“Fuck, no data, really?” Jared smacks his phone, desperately hoping that even one of those damn white bars appears in the corner of his screen. It was the start of July, the mid-summer time between constant humid misery and melting heat waves. Instead of sitting away for another boring week in South Carolina, Jared decided to take a road trip to Florida. His cousins had agreed for him to crash at theirs and go soak up some sun rays at the Orlando beach together, maybe down a couple of white claws while they’re at it,

However, the old, reliable 12-year-old Chevy had other plans. Three hours in, with a few hacks and wheezes, the thing slowed to a halt. The engine had given out, stranding Jared in the pitch-black nothingness of rural roads. 

Quickly surveying his surroundings, Jared realized how isolated he was. A sea of darkness and fields stretched out in every direction, and not a soul around for miles. He tried waiting for a passerby car, but none came. 

With a sigh of resignation, Jared grabbed his water bottle and decided that he was going to hoof it until he found any other signs of life, hopefully a town or farm, to help him out.

An hour passed, and Jared’s leg was burning with fatigue. His water bottle had begun to empty. Thank god for the breeze; he surely would have been self-combusted in the heat by now! But at last, Jared could just make out the warm amber glow of scattered lighted windows winking at him through the blackness.

As Jared approached, the hazy light resolved into a small village nestled in the night. A few quaint homes and storefronts lined what looked to be the main street, their windows radiating a welcoming warmth. Finally, Jared’s trek might be over.

The streets were eerily deserted, however. There were no life on the street, no people bustling about, no dogs barking, not even the hums of music or tv. Well, Jared thought, it is midnight I guess.

Feeling a rumble in his stomach, Jared decided that he needed to get some food first. He took a steadying breath and pushed forward into the silent village streets. He rapped firmly on the first door he came across, its warm light revealing its active occupants inside. "Hello? I'm just passing through, and my car broke down. I could really use some help!"

Several seconds ticked by with no response. Then, muffled movement sounds came before the door creaked open a few inches. An elderly lady peered out.

“What’d you want, boy?”The lady growled.

“Please, my car broke down, and I’m stranded for the night,” Jared pleaded, “could you please spare me some food and water and maybe a phone to use–”

The door slammed shut in his face before he could finish. Jared blinked, bewildered, before trying the next house with the same result - the small crack of an opening, a distrustful pair of eyes scrutinizing him, and then an abrupt dismissal as the door sealed him out again.

Jared’s frustration grew with a sense of unease. What kind of place was this, where he was regarded as a threat simply for asking for help? He wasn’t an intimidating guy—at least, he thought he wasn’t. 

As Jared approached the front steps of the worn-down town hall, a tiny voice caught his attention. 

“Ya gotta leave, mister. Ain't safe here tonight."

He turned to find a girl of no more than eight years old sitting on a rock bench beneath a streetlamp's halo, her expression grave. She wore a beautifully decorated robe with intricate sewings and patterns embellished with small pieces of jewels. Despite her petite figure, her green eyes lacked the glint of innocent happiness a kid should have. Her gaze seemed prenaturally aware.

“Why not?” asked Jared, “where is everyone? And why won’t your people give a little help?”

“Not tonight. You came at an unfortunate time, mister. Come back in the morning ‘morrow. When the sun’s up, won’t be much bother then.”

A chill went through Jared with her words. What did she mean by unfortunate time? “Alright then, I’ll come tomorrow. What’s your name?”

The girl's pale eyes seemed to bore into him for a long time, “there’s no point for ya to know that anymore.”

With that, the girl stood up and turned away, signaling that it was time for him to leave. “Remember, mister, don’t come back b’fore the sun is in the sky.”

Jared hurried back through the silent streets, the girl's parting words ringing in his ears. He couldn’t help but feel he was being watched, assessed by unseen eyes from every inky window and shadow.

As he reached the outskirts and unlit road beyond, Jared cast one last glance over his shoulder. The little girl stood haloed in a pool of streetlight, watching impassively as darkness enveloped him again. 

After trekking a mile or so, Jared stopped and allowed himself to catch a breath. The village had dwindled to a mere pinprick of light behind him. His throat burned from the lack of water. He needed water badly; he should’ve asked for some from the little girl before he left. Surely, he thought, the girl is nice enough to spare some water. With that thought, he turned around, making his way back. 

Jared's steps slowed as he re-entered the village's quiet streets. An uneasy stillness hung in the air; that same unnerving silence from before had been amplified to an almost unnatural degree. 

“Hello?” he called out tentatively, his voice sounding eerie in the absolute silence. “Um, it’s me again from earlier. I’m just wondering if I can get some water?”

His words seemed to be swallowed whole, dissipating into the darkness. The looming faces of the closed homes and shops remained impassive monoliths. No single curtain twitched, door creaked, or sign of life stirred in response to his question. 

A prickling sense of unease crept up Jared's spine as he moved further into the village center, straining his senses for any clue that the residents hadn't all simply...vanished since he left just a while ago. Any glint of light through windows, murmur of voices, shadow of movement that might indicate the strange little girl is still here, and her assurance that he’ll get help in the morning. 

Yet, the streets stretched out in absolute silence, without even the faintest sign of human life. It was as if Jared stepped into a ghost town. 

As Jared approached the village hall where he last saw the little girl, a beacon of light cut through the gloomy darkness. A warm flickery glow seeped spilled from lamps, illuminating the area. Tendrils of wood smoke trailed into the sky, signifying activity and life. 

Jared's pace quickened, and his hope rekindled at the thought of finding some form of life. However, as he neared the warm glow flowing from the town hall, that flicker of hope was rapidly extinguished by a sight of pure abject horror.

Arrayed in a circle around a rudely constructed stone altar were dozens of townsfolk - though "townsfolk" hardly seemed like the fitting descriptor anymore. Their bodies flickered and pulsed with each sway of the firelight, silhouettes blurring between upright human shapes and slumped, secular renditions that defied the limits of anatomy. 

On the raised sacrificial platform laid the motionless form of the young girl who had spoken to Jared earlier. Her pale skin took on a sickly, waxy pallor in the ghastly light, making the spattering of intricate jewels adorning her robe seem to glow with a nauseous sulfuric light. 

A hunched, wizened figure in tattered robes towered over her still body, a wicked curved blade glinting in its gnarled hands. Jared watched, petrified, as the blade rose high before plunging down into the child’s body. 

The girl's back arched at an anguished angle as her lips peeled back in a silent scream as the robed figure sawed down her torso. Splatters of crimson sprayed the air, speckling the elder's cloth with maroon petals.

The gathered crowd began keening and swaying in a crazed madness as Jared collapsed to the floor, fossilized by fear. His brain screamed, “RUN!” but his legs were detached from his body, melted into a pool of jelly. 

Their gurgling wails rose to a pitch of awful terror as a figure detached itself from the shadows at a circle's edge. Though initially resembling the broad silhouette of a crouched humanoid figure, any semblance of natural biological order quickly fell away as it scuttered into illumination. 

Its bloated abdomen sloshed fluidly, each step bristling with some sort of amberery liquid leaking from its pores. Each lumbering step caused its bristle-ridged limbs to temporarily splay into serrated trunks before reconstituting into hooked, scything appendages.

Dislocated compound eyes surfaced and submerged on its head in random patterns, leaving runnels that swiftly closed over or sprouted fibrous antennas in their stead. Its chin was filled with fine hair convulsing in fracturing whorls and patterns. They seemed to bleed and reshape from needling spines into clusters of fangs as the creature flowed toward the altar. 

Yet, the most unsettling part was the semi-human configuration of its twisted anatomy. Through the insectoid disfiguration, Jared could barely detect hints of facial structures with hollowed sinus cavities resembling something anthropoid. 

Its fleshy movements were accompanied by a piercing chorus of calls, a cycling symphony of insectile clicks, trills, and indescribable cries, conveying no semblance of linguistic meaning.

The creature skittered through the crowd of robed figures as they parted, hands reaching out, desperate for even the slightest touch of the abomination. With a swift lurch, the insectoid skittered onto the altar with its serrated limbs splayed outwards. Its convulsing eyes rippled across its head, scanning its prey, still alive and twitching on the stone table, before simultaneously shutting, giving way to quivering barbed fangs emerging from its flesh with a squelch.

With a sudden jerk, it plunged its head into the unsealed torse of the girl, thrashing its fangs across her body. Ropes of red contaminated the air as the girl let out her final gasp. 

“Nonono… I have to show this to the cops.” Jared mumbled to himself. He pulled out his phone and panned the camera to face the abomination. But, when Jared peered at the screen through the lenses, a shudder climbed down his back as his blood froze in his veins. 

A single eye stared back at him from the back of the creature's head.