noticed the sky itself darkening, but he couldn't be bothered with that. He knew what it meant. The crack to the side of the car was huge, teeming with flame, and the hands, claws, tentacles, and other appendages that swung out looked both greedy and frantic, as if they had only a little time before the portal closed again. That thought calmed Jason somewhat, as he had gone almost totally immobile with fear, only the upper half of his face visible as he stared out at the scene.

Out of the hole only two creatures managed to escape; most were pulled back in by another creature attempting to get out, or attempting to make sure it was the only thing to get out, so as to have all of creation for itself to devour. One of the creatures was an eight foot tall, vaguely lupine abomination. The hair, if hair is what that was, seemed to move with a mind of its own, and Jason could tell that any touching of it would result in instant death. The inside of its mouth at first seemed completely black and toothless, but as he continued to look in he could see definitions in the shadow, hints of dagger-like teeth and a long, darting tongue that would scare anyone by themselves, but that wasn't what an observer like Jason immediately noticed. What he did notice was the scream, painful and full of hate, going almost in stereo, as if one of this creature's previous meals lived on inside it and they were now both in agony together.

He felt the car jerk violently, and then turned to the back. The entire rear window was darkened by a demon of such hideousness that it almost defied description, and despite himself Jason made a little noise.

His mother turned and looked at her son staring out the back window. She put on an almost perfect tone of well-crafted patience. "Don't worry honey. He'll be back soon, and then we can go to Denny's."

Jason didn't turn around. He nodded for his mother almost imperceptibly. The giant creature behind them had no vision as humans understood it. Its perception was dependent on vibrations. Fortunately for Jason's father crouching outside there was a bigger threat nearby. The shrieks of the hellwolf deepened in tone and intensity as it leapt at the looming demon behind. It streaked through the air, there was a flash of light, and then both became indistinct.

The battle between them took place out of time. Jason knew it would go on forever, the shadowy maw of the hellwolf forever trying to bite a hulking brute without form. But at this point a cloud seemed to vanish in the back and sun started coming into the rear window again. His father walked back towards the front, dodging sticks, stones, and limbs thrown by the pitiful shoggoths cursing him and all life before opening the car door and sitting back down inside. He turned and looked at his wife. "I had to put the temporary tire on the back. It will do us until we get to the clinic. I'll get it changed while you guys are inside."

His wife smiled sadly and patted his cheek. "Denny's is about two blocks down South Broadway. We'll need to make a right in about twenty minutes to get there."

The man nodded and turned the key in the ignition, but before putting the car in drive he paused and looked into the back seat. "Is he doing okay?"

She looked up from her tablet. "He seems to be much better, Bruce. He's not raving or screaming anymore. The bite marks are fading too. His teacher is very happy. Says he's fitting in much better."

Bruce looked at his wife. She was smiling, but the tension in her jaw had returned. He adjusted his rear-view mirror again and dared a glance at his son. Jason had gone back to gazing out at the wood. Then Bruce caught a reflection of the boy's eyes in the window, and turned away as though he'd been burned. Nobody should look like that, he thought. For a second he thought about asking about the marks on the boy's arms. They still confused him. After a second he thought better of it. Kim was worried enough as it was, and Jason likely wouldn't answer him, if he even heard at all. He put the car into drive, drove away from the trees and into the city.