Chapter 58: S#10. Deer in the Woods (1)
by fnovelpia
S#10.
“Decapitation leads to instant death.”
The professor, standing at the podium, made a throat-slashing gesture with his finger.
“That’s the conventional wisdom we’re familiar with. However, the reality is different. It is said that several prisoners, executed by guillotine, retained consciousness for a few seconds even after their heads were severed.”
Many undergraduates in the lecture hall listened attentively to the professor’s story.
Nancy Strode, seated in the second row, also paid close attention.
“There are even more dramatic cases in animals. A rooster in Colorado lived for a staggering eighteen months without its head. This was possible because a part of the chicken’s brain is located not in the head, but in the neck.”
The professor explained human instincts by relating them to those of animals.
He theorized that just as we can see a part of the wild in humans, we can also find a part of the human in the wild.
“But there’s a tale even stranger than that of the headless rooster.
The story of a deer caught by a hunter in the Tromaville woods—
This deer did not die despite being decapitated.
After its head was completely removed, the body continued to twitch around like a walking corpse.
The hunter, profoundly amazed by this, dragged the deer back to his house.
He mounted the head and hung it on the wall as a trophy, while the headless body seemed to plead for its head back, desperately scratching the wall with its front hooves.
However, this mysterious phenomenon did not last long.
As time passed, the body began to decompose.
Eventually, the hunter decided to butcher the body.
He also decided to dispose of the mounted head, as it somehow felt ominous.
The professor gripped the chalk as if it were a knife handle.
“After laying the mounted head and body side by side on the floor, the hunter raised a large knife.
At that moment, the headless body thrashed violently.
It still had strength, despite being half-rotten.
Its front hooves struck the knife in the hunter’s hand.
The knife flew and sliced through the hunter’s throat.
It was a form of posthumous revenge.
It’s an absurd and eerie tale, but widely known among those from Tromaville. Any student here would have heard it at least once.”
The lecture ended.
As Nancy left the classroom, she pondered the revenge of the headless deer.
“Nancy!”
Someone called her name from behind.
Turning around, she saw a young man with slicked-back hair standing there.
He was tall and muscular, his college jacket tight from his broad build, with strikingly handsome features.
It was Fred Blake.
“Hi, Fred~.”
“‘Casablanca’ is re-releasing in theaters today.”
“Yeah, I heard. I’m planning to go.”
“Really? That’s great! I happen to have two tickets for the midnight showing, would you like to join me…?!”
Fred’s nostrils flared, as if he were a devotee awaiting a miracle.
Nancy smiled kindly.
“Sorry, Fred. I’ve already made plans to go with my boyfriend.”
“Oh… I see… your boyfriend……”
Fred’s shoulders sagged.
From the other side, another female student, who had been watching eagerly, flirtatiously clung to him.
Fred was popular.
The movie tickets he had prepared for Nancy quickly found a new owner.
Fred’s back, as he walked away with the female student, looked somewhat lonely.
“Haah…”
Nancy exhaled, feeling a slight prick of conscience for lying.
But it was necessary.
She didn’t want to go on a movie date with a guy she wasn’t interested in.
Moreover, it wasn’t really a lie.
She did have plans to go to the theater with Summer, and although they weren’t officially dating yet… they were close enough that calling him her boyfriend was probably fine.
The movie they would see together at the theater wasn’t ‘Casablanca’ but ‘Clowns from Outer Space.’
‘Clowns from Outer Space.’
A horror movie fitting for Summer.
Nancy wasn’t keen on watching the weird movie, but she was quite satisfied with it because she could pretend to scream during the scary scenes and snuggle into Summer’s embrace.
Hehe…
Nancy giggled mischievously as she fantasized about various things she could do with Summer.
Her runaway fantasies even reached a motel nearby the theater.
Suddenly, her face turned white with embarrassment.
She shook her head vigorously to dispel the risqué images.
Nancy coughed and moved on, unaware that someone was following her…
“This is a masterpiece,” said a graceful lady in a white coat, holding a flask.
The transparent flask contained a mysterious green liquid.
“This drug temporarily enhances muscle strength. Once administered, it can provide superhuman strength for up to 72 hours.”
“It’s like a drug that turns you into Hulk. Are there any side effects?”
“Well, they’re minor. A nipple might fall off or the testicles might dissolve a bit?”
Zelda offered the flask, urging me to try it.
I politely declined.
I had started working at Hyper Pharmacy.
I was curious about how blind and deaf twins could work.
Seeing it in person, my curiosity was satisfied.
Zelda Hyper and Hilda Hyper were perfectly synchronized in their work.
They compensated for each other’s eyes and ears, manufacturing and selling medicines.
However, the problem was that it all seemed a bit quackish.
I was skeptical whether they really had a pharmacist’s license.
Yet the effects of the medicines they produced were so remarkable that customers never stopped coming.
As a clerk, I was incredibly busy.
Hilda approached hesitantly as if she had something to say.
She still seemed shy, even though she should have been accustomed to it by now.
After hesitating for a while and fidgeting with her hands, she handed me a note.
It was a note for communication.
-Summer. If you’re free after this, would you like to have a drink?
I took a pen and wrote a response on the note.
-Sorry, I have plans with Nancy tonight. We’ve agreed to go to the theater together.
We had decided to watch ‘Clowns from Outer Space.’
It was a precious opportunity to watch an 80s horror movie in the theater, an opportunity I couldn’t miss.
The pharmacy door opened. A chubby man with glasses entered.
Despite the hot weather, he was dressed uncomfortably in long sleeves and gloves.
The man strode up to the counter. His broad forehead was glistening with sweat.
“Are you looking for any specific medicine?”
“No, not medicine. I’m looking for something else. I’m searching for the legendary deer.”
“Deer? This is a pharmacy. We don’t handle meat or deer antler.”
Deer, out of the blue. Was he on drugs?
Just then, someone else entered the pharmacy.
I was speechless when I saw him.
“My God…”
Instead of a head, the person had a camera.
It was a large movie camera.
It wasn’t a trick or makeup.
There really was a camera mounted on his neck.
How could he move?
“What on earth is that…?”
“That’s my cameraman,” the chubby man said nonchalantly.
Zelda and Hilda, who were in the manufacturing room, came to the counter.
The cameraman turned his head to capture the scene through his lens.
The man smiled and introduced himself.
“Oh, I’m sorry for the late introduction. I’m a documentary director.”
“What brings you to our pharmacy…”
“I would like to conduct an interview.”
“An interview?”
“I’m working on a documentary called ‘In Search of the Legendary Deer.'”
‘In Search of the Legendary Deer’… The title itself was very suspicious.
The director immediately asked if anyone in the vicinity had seen a deer with an unusual appearance.
Zelda naturally said she hadn’t seen one. Neither Hilda nor I had seen a deer either.
The cameraman inside the pharmacy had a camera instead of a head, which turned stiffly like an old screw.
It was clearly a monster.
I did not want to get involved with something like that.
After the short interview ended, the director looked at me.
“Your name is Summer, right? You have a remarkable physique. Are you a bodybuilder?”
“I’m a pharmacy clerk.”
“Oh… and such a deep, sonorous voice too. You’re exactly the protagonist I’ve been looking for.”
“What do you mean?”
“I need someone to play the role of a pursuer who has been chasing a deer for ten years. It seems hard to find an actor more suited than Mr. Summer.”
The documentary director spoke very seriously.
I was dumbfounded.
“An actor? Aren’t documentaries supposed to convey truthful messages?”
“If you want truthful messages, you might as well dig through mailboxes. What documentaries need is entertainment. Adapting is essential.”
“That’s not just adapting. I don’t even know what this legendary deer is. And you want me to be the protagonist?”
“Yes!”
The director extended his gloved, chubby hand.
“Summer! Won’t you join me in finding and revealing the reality of the legendary deer?”
I kicked the director out of the pharmacy.
It was about time for the narration to start.
However, the narrator remained silent.
It had been like this ever since I reconciled the two monsters on the subway.
I tried urging him to say anything, but it was useless.
Could he be dead? Returning home seemed even more distant now.
After work, I arrived in front of my house.
But someone was standing in the yard.
Their body was human, but their head was a camera.
The cameraman.
Seeing him sent shivers down my spine.
I immediately headed inside.
As I opened the front door, the director’s serpentine face greeted me.
“Ah, you’re here, Summer.”
It wasn’t just one cameraman.
Six camera heads were positioned like scarecrows all over the living room.
“We were just conducting an interview with your lovely wife,” said the director.
Ellen Strode was sitting on the living room sofa.
Ellen looked embarrassed.
Clearly, she had let the director in without knowing his identity and he’d taken over the place.
My blood boiled.
I grabbed the director’s shoulder.
“Excuse me, director. I have a request.”
“What is it?”
“Get out. Now.”
The director blinked.
“Have you reconsidered the offer I made at the pharmacy?”
“I told you no.”
“I need you for my documentary. Summer, you must become the pursuer who has been chasing the legendary deer for ten years.”
One of the cameramen moved closer. The lens captured the scene of me and the director.
“Mrs. Strode can take on the role of Summer’s wife,” said the director.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
I approached the director, intent on removing him from my sight immediately.
A cameraman blocked my path.
I punched and shattered the camera.
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