Survival Instincts

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Shot of a campfire in the foreground. In the background, the light from the campfire fades into darkness, with just a few tree trunks visible. A pair of white eyes peer out from the darkness. The title “Survival Instincts” sits in the center of the page, with “Al Benbow” below it.

 

 

I created this short comic as my final project in Mel Gillman’s “In Graphic Detail” horror comics class, which was run through Crucial Comix.

Page 2 of Survival Instincts. Panel 1 is an overhead shot of Sam sitting alone at the fire. In panel 2, something causes a loud SNAP! Off-panel, and Sam whips her head around to look in its direction. She looks scared and asks, “Hannah?” Panel 3 is a close-up of Sam’s hands shaking as she clutches her hot dog roasting stick. Panel 4. Another loud SNAP! Comes from off-panel in a different direction. Sam turns her head to look and cries out. Panel 5. Sam’s POV as she looks across the fire ring and sees a pair of reflective eyes close to the ground that are staring at her from the darkness of the trees. Panel 6. Sam pulls out her phone and shines the flashlight in the direction of the eyes, breathing hard. Panel 7. Sam’s POV as she looks across the fire ring and sees nothing but brightly illuminated trees.

Page 3 of Survival Instincts. Panel 1 is a mid-shot of Sam as she pants with fear, shaking and holding her flashlight out in front of her. In panel 2, she shakily goes back to tending the fire with her stick, thinking to herself, “Just my imagination…or a raccoon…or a squirrel?” In panel 3 and 4, Sam is tending the fire, and then looks up as she notices something. The eyes stare at her from across the fire pit in panel 5. In panel 6, she stares back shakily, thinking, “It’s just a raccoon or a squirrel, it’s just a raccoon or a squirrel, it’s just…” In panels 7-9, the eyes stare at Sam across the fire pit and slowly rise to the height of a human being.

Page 4 of Survival Instincts. Panel 1. Sam stares at the eyes in astonishment and fear. Panel 2. The eyes tilt to one side as if the creature is cocking its head. The fire goes out with a “Tssss” and the creature makes a clicking noise. Panel 3. Sam bolts. Panels 4-8 depict Sam running through the woods and screaming Hannah’s name. At the bottom of the page, Hannah turns and says, “Sam?” Right before Sam smacks into her with an “OOF—!”

Page 5 of Survival Instincts. In panel 1, Sam grabs Hannah by the wrist and starts dragging her along while saying, “Something’s back there, we have to GO!” Hannah starts to reply, “What—?” But Sam interrupts, “NOW!”. Panel 2 is a long shot of the two running through a field back toward a car. Hannah is behind Sam and calls out, “Sam, wait! What happened?” Sam replies, “Just unlock the car!” Panels 3-5. Sam and Hannah reach the car, and Hannah fumbles with the keys. Sam urges, “Hurry!” And Hannah replies, exasperated, “Alright, alright!” Hannah unlocks the car and they both get in, slamming the doors behind them. Panel 6. Sam places her phone on the dashboard of the car and says “I saw these eyes--“ Hannah interrupts: “You saw an animal?”. Sam continues, “No, no, the eyes, they—it stood up, it was tall, and it made this weird noise, like…”.

Page 6 of Survival Instincts. Panel 1. Hannah asks, “Could it have been a deer? They’re tall and I’ve heard them make all sorts of weird noises.” Sam replies, “I don’t… No, I don’t think so.” Sam’s phone starts to buzz on the dashboard. Panel 2. Hannah peers out through the windshield and says, “…Maybe it was a bear.” Sam says, “Really?” Panel 3. Hannah replies, “Yeah, maybe it smelled the hotdogs.” Sam reluctantly agrees: “Yeah… Maybe…” as their phone continues to buzz. Panel 4. Hannah continues off-panel as Sam notices their phone and picks it up with an alarmed and confused expression: “Usually big predators don’t seek people out…but if they smell food, that’s a different story.” Panel 5 contains close-up of Sam’s phone screen as it receives an incoming call from Hannah. Meanwhile, Hannah continues talking off-panel: “We should be safe in here, though.”

Page 7 of Survival Instincts. Panels 1-2. Sam looks down at her buzzing phone and says “What the fuck?” before answering it: “Hello?” Panel 3. Sam holds the phone to her ear. Through the phone, Hannah speaks: “Sam? Where are you?” Sam asks, “Hannah?” Panel 4. Hannah continues through the phone: “Are you okay? I’ve tried to call you like five times. Panel 5. Sam looks toward Hannah’s seat with a terrified expression while still holding the phone to her ear. Through the phone, Hannah’s voice says “I heard you shouting and when I came back the fire was out and you were gone. So much for those survival instincts, I guess.” Not-Hannah sits in the car, staring at Sam with a blank expression. Panel 6. She locks the doors to the car with a loud KA-CHUNK! Panel 7 is a shot of the exterior of the car. The windows are illuminated with light from the inside of the car, but we can’t see inside. Over the phone, Hannah’s voice says, “Sam? Hello?” Panel 8 is the same shot of the exterior of the car, but the lights inside switch off. The same clicking noise that the creature made at the fire comes from inside the car.