“A deer. A few weeks ago it started crawling into my head, and now it’s sneaking up on me in my dreams. It’s always the exact same thing; a deer in the snow, all gangly and frostbitten, but it’s still standing. It’s standing like a human being. Not like a deer would stand, but tall and straight.
And, urh, it keeps looking at me. That’s the first thing I remember when I wake up, then the rest of it comes. These death-like eyes, then I remember how pale it is, and how the pattern always changes when I stare too long. I can’t not look.”
Claurine paused. She tossed Matty a bone, which he gratefully accepted,
“And then I remembered exactly where I’d seen that look before. I killed a big ol’ deer mother a while back, just when the snow was starting to thaw. It was the first time I’d killed a deer, and a big one like that— a coues one, I think. But I couldn’t even give myself the pride of victory because she was such an easy target anyway. She was dying. Both of them were. They were lying together in the snow, and I got close enough to smell the rot on her.
It was.. disgusting. God, it stunk.
I finished the job even though I can still remember how shakey my hands were. I remember how the baby panicked and tried to stand, like.. like it was going to defend his mom or something. Those crazy eyes of it’s started darting around and then it fell back. Then it just made strange noises at me, but i didn’t do anything about it. I left it to die. I was just too.. scared to shoot at it.
Before I walked away I made the mistake of looking at it one last time. It was just quietly staring at me..”
“And now you think you’re being haunted by it?” Anton smiled and rested himself against his elbows, feeling slightly amused by Claurine’s recollection.
She waved her hand dismissively “Oh no. Not in that sense. But those eyes, Ant..”
“So it’s not the eyes of the men you’ve killed, or the countless birds and ducks and cows we’ve shot at.” Anton smiled, “No. A baby deer is what gets you.”
“Could be the mother haunting me. It looked more like the mother in my dreams, really… I can’t tell which one’s more dangerous. A startled, angry child? Or...”
My OC girl she is cool and rides camels and she’s a superb shot and also she’s really funny and she is a cool girl. thanks👍 her name is weird on purpose because she lives in the apocalypse but her friends name is simple because hes also in the apocalypse but hes a loser🫶
