Mason

He kept floodlights, dogs, guns, all of that.

I didn't want to lead that thing there, but I also wasn't going to make it all the way home.

I was shaking so badly I could barely keep my foot steady on the gas.

The phone connection started cutting out.

My mom's voice broke up, then came back, then broke again.

I heard her say, don't look at it, and then the call dropped.

The inside of the car felt suddenly tiny.

I could hear my own breathing.

I could hear the road.

I could hear something dragging behind me, or maybe that was just a loose piece under the car from where it hit me.

I tried calling back, but it failed.

The road ahead went up a small rise.

At the top, there is a place where you can see for a long stretch ahead.

When I reached it, I saw something lying in the road again.

Same shape, same position.

A coyote on its side in my lane.

I slammed on the brakes without meaning to, then caught myself and swerved into the other lane.

As I passed it, the thing on the ground snapped its head toward me.

Its eye opened.

Yellow.