“Did your uncle give any kind of directions? Road name, county line, star pattern?"
"Gravel road by a red barn, off a grassy bank."
"That's the entirely of Lula."
Theo chuckled and gently turned the truck onto yet another cracked pavement side road plagued by vultures that took flight as soon as they got too close and overbearing trees trying their best to block out the sun for them. He frowned as the birds hopped around the dirt road behind them, minimizing to pinpricks of black in the rearview mirror. “I hope they didn’t get to the body yet.”
“Want me to sacrifice myself to keep them occupied?” Kenny deadpanned, as if it wasn’t a thing they would do without being prompted. Brown eyes furiously blinked as the sun broke through the leaves and shone right through the windshield.
“If my uncle wasn’t exaggerating, then I’ll definitely need four hands for this.” Theo glanced at his friend on the other end of the three seat cab. Kenny was fiddling with the seatbelt, pale hands snapping it over and over against their chest. “We’ll get back in time for the eclipse, I promise.”
The snapping paused. “We better. Your aunt brought deviled eggs and I know either your sister or your dog is gonna steal them all.”
The truck chugged for a minute and Theo fiddled with the gear shift until it drifted too close to the runoff. He jerked the wheel, his tan thick hands gripping the torn leather, and the small but long blue truck swerved back into the road. “And the first total solar eclipse since the ‘70s is just a side event to the deviled eggs?”
Kenny snorted, unfazed as the truck threatened to careen them into the trees. The sunlight bounced off their glasses lens and they flipped the visor down. “Dude, your family is certified crazy but they cook some damn good food. The apocalypse could be wrecking havoc around us but as long as your dad’s ribs are on the grill and your cousin Aaron’s got his corn on the table, that’s my priority.”
“I’ll keep that in mind when the cows get mad cow disease. And it’s Taaron that brings the corn, Aaron just comes by and gives everyone grief for not inviting his creepy son.”
“I stand by it that their parents should’ve been denied parental rights for naming their twins ‘Taaron’ and ‘Aaron’.”
“M’not arguing with you there.”
They changed roads three more times before finding a dirt road loose from unuse. The truck bounced with every wheel turn and Theo hunched his shoulders to keep from banging his head against the roof. His long blond hair was sticking to the back of his neck and he cursed not tying it back before they left. Kenny had a hair tie, he knew, but it was already keeping his dark hair in its rat tail. “Still got my bandana?”
Kenny dug around in their side cargo shorts pocket and fished out a red and black checked dingy piece of fabric. “Yup.”
“Put up my hair would you? I think I’m dying.”
He drove while getting his hair yanked, held and maneuvered. About a mile down, Kenny lurched forward and pointed. “Ooh! Red barn! That thing better be around here. Go faster.”
“I’m not going faster, that’s not safe.”
“This truck is 50 years old. If it was going to fall apart, it would’ve already.”
“15 years old, not 50. And that is exactly why you shouldn’t push it. Things degrade with age, Kenny.”
“They get resilient with age! We have, haven’t we?”
“Highly debatable.” Theo paused. “Sometimes it feels like high school broke us more than middle school did.”
Kenny didn’t reply immediately and Theo would’ve worried he crossed a line if he hadn’t known his best friend for six years now. “We dealt with a lot then,” they finally said, “but we’ll be fine. We are fine. Right?”
“I don’t- there it is!” Theo sped a bit against his own advice and he was lifted out of his seat as a result, but he drove to the brown mass lying on the edge of the dirt road and parked right past it. After making sure it was lined up with the tailgate, he parked the truck and practically ballet leaped out of the cab.
It was better than he could’ve hoped for: the deer was practically fully intact. He inspected the animal, kneeling by its body and gently turning its head where it lay almost sleeping atop the road. His jeans brushed the dusty fur and it almost looked like the deer had stopped to sleep using Theo as a bed.
Kenny kept their distance, watching from the other side of the truck bed. “What killed it?”
“Only thing I can see is a broken leg. If it got hit, there’s probably internal damage.” He nodded towards the truck. “Open the back and we’ll get him in. You grab the antlers, but be careful with the neck.”
Kenny shuddered. “I like it better when we hang out with the cows,” they said but did as asked, letting the tailgate bang open as it dropped.
Theo slid his hand under the backside of the deer and waited until Kenny got a good grip on the antlers and nodded. Bent his knees and lifted-
“Fuck!” The deer’s head flopped back onto the ground and Kenny jumped back, rubbing the palms of their hands on their shorts. “Damn it…”
Theo dropped to one knee, still trying to keep hold of the animal. “Dude, what’s wrong?”
“I, uh, I don’t know. I got this really freaky feeling when I touched it.” They brushed their hands furiously until Theo worried they would start to bleed. “Think you can get it in yourself?”
“No way. This thing weighs as much as you do.”
“Alright just…gimme a second.”
Theo waited patiently, ignoring the shaking in his elbows still holding up the deer carcass. Kenny usually didn’t have a problem with dead animals, the vulture-curated necklace hanging around his neck was proof of that. But the draining face and excessive hand stimming was getting concerning. “Ken, I can try lifting-”
“No! No, sorry, I’m good now. Let’s get this back so I can eat Aaron’s corn on the cob.”
“Taaron.”
“Right.”
Kenny grabbed an antler with one hand and the head with the other. Theo got the bulk of the weight, but the head was what he was most excited about. “One, two, lift!” The deer flew then collided with the truck bed with a thunk and they both leaned against it, panting. “Gods, we’re out of shape. When did that happen?”
“When our last gym day was freshman year.”
“Right.” Theo gave the deer pat on the back for behaving. “Well, let’s get this beauty back.”
“You’re not gonna do your thing before the eclipse, right?”
“...”
“Theo!”
“We have the daylight!”
“The deviled eggs, Theo!”Kenny waived his first-bite rights the day he agreed to go on any and all vulture excursions and Theo told him as such as they drove back to his family’s house. Even though he lived in the more rural area of Lula, it was low populated. They crossed the train tracks into grasshopper-high rolling fields encased by the miles and miles of Blue Ridge foothills. Nature naturally reached for the heavens but only the trees were close to making it.
They started to pass multiple small houses on his road: tin roofed trailers mostly with short gravel drives and grassy yards filled with people gathering to watch the once in a lifetime total solar eclipse.
Theo’s family house was already bustling. Their arc driveway ran from the road, wrapped around the back of their trailer, and circled back to the road in between his parent’s house and his uncle’s garage. The family was gathered already in the front yard and Kenny dramatically pressed his hands and face to the window as they drove around to the back.
Theo couldn’t help laughing. “Dude I promise, if you miss any food, I’ll bake you brownies to make up for it.”
“With M&Ms?” They asked while eyes still trained on the barbecue even as they disappeared behind the house.
“Two entire bags. And maybe-”
Thump! He had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming. Their heads swiveled in sync and let out a collective sigh of relief seeing a messy golden retriever now hanging out in the truck with the dead deer. “Bailey! Don’t scare us like that.”
He barked and grinned, his tail waving against the deer’s glassy face.
Behind the house, the cow pasture integrated with the spanning forest and the residents perked up their heads as the truck bumped past. A cut in the trees branched off the driveway and Theo gently guided the truck through. It was just barely wide enough to let the vehicle through but angled down and covered with emerging tree roots and large rocks that every turn of the tires gifted them bumps so harsh they had to keep from barreling right into the roof.
Finally, about 50 feet down, it opened up. A large irregularly shaped clearing in the forest with enough room for Theo to pull off to the right and cut the engine. The dirt flooring shifted as he jumped out and received a face full of fur.
Bailey licked his laughing face and planted his muddy paws on his red flannel. “Okay okay, buddy. I missed you too.”
Kenny rolled their eyes smiling, coming around to scratch behind the dog’s flopping ears. “We were gone like 30 minutes.”
“That’s 30 years to dogs, didn’t ya know?” Kenny didn’t answer and Theo winced. “Sorry.”
They shrugged. “S’okay. Where you want this thing?”
“Above the drop off, so I can quickly discard anything if I need to.”
Kenny looked around, their face twisting. It wasn’t like the woods out by their house, Theo knew. “This place is a breeding ground for parasites.”
Theo reached into the bed and pulled up a small cooler. “That’s why I brought my doctor’s bag.”
Together, they got the deer out of the bed and on the ground. The clearing was mostly surrounded by just more trees, but one sliver edged a small bank that ran down about 5 feet and disappeared into poison ivy. Some grew up the incline and tried to overtake the clearing, but Kenny, the only one of them not allergic, yanked it up and burned the stems with their lighter.
Bailey nudged at the deer, whining, and Theo pushed him away. “Not this one, buddy.” He set down the cooler and flipped the lid open. A skinning knife and pocket knife wrapped in an old and fraying but clean blue washcloth. The color was fading from being sunbleached but it still did its job. A small bottle of hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, and a Dollar Store toothbrush used only for animal bones.
Theo took out the knives just in time for the cooler to go flying towards the truck. Bailey lunged for the deer and got tackled sideways mid-air by Kenny. “Sorry! I didn’t think he’d do that.”
Theo cursed and checked his supplies, all thankfully still intact. “He normally doesn’t.” Bailey wriggled under Kenny’s small frame and a root of worry took hold in Theo’s chest. “What’s gotten into you buddy?”
“I got him, you just do your vulture thing so we can get back to the deviled eggs.”
“You really got a one track mind, don’t ya?”
“Bro I’m hungry! And so’s Bailey apparent- chill, would ya?!” They wrapped their whole body around the still wrangly dog.
They really should go back up. Bailey was acting too wierd, Kenny needed food, and judging by the dwindling light, Theo had underestimated how far along the eclipse was. It was August but the forest around them was just a degree too cold but the dead deer carcass was too warm under his hands. If they came back after dinner, the deer could be gone or actual vultures could get to it.
He’d make it up to Kenny later.
Theo carefully cut along the deer’s spine, the clean fur quickly becoming sticky as it rolled away with the blood red flesh. Bone was exposed to the elements and he tapped the dips with the knife. A dull boink echoed back each time and the melodious sound reverberated through his own spine.
“Rooo!” Bailey yowled and started barking at the deer. Kenny jolted back but quickly collected themselves in time to grab onto his neck and pull him back.
“He doesn’t usually do this crap does he?” they asked, whipping his head side to side out of the way of Bailey’s.
“Never. I don’t understand, he never cares about the animals I bring back.” The roots grew and stretched around his lungs but he tightened his grip on the knife. “Just keep him over there. He’ll calm down when we go eat.”
“Which will be…?”
“Soon! I promise.” Theo carved around the spinal cord until he could safely peel away the back skin, revealing the cornucopia of organs. Bailey’s barking reached through his ear drums and banged around in his head so he wrapped an intestine around the tip of the knife and gently moved it to look inside.
“Theo! The eclipse!”
He tore his eyes away to glance up. The daylight sky was a deep blue, obscured by the thin branches stretching to take hold of the sun directly above their heads. A dark circle was gaining traction and quickly making its way towards the sun.
It shouldn’t be going that fast.
“Grrrr!” Bailey growled from his position just a few feet away, digging his claws into the dirt as he struggled to reach the deer. The roots in Theo constricted around his lungs and began to squeeze tight. Sticky blood on his hands squeezed the spinal cord. Bailey lunged again and Kenny threw themselves on him.
“Theo!”
The moon touched the sun.
Inside the deer, something black clung to the stomach. Intestines looped up and around the black mass clumped in the deer’s center and despite the very dead state of the animal, Theo could almost hear breathing.
“Theo! Dammit Theo, Bailey’s losing it!”
Theo could only tear away his gaze to watch Kenny’s full weight being dragged along the forest floor as Bailey clawed his way towards him and the deer. High in the sky, the moon eclipsed the sun and Theo poked the tip of the blade into the black mass.
And the world flashbanged him.