Prologue
June 1, 2022
It had been a late night of driving for John and his family, but they had finally made it to their hotel only an hour earlier. It was a cheap one, but it would do for the night. Still, the excitement of their trip to Yosemite National Park was keeping him awake. His kids had luckily fallen asleep quickly after their arrival.
This trip was months in the making for John. Hundreds of hours of work had finally paid off. All he could think of was the lush mountains filled with giant sequoia trees and the glistening waterfalls that the park is famous for, as he faded to sleep.
BOOM. John jumped awake to the sound of his kids jumping off the bed.
"James! Jamie! Quiet down, you're going to wake your father up!"
"It's okay Jackie, they're just excited."
He appreciated his wife's concern for his sleep, but as much as he would've liked a little extra nap time he was just as excited as his kids to get started for the day. Before that, he needed some coffee.
"Hey, Jacks I'm gonna go to the front desk and grab some Joe you want a cup?"
"Joe huh? Where'd you pick that up from?"
"I just figured I'd start getting into the mood with some roughneck lingo."
"Alright, roughneck, don't forget your super manly coconut creamer. I'd hate for you to have to drink it black."
John laughed as he walked out the door, his craving was only getting worse. The morning air was cool for the time being. He knew the day was destined to be hot though. He didn't know that he wouldn't experience the heat of the California summer ever again.
As he made his way to the front desk he heard glass shatter. He looked around confused for a second, but he didn't see anything.
"It must have come from the back side of the building."
He thought to himself. He decided to leave it for now. It was probably just some dumb kids anyway.
He opened the door to the main building and walked in.
"Morning!"
"Mornin"
The man at the desk replied
"Just another day at the office huh?"
"Yeah, I suppose. Have you seen the news this morning? There's been some weird shit going on at the park. CDFW is attempting to close certain parts at the moment."
"That's not too unheard of is it?"
John asked.
"Well no not typically, but usually not to this scale. Typically if the weather is bad or there is a rabid animal in the area they'll close up an area or two, but they're shutting down half the park in the peak of tourist season today, so it's a little strange in my opinion."
"That's unfortunate, my family and I drove a long way to see the fall-"
As the men were talking Jackie slammed the door open.
"Hey baby wha-"
"Help!"
Something shot through the building's glass door, wrapped around Jackie's neck, and pulled her onto her back.
"Aw, what the fuck!"
John yelled and jumped for his wife. He grabbed her by her shirt and looked up. Jackie gurgled as John looked in awe at the creature that had his wife by the neck.
The creature stood on two long, muscular legs that held up a long pale head. It had two huge buggy black eyes that stood out on its ghostly white body. The fucking thing didn't even have arms. "Wait how the fuck does this thing have my wife"
At that moment he noticed its spiked mossy green tongue. It looked like it had something dripping off of it. He got up to his knees and tried to pull his wife away, but as he pulled the spikes on the things tongue dug deep into her jugular.
Jackie looked her husband in the eyes.
"L-let go!"
She choked
"S-save the kids."
He wouldn't let go, but the thing was too strong. It pulled Jackie harder, so hard that as John held on it took him face-first into his wife.
Suddenly John heard a disgusting, fleshy ripping sound. Jackie was able to manage a terrified scream.
Assuming the monster had let go John got back to his knees and pulled his wife up only to see that the damn thing had ripped half of her fucking face off.
"FUCK!"
John knew Jackie was gone by her limp body and the blank stare in her one remaining eye. The spiked tongue had torn down to the bone.
The monster walked closer clearly craving more bloodshed like John craved his coffee.
It crashed through the doors crushing shattered glass under its huge clawed feet.
He pulled himself to his feet and stumbled to the desk.
The monster shot its tongue out, but John vaulted over the desk and took a hard dive to the floor. He looked over to see the bellhop hiding under the desk crying.
John felt like he looked, but he didn't have time to break down. He had to get to his kids.
The monster shot its long tongue through the bottom of the cheap wooden desk and into the bellhop's arm.
"OH FUCK IT BURNS"
The bellhop cried.
John watched as the slime on the thing's tongue melted through the wooden desk and the bellhop's arm.
"PLEASE HELP ME!"
The man cried louder.
John knew he couldn't. He looked around as he was on the floor for anything useful. His stress was high as he heard the monster getting closer. Luckily John's eyes fell on a shotgun.
He crawled to it.
The monster finally peaked over the desk. He pumped the shotgun. "Thank god." he thought.
BOOM... BOOM...
Half of the monster's head exploded, and that was that.
John stood up and walked over to the monster. It was somehow still moving. He coldly blasted it again.
"Fuck you."
He ran out of the door. All he saw was destruction through the parking lot.
"How the fuck could we not hear this in the office."
John thought out loud.
He took all of the damage in for a second. He didn't see anyone else. Dead or alive. There were a few cars there, so surely someone was out there, before he could try to find someone to help he had to find his kids first.
John ran to his room yelling for his kids.
"James! Jamie! Where are you!"
John kicked the door in, and the sight he saw was unbearable.
He dropped to his knees.
John thought back to the glass shattering earlier. It had to have been the rear-facing window in his hotel room.
James and Jamie were laying on the floor. There was a massive, corroded hole in each of their chests.
John's family was dead and based on the noises outside. John wasn't gonna be around much longer...
