1st: Prey for Me by Kaitlyn Castellano

Decomposing wood, almost unrecognizable with fungi, dirt and Mother Nature’s wrath builds an isolated cabin atop Riverview Mountain. Here, houses Parker Howard with straight, chestnut brown hair meeting his shoulders, scruff, binoculars hanging around his neck, shotgun propped on a rusted metal rack, green flannel, jeans that desperately need a wash and high laced combat boots. 

He sits atop a boulder overlooking the assorted pine trees; some short, others towering, and those chainsawed. Branches and pine needles resting on the forest’s floor. It’s pleasing when the autumn wind compels the trees to dance, the scent of pine lingering. 

Parker pulls the binoculars up to his brown eyes and sees potential prey. A light brown mass with spots like a fawn, bloodshot eyes, and an aura of fear that Parker feels from the high ground. He releases the binoculars for the string around his neck to catch them, swapping for his treasured shotgun. 

Loaded. 

Safety off. 

Aiming at the prey, Parker mumbles, “See you in Hell,” and fires the kill shot directly to the head. 

“Sweet, oblivious prey, how they make it so easy,” he says in victory to the forest sky, slowly making his way down the steepness of the mountain. 

He hoists his prey in a fireman’s carry and takes the same route, this time to his cabin. The only furniture being the rusted, metal table bolted into the decaying wood flooring is already prepared with a clear, plastic tarp wrap. Duplicates cover the floor and the walls. A hole on the ceiling the size of a CD supplies light. The aluminum hooks on the wall hold different knife blades; talon, spear point, clip point, and the drop point best for the skinning. 

The prey lays lifeless on the table and Parker roughly strips the creature's fawn print jacket before beginning to make a deep incision from his chin to his belly button. Reaching directly inside the center with unclean hands, he grasps the human’s heart and pulls with abundant strength. 

A delicacy. Yellow teeth plunge with excessive force.

A starved man.

Momentarily satisfied. 

The Master of Prey.