Feeding Frenzy: Summer Series by Jennifer Weigel, Chapter 7
Last time on Feeding Frenzy…
Lucille returned to her room to prepare for her departure. She bolted the dead bolt behind her and took inventory of her belongings to see what might be useful. She had the sickle, hand axe, a spool of dental floss, toothbrush, travel size toothpaste, shampoo, and hairspray, mid-length bridesmaids dress with formal sash, pantyhose, undergarments, and other summer clothing… Dismayed that she didn’t have a normal leather belt or heavier-duty clothing (damned low-key summer travel), she decided to rip the side seams of the bridesmaid’s dress to create a sort of armored bodice so that she could utilize the sash as a belt, since the sash was built in and she was afraid she would compromise it if she tried to rip it out. Thank goodness this isn’t a floor length dress and the resulting movement is reasonable, Lucille breathed a sigh of relief. I can do this…
She wrapped the handles of the sickle and the hand axe in dental floss to cover the grimyness and improve the grip, working in a tiny bit of shampoo to smooth over the floss so that it wouldn’t chafe so badly and made a more even surface. She then fashioned two belt loop holsters using pantyhose and more dental floss to secure the sickle to the sash at her right hip and the hand axe to her left. She shouldered her purse like a satchel to limit its movement and keep it close. She nestled the travel-size hairspray bottle, cap off, in the front of her bodice between her breasts like a can of mace, ready for action. She rummaged through her other belongings and decided that there wasn’t anything else she really cared much about.
She stood at the mirror studying her movements as she unsheathed each of the weapons in turn and swung them about to get a sense of their weight and her speed and accuracy with them. She practiced drawing and aiming the hairspray, careful not to actually spray it so she wouldn’t waste any. Just in case.
Lucille lost track of time as she outfitted herself, and the sun settled into the horizon as the afternoon made way to dusk to evening. She was startled out of her preparations by the sound of swirling shuffling feet working their way up the path; a sense of impending doom lumped in her throat as her heart raced full of dread and anticipation. She had intended to leave sooner…
As Lucille crept to the window to peek out, she made out the sounds of a scuffle outside. From the folds of the dingy drapes, she watched as the tall man shoved the bearded man into the desk clerk, who shoved him back into the tall man with enough force to nearly knock him off his feet. The smaller man from the flea market slunk behind them a slight ways off, snaking back and forth in the shadows at their backs. Her stomach sank as she realized that Tom Jones was not with the entourage.
“C’mon out,” the bearded man started to call towards her door as the desk clerk smacked him upside the head with a hissing,”Ssshhh!”
The tall man shoved him again, shouting, “Nota’gain.” The desk clerk ssshhh-ed him also and thrashed towards him as if to make her point even more heartfelt.
The bearded man and the tall man glared at each other as if fueled by their rivalry and dismay at the turn of events of the night before. The desk clerk stepped between them, glowering with her pinpoint black eyes. She gestured towards the door.
This is it, thought Lucille.
A crash came through the underbrush and Tom emerged following the same fetid brown deer-like creature that she had seen both nights prior. The stench was even worse than the night before and Lucille nearly threw up a little. The animal, if it could even be called that anymore, was shedding bits of fur and flesh as it heaved itself up onto the parking lot. The areas beneath the rotting surface gleamed a sickly pearly pallid gray color that seemed half decayed and yet vibrantly alive. Although it was in far worse shape than the night before, the beast actually moved with more grace than it had previously, its head snaking back and forth daring Tom to come closer. It’s once terrified brown eyes were now just dark black pools, deep and distant.
The contingent of pale hollow-gazed figures slid towards the fray from Lucille’s door as they sized the creature up and gathered as if to bowl it over again. Lucille slowly opened the motel door behind them and slunk out along the outer wall. She gently nudged the door shut behind her. The desk clerk flared a large nostril and shot a harsh glance in her direction but continued to take her place among her comrades.
Instead of hobbling awkwardly in their midst, the once-deer-like animal lunged and thrashed at them. Its muzzle wound around the tall man as it ripped into his head with unnerving agility, tearing open the flesh where the bulging vein had been so visible only the day prior. His skin oozed grey and melded over it, leaving the pulsing vein exposed again, throbbing at his temple. The man threw up his arm to block the creature’s descent only to be trampled instead. Once he was downed, the beast began ripping into his arms with rows of jagged teeth as he threw them up to protect his face.
Lucille continued to sneak along the wall. She had crept her way past Room 2 now and was almost to Room 1. Halfway there, she thought to herself. Just a little more ways to go.
Tom leapt upon the creature from behind and dragged it down the shallow slope as they slid down into the ravine, trailing mud and grass. The diminutive hunchbacked man followed after him, eyes alight and mouth wide, sharp teeth gleaming. The tall man lay on the ground in a haphazard mess of flesh and bones jutting out at all sorts of unnatural angles. Yet, despite the apparent damage he had sustained, he began to rise, jerking his body back into orientation and stretching and cracking his jaw and joints back into place.
The bearded man and desk clerk had remained. Lucille had just made it to the door of Room 1. The desk clerk elbowed the bearded man and motioned towards Lucille with a quick jerk of her head. Lucille bolted for the car as they turned and lunged towards her with lightning reflexes. Their eyes were wide and vibrant, fixated upon her with a terrifying dark brilliance that she hadn’t witnessed directly before. Their nostrils flared wide and their lips curled, their mouths agape revealing a horrifying vortex of three rows of razor sharp pointed teeth curved inward.
Lucille managed to grab the hairspray from her bodice and sprayed the desk clerk fully frontal in the nose and eyes. The desk clerk withdrew, scratching at her eyes with her thick fleshy hands, as the bearded man continued his approach.
Lucille was at the ready with the hand axe and struck him in the shoulder as he thrust himself at her. The force of his assault threw her down on the pavement next to the white Cadillac and she lost her grip on the axe, which slid out of her reach towards VENDING. The bearded man crumpled beside her, his shoulder oozing silvery pearlescent pus. His nostrils flared, his eyes refocused, and he lunged at her again, grabbing onto part of her dress that had billowed out from under her as she shoved herself out of his path. She struck him in the face with the sickle, tearing a large gash across his right eye and ripping open his wide nostril, and he toppled clutching his face.
Lucille threw the Cadillac door open and jumped into the car, grabbing the keys and trying to fit them into the ignition. The bearded man rolled over and began to claw towards her, gaining momentum as he hefted his body forward. Lucille turned the key in the ignition as she slammed the door shut, almost in one sweeping motion.
The white Cadillac lurched into being, as if animated by some unseen bolt of lightning. The radio was blasting static and the lights were on bright, shining like beacons against the wall. She shifted into reverse and backed into the desk clerk, who had regained her footing just in time to be bowled over by the automobile as it sprang into action. Lucille wished the thud and crunching sound were more satisfying, but it just made her feel sicker to her stomach. She shifted into forward and drove over the bearded man with a resounding bump-a-thump as she pulled out of the parking lot and turned towards town, gaining speed.
She flashed through town, jolted every which way by the uneven pavement, trying to forget the images etched into her memory of the grisly figures, their black eyes, their jagged teeth, and the deer-like animal that seemed to become like one of them. She just kept driving, unsure of where she was or how fast she was going as the evening replayed itself over and over in her mind, cringing every time she heard the crunching sound as she backed over the desk clerk.
And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.
So what better follow up to Invisibles Among Us in Nightmarish Nature than Monstrous Mimicry? Further exploring the leaps that critters will go to in order to eat and not be eaten. This time we’re focusing on those creatures that want to intentionally be mistaken for one another.
Insects Pretending to Be Insects
This is a pretty common subgroup in the mimicry set. Featuring such celebrities as the Viceroy Butterfly, which looks an awful lot like the Monarch. Why? Because everyone knows Monarch Butterflies taste nasty and cause indigestion. Duh? Though it appears the Viceroy took further cues from this and is not all that tasty in its own right either. Dual reinforcement is totally the way to go – it tells predators not to eat the yucky butterflies regardless. But some bugs go a bit further in this, imitating one another to seek out food or protection. Various wasps, spiders, beetles, and even some caterpillars impersonate ants for access to their nest or because ants aren’t as appetizing as their buggy counterparts to much of anything outside of the myrmecophagous crowd (as shared before, here’s a fun diversion with True Facts if you have no idea), though some also have nefarious plans in mind. And similarly, the female photoris fireflies imitate other firefly signals luring smaller males to try to mate with them where they are instead eaten.
Kind of Weird Mimicry: Insects Pretending to Be Animals
Moths are pretty tasty, as far as many birds and small mammals are concerned, so several of them find ways to appear less appetizing. Using mimicry in their larval form, they may try to look specifically like bird scat or even like snakes to drive away predators, with elaborate displays designed to reinforce their fakir statuses. And once they emerge as moths, they continue these trends, with different species flashing eye spots to look like owls, snakes, cats, and a myriad of other animals most of their predators don’t want to tangle with. But other insects pretend to be larger animals too, with some beetles and others producing noises often associated with predator, typically towards the same end – to deter those who might otherwise eat them.
Animals Pretending to Be Animals
Similarly some animals will mimic others. Snakes may resemble one other, as seen in the Milk versus King versus Coral Snakes and the popular rhyme, Red with Black is safe for Jack or venom lack, but Red with Yellow kills a fellow for all that it isn’t 100% accurate on the Red-Yellow end (better to err on the side of caution than not – so assume they are deadly). Fish and octopuses will imitate other fish for protection status or to conceal opportunistic predatory behaviors. And lots of animals will mimic the sounds others make, though Lyrebirds tend to take the cake in this, incorporating the vocalizations into mating rituals and more.
Really Weird Mimicry: Animals Pretending to Be Insects
Some of the weirdest mimicry comes out in animals pretending to be insects or small fish, where a predator will flick its strangely formed tongue that looks like a fish or water nymph to draw in more tiny critters that feel safe with their own, only to find themselves snapped up as dinner. Snapping turtles are notorious for this, disguising themselves in the muck to make their big asses less obvious and reinforce the ruse. Even some snakes do this.
Weirder Still
Then there are things that pretend to be plants. Like orchid mantises. Or sea slugs that look like anemones (some of which eat anemones and have stingers to match). I mentioned a few of these in the Invisibles Among Us segment last time, because some are highly specialized to look like very specific things and others just aren’t. Essentially, nature loves to play dress up and be confusing and adaptive. It’s like Halloween year round. And who can really argue with that?
Here’s a fun video from Animalogic exploring some of these themes. And feel free to check out more Nightmarish Nature here.
Sometimes it pays not to be seen, especially if there are things that want to eat you or if you have to sneak up on things to eat them. So this time on Nightmarish Nature we’re going to look at some of the creatures known for being invisibles among us. Some of these critters engage in mimicry, intentionally looking like other specific things, but a lot of them engage in camouflage, just wanting to blend in. In this segment we’ll consider both but focus more on the latter.
Buggin’ Ya
Some of the most notable invisibles are masters of camouflage in the insect world… Moths and beetles that look like bark or dead leaves. Mantids and other insects that look like leaves or flowers. Those stick bugs and walking sticks that I’m not sure how to classify (are they some kind of weird relations to assassin bugs or their own thing?). And my personal favorite, Umbonia Crassicornis, a type of tree hopper better known as the thorn bug. And don’t even get me started on spiders and scorpions… You could come face to face with pretty much any of these critters while mucking around in your garden and be none the wiser for it unless their movement betrays their location or you happen to scan the area with a blacklight before you dig in. It’s jump scare central, for sure!
Leapin’ Lizards
Lizards and amphibians are also masters of disguise, often resembling their surroundings much like the insect world does. Chameleons are celebrated because of their ability to change color to match their surroundings, but there are several lizards that do this, just not to that extreme. Like anoles. Take a trip to Florida and you’ll soon find that you’re being stared at by a lizard you didn’t even know was there, seeing as how anoles are everywhere and get into everything (one recently startled my mother after making its home in a hallway decoration). You don’t even have to go to Florida, they range anywhere from Texas to North Carolina, and there are other lizards that range further north that do this as well.
Cunning Cats
All those coat patterns you see on cats and other ambush hunters aren’t just for show – the spots and stripes allow our feline friends to blend into their surroundings while on the prowl. Sneaky sneaky. This helps them to be the amazing hunting machines that they are. Assuming they don’t raise the bird alarm and draw attention to their whereabouts. Because birds do love to raise a stink when there’s a feline predator about, and we can’t say we blame them.
Aquatics
Then when you go underwater, you take it next level. Camouflage is taken up a notch with seahorses, nudibranchs, and more that look exactly like random flotsam. Some critters, such as Majoidea crabs, even decorate themselves with ocean debris to blend in. And octopuses are like underwater chameleons on steroids that also utilize their surroundings to create a sort of protective armor that blends in, like when they carry anything they can grab to protect their squishy selves when sharks are about. There are even true invisibles like shrimp, fish, and jellyfish that are actually clear except for their internal organs that don’t necessarily register with everything floating about underwater. Even whales can appear to come out of nowhere depending on your angle to them to start with!
If you’ve enjoyed this segment of Nightmarish Nature, feel free to check out some previous here:
So, now that it’s getting cold, here on Nightmarish Nature we’re going to talk about a different kind of terror – the starvation diet. It’s winter, and food is becoming ever scarcer, so many creatures will slow down to conserve energy. Let’s take this a step further to the sleep of the damned… But I’m not talking hibernation, or settling in for a sort of long winter nap version of seasonal affective disorder on steroids. No, I’m talking hummingbirds.
Sugar Rush
Hummingbirds are about the polar opposite of what you’d think of when you talk about inactivity. They’re more the picture-perfect speed demons. And yet, due to their crazy high metabolisms and constant need to refuel by consuming all the nectar and insects they can get their little beaks in or on, they have near death experiences on a regular basis. Even during the summer at night whenever the temperature falls too low. It’s like all their systems have to go offline for a bit just so they can survive.
Energy Suck
Essentially a hummingbird burns so much energy that he can die in less than eight hours of not eating. The little sugar daddy needs another fix just to keep going. This lifestyle is a far cry from the Energizer bunny. Essentially he has to enter a torpor state in sleep so he doesn’t succumb to his own starvation diet. Not every time, but when the temperature drops or food is scarce.
A hummingbird in torpor may, by all accounts, appear dead. He can be frozen in place, his tiny feet clasped rigidly around a branch as if rigor mortis has sunk in. He can be cold to the touch and unresponsive. He can face upwards, unmoving, breathing and heart rate slowed to near indiscernibility. He can even be hanging upside down, oblivious to the world. In fact, the hummer’s heart rate can reduce to almost one tenth of his waking state, and his temperature can drop by ~5o degrees Fahrenheit (~ 30 degrees Celsius).
Miracle Mavericks
Honestly, as shown in this article on Journey North, this ability to exercise such fine control over metabolic rate on a nightly cycle makes the hummingbirds more marvelous than terrifying, switching between cold- and warm-blooded. And they are very well-adapted to their eating regimens, especially given their diminutive size. But such is the cost of burning so much energy to keep going without much room to store fuel. Like I said, a strict starvation diet.
If you’ve enjoyed this segment of Nightmarish Nature, feel free to check out some previous here:
