The Gulock (Patreon)

Trying something new with this one. With Halloween fast approaching, it's time to dabble into a little bit of horror! This story likely isn't for the squeamish.

The Gulock had been human once, it knew that much. That had to be a lifetime ago though as the humanity had been mostly stripped away from the creature of the wilderness, replaced by the ferocity of a beast and the intentions of a demon.

Very few people dared venture out into the wilderlands that the Gulock called home for fear of the beasts that preyed upon the lost there. The Gulock had once been one of those lost individuals, foolhardy enough to believe that he could hold his own against some wild animal, but there was a dark magic over the place and he was soon caught in its web, helpless to the corruption spreading throughout his being.

These days only the truly lost found their way into the Gulock’s territory - or the foolishly brave who were far out of their depth. One such person had arrived suitably armed with a standard issue police rifle but even that wouldn’t be enough to save him from his fate. The Gulock was no ordinary creature, more of a hellbeast than some savage animal, and the moment it caught sight of the handsome man a hunger awoke inside of it that it hadn’t felt in a long time.

Gazing upon the man as he stalked through the dried out plantlife, careful to keep himself as quiet as possible, brought the few remaining human parts of the Gulock back to the forefront of its mind. It longed to finally make it out of the wilderness and return to society - to live a life! There had never been a more sensible candidate until that very moment and for once both the human and monstrous parts of the Gulock wanted the same thing - the man’s beautiful skin.

As the man began to set up camp in a small clearing, intent to spend the night in the wilderness likely to prove to his comrades that he was a braver man than them, the Gulock crept ever closer. All the creature needed to do first was press its long wet tongue against the other’s skin to paralyze him for long enough to peel away his flesh with its sharp claws and place it over its own body to assume his identity. It was a savage ritual very rarely performed by the various monsters of the wilderness as they much preferred to kill and feast upon their victims as if it were the most glamorous sport.

By the time the man realized that he wasn’t alone it was already too late for him. The Gulock’s tongue was pressed against the back of his exposed neck, causing his body to go rigid. The creature savored the taste of the other’s sweat and relished in the sudden scent of fear it could detect from its petrified victim but fought back from the hungry urges to devour the man then and there. It needed to be careful to keep the animalistic side of itself locked away so he didn’t butcher the other’s skin.

With an escape from the hellish landscape of the wilderness so close by, the Gulock was beginning to feel more and more human by the minute...