There was no suspense, Lane was eaten alive, half cooked by the flames from the hyenas.
Wilson took another hit to he chest. The gorilla stepped forward and a raised a mighty foot. Its intentions were obvious. He was going to stomp Wilson's upper body to a mushy mess. Wilson willed the pain and exhaustion away and forcefully opened his eyes. This was not the time to feel sleepy. This is probably that little thing's doing.
He opened his eyes and instantly noticed the skies above him was covered.
'What is that? A foot? Oh no!'
Wilson rolled out of the way as quickly as he could.
*Boom*
The ground seemingly exploded when the gorilla's foot made contact with it. Water splashed on Wilson just as he was standing up. And then he froze. Unable to move. He saw the gorilla's huge palms coming for him from opposite directions.
Is this the end? No. Why? Because the palms suddenly paused. They paused so abruptly, Wilson felt like time had stopped. Wait, did time really stop?
The wolf leader leaped and landed beside the gorilla. It growled and the gorilla respectfully stepped aside for the boss. The wolf leader was a grey furred with a left eye but nothing at the right side. It was just blank. Like there was not even a eye socket. It looked even weirder than seeing an eye in between the foreheads of the other beasts, something like a cyclops.
Wilson tried not to stare but it was really hard. For a period of time, he felt very weirded out but could not take his eyes off the wolf. It got even harder because it moved closer and stared Wilson left eye to left eye. For the first five seconds, it felt awkward because people would normally look one in the eye, left to right and right to left, but left to left? Really awkward. As if it was trying to whisper in his ear.
It was the exact same height as Wilson when it stood on all fours. Wilson had a thought to butt it in the eye but then realised he was still frozen. Oh wait, he was not frozen anymore. Just that his body was not cooperating with him. His mind was actively and constantly coming up with new methods to bash the wolf leader's only eye. Too bad he could not move his own body.
Was this what paralysis felt like? To know your body is there but one can't use it?
After a ridiculously awkward section of left eye to left eye staring, the wolf sniffed and walked around Wilson and Wilson instantly realised that his body was actually being controlled to walk behind it.
'What the hell is going on?' Wilson wanted to ask out but he could not move his lips nor make use of his vocal cord and so, the question could only remain a thought in his mind.
The wolf walked slowly and leisurely, he followed slowly and leisurely too because he had no choice. He did not even know which of the beasts was controlling him. Was it the wolf leader? Or was it one of his twenty plus lackeys from his group of one eyed misfits?
About a minute later, they arrived at their destination. The wolf leader stopped and turned around to face Wilson, looking surprisingly docile. Wilson felt his body being released. It was a very refreshing feeling. Like finally getting out to the open after being stuck in a small dysfunctional freezer for a couple weeks.
"Open!" A deep voice said. It was not too good at speaking English but managed to make it sound like a new accent.
"Uh??" Wilson unconsciously replied. 'What the hell just happened.' He thought.
"Open!"
'Oh my goodness, did the wolf just talk?'
"Open!" This time, it sounded even more like a command and was backed up back an aggressive growl. As if it was saying that...
"Open! Or I eat you!" The wolf said, giving Wilson what was obviously his last chance to cooperate or get eaten.
Wilson's brain finally came around. Wow, a beast talking. That must be the most intriguing thing he has ever come across. Was this normal for certain species to speak human language? He opened his mouth to ask but changed his mind when he saw the wolf's unfriendly look. He really wanted to ask!
"Open what?" He asked instead. The wolf shifted aside so he could see it. It was the travelling bag.
Wilson recognized it immediately.
"Is this not the bag that short hunter was carrying?" He asked and looked at the wolf as if expecting an answer.
"Open, we not eat. Not open, we eat!" The wolf simply said. Wilson looked at it for a little longer. He knew the wolf was serious but he was a little too in his own zone. He was wondering why he was not in the least bit frightened. He just could not get himself to be scared. Was that normal? Was he really becoming numb to fear? On the contrary, he was even a little too calm in comparison to his normal self. Was he being mentally influenced by these beasts? If he is, should they not be instilling fear instead of calmness? The wolf growled and drooled a little, waking Wilson up.
"I open, you leave me, I go! Deal?" Wilson asked in as simple terms as possible. This was his best chance to escape with his life. Fear of death or not, he did not want to die.
"You open, you live." The wolf answered but due to the difficulties in speaking due to the wolf's teeth and the fact that their vocal cords were originally not meant for words, Wilson misheard the live for leave. He was elated. He turned to look at the blood and mud stained travelling bag like it was public enemy number one.
He stretched his hands and crouched to touch the zip. His energy automatically and involuntarily flowed into the bag through the zip. Wilson quickly retrieved his hand. All the beasts took a step back. Probably on Mr Wolf leader's telepathic orders.
'What was that?' Wilson thought to himself as the wolf leader curiously stretched its neck to look from the side.
Wilson slowly stretched his hand again and touched the zip. Nothing happened this time.
*zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzip*
The zip slowly opened. Wilson opened the travelling bag and a strong wave of energy blasted out, accompany by the smell of raw meat. All the beasts rushed closer, salivating and continuously sniffing in the goodness.
'This must be what they wanted.' Wilson concluded.
He dipped his hand into the bag, grabbed what felt like fur and he instinctively visualized to be a massive beast and pulled out. Or at least he tried to pull out.
The massive thing would not budge.
"Um, heavy, heavy!" He said.
Instantly, he got substantial help. A powerful wave of energy was transmitted to him and as soon as he got a little bit of fur to show outside the travelling bag, the gorilla grabbed onto the fur and pulled out.
*boooom*
The impact of the snow tiger on the ground was massive, just like its size. This thing was really big and Wilson wondered how the gorilla was able to pull it out so easily. Even with support, it should have been that easy, unless....it was much stronger than it showed when they were fighting.
'Was this gorilla just messing around with me? Doesn't that mean that they intended to keep me alive from the beginning? Are beasts this smart?' Wilson finally shuddered in fear. What was scarier than beasts attacking? Beasts scheming. That's the correct answer.
The twenty plus beasts were of various sizes, with the gorilla being the biggest. Even then, the snow tiger was conveniently over two and a half times its size.
The beasts all rushed to have their share of this delicacy, the wolf leader included. They had become irrational in the face of good food and a great opportunity to become stronger.
They totally ignored or maybe even temporarily forgot about Wilson. And so, Wilson, upon seeing that they were too focused on the snow tiger, turned around and ran for his dear life. Who once said that opportunities come but once? Well, Wilson did not need it to come twice. He was taking this one regardless of whether it would come once or more than once.