On Christmas Eve, the land lay covered in ice, and the sky was a blanket of fluffed clouds, blotted with black ink. The sun flickered far behind the clouds – pushed out and isolated, just like Rudolph.

        Rudolph stood alone, away from the other reindeer. They laughed, racing each other in circles and snapping at each other. Fur chunks flew through the air as hooves slammed into bodies. Their rough games often ended in spilled drops of blood. None had ever played with Rudolph. They always cast their disgust at him. The words they gave him were shallow, but cut deep. Just seeing their nods and mouths move into smirks made him pound the ice with his hooves.

        Rudolph had a black ball for a nose like everyone else, but his nose pulsed red in erratic surges of heat. When it glowed, he turned his head to the side, attempting to hide it. He would growl to himself, sputtering curses at all of them. His eruptions of anger led to him sinking his fangs into his own arms. He would stand there, feeling the blood creep down and slide under his hooves.

        Today was different – a reindeer with an abnormally large head approached Rudolph.

        “Hi,” he said.

        Rudolph blushed and looked down.

        “What’s wrong with ya nose?” the stranger asked.

        Rudolph looked up at him; the reindeer’s freakish head tumbled about. He noticed that this reindeer was adjusting his stance and neck in attempts to balance his head. Rudolph’s mouth opened and pulled back in shock.

        “Wow,” he said.

        His eyes stared in disbelief. The wobbling-head reindeer was jumping left and right, his head still falling over.

        “You’re looking at my head, aren’t you?”

        “It’s—“

        “I know,” he said. “What’s your name?”

        “Rudolph. Why haven’t I seen you before?”

        “My pops doesn’t let me leave the cave. Says I would scare everyone.”

        Rudolph noticed the other reindeer looking towards him.

        “Say, what’s your name?”

        The reindeer looked up in deep thought.

        “They don’t really call me anything. They don’t even let me stand up, so as to keep my head from falling.” He looked at the ground under Rudolph. “Do you mind if I sit next to you? Well, lay, ya know.”

        Rudolph’s nose began glowing in fierce epileptic beats. This time, Rudolph didn’t bother covering his nose.

        “Yea. I mean, go ahead.”

        The reindeer threw his weight down and looked up to Rudolph.

        “You don’t think this is weird, do you?”

        His head lay between Rudolph’s front paws, slowly moving side to side on the ice.

        “Uh—uh, no,” Rudolph said. “You know what, man?”

        The other reindeer blinked in response.

        “I’m gonna call you ‘Dancer’. You got some moves, man.”

        “Wow, really? Thank you. I’ve never received a compliment before.” He paused. “Um, I—like your nose. The glowing is—kind of comforting, ya know?”

        “No, what do you mean?”

        “Well, with everything so dark and white, the red is like some kind of, ya know – miracle.”

        “Miracle? My nose is a fuckin’ light bulb.” Rudolph pawed his nose in a rough swipe.

        “Sorry,” Dancer said.

        “No, it’s okay.” Rudolph looked to the other reindeer playing. “So if your pops never lets you out of the cave, how are you—“

        Dancer blinked.

        “Rudolph, I just wanted friends for once. And well, Pops, he wouldn’t let me. So I—“

        Rudolph’s nose pulsed in three long beats.

        “I uh—“

        “What?”

        “I – impaled him on my antlers. I kind uh, went through his nose. Real deep. Real bloody.”

        Rudolph‘s mouth twisted in thought.

        “They’re gonna find out.”

        “I know.”

        “When was this?”

        “About an hour ago.”

        “What say you’s and I’s get outta here?”

        “You mean that, Rudolph?”

        “Yea, I mean it. I said it, so I mean it.” Rudolph pounded the ice with his hoof. “Dancer, I want you to meet me on the far side of that hill.”

        “Wow, great!”

        Dancer shot up off the floor and began galloping away, catching his freakish head side-to-side, he danced and moved with all the style his new friend said he had.

        Rudolph stood, staring at the other reindeer that were playing.

        “Fuck this place,” he said in a low voice.

        His anxiety of his nose subsided. With nothing to fear, he approached them, stomping the ice hard to build his rage. His nose shot a long, blinding pulse. He licked his fangs, tonguing over the pointed edges.

        “Nothing to lose,” he said.

        A half circle of the other reindeer broke open.

        “Get out of here, you red-nosed prick,” one of the reindeer said.

        Rudolph nodded and leapt at the one who spoke. He spun his head, scratching the reindeer’s throat with his antlers, and then sank his teeth into the other reindeer’s cheek. Blood droplets let fly, blinding one of Rudolph’s eyes. He darted his eyes side-to-side, looking at the rest of them and sank the fangs deeper. The other reindeer pounced on him. They tore him off their friend and held him down to the ice, pinning him beneath their hooves.

        “What the fuck are you doin’, you nut!” another reindeer said.

        Rudolph was snapping his fangs at the air in blind rage; he refused to be pinned down. Time slowed as antlers came swooping down; razor sharp, they sliced the very air. He knew an end was coming. All in unison, they cut Rudolph through his fur-covered flesh. His blood sprayed slashes on the white snow. Then came the hooves, stomping his body. He growled, frustrated he was unable to attack. The wet, heavy hooves crashed into muscle; this was long in coming he knew. Weak, and having lost his adrenaline, all defenses dropped as a final hoof came crashing down into his right eye. Blackness ensued.

        Rudolph swayed in pain with closed eyes. Sores screamed at his muscles as he fought to stand upright. His hooves slid in his pool of blood. Lifting his eyes, his orientation was bogus, the horizon spun and moved towards him like a nightmare. He looked through his altered visage; all were inside their caves. He scanned the distance, looking for the far hill where he had told Dancer to wait. He trotted off towards it with one eye shut, and bruises and scratches covering him head to tail.

        Dancer jumped, seeing Rudolph nearby. He ran to him in prances.

        “What happened, pally?”

        “I—faced them.”

        Dancer nodded and fell into rhythm of sliding back and forth on the ice, keeping his head balanced. Rudolph smiled. He spoke with his eyes closed, gesturing loosely with a hoof.

        “Ah man, we don’t need them. You’s and I’s, man, we’re the real fuckin’ reindeer. You hear me? None of that fake shit, not with us, pally. You with your sick moves, and me with Santa’s absent thought of rage in my nose, glowing red and saying ‘fuck you’ to the world.”

        “You alright, Rudolph?”

        “Fuckin’ course I am. Why? What’s a matter with you?”

        Dancer nodded his head, falling into a beat.

        “I pretend I hear music, makes it more comfortable, ya know?”

        “Yea, I do,” said Rudolph, pawing Dancer.

        “You’re really bleedin’.”

        Rudolph began licking his own wounds. Deep cuts riddled his body; the lines were everywhere. Lapping up blood, he felt the copper taste hitting his tongue and screaming its pungent flavor.

        The two reindeer walked through the white. Dancer was bouncing left and right, gripping the ground with his padded hooves and launching spot to spot, kicking his legs high in the air, arching up and down. Rudolph stumbled through the snow. The bloodstains were crusted, intricate paths layered like a zebra’s fur after being half-skinned.

        Rudolph was tired and sore, but planted each hoof with determination. Each step caused cracks on the top layers of the ice. His mouth jerked with each lean of his weight. Both the reindeer were hungry and covered in sweat.

        “I don’t know how you keep that up,” Rudolph said. He watched Dancer leaping through the air, his gargantuan head slowly tilting.

        “I like the feeling. It makes my muscles quake, but it feels great.”

        Rudolph shifted his eyes. “This land feels like it stretches like the sky. Let’s stop for the night.”

        The moon’s pale light illuminated the snow. Rudolph and Dancer stopped at a gnarled tree – a nightmare. Dancer laid his head in the snow, the wet ice chilled his earthbound ear. A pocket of snow fell from the gnarled nightmare above. They looked up. On a branch above was an Albino Snow rabbit that stared down with a scary, condemning glare. The reindeer licked their lips.

        “Give me a boost, Dancer.”

        Dancer stood up and leaned against the tree in upright posture.

        “Okay, jump on top.”

        Rudolph put his two front legs on Dancer’s hip.

        “Don’t move,” he said.

        Rudolph climbed up Dancer’s shoulders, feeling his head tilt side-to-side between his legs. He jumped, swiping his hammer-like hooves. The rabbit jumped off the branch toward the ground. Rudolph leapt off Dancer, who also spun around and leapt at the rabbit. It was hopping away with its head twisted back, taunting them. The reindeer pranced; their speed was faster than the rabbit. They ran parallel, tripping each other in their rush. The rabbit stopped short and jumped backwards, reversing his direction. Both reindeer snapped their fangs.

        Their bites sank through the rabbit’s hide; blood splattered their faces. They tore the flesh off in thick chunks, their teeth clanging together with saliva and blood mixing. Rudolph looked to the rabbit’s head; it still had the tormenting stare on it. He growled, lifted a hoof, and stomped with rage. The red eyes exploded. The rabbit’s intense face disappeared into jaunt disfigurement.

        Both reindeer licked their own chops clean; the blood slopped of their tongues. Dancer pranced around in circles. Rudolph’s nose blinked on, then off – it scorched the air in front of him, wavering his vision. Putting his nose to the ice, it burned through, making a hole of steamed water.

        “My nose, it’s like fire, Dancer!”

        “Does it hurt?”

        “No, but it’s blinding me!”

        His nose shot a bright white that was tinted red on the outer aura. It dimmed.

        “We better shut our eyes for the night.”

        “Yea.” Dancer nodded with a massive rocking of his head.

        Rudolph slept, his wounds slowly healing in the night. Dancer did not sleep; he raced through the night, carving through the wind. He leapt six times the speed, racing every shadow he found and sniffing out the animals who cast them. He scouted a wide radius outside of Rudolph, catching rabbits and slicing them open. He raced back to Rudolph and laid the rabbit carcasses over him like an organic blanket. Dancer laughed with glee. Rabbit blood covered every hair on his face – red, but it could not phase his shatterproof joy. The darkness bled out as the hidden sun appeared.

        Dancer lapped his tongue feverishly at Rudolph’s face, covered him in his saliva. Rudolph awoke.

        “What?” Rudolph asked, pushing him off with a hoof. “What?”

        Dancer exploded in laughter. Stained blood caused the fur on his head to spike out in all directions.

        “You did this?” Rudolph looked to the dozen and a half rabbits atop him.

        “Isn’t it great!” Dancer spun in a circle. “Watch me!”

        He spiraled through the air at half a tree’s height. His legs and arms were bulged with thick muscle that protruded against the flesh. His still freakishly large head was atop his neck, yet no longer wavered.

        “Dancer, what happened?”

        “I’m jumping higher than I ever have. It’s been like a dream all night, but I didn’t even sleep.”

        Dancer curved through the wind, extending his legs.

        “You can fly?”

        “No, but I can glide!”

        Jealousy overcame Rudolph. “You ready to go?”

        “Yea,” Dancer said. He landed next to Rudolph. “I think it’ll be faster if you ride on top of me.”

        “Yea, we’ll do that.”

        Dancer’s grin was brighter than Rudolph’s nose. Rudolph lay atop Dancer with crossed legs, his back hooves stuck into his hips. He kept his head low. Rudolph’s nose glowed, emitting white heat with a red barrier.

        “Easy, Rudolph, you’ll burn a hole in the back of my head!”

        Rudolph closed his eyes, thinking of using it as a weapon.

        “Dancer, your flight and my nose – This is nothing to be wasted, hear?”

        “Yea, Rudolph. What do you have in mind?”

        “Home.”

        “You sure about that?”

        “Right, I am,” Rudolph said. “Listen.” Rudolph put a hoof to Dancer’s ear and whispered. Dancer nodded.

        “More than happy, Rudolph. Fuckin’ rollin’-in-my-own-shit – glorious-A to glorious-B – happy. Nothin’ can top my peak, Rudolph. Anything you want, I’m ready.”

        “Good to hear, bro,” Rudolph said.

        Rudolph snuggled down into Dancer’s strong back. He clasped hooves around him tight and turned his head sideways on his neck.

        “On, Dancer!”

        Dancer crouched low and sprung his body into the winds. Rudolph’s wounds were closed, yet still able to break open. The peeled edges of the sores were flapping painfully. The reindeer carved the air abroad, riding in Dancer’s style.

        On Christmas day, the young reindeer played their chasing games. They made jokes and boasts of greatness. The name ‘Rudolph’ slipped from twisted mouths, spitting insults.

        Dancer and Rudolph glided towards their home. As they approached the young reindeer, Dancer took aim. One reindeer noticed their flight. Commotion broke out with yelling, and snarling words escaping their lips. Rudolph’s nose was bright – brighter than they had ever seen. The white and red aura gave the winter day such luminance like his nose was the very sun – bleeding its revenge, sparkling and shouting its doom.

        The reindeer beckoned Rudolph, itching to put him down with his blood soaking so deep, the earth core itself would feel the wetness. Dancer crashed straight into the midst of them. Savage growls erupted from the deep of Rudolph’s chest.

        Dancer hit ground level and swept down at full speed. Rudolph’s nose blinded the other reindeer. Dancer came out the other side of the light with a reindeer by his neck on his antlers; the body was whipping through the air. Dancer stomped down into the snow and braced his weight back. The reindeer flew head-over-tail with his neck snapping and his body landing into a contorted ball.

        Rudolph speared the closest reindeer with his blaring nose, puncturing right through its chest; flesh burned away instantly, obliterated. He dropped his teeth down into another reindeer, ripping out his neck. Two other reindeer took the opportunity to dash at Rudolph with antlers slicing through the air. Rudolph lifted his nose to the incoming antler, it crumbled to ashes as it came into contact, but those of the other reindeer flew low, slicing Rudolph’s chest. A sheet of blood curtained out.

        Rudolph screamed and sank his teeth into the reindeer’s neck. The other reindeer had mimicked the bite. The two reindeer stood with fangs in each other’s neck. Growling through teeth, each sank his fangs deeper, their vital limit approaching. Dancer, from above, stomped his hoof onto the reindeer’s forehead, throwing him to the side. Rudolph stood with the chunk of neck dripping its vile black, drenching the snow in filth. Rudolph pointed his head down and ran the line of his open, gushing wound with his nose. He growled. The heat seared it closed, stopping the blood. A ghoulish, black scar wrapped his torso.

        Another reindeer leapt at Rudolph. Dancer kicked off the ground and charged it, sending him flying into a gnarled nightmare nearby. A low-hanging branch snapped, swung down, and crushed the reindeer’s face into a bark-splintered horror.

        Rudolph stood on the last reindeer, pinning him down. He bared his fangs and growled, smoke trailed from his self-made scar. The trapped reindeer twisted, squirming down in the snow and shaking his head as red light flashed from Rudolph’s nose. The reindeer cried in torment as Rudolph buried his nose into its skull, searing through the bone, it heated the reindeer’s brain, causing it to burst. Remnants of the ruined head blew outwards while Rudolph sank his teeth into the remaining face in cannibalization.

        Rudolph and Dancer came together. Both were heaving as smoke rose from their breath.

        Reindeer families piled out of their caves. Silence ensued. All had eyes on the bloody playground. Rudolph threw his body atop his friend, grappled down, and whispered.

        “On, Dancer.”