Téa Obreht, "The Laugh"

Oh crap, hyenas.

(from The Atlantic Fiction 2009)

I was torn. On one hand, the tension was brilliant, like a decent slasher flick. The dark, the quiet, insanely open outdoors, the cramped empty house, the unseen killer, the flashlight darting around. I genuinely thought this story would have some non-flashbacking action. And it kinda does, a little. I don't wanna give things away. Anyway, here's the other hand: It's clumsy, it's awkward, it expects you to believe somebody forgot his gun wasn't loaded, maybe even expects you to forget it. Which, no way. But, hell, it's a good monster story.
That's a pic of wildebeests I screencapped from the Africam.