Edd Ed n Eddy, Fight for Humanity saga: Story 1; The Night-beast

30 miles outside of downtown Peach-Creek 3:14 AM

There is an empty hay field. The landscape is rather unremarkable. There are a few hills and the surrounding countryside is dotted with a few trees before leading into a thick forest. It is a full moon and the fields and grasses are illuminated in a silvery light. The sky is calm except for a shooting star. The only sign of civilization is five miles away excluding a small farm. It is family owned although only two people are there at the time. The farmer and his farmhand are sleeping in the large white farmhouse overlooking the meadows. The rest of the family is on vacation in West Virginia with family.

The farmer is sleeping soundly in his bed until he wakes suddenly. Disorientated he looks around the room to find nothing out of place. The oaken walls shows that nothing is wrong save for a picture that is hanging is slanted at an angle. Then the farmer realizes what woke him a slight rumbling in the ground which is making the picture turn a tad more. As he gets out of bed to check on the rumbling it lightens and then stops. Nothing to worry about, just a mini-quake. Being that he didn't live a very long distance from an earthquake hotspot he was used to feeling the shockwaves. He would probably hear about a mildly destructive earthquake on the news tomorrow morning.

Just as he was beginning to fall asleep again he heard a howling. Coyotes again no doubt. They had been appearing more frequently lately. His closest neighbor who lived five miles away had a herd of cattle which was slowly being picked off. Deciding to do him a favor he went to his closet and got dressed. After putting the final button on his flannel shirt he got out a flashlight then, considering the moon, put it back. He took a double barrel shotgun off of a gun rack at the top of the closet. He opened the gun and got out a box of shotgun shells from a nearby shoebox. Placing two shells in the gun he closed it once more and walked downstairs. He opened the door to his farmhand's room.

"Elliot."

"What, is it? It has to be the middle of the night," the sleepy farmhand said in a stupor.

"I heard a coyote. I'm going out there and would like you to get dressed and grab your rifle. Two people searching have a better chance at catching it."

Nodding the farmhand got up and walked to his closet while the farmer went to the front door of the farmhouse. Putting the gun in the crook of his elbow he opened the door and stepped outside. He was greeted by the misty air of the night and the smell of the dew on the grass. He stepped off of the porch onto the soft grass with his leather boots making a slight squelching sound. He walked towards the direction of the howl. It came from somewhere to the East, behind the red barn. He guessed it was near the apple grove by the small pond that was in the woods.

After traversing about a half mile of fields the farmer came upon the woods. It was usually dark and foreboding but the moonlight was bright enough to illuminate the sprawling wilderness. He checked his watch and the glow in the dark hands showed that it was sometime around three-thirty. Looking back he could make out the outline of the farmhand who was trudging his way to the forest also. He was about a quarter of a mile behind.

Checking his shotgun a second time the farmer headed into the forest. He was careful to have a light step as to not alert the predator of his presence. After several minutes he was beginning to think that he had missed the coyote. He heard a rustling about fifty yards ahead. Crouching down he saw a creature lapping the water from the pond. It was far too big to be a coyote; it had to be a bear. He cursed himself for not bringing more shells. His gun wasn't going to be of much assistance. Careful of the shadowy figure in front of him he slowly made is way back out of the forest.

He was not watching his footing, however, and found himself giving away his position when he stepped on a branch. The creature turned when it heard the snap and revealed, to the farmer's horror, that it was most certainly not a bear! Forgetting all means of stealth, the farmer ran headfirst in the opposite direction trying to escape from the monstrosity behind him. He was not fast enough!

Where the farmhand is located 3:37 AM

His employer had gone into the forest a minute or two ahead of him. He was having trouble making his way through a thicket of bushes when he heard it.

BAM! BAM!

It was his boss, the farmer, firing his gun. It was soon followed by painful screams and growling. Running faster than he had in years Elliot ran toward the direction of where he heard the fight, desperate to help his friend. He came to the clearing where to pond was located and looked around. There was nothing. Raising his rifle to his shoulder cautiously he moved around the edge of the pond looking for any tracks. Soon enough he found large gouges in the mud where the creature had been lapping up water. Scared he followed the tracks through broken bushes and branches where the monster had run chasing the farmer. Had he looked around for more tracks when he was enraged to find that the tracks simply stopped. Then he heard a soft moan.

Turning around he found what was left of his friend. There are few words to describe what he saw. He knew with one look into his friend's eye what needed to be done. He pulled the trigger, putting his late friend out his misery. Working the bolt on his hunting rifle the farmhand looked around the surrounding forest. While at first the moon had seemed to lighten up the area with what the farmhand had just seen made the forest black as space itself.

As he took one step forward he felt the breathing on his neck! The beast had come back after hearing the shot and had suck up on him. With no alternative Elliot tried to turn around and fire off a shot but was nowhere near as fast as the creature. He screamed and screamed. No one heard him because the closest person was almost four miles away. No one heard the monster's victorious howl either, because then and there, nobody was left alive to hear it.