To call it a large dog, would have been an understatement. It stood somewhere between a bloodhound and a wolf, a crossbreed maybe and accentuated in size to ten-folds in comparison to both the creatures. It was not a bit slow even with the gigantic form and bulk of muscle beneath that thick fur coat. It had grabbed Dwija's head by her hair in its mouth. Its canines were bare and on full display. Drool sliding over Dwija's skull. The brute force with which Dwija's limbs were hitting the obstacles on the way, would have made the cruelest of hearts wince. The creature kept running at deadly pace with Dwija stuck between its canines dashing past anything that came in its way.
Dwija's skin had been bruised, clothes had been torn and limbs somewhat hanging to their respective sockets not daring to make a move on their own, lest they should feel the agonizing pain. The beast did not stop until it was in the clearing. It slowed down and Dwija could feel it scrunching its face, baring the canine a bit more, while sniffing around. There was the sound of leaves crunching and then twigs breaking, the bushes parting, clothes fluttering. Somebody was in their way.
"Help me!", Dwija managed to shout out one time with her hoarse voice. Second time her voice stuck in her throat. She wanted to tear herself out of the grip of that beast and run, for her life and for her mother's and never turn back again. She even tried to, but the pain from her limbs was far more determined to defeat her than her will power that kept pushing her to escape. She failed.
The beast did not make a move for quite a while and neither did it let the hold upon Dwija loose, it tightened in-fact. Dwija could feel the tremble of the low grunts erupting inside of the beast in her skull. Its fowl breathe kept washing over her, more frequently now. - It was agitated, angry maybe? What would it do next? She did not wish to die there alone, away from her mother. Her mother would be devasted more than ever, more lonesome than ever. Somebody please- Help me! – Thoughts like that crossed her mind at- Thousand thoughts per second perhaps.
After minutes of immobility, she noticed the beast stiffen. From the bushes ahead crept out figures in black coat. There was heavy hustle and bustle as the figures approached closer to both of them and arranged themselves in the form of an arrowhead, except for the head of that formation was missing. But Dwija didn't have to wait long, the bushes parted one last time and another man, also in black except the coat was more elaborate and fancier by the visions of it, made his way to the front and stood tall, with his legs parted and hands crossed behind, at the head of the previously created formation.
"Put her down!" the man ordered. His tone was heavy and laced with authority and power. The man and the beast stood eye to eye.
The beast growled internally and shook its head violently while forming a – No!. Both their eyes stared at one another while Dwija struggled. She continued to mutter, "Help! Please help!". Despite the pain she tried to move her hands above and pull out its fur, she grabbed handfuls and tugged at them hard. She moved her hands around trying to hit it with here bare fist. But her arms hurt even more, she had a loud cry then of resignation and surrender. She wanted the charade to end for good.
Neither of them backed out, neither the beast nor the man.
"Let us handle this from here. Its better if you backoff now." the man said again, his demeanor cold and angrier than before.
Another grunt and violent shaking of head was the response.
The man at the head laughed humorless. He moved his head sideways and said, "His time is up already I guess. Have you prepared the potion?". One of the men stretched his hand and said, "Wolfsbane!, Yes!"
"Okay then. Savor your last meal, that too delicious I guess! Then you are gone. Don't worry I will make it easy. When you are sleeping I will slowly inject it, you won't feel any pain." the man at the front talked before the beast.
It stood there quiet, weighing down its choices perhaps. Then it did not make any sound and with a determined step forward, it prepared to change its route, to take Dwija elsewhere.
But…. "Baam!!", the sound of metal fired from its metal holder and then the "Whoosh!" of it tearing through the forest air shocked Dwija. Although Dwija knew its target, she had never wished for that, she did not want bloodshed. The metal silently grazed through the fur of the beast. It whimpered. Dwija's body also trembled as a repercussion to the metal hitting its shoulder. She could imagine the pain it might have caused but it only whimpered. Its hold on Dwija did not falter, nothing significant happened, its steps although unsure, kept moving towards the next destination it had in its mind.
The same man from before, now with pitch much louder, clearer and menacing began, "We are going to kill him and everybody in there before you even get there. If you dare, try moving one step. One step, one person and last one will be you, I promise."
The beast stopped in its track and glanced sideways. Again, their eyes locked. The man was not joking. Dwija did not understand what was going on. She had already closed her eyes and let the unknown take care of everything. The beast let go of Dwija. Dwija fell down facing the ground on a patch of green forest grass. She was fast in her action. Even through pain, she managed to sit up and then managed to stand. But as she tried to move away from it, her feet faltered, and she crashed on the ground again.
Her eyes met the beast's. It was beautiful molten gold. She did not see hostility, but she could not deduce the other feelings either. Dwija's eyes found the spot where it had been hurt, blood was trickling down slowly, down to its front leg. She saw from her hindsight, the person who had hurt him still wielded the gun. She prayed the beast through her eyes, "Please go, Don't get hurt. Please go." The beast slowly started moving towards her, to the spot where she had fallen. She started dragging herself backwards, from her sitting position. The beast was faster, it closed the steps between them. Its breath fanned her hair from top. Her eyes were wet, she was not sure what was going to happen, but she did not close her eyes. She kept staring at its. Its eyes drew her closer to itself. Time passed as they looked at each other and so did a mutual understanding. It nudged her with its snout to fall from her sitting position. Then as she lied down, it picked her up by the neckline of her top and flung her closer to the man at the head of the arrow formation.
Not a word was exchanged except for the gasp from Dwija's lips from the fall. All eyes were on the beast. One last look at her and it slowly made its way out of the clearing, leaving behind one bloodied footprint with each step.
Dwija's eyes were clouded with tears seeing the reproaching back. She was jolted back to reality by the man shrouded in fancy black overcoat. He was much taller than her even when he was crouching down beside her. He had a thick silicone mask covering his face. Only visible feature were his eyes. They were pitch black and screamed devil.
"Where is it?", he asked his eyes boring into hers.
Back at the place where Dwija had been attacked by the beast, her bag was lying unattended. Her phone rang in the bag. A hooded figure jumped down from above the cliff with a phone in his hand. He crouched down and began searching in the bag. He took out the phone and checked the caller id. He put the phone back in the bag and stood up. He dialed another number on his phone
"Hello!"
"I found her bag, but she is not here."
Other side he heard a curse and then something crashing. The call got disconnected.