The Gremschlact

This story begins as most typical horror stories so often happen do; using the same derivative plot over and over again: the woods. Two hunters were hunting in the woods, having the time of their lives. When nightfall came and the two hunters were deep in their slumber, they were suddenly awoken by the sound of a blood-curdling scream. The two hunters grabbed their rifles and went out into the woods to investigate the strange noise. As they delved deeper and deeper into the forest, they soon discovered what was making that blood-curdling screech: a teenage girl.

The two hunters noticed her clothes had been torn off, leaving her only in her underwear and half of a black t-shirt, her left shoulder had been dislocated, and her eyeballs had been scooped out clean. The two hunters decided to help her, but before they could, a black creature wearing a noose around his neck and tattered pants with an axe dangling from the left side lunged at one of the hunters and gnawed at his neck, causing the second hunter to have a miserable and painful death. The other hunter picked the girl up and began to run. The hunter knew the creature was in pursuit and they both made it back to the campsite that he and the now dead hunter were staying at. He grabbed most of the ammunition, gas, and food to get the hell out of the woods.

The hunter put the girl into the Jeep in a hurry. As the creature began to slowly walk to the center of the road with blood dripping from its mouth, the hunter slammed his foot on the brake, causing the Jeep to a halt. The hunter saw the creature, noticing that it was staring at him with its deep red orbs, almost as if it was checking for something. The creature came closer to the Jeep and made the motion for the hunter to roll down the window. Foolishly, the hunter did so and the creature said in a dark sinister voice with venom seeping out of its mouth “I am the Gremschlact. You have stolen what belongs to me. Return the girl and you have my permission to leave these woods.”


The hunter thought about it for a moment and did as the Gremschlact instructed him to do. After he gave the Gremschlact the girl, the creature then put his black clawed hand up in the air and grabbed the girl’s still-beating heart. “Fear always tastes best when it’s still coursing through the heart”, it said with a deep menacing voice. He then devoured the heart and the hunter drove off in fright due to what he just witnessed.


35 years after that incident, a group of teens decided to head to the woods. It was winter time when they agreed to go there, and it’s a mistake they will soon regret. Nick thought the rumors about the Gremschlact were bullshit, so during his psychology class with his friend Fred, he asked him if the rumors were true.

Mr.Ultor saw that Nick and Fred were disrupting his class and asked them

“Is there anything you would like to discuss with the class, gentlemen?”


“No sir”, Nick said


“Good. Now be quiet and pay attention to the lesson, boys”, Mr. Ultor said with a firm voice.


After Psych class, the two boys walked to the cafeteria, where Danielle, Nikki, and Dave were waiting for them by the usual table they all sat at during lunch




“I got a D- in Cooking class all because I made fun of Gordon Ramsay. I’m glad that the winter break starts tomorrow so I won’t have to see any of my teachers” Danielle said.


Nick pulled out a binder with a bunch of papers out of his satchel and placed them on the table.

“What the hell is that, Nick? “Dave asked.

“I’m glad you asked Dave. Guys, what’s inside this binder belongs to a legendary creature known to stalk the woods, especially during the winter. This creature’s name is the Gremschlact. Nobody knows who he was before or what he is, but what we do know is what it looks like. His skin is obsidian black, has red eyes that stare into your soul with the capability to kill someone, claws to slash you with, and has a sinister voice that if heard; it will cause you to be entranced by his voice. He has a noose around his neck and wears tattered trousers. His weapon of choice is an axe that dangles from the left side of his pants, but he is also very skilled in martial arts and hand to hand combat. He has a taste for anything part of your body, but his favorite organ of all is the heart. It is said that he can sense your fear and that alone will cause him to kill you, but if your deeply afraid and full of fear, he won’t stop until he has you in his grasp.”

“This is all a croc of shit, Nick” Fred told Rick with a disgruntled look
“Look at all these newspaper articles and tell me that it isn’t real, Fred. 35 years ago today, The Gremschlact made ground-breaking history when 2 hunters went on a camping trip and fell victim to the creature. Only one person survived the encounter and it was the other hunter. When he got home, he told the news his tale, but some called him crazy and said that he saw things. My uncle Jim has a cabin up in the woods where the gremschlact lives but its also to have fun on winter break. You guys interested?”

They all nod in agreement in response to what Nick said.

“Alright. Everyone meet at my house Saturday morning at 9a.m. We depart for merriment and adventure."

The bell rings for 6th period and each of the kids head to class.

As everyone is walking to their 6th period classes, Mr. Ultor pulls Nick to the side to have talk to him

“Nick, I heard you were talking about the Gremschlact in my classroom today. What you and your friends will discover there will be nothing but death and suffering. If I were you, I’d cancel your plans to go to the woods.”

“What do you know about the Gremschlact, sir? Seems to me that you’re hiding something from me; almost as if you saw the creature yourself”

Mr. Ultor then got furious with Nick and told him. "Nick, I don’t know anything about the Gremschlact. I’m just telling you to be careful, that’s all. Now get to class, I’ll write you a pass so you won’t get yelled at by your 6th period teacher. “

Mr. Ultor writes Nick a pass and he sends him off. He then pulls out his flask from his coat pocket and takes a heavy swig out of it.
The day goes by really fast for the students at Fillmore high school, with the last class of the day being English four, taught by an old teacher who had bad breath. Since Nick and Dave had this class together and the old teacher was sleeping on the job, the two boys decided to leave a little early. They waited outside for their friends so that they all can walk home like they normally do.

The bell rang for school to end and the students attending Fillmore high school were happy to be away from all the old fogies that ran the school and taught there. Fred, Danielle, and Nikki joined Nick and Dave on their walk home. As they were walking, a harsh cold gust of wind came and brought shivers down the group’s spines as they continued to walk home. Fortunately for the group, they all lived next to each other and went their separate ways for the time being.

Later that night, Nick called everyone to ensure that their things were packed and ready by tomorrow morning, which all of them said yes. Everyone went to sleep, save for Nick who was too excited to fall victim to the sweet comforting feel of slumber. The whole street on which they all lived on grew quiet and the only noise that was present was the winter breeze coming in. Suddenly, Nick was awoken by the sensation of being strangled and he couldn’t move. He knew it wasn’t sleep paralysis because he could still move his arms and legs. Nick began to wrestle whatever was strangling him off and it let go after it made its point. Nick turned on his lamp and to his sudden surprise; nothing or nobody was there in his room. Nick couldn’t fall back to sleep after that so he decided to make some coffee and went over the newspaper articles to find any clues regarding what to expect on the trip.

Saturday morning came and everyone was getting ready to head out. Nick grabbed his bags and put them in his car. Dave approached Nick and asked him
“What happened to your neck, Nick? Did something strangle you last night?”
Nick nodded to Dave’s question and it went silent for a quick moment. Fred came and put his bag in Nick’s car, as did Nikki and Danielle. After everyone put their bags in Rick’s car, they got inside and drove off, where they waved goodbye to their parents for what might be the last time they will see them again.
After three hours of driving, they finally made it to the cabin and Nick put it in park.

He got out and smelled the winter air, which to him was the smell of adventure and merriment. The rest of the group still inside Nicks car got out and smelled the air, which was pleasant and tolerable. They grabbed their bags and after Nick unlocked the cabin door, they were baffled at how extravagant the cabin was. They all thought it was going to be run down and filthy, but to their surprise it wasn’t. Everything was well-furnished and the rooms were in good shape. Nick and the rest of them went into their rooms and got settled in. after about thirty minutes of settling in and making lunch, a local ranger shows up and knocks on the cabin door. Nick gets up and goes to the door.

“Son, you have any idea what you’re doing out here in these here woods”, said the ranger with an old look on his face and sounded old too. The ranger was a middle aged man between his mid forties to early fifties. He also had a potbelly,a widow's peak under his ranger hat,a green rangers jacket,grey pants,brown boots,and a tan ranger shirt with a white undershirt sticking out. His hair was black and grey as well as his moustache and stubble. He had a gun in its holster on the left side of his belt and a flashlight as well as various other things on it.

“This is my Uncle Jims cabin, sir. He’s letting me use it for the winter break.”

“Oh. Alright then. You kids take care now and be careful of The Gremschlact”, said the ranger as he was laughing hard and got back into his car.

Nick then closed the cabin door and watched the ranger drive off. He then began to walk towards the couch to sit down. His face was expressionless as he sat down on the couch, almost as if he was spooked by something. Nikki and Danielle wanted to go for a swim, so Fred and Dave took them down because they all saw that Nick needed some alone time. As they left, Nick began to feel his neck and went to go wash his face. His heart began to beat faster and faster, because the mark on his neck began to start swelling, causing Nick a lot of pain. His throat began to swell up, thus making him start to suffocate. As he was gasping for air, a shadow-like figure appeared before him and began to strangle him again, making the suffocation much more unbearable to handle.

At the lake, Nikki and Danielle were stripping down to their undergarments, which consisted of Nikki wearing a matching pair of hot pink bra and panties and Danielle just wearing plain white panties with a grey bra. As Danielle and Nikki began to enter the lake, Fred began to sense that something was wrong so he went back to check on Nick.

“Come on, Fred. Nick is fine; he’s probably just sleeping or something.” said Danielle.

“No, Danielle. Something isn’t right at the cabin. I got to check on Nick. ”Fred exclaimed as he started running to the cabin.


Nick at this point was lying on the floor, still gasping for air. The shadow-like figure approached Nick and bent down so he can whisper into Nick’s ear.

“You were a fool to come here. You and your friends are going to die tonight because of your stupidity”, said the shadow-like figure

He then stood back up and began to kick Nick in his sides

“Why……are you…….doing this?!” Nick said with what little vocal cords he still had to talk due to the swelling.

“To make people stay out of my woods. This is my domain and you and your friends have my permission to die here. Your heart has fear in it, but there is another who has more. See you soon, Nick”, said the shadow-like figure with a menacing voice as a dark ooze began to seep from his mouth.

Nick took one final look at the shadow figure and passed out. Fred barged inside the cabin and noticed Nick and the shadow figure. The figure then approached Fred, used Jujitsu to knock Fred unconscious, and punched through his chest to grab Fred’s still-beating heart. The apparition then proceeded to eat Fred’s heart and let out a demonic screech. Fred’s now dead body was lying motionless on the floor, blood oozing out of the gaping hole in his chest. Nick’s swelling stopped and returned to normal, allowing him to breathe again. He then proceeded to walk towards Fred’s corpse and began to weep. He put his hands on Fred’s body and he held him, not caring if blood got on his clothes.

Nikki, Danielle, and Dave left the lake to go back to the cabin. When they came inside the cabin, they discovered Nick holding Fred’s dead body. Danielle screamed and Nikki pulled Rick off Fred’s corpse. Nick began to sob and Nikki hugged him.

“I didn’t do it, Nikki. I didn’t kill Fred.”

Dave, who was at this point pissed off, asked Nick

“Nick, what the hell did you do to Fred? “

“I didn’t kill him, Dave. I swear that I didn’t kill him. Why would I want to kill Fred?”

“Look at yourself, Nick. Covered in blood, a hole in Fred’s chest area, and you’ve been strangled?” Dave asked in a questionable voice

“Yes, Dave. I was strangled again, but this time I could see the thing that was choking me. It was a shadow-like figure, causing the mark on my neck to swell up and l began to suffocate. What’s worse is that he began to strangle me, this time it was easier for him to do. Fred came in to check on me and the shadow figure ripped Fred’s heart out and ate it while it was still beating. He told me that we’re all going to die and he’s killing people so that they can stay out of his woods. I have reason to believe that the Gremschlact was here, but why would he come in shadow form? It doesn’t make any sense?”

Dave, Danielle, and Nikki are astounded by Nick’s story. They soon came to a consensus that they believed Nick. Nick then got up and took off his shirt to put on a clean one with Nikki taking notice his six-pack.

“Let’s just put this all behind us and give Fred a proper burial later on, alright?” Nick said as he was changing shirts.

Hours later, they rolled Fred in a carpet and lifted him to his burial site, which was a hole in the ground. They put Fred in his earthly grave and began to fill the grave. After they buried him, they stood there and soon went back to the cabin to get some sleep.

Nikki couldn’t sleep, poor dear. Her mind was vexed in regards to whether or not the Gremschlact was in fact real instead of it being all a bunch of superstitious nonsense. She got up and went to the fridge to get a beer, noticing the stains of blood that were still on the floor. She sat down on the couch and began to hear a voice whisper in her ear. The voice began to tell Nikki to kill Nick. She grabbed an axe that was nearby and proceeded to head to Nicks room. Once she was inside the room, she began to raise the axe above her head and just when she almost made the fatal strike, her stomach began hurting and she soiled herself due to how fast she drank the beer. The voice went away and she returned to normal, aside the fact that she soiled herself.


Nick woke up to the horrid stench and got mad at Nikki, but soon realized what was going to happen. He approached Nikki and asked her

“Nikki, I have two questions to ask you. One: Did you almost try to kill me and Two: Did you soil yourself?”

“I honestly don’t remember and EW, I did”

She immediately went into the shower with fresh panties to change into when she was done with her shower. Nick sat at the edge of his bed; hands over his face and soon screamed. He was furious and began to throw stuff.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO US? I’M NOT SCARED OF YOU, YOU COWARD. COME AT ME AND MY FRIENDS. END US ALREADY, YOU SON OF A BITCH. WHY ARE YOU KEEPING US ALIVE?!!”

Silence immediately began to make its way into the woods. The sound of the wind couldn’t be heard, nor the sound of the water running through the lake. Suddenly, the sounds of screams can be heard coming from Dave and Danielle’s rooms. Nick pushed the door open, only to find Dave lying motionless on his bed with a hole in his chest. The Gremschlact was inside the cabin, and Nick knew he had to get Nikki and get out of the woods as quickly as possible.




Mr. Ultor was at his house, getting ready to eat his dinner. He then sensed that something was wrong and knew exactly what he had to do, so he grabbed his rifle and keys and made way for his truck to go help Nick and his friends. As soon as he was out of his driveway, he drove off in a flash to the woods.


Back in the cabin; Nick, Nikki, and Danielle were waiting for their chance to escape from a painful death. They soon realized that they might never make it out the woods alive if the Gremschlact was nearby eating hearts and making pleasure noises. Danielle offered to sacrifice herself so that Nick and Nikki could escape. Danielle got in view of the Gremschlact and he sensed her fear. He turned his head completely around and stared at her with his big red eyes.

“Your fear is enticing to me. Prepare to die, girl”


He then lunged at her and slit her throat with his claws. Danielle immediately fell down and soon the Gremschlact began to feast on her. Nick and Nikki saw this opportunity to escape and they crept out the door.


They ran as fast as they could physically could. The Gremschlact ate Danielle’s heart and went after Nick and Nikki. As He was running, he sensed another person as well, someone he encountered 35 years ago.
What seemed like an eternity of running from the Gremschlact, Nick and Nikki found the road. They saw lights up ahead and immediately began to wave the driver down. The driver stopped and out came Mr. Ultor, clad in hunting attire and a rifle in his hands.


“Mr. Ultor, what are you doing here?” Nick asked


“Saving your hides, now get in the truck. No matter what happens,stay in this truck. If he kills me,drive like Hell and make it back to town”


Nick and Nikki got inside Mr. Ultor’s truck and locked the doors. Mr. Ultor began walking down the road, the same road where he was about to escape with the injured girl 35 years ago. Out of nowhere, the Gremschlact tackled Mr.Ultor and the
two were now engaged in killing each other.

“You old fool; you shouldn’t have interfered with these children. Fear runs through them and they disrespected my woods, now they must die. I should have killed you 35 years ago, old man. YOU WILL DIE WITH THESE KIDS, YOU WEAK MORTAL!!!!”

After saying those chilling words, the Gremschlact opened his mouth wide enough to reveal razor sharp teeth.


“Any last words before I kill you and the kids, Lawrence?”


“GO BACK TO THE SHADOWS, YOU VILE DEMON!!!!”


Mr. Ultor shot 4 bullets that were doused in Holy water and landed inside The Gremschlact’s body. He let out an agonizing screech and began to turn to ash, leaving only his skull with red orbs for eyes intact. Mr. Ultor picked up the skull and walked back to the truck. Nick unlocked the door to let Mr. Ultor in and was shocked to find The Gremschlact’s skull in Mr. Ultors hands.


“Is it finally dead?” Nick began to ask


“It sure is, Nick. It sure is. Let’s go home and have a dinner at my place. My treat.”


Nick and Nikki agreed and Mr. Ultor drove off to his house with the sun coming up behind them.


To be continued....