Chap66: Moth to a Flame [horror]

KC just wants his prize-winning photograph, until a hurricane brings in a mothman creature that threatens to thwart his photographic pursuits...along with his life! But maybe his new friend, Brad can help...

Transcript

This episode is brought to you by nerdcore. A store in the Auburn Mall located in Auburn, Maine. The place for all your nerdy needs. You can find Clarence and I's books there, as well as a plethora of other local writers, artists, 3D printed D&D tiles, taxidermy, you name it. They even have board games and tarot card readings, in addition to regularly hosting local creators. And as if that weren't enough, I like to dig through their used vinyl collection, which are organized into multiple genres. I usually go for classical or jazz and are all reasonably priced and tested beforehand. So yeah, check out the nerdcore store today at the Auburn, Maine Mall. And now for our feature presentation. 1.5s Once upon a time. 1.6s It was a podcast 1.3s from my. It is the coolest podcast. 4.2s He called it the writer's block. 4.8s There's a podcast. 3s Some might say. 2.8s Time. 1.7s Spark. 2s Casey stood on the hilltop facing the wind. The wind itself was picking up and speed, and he had anticipated this. The Weather Channel had called for a record breaking hurricane speeds faster than anyone had ever known in this little area. He looked down the hill at his little seaside village, and he saw the windows alight in the houses where people had already. Hidden away from the storm, and he saw a couple of kids running up the street, presumably to get back to their house before the storm started. Um, and in the ocean just past the village, he could see that the waves were getting choppy and a fog was coming in. He pulled a camera out of his pocket, an old fashioned camera that he had to, like, flash a light bulb over to take a picture. He was an artist and kind of a hipster. So he took that bulb and he got under the curtain for the camera. Any. Press the button and the bulb exploded. 1.3s Take it. 1.1s And he was taking a picture of the the village in the ocean. It made a whining sound after it flashed. 

U2

See? 2.4s

U1

And he moves closer to the village, closer to the crashing waves. And he hunches down and he angles the camera in the most beautiful pose. And he does it again. 1.1s Yep. That's a terrible camera noise, 1s anyway. And somebody from a distant window is yelling at him. Casey. Casey! Fucking get out of the storm, you shithead! 1.1s And he carries on getting closer to the water. 1.3s

U2

The adrenaline is alive. Just synapses firing in his brains like he just did a whole line of blow, and he's feeling alive. The most alive he's felt in a long time. 

U1

And he would know because he used to do a lot of blow back at college in New York. Yeah. It's what inspired him to become an artist. 1.2s

U2

He gets closer to the ocean and he snaps another shot. 3.2s And he sees, uh, the sand is starting, is large, wafts of sand are being pulled off the beach, and he's like, oh, this wind is fucking wild. And there's a little bit of fog in the ocean. It's just slapping waves bigger and bigger. And he says, I know that the Pulitzer Prize the greatest. Isn't that I think that's the photography prize. The greatest photography prize of my career is close. I know it, I can feel it, I can sense it. And he's moving down the beach. And as he's going, he hears a little boy crying. Daddy! Daddy steps. 1.9s The storm is upon them. 1.5s

U1

And they're on the beach. Mhm. It looks across the beach and he sees a little five year old boy sitting in the sand. His. It looked like he was in the middle of building a sand castle. But the sand half of the sandcastle had been ripped out to the waves and his hair was, was blowing in the wind. 1.3s Little boy. Daddy. You're not my daddy. He ran up to the kid. Where is your father? I don't know, he looked around. He only had enough arms to grab to carry his camera around. He looked at the kid. He looked at his camera and he thought, ah, man. He put the camera on the ground and then he picked up the kid. You, your father better have $1 million prize for you. 1.5s He took one last glance at the camera, and then he ran up the beach and he ran. He ran into the the main street on the. 1.4s Um. 1.3s By the beach there. And he looked up and down the street, and he he saw like receipts and fast food bags blowing in the wind. And bicycles have been toppled over. And one of the signs, a sign out front of, uh, old Joey's barbershop, had also fallen into the street. It was like World War three out here. Um, but there was no one in sight. Where do you live? Little boy? The boy looked up at him. Daddy, no, I'm not your daddy. I don't know, take it. 1.9s The kid is giving him a vague description of where the house is. Ah. All right, I know, I kind of know where that is, I think. All right. Where am I going? All right. And as they're going, 1.3s

U2

they're walking down this tight, very rather narrow street. And as they're going. Limbs from trees are just being jerked. 1.6s

U1

And all of a sudden, a stop sign gets pulled out of the ground and flies right by him in case he sort of ducks and gets out of the way. And he's like, Jesus Christ. All right. 1.5s And car alarms are going off now. One, two, three as he's walking. And then he sees what he believes is the kid's house. They're. Yeah. Yeah. They're there. And he's walking closer and closer 1.1s and he sees what is not, in fact, a kid's house, but he sees an ice cream shop. You little son of a bitch. 1.4s He 

U2

goes and he pulls the door open to this ice cream shop, and there's an old lady behind the counter. Thank God you found him. You. You know this kid? I thought he was pulling my leg. I thought he just wanted ice cream. No, no, no, that's my grandson. 1.1s

U1

Oh. 

U2

Thank God. All right, here you go. Um, is there anything I can do? Do you need me to call somebody? You guys need help. And as there. Going back and forth in the confines of this little ice cream shop. Uh, the window breaks. Glass covers them all. All three of them. And they sort of shelter themselves. 

U1

Uh, shit. Fuck. 

U2

And 1.2s they. 1.5s Casey knows what to do. He goes behind the building where he finds some, like, spare wood, some pallets and stuff in the alleyway behind. And he goes to the front and he starts boarding up the windows. He says, I've got to 

U1

go, but I think you guys should be okay. Here you go. We're all set. The grandmother thanks him, the kid thanks him, and he goes back out and he starts heading back to his camera because he is determined that there is a prize in there. As he's walking through the storm. He clicks on 1.3s his his TikTok app and he clicks live. And he's going live as he's going through this storm, wind is just hurling. And he says, what kind of a loser goes live? 1.3s Take it. And then he loses his reception and his phone starts to flicker and he hears a. 2.4s In the sky. 1.3s Um. By now, a thick fog has covered the whole town, so he cannot see more than, like, 1.2s seven feet in front of him. 1.1s And also, it appears that the ocean has risen so that the water. He's on the main street and the water. Is basically like puddles depth. He hears that screeching sound again, and he thinks he sees something dart across the sky like a shadow, but he can barely make it out. He starts walking. Up the street. He thinks because he can see, um, what he thinks is a neon lit sign in front of one of the bars, still flickering, 1.3s and as he approaches, he starts to hear a car alarm, and he realizes that what he's seeing is a car that's been activated, the alarm has been activated, and the lights on it are flickering. He approaches the car and he tries it and it's unlocked. 2.2s Hello. Looks around and then he hears that screeching again, and he feels a gust of wind in front of his face, and he sees a dark shadow across his path. 1.6s And when he turns away from the car, he's face to face with a creature, some sort of creature. And he can see that this creature has a large wingspan. Just scowling and drooling. It lunges for him, but he darts to the side and the creature ends up crashing into the car. But the creature is so strong that he moves the car halfway across the street with the crash. Now the creature is sort of stuck in the car side of the car, trying to get himself out of it. So using this to buy him some time, um, Casey books it, he runs, and now he does see the flickering neon lanky sign at the bar, and he the doors open and he goes in, take it. 3s You guys are never going to believe this. He says to the patrons, who are all gathered around a jukebox singing Kenny Chesney songs. They all look at him as if he's just interrupted the greatest night of their lives. Everyone is hammered, just fucking falling down drunk. What? What are you talking about? 

U2

I'm not missing anything, you son of a bitch! 2.2s And he points to the window. He's like, there is a monster out there. And then some smartass points to his crotch and says, there's a monster in. 5.1s

U1

Did you know that by day I'm a plumber? That's right. And we at the writers block are proud to announce that one of our sponsors is Mark Negro Services, based out of Westbrook, Maine, and servicing most of southern Maine. Mark Niagara services is available for all your plumbing, heating, gas, and even sprinkler needs. It could just be my employee bias, but I can confirm that the work done by these guys is clean, efficient, and affordable and all done within a reasonable time period. You will never have a leak or go cold with Mark Niagara services, and if you're already experiencing one or both of those two things, you won't have to worry much longer. Reach out to Mark Niagara Services at M Nigro Services at gmail.com. That's the letter m n I g r o services at gmail.com. Links are also available in the show. Notes. The writer's block is brought to you by Arc Hard Place. That's the letter R located in the Auburn, Maine Mall. Our card is the premier Auburn location for comic books and trading cards, including Pokemon Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh! Sports, and even music. I got my own little collection growing of pop star and yo MTV raps cards featuring legends like Ozzy Osbourne, Jimi Hendrix, LL cool J and my personal favorite heavy D in The Boys. Our cards also has some fun collectibles, like a toy replica of the gum gum fruit from the One Piece anime. And they're fully certified for card valuation, so you can find out just how much those old baseball cards you found in your attic are worth. So what are you waiting for? Get on down to our card plays at the Auburn Maine Mall today. 4.2s

U2

All right? 1.1s All right, Cassie says. Didn't need to know that. 1.1s And then he. 1s

U1

Grabs one of the guys by the scruff of his neck and drags him to the front of the to the front of the bar, to the window, and he points out into the darkness where they can see nothing for a few seconds, but they can hear it. It's sort of groaning and growling and and then they see a clawed hand just 

U2

land on top of a car. 1.5s And then its nails dragged across the roof of the car in this horrendous screech. 2.5s And then it comes into full view. Its massive wingspan shakes and sounds like a flapping flag in a windstorm as it just. 2.3s And then it steps on top of the car, crunching its, uh, roof, and it lets out another terrible screech that just the vibration from its screech breaks the glass in front of them. 3.5s

U1

Casey remembers his camera. God damn it, I still need that camera. It's worth a lot of money. I got to give back to the university. They're learning it out to me. Is does anyone want to come with me? Uh, to get what? A stupid camera. One of the guys in the guy who made the obscene joke earlier said, it's not a stupid camera. It's a piece of art, and I'm making art with it because I'm an artist. Oh, one of them, I see. He looks around and tries to get a laugh out of all of his friends. But having just witnessed this monster through the window, everybody else in the bar is like shitting their pants. 2.5s All right, all right, give me another drink. The bartender is just, like, cowering behind the bar. He's not even having any of this. He's done for the night. So he waits a second, this guy, and then he goes over and he just reaches across the bar, and he grabs a bottle of whiskey and he says, all right, let's go. 1.1s So, um, the creature seemingly has flown away for us for now. So they they open the door slowly, and they look as far as they can in either direction, and then they stay against the building, crouching and going up the street. Right. So the beaches is, uh, just around the corner up here. This man says. Yeah. And, uh, what's your name, by the way? I'm Casey. Oh, I'm. 1s Brad. 1.4s So they they turn a corner and sure enough, there's the beach or what he can see off the beach and you can hear the waves. They, they, they move through the water, which is like up to their ankles now. So they kind of are waiting through the water and they make their way onto the beach, which feels unsettling because the water is so high at the beach that it's almost like it feels like they could be stuck. Like if you've ever gone, um. Oh, you got heart. Is that what that sound has been? Who's hurting us? Don't know. 3.2s And if you've ever been clamming. Have you ever been clamming? No. Uh, it's the most claustrophobic, uncomfortable feeling because, like, you got to go out during low tide and you're out there in the. I guess it's the marsh, the term. And it's like your feet sink in. It's like sticky. So you feel like you got to raise the tide. Because when the tide comes back in and you cannot run away from it. So that's the feeling that I'm trying to convey here. He sees the camera, which is miraculously still standing. 1.8s Um, he starts to go towards the camera, and then he turns around and sees that Brad has stopped to take a swig from the whiskey bottle. Come on Brad. And he realizes he doesn't really need Brad, so he starts sloshing through the water. And just as is about just as he is about to reach the camera, he hears that screeching again. Take it. 2.9s Look 

U2

out! Brad screams. These slugs down another drink of whiskey, and he points to the monstrous creature that's approaching. 1.1s

U1

Oh, great. Big help, Brad. Thanks. He fucking grabs the camera and he starts running. He's trying to outrun the beast, but it's coming. And he can hear it and feel it's footsteps vibrating behind him. Boop boop boop. It is not taking flight yet. It's running. And Casey thinks it's running because he knows it can catch him. He's he's running, he's trying. And as he's passing Brad, Brad sort of looks over his shoulder, hits another slash of it of the source and starts running with him. Let's go. 1.1s The two of them are sprinting down the beach, looking over their shoulders. And then Casey says, quick, over there behind those rocks, as if they could hide from the monster. 

U2

Both of them dive behind 

U1

the camera, right? Okay. Both of them dive behind a bunch of rocks and camera, and Casey leans up, sets the camera down on top of the rock. 

U2

It makes it. It takes the picture. See? 1.8s And the flash goes off and it scares the monster. But he's gotten a picture. He knows it's a good one. Oh, man. She's going to be a beauty, he thinks. And as the monstrous creature is spooked, its wings have gone up, its hackles are on, and. And it's trembling and it's making weird creature screeching noises. 1.7s

U1

Um, and what Clarence didn't tell you is that when the camera made its peep noise, the monster screeched with it as if it thought that it was a potential mating partner. 

U2

See? 1.1s

U1

Okay. 1.3s Um. But at the same time, the monster is blinded, sloshing around the water and falls. Um. And Brad takes another swig and says, hey, I'm going back to the bar. So he starts running, wading through the water which is now up to their waist. It just keeps getting higher and higher. Um, and Casey is just he's hiding under the curtain of this camera, and he's just cheap. Cheap? The sound effect keeps changing, but he's just obsessed. He thinks he's. He's going to get that Pulitzer Prize now. 2s Um, but when the monster is done being disoriented, it realizes that this has all been a trick. He stands up straight really quickly and turns and stares or stares at the camera, but it looks through the viewfinder to Casey, like the monster is staring straight at him, and he audibly gulps 1s and he grabs the camera and he just runs. But Brad is nowhere to be found and the fog has thickened. Now he's over by, um, an old pier 1.5s and the monster is coming up on him from the land. So now he's cornered at the pier and just panicking. He runs out along this old pier, trips once, but sort of rolls into the trip so he is able to get back up with the camera. The monster is flying just above the pier so it doesn't have to worry about this. 1.3s He gets to the end of the pier and at the end of the pier. Now that the fog has, he's gone through the fog a little bit more. He can see and remembers that there is a large Ferris wheel on this pier. He looks up as high as he can to the top of the Ferris wheel, and he looks back at the monster, which has gone higher up in the sky, almost invisible through the fog again. And he thinks, man, wouldn't it be a great shot to get a picture of this thing from the Ferris wheel? So he climbs up onto the Ferris wheel with his camera, and then he hears Brad, hey, don't do it, buddy. He sees Brad down there at the other end of the pier. He's come back for him. I don't take it. 1.6s You're making 

U2

a terrible mistake. Brad! Brad screams as he sloshes down another drink from the bottle. I'm making a terrible mistake, buddy. You just drank a fifth of a fucking whiskey. You're gonna die. 1.1s And with one hand, Casey is hoisting himself up this Ferris wheel tugging along with the camera, and he's climbing from one carriage to the next, to the next, to the next as he's moving his way up. And meanwhile, the creature is flapping its wings and descending, coming down. And it. Swoops down on Brad, who suddenly ducks and the monster misses Brad by inches, and as it's swooping past Brad, he chucks the bottle at it and it hits it right in the head and disorients it a little bit so it falls. It's no longer fall, it's no longer flying. It's now on the ground and it's making some horrendous noises. And Casey's standing on top of one of the carriages on the carousel, on the, on the that thing Ferris wheel. And he calls after it. Hey, hey, you. And the monster looks up. 1.6s

U1

And it sees him, and then it jumps and it expands its wings and it's coming from low. Doing this beautiful ascension like a predator bird. And as it's coming up, he raises the camera. 1.8s

U2

He. 1s And the thing is, since the whiskey bottle was shattered on him, what remained of the whiskey went on to this creature. And so when this creature flew at Casey, who's standing at the top of this Ferris wheel in case he's so in the moment, taking this picture doesn't connect the alcohol with the explosions happening from the light on his camera. And just as the monster flies into him, he takes the picture and the light explodes, igniting the alcohol. And both of them go fall off of the Ferris wheel into the water, and a ball of flame that's immediately extinguished when it hits the water. Leaving only Brad bewildered. Cut to later on in Hollywood. And you're sure that's how it happened? I mean, and you're sure that's how it happened? Vincent. Terrence. Tito took a puff from his cigar and took a sip of vodka and leaned back in his chair. He was like ten times the weight he was when he was filming his last great Western movie, so that the chair creaked. 2s Uh. Brad looked around. He was sitting in Vincent Tarantino's office, and he was pitching him an idea for a movie. 1.3s That's exactly how it happened. All right. And I get free whiskey for the rest of my life, right? That's the deal. Yeah. Sure thing. Can you see this man out at the end? Writer's block. 3.2s Cool kids. Remember to subscribe. 1.8s And tune in next week. 2.5s For the next episode. 2.2s Writer's block. 1.7s The coolest podcast of all time. Time. Okay time. 1.5s