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HWE Beast of Bray Road

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Description

Name: Beast of Bray Road

Aliases: Modern Werewolf,  'Man-Bear-Wolf', The Scourge of Wisconsin , BBR

Faction: None, solitary

Status: Active

Alignment: Neutral Hostile

Rank: 1 Cryptid

Measurements: H- 2-4 ft at the shoulder, 7 ft tall. W - Heavy

 

Powers:

 

Super Beast - The BBR as they tend to be called now, have the most dangerous features of canine, ursine and hominid anatomy and physiology.  Their sense of smell is 500 times that of a human, capable of tracking for miles. Their jaws are strong enough to crush a human skull like a melon with teeth that strip flesh like a razor. Their massive front paws pack rending claws anchored into the finger joints. These front paws also have opposable thumbs, allowing it to grasp things and climb. Powerful binocular vision allows them to scan the area for prey and hone in on it. It's ears are keen enough to detect the heartbeat of vermin several dozen feet away. It's powerful shoulder muscles and forearms give enough striking power to shatter a horse's back in half with a single swipe.  It is capable of running a good 40 miles an hour at a full sprint when on all fours. It can switch between bipedal and quadrupedal movement, able to stand on its hind legs so it can use its front claws. It's dense muscle and fur require several shots of ammunition to put it down and it has such a powerful adrenaline factor that it will keep fighting even with mortal injuries. It's saliva has strangely powerful regenerative properties that allow it to patch itself up even from severe injuries in a matter of hours.

 

Tireless Hunter - The BBR is a tenacious and determined tracker. Once it has its prey's scent, it will chase it for miles, wearing it down until exhaustion takes it or the BBR catches up and brings it down.

 

Cunning Killer - The BBR, while not truly sentient, it is sapient and wily. It all but refuses to be trapped or caught. Those that spot it are only allowed brief encounters with it before it disappears. Those that get a full view of the beast and appear to have anything resembling a camera are often torn apart and their equipment savaged. The creatures are very hostile to anything that might try to track it back to its den. It is also smart enough to not kill so much that it draws attention to itself and has a surprisingly wide territory range. BBR's study all animals inhabiting their territory and recognize certain patterns. As such they are able to plot and plan around these patterns to not only acquire prey but also avoid detection

 

Weakness:

 

Scent Masking - It's powerful sense of smell is a double edged sword. Powerful stenches can drive it away or mask the scent of something it's tracking, giving it more time to escape.

 

High Frequency Sound - It also has sensitive hearing so something like a dog whistle drives it nuts.

 

Certain Metal Alloys - Metals like mercury and silver are toxic regardless but seem to have a notably adverse affect on BBR's. They become rather sick after being shot or impaled with such metals though it's not the instant death blow most would hope.

 

Hibernation - The BBR is active six months out of the year. During the winter it hibernates until spring much like a bear. During the fall it tends to go after larger game to stockpile fat reserves and further elude discovery by hiding deep in the mountains. During this time it sleeps and thus is a threat to no one. Should it be disturbed however, it makes sure it's intruder pays dearly.

 

Description: The Beasts of Bray Road or BBR's look like your classic millennium age Hollywood werewolf. Large canine head, long loping arms, a powerful torso and digitigrade legs. Their pelt is often gray, black or brown in color. Eye colors range from piercing green, to bloodshot red to the gold of a harvest moon. They notably have a larger more pronounced brow than a wolf and have opposable thumbs like a man. They also have the characteristically developed shoulders and barrel chest of a bear.    

 

Personality: The BBR is a standoffish, aggressive and solitary sort of Cryptid. It normally prefers small or large game, leaving midsized prey animals alone. It's hunting strategy is designed to evade detection. large amounts of small prey are not missed and a single large animal can keep a BBR fed for weeks. It actually doesn't like humans either around it or for eating. It is however very aggressive and if interrupted during a meal will likely attack with lethal intent. Human victims can be savagely and lethally mauled but are almost never eaten. Human flesh seems abhorrent to the BBR for some reason. The BBR has a strange tendency to drive its prey toward open roads and this is where a majority of reported sightings tend to occur. This is speculated to be a way to either force the prey out into the open or to stun it with the incoming lights of passing cars before stealing it away and returning to the brush.

 

Bio: It was November 2033, in the wake of Kaiju attacks and Cryptid sightings popping up the media is a flush with news of otherwise bizarre creatures thought to be nothing but fantasy and conspiracy theory just a year ago. But something had changed in the ecosystems of the world and that change had brought with it a stir near the city of Elkhorn Wisconsin. It started out normally enough for the country backwoods of Elkhorn. Pet's going missing, a horse seemingly torn out of its stable late one night, nighttime drivers calling in reports of a mysterious, large furred animal prowling the infamous Bray Road. Bray Road had been a tourist highlight since the original run of stories about the 'Beast' roaming and even attacking people on that road from 1936 to a string of incidents running from the late 80's to early 90's. One gaff of a fake video later and the idea of this 'Wisconsin Werewolf' being anything other than an unusual dog or man in a suit were slim to none. Then an actual murder took place  on the 13th.

 

A trucker driving down Bray Road had hit a deer. The evidence were tufts of hair sticking to the grill of the parked semi. However unknown to the public were another type of hair also stuck in the grill that could not be fully matched to any native species in the area. The driver's body was found in the ditch, torn limb from limb and mauled. Forensics painted a grizzly picture of the driver coming to inspect the front end of his truck and the collision with the animal. The suspect had apparently torn loose from the truck and chased the man not more than a few feet, before yanking him off the door and to the ground. Where upon he was violently eviscerated. The drivers body was then dragged into the ditch and further dismembered and mauled by a pair of teeth matching that of a large canine. However the claw marks were large enough to be a bears. But the pattern of the marks were wrong as were the size of the tooth impressions. Regardless the driver was killed and thrown into the ditch; after which the suspect returned to take the deer off the semi truck and carry it off back across the road into the brush. Blood marks could be found matching the deer along the tree branches before being largely unaccountable past the river. The official report was that a 'bear' had chased a deer across the road, both were hit, the bear chased and mauled the driver before returning for the deer and dragging it off. No mention was made about the blood in the trees or the difference in wounds compared to a bear's typical MO.

 

That's when the missing pet reports began to file in. Pets were going missing and a mare was torn out of her stable one night. Pieces of that same mysterious fur found there as well. The second murder happened not more than a week after the first when a farmer's son, shooting a documentary on the benefits of free range chicken, was found hanging from the rafters of his family barn. The boy looked like he had been ran under the blades of an industrial harvester but the evidence pointed to the same sorts of teeth and claw marks found on the truck driver. With now two murders, an reward was posted to hunt the 'killer bear' haunting Elkhorn. Teams of volunteers with sports center gear and hunting rifles bought from the local retailer loaded their coolers and went into the forest to see if they could tag a bear. There was no such luck for most of them. One man brought his hunting dogs with him and went missing one night chasing a trail. A day later his body was found hanging from the trees, several shells spent in the discarded gun at the base of the tree and head hanging by a frayed tendon. It was noted that the suspect did not 'eat' the victims as all parts were more or less accounted for. The dogs were not found though scraps of their collars were found by the river.

 

Facing civil unrest and a mounting body count, Wisconsin governor Alan Gorenberry decided it was time to throw some serious money at the problem. A much larger hunt was called for and some seasoned professional hunters called in to see if they could track down this ruthless killing machine. A report of the Beast came to light when a group of elderly women attending a garlic club cook off, sighted the creature. It was discovered that just down the road from the sighting, a woman's pet goat was taken from the property. The goat's owner told reporters it was named 'Stevy Knickers' and was dearly missed for being a blue ribbon winner two years running. The governor took personal interest in the case due to public outcry and gathering his resources came to a strange and personal conclusion: The Beast of Bray Road was real and it was not just a mere wolf or dog man but a 'Man-Bear-Wolf'. Clearly an enemy to all mankind and garlic loving old ladies everywhere. The press at first thought the governor was making light of his state crisis but for whatever reason Gorenberry became obsessed with finding this creature and proving it existed. Joining one of the area sweeps himself, Gorenberry was met with a mix of skepticism and criticism for what many took as a publicity stunt so he could get reelected. However late that night in the camp the generator went down and a man was carried off screaming into the woods. Gorenberry and the others recovered what was left of him. This time alive enough to hysterically gargle out 'the beast! the beast!' until he died of blood loss.

 

From that point on Alan Gorenberry left many of his legislative duties in the hands of his staff as he tried to solve the puzzle of the Elkhorn killer as it was being called. Many thought he had gone crazy when he was insisting on hunting the 'Man-Bear-Wolf'  and connecting clues from various sightings. However odd, the people of Elkhorn were glad to have a representative that seemed to be actually doing something as the killings continued to mount. Questions of whether the national guard or animal control should be called in with arguments for either side muddling the issues. Around the time of the first snowfall, Gorenberry finally got the lead he was looking for. Setting out alone with a camera, a gun, and other survival gear, he was determined to find the Elkhorn killer or die trying. His trail took him into the mountains and finally arriving at a cave. The cave winded quite a ways deeper in until Gorenberry finally found his nemesis. The Beast of Bray Road was in fact a real creature and it was sleeping deeply. Gorenberry rightly assessed that it was hibernating, obeying it's 'one third bear nature'. He began to film the creature with night vision lens, noting that the creature's hind leg had healed poorly. Gorenberry concluded the reason for the attacks and flush of sightings was because the truck collision had broken it's leg and left it with a hideous limp. Unable to hunt or escape as quickly, it was forced to take easier prey. What Gorenberry didn't understand was why the creature refused to eat it's human victims, instead tearing them apart and leaving them up as scarecrows or trophies. To Gorenberry's mindset however, he believed it could be the 'one third man' refusing to eat its own kind. Gorenberry was so taken in with his camera work that accidently dislodged a pile of rocks nearby. The noise woke the 'Man-Bear-Wolf' and it recognized the situation as soon as it's beaming eyes locked onto Gorenberry. Gorenberry immediately backpedalled and ran for his life. The beast stumbling after it in a disoriented rage. A few shots of his gun were pumped into the beast but it only caused it to stumble for a moment before chasing him again with more urgency. The beast chased him through the woods as Gorenberry tried various items he thought would work. Only the pepper spray and dog whistle slowed the beast down as Gorenberry continued his desperate run back to the road. Firing the last of his gun bullets at the beast, Gorenberry was finally able to get to his truck. The Beast latched onto the roof and began clawing the windshield. Gorenberry then said a quick prayer to Jesus as he stomped the gas pedal into the floor and took off down the road with the enraged beast snarling murder the whole while. Gorenberry unwittingly drove the Beast straight to city hall....and through the meeting discussing among other things the current budget and his impending removal from office. Gorenberry pinned the beast to the podium as he crashed. Haggardly crawling his way out and slapping away a peeling '2nd term or bust!' sticker off his face and back into the dashboard, Gorenberry stumbled out of his truck to inspect the creature. He soon regretted this as the Beast began to push his truck off of it with one unbroken arm left and began to limp after him on all fours. The stunned politicians screamed and raced to the exits as Gorenberry ran back through the doors he had unceremoniously sundered. The beast hot on his tail. Racing to his office, Gorenberry tears the shotgun out from under his desk and desperately looks for anything resembling something he can use as ammo. He proceeds to shove several silver tipped fountain pens into one barrel and thermometers into the other. The beast however is disoriented, enraged, and now being seen by countless panicking people. Including a group of children here for a school field trip. The class has barricaded themselves in an office while the beast snarls in tearing through said barricade. Gorenberry curses that the beast's next intended victims are 'just children'. He sees the fire alarm and pulls it, the harsh siren enrages the beast further and it notices Gorenberry once more. It lopes after him, back to his office. Gorenberry makes his final stand over the balcony as a news station reports on the scene outside, seeing him back up to the balcony with nothing but a gun. The beast lunges and get's a close range shot of shattered mercury and silver tip buckshot straight through its mouth. Its death throes smash Gorenberry through the balcony and with the beast falling with him, into the hedge bush in the garden below.

 

When the story airs in full the following is learned: The Beast of Bray Road, aka BBR is real and it's species has been traveling semi nomadically across the mountains of the United States for decades. It has remained elusive through a very particular hunting strategy that allows it to systematically avoid detection. November 13th 2033 saw what happens when that hunting strategy is sabotaged. With an injured and limp leg, one such beast was forced to seek easier prey found in human territory. It's extreme xenophobia towards humans resulting in the creature killing anyone that saw it until it too was finally slain. By some miracle Governor Gorenberry survived his harrowing ordeal with the BBR, suffering a fractured disc and several broken ribs but otherwise alive. Cries for his reelection already circling but the Governor has found a new calling. With his term almost over, he feels it is time to move on and his next journey has only just begun. Gorenberry has decided that serving the people behind a desk is no longer enough. He's determined to learn all he can about the mysterious creatures that are now cropping up out of the woodwork and bring them to public awareness so that disasters like what happened with the BBR do not happen again. Elkhorn was never quite the same after that. Warning signs and a lower speed limit on the Bray Road are among the new changes visitors will note. People don't joke about the BBR's anymore. They know there are more of them...because what were almost intentional sightings of the creatures have begun to grow around the area. Always on the border, the tree line of a local playground or dead end of an alley behind the bar. Some nights the livestock get's deathly quiet  when it's normally bustling with life and sound. Some have recklessly tried to chase after them with nothing but a shot of courage and a handgun they got online. Those ones haven't been found. According to Gorenberry, he believes that the death of one of their own at the hands of humans have changed the entire game for the BBR. They are now watching their hairless neighbor with keener eyes. It's one of the reasons that despite his new public hero status Gorenberry has decided to travel abroad as part of his new life direction as an amateur monster hunter. He knows they watch his house...leave claw marks on his porch. First night back home and he couldn't sleep a wink. When he went out, yelling in frustration at his empty lawn. His answer was a chorus of howls and eyes glowing from the brush...watching. Gorenberry has not gone home to his four figure estate since.

 

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Important Dates:

 

 November 13 - 31st 2033 -  A truck accident sparks a surge of killings when it cripples a BBR stocking up fat reserves for the winter. The governor of Wisconsin Alan Gorenberry, begins a personal crusade to discover the identity and true nature of the Elkhorn killer. He interrupts the BBR's hibernation and finally puts the Cryptid down after an intense struggle that ends in City Hall. This has the consequence of not only revealing the BBR species to be real but inspiring the governor to complete his term and begin a new career as an amateur monster hunter. Advocating Cryptid awareness worldwide. It also has the effect of increasing the sightings of BBR's across the state and even up into Illinois and Vancouver Island. Rumors of the solitary species gradually becoming more social begin to brew.

 

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grisador's avatar
Awesome work !