That Night on Broken Branch Road

by Laura Shell

Nighttime on Broken Branch Road. No street lamps for miles. Trees lining both sides. A car approaches and a deer needs to cross the road. Normally, many deer just do it because...well, that's a question for the ages. But this particular deer needed to cross because it was being chased.

The driver of the car saw the deer at the side of the road as it sprinted. She slammed on the brakes. The car zigzagged. The headlights illuminated the thing chasing the deer; at least seven feet tall, silver hair from head to toe, claws, a massive snout of teeth, a seriously long penis.

The car hit this thing and this thing slammed through the windshield, then the car hit a tree. Airbags deployed. Steam from the damaged engine rose like rain on hot pavement. The driver wasn't injured. Until the thing that slammed through the windshield realized where it was–in the front seat of a car, inches from a human, bleeding profusely from broken glass. It realized it may not live. There was only one thing to do. It swiped its left claw at the human, leaving marks on her chest, not deep enough to kill, just deep enough so that its lineage continued.

Laura Shell has been published in NUNUM, Maudlin House, X-RAY, Vestal Review, and Killer Nashville, among other publications. Her first anthology of paranormal stories, The Canine Collection, was released in 2024. Her new collection of short stories, So Far, So Good, So What? was released on September 8, 2026. Laura is a prolific writer and submitter of flash fiction and the editor of the Flash Phantoms horror fiction site—www.flashphantoms.net. You can find more of her work at https://laurashellhorror.wordpress.com.