Chapter 69: S#12. Texas Top Shark Massacre (1)

S#12.

“Welcome to Texas!”

Ellen Strode said as she drove.

We were speeding down a wide-open Texas road.

A straight asphalt road stretched out ahead. On either side, vast wastelands extended to the horizon, with only sand and cacti in sight.

It felt like a cowboy could appear and fire a few shots at any moment.

Ellen’s car was a brand-new convertible, sleek with shiny paint.

We sped along the sun-baked road.

Sitting in the passenger seat, I mumbled to myself as the hot wind whipped around us.

“I hope Nancy’s okay…”

“We left her a note. She’ll be fine.”

“Still, I think she’ll be upset.”

Our trip to Texas was a secret from Nancy. I wanted to give her a hint, but Ellen had prevented me.

She didn’t seem to want her daughter coming along.

Ellen had come to Texas for research. She said her next book would be set there.

I was her bodyguard and porter.

I was glad to be of some help to Ellen and to have her trust.

“Summer, how much do you know about Texas?”

“Not much. I’ve seen a few Westerns with Clint Eastwood, though.”

“Hehe. Let me tell you about it.”

With her hands on the steering wheel, Ellen began explaining the history of Texas.

From independence from Mexico to its annexation by the United States—she was knowledgeable, as expected of a writer.

Of course, as a horror movie fan, the first thing that came to my mind when I thought of Texas was ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.’

The red sunset over the wilderness. The giant wearing a mask made of human skin doing a chainsaw dance… It was a scene etched into my brain like a tattoo. Worth remembering for a lifetime.

Ellen told stories about outlaws from the Wild West era.

There were many notorious lunatics, probably because it was a time of both romance and madness.

Just tracking their deeds was like watching a crime movie.

As I listened in awe, Ellen suddenly changed the topic.

“Summer, are you dating anyone?”

“D-dating…?”

“You’re at the perfect age for it.”

“Well, I’m not really interested yet.”

Talking about dating to me was like talking about taxes to a chicken.

“Oh, come on. There’s no man in the world who isn’t interested in dating. Summer, you like pretty girls, don’t you?”

“Pretty girls… I don’t recall saying anything like that. Besides, someone like me wouldn’t attract a beautiful woman anyway.”

“What about me?”

“What?”

“Do you think I’m beautiful, Summer?”

“Of course. Mrs. Strode, you’re certainly beauti… Aah!!”

My words turned into a scream.

Ellen pinched my side hard.

“I told you not to call me ‘Mrs.’!”

“…Sorry, Ellen.”

My side throbbed.

Like mother, like daughter; Nancy and Ellen had an identical pinching technique.

Ellen cleared her throat and stepped on the accelerator.

The car’s speed increased. I thought the tires might catch fire.

Still, it didn’t seem dangerous. The road was endlessly wide and there was no one in sight all the way to the horizon.

“Tell me more about your ideal type. What age do you prefer? Older or younger?”

“Someone my age would be nice.”

“Someone your age? If a girl your age saw a tough-looking guy like you, she’d run away.”

“Probably.”

“But don’t be disappointed. Summer, you have a surprisingly cute side, so you’ll be popular with older women.”

“Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

“No, I mean it. There are quite a few women who are attracted to a wolf-bear like you.”

Ellen glanced at me. Our eyes met briefly.

The hot wind blew.

Ellen’s silky brown hair fluttered beautifully. It was a dazzling sight.

Literally, the light reflecting off her hair was blinding.

I squinted my eyes just at that moment—

──────Bang!

The car hit something.

Ellen slammed on the brakes and swerved the wheel.

Screech—

The tires skidded. The car spun counterclockwise, creating a swirl of dust on the ground.

Instinctively, I shielded Ellen.

The car finally stopped, skidding off the road.

Ellen’s face was pale, but fortunately, she wasn’t hurt.

“My God… What did we just hit?”

“I didn’t see it either.”

We definitely hit something, but I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of it.

We got out of the car. Smoke was billowing from the crumpled hood.

Near the broken headlight, a long object was embedded.

It was a broken stick. It had grotesque, saw-like teeth all along it.

The material looked like… bone.

I pulled it out and examined it. It seemed to be a saw made from an animal bone.

I suddenly thought of <Jeepers Creepers 2.>

If a grotesque object like this was embedded in the car, it was likely a monster’s weapon.

I had a bad feeling.

We had definitely hit something.

Whatever it was, it must have been hit hard enough to damage the hood, so it couldn’t have gone far.

The open plain was empty except for dust.

It was strange. Had we hit a ghost?

“Summer!”

Ellen shouted. She was standing at the back of the car.

“What is it, Ellen?”

“There… there’s something in the trunk…!!”

Ellen, horrified, pointed at the trunk. It was indeed rattling.

I tensed up and gripped the bone saw.

Slowly, I approached and flung open the trunk.

What I saw inside shocked me to my core.

“…Nancy?!”

Inside the trunk was none other than Nancy Strode.

Soaked in sweat, she emerged with blood trickling from her white forehead.

For some reason, she was holding a camcorder in one hand.

Ellen grabbed her daughter’s shoulders.

Nancy nodded, indicating she wasn’t seriously hurt.

Ellen examined Nancy’s injury and scolded her.

“I can’t believe this…! Why did you hide in the trunk without saying anything? What if you had been seriously hurt?!”

“And what about you, Mom? Going on a trip without telling your daughter?!”

Nancy’s voice trembled with indignation. I asked gently.

“But Nancy… why do you have a camcorder?”

“…You don’t need to know, dummy.”

Nancy pouted.

The smoke rising from the crumpled hood turned into flames.

Ellen stared at the burning convertible in a daze.

Nancy and I felt the same sinking feeling in our hearts.

Stranded in the middle of an empty wasteland road.

It was the perfect setup for the beginning of a horror movie.

—
Raei  Translations
—

Texas is vast.

It’s seven times the size of South Korea.

True to its reputation, the open space here was unimaginably expansive.

Ellen’s car had turned into a heap of burning scrap metal. We were stranded in the middle of a Texas backroad.

Our only way out of this desert-like place was to hitchhike.

We had to wait for a car to rescue us.

But after more than three hours, not a single car had passed by. It felt like luck had abandoned us.

As the sun set, the temperature dropped.

A cool wind blew, making it hard to believe it had ever been hot.

I lit a campfire. Ellen and Nancy crouched near it.

“Feels like we’re cowboys…”

“Yeah.”

Nancy, with a bandage on her forehead, shivered.

Wrapped in a blanket like a poncho, she looked like a cute cowgirl.

“Summer. Should I tell you a scary story?”

“If it’s the hamburger demon story, I’ve already heard it.”

“No, this one is a true story.”

Suddenly, she lowered her voice ominously.

Ellen and I listened attentively to Nancy’s story.

“A man dumped his pet fish.”

“…”

“He flushed it down the toilet. It was a baby fish, really tiny.”

A year later, the man was found dead on his toilet.

“The police were curious about the cause of his death. So, they conducted an autopsy… and found his insides were empty. All his organs were gone, leaving only a shell!”

Nancy revealed the twist.

“Turns out, the fish he flushed a year ago was a piranha.”

“A piranha?”

“The baby piranha was swept away by the toilet water but managed to survive in the sewer, growing into an adult. When the time came, it swam back upstream like a salmon! To take revenge on the owner who abandoned it…!!”

“……”

“It climbed up the pipes… with its sharp teeth… and slipped right into the owner’s butthole as he sat on the toilet, eating him from the inside out…!”

Ellen and I stared blankly.

I thought of the urban legend about sewer alligators—baby alligators flushed down the toilet, growing huge in the sewers by drinking contaminated water.

It’s a bit absurd, but there are actual cases.

But a piranha instead of an alligator? It’s beyond ridiculous.

“Is that really a true story?”

“Of course. Ah, I see a green piranha! Summer, I’m scared…!”

“That’s a cactus, Nancy…”

Nancy grabbed my arm and pressed her body against me. I felt her soft and firm touch.

For some reason, Ellen, who was sitting beside me, also moved closer.

“Summer, I’m scared too.”

“Mom!”

Nancy glared.

Ellen pretended not to hear, looking the other way.

The firewood crackled as it burned.

Listening to Nancy’s ridiculous horror story in this wasteland wasn’t so bad.

I fiddled with the bone stick that had been stuck in the car.

Judging by the break, the original must have been quite long. At least over a meter.

What had Ellen’s car hit?

Whatever it was had left only the bone stick and vanished.

It might be hiding somewhere, watching us.

Even if it wasn’t as threatening as a sewer piranha, it could still be dangerous.

Suddenly, I saw two round lights at the end of the road.

They were car headlights.

An old truck stopped in front of us.

Someone got out. A hoarse voice echoed in the darkness.

“…I smell blood.”

—