LEO
"Dad, anything yet," I stepped out of the bushes to meet my old man who also had a big torchlight just like I did. He waved his head in negation.
"We have to split up. We will work faster that way," I suggested turning my feet to head back into the forest.
Dad grabbed my hand.
'That creature might still be in there."
"All the more reason why we have to go in. Maybe he has not gotten to Anamay yet. If we move now, we might just be in time to save her." I told my dad. I was getting impatient and I wondered why he kept stopping me.
Time was of the essence and we were wasting it. I made another attempt to move, his grip tightened.
"Leo! Are you stubborn or just plain stupid. Didn't you see the size of that thing. What it can do. Not me, not you and not the two of us is enough to even halt it for a moment. No one can outrun it either. We have to wait for help and Anamay…" he paused probably because he noticed the gravely frightened stare I pinned on him.
"We just have to pray she is still alive."
… What…
I flung dad's hand away immediately.
"No, it can't …"
"Leo Parker," my full name in his mouth sounded so sickening.
"We go in there, we die too. We have to wait for reinforcements. We are lucky to survive. It's utterly ridiculous to end our lives ourselves. She wouldn't want you to die."
It was Dad's last words that got to me. My grip on the torchlight loosened.
He is right. I didn't want to believe it but he was really right.
"Ahhh! SHIT!", I yelled into the sky.
ELISH
*chirp* *chirp*
The little bird hopped onto me and pricked me with it's beak. My eyes was closed but I was conscious enough to feel that. Impulsively, I flung a hand to catch it. I did and so fast. The bird struggled in my hand, itching my palm.
"Stop already."
I got pissed and squeezed my grip. The bird burst. Like a water balloon. Blood, flesh and gizzard scattering on my hand and on the ground I held it over.
I lay my hand back on the ground and signed. I was not feeling weak. The grass underneath me was not comfortable at all. I should get up. Slowly, I lifted myself off the ground. My eyes went to my hands. They was blood on them, both of them. The daylight was coming slowly now.
… What the hell…
My eyes flew away from my Hands, to the trees and the grass around me. I recognized nothing. Nothing at all.
'Where the hell is this?'
I rubbed my forehead. I couldn't remember anything. Where I have been, how I came here. But there was a far bigger problem. Bigger than the fact that I was covered in blood. The problem was… I had no clothes on.
Immediately I realized that, there was a sudden chill and embarrassment that graced my skin. My hands found it's way down in-between my legs voluntarily.
'Damn what the hell is this'
Unconsciously, I looked left and right attempting to find something to cover myself.
I spotted something. Navy blue color in a slight distance away from me. Definitely, it was not a grass or any type of vegetation. It must be fabric
'Splendid"
I hobbled towards it. No one was here but I didn't want to run and feel it dangle down there. It was too uncomfortable. Anyways, the Navy blue fabric was not moving so there was no need to rush. So I didn't rush. Walking slowly until the fabric got clearer and clearer. I could see a Black too and… blood.
'Something's off'
But surprisingly, I was not even a bit alarmed. My pace quickened instead. Making a halt In front of the fabric. It wasn't just black and blue block fabric. There was hair, legs and arms too. A whole person infact. They were face down on the ground, a long rip at the back, tearing open the hoody and the skin over their spine. There was blood everywhere. On the limbs, back and hair. It was not a pretty scene at all.
I bent over the person. "What the hell happened to you."
As if I could get a reply. Well, this individual looked very dead to me. My eyes went to the navy blue shorts.
'Well they are dead. Am sure they would not mind'
My hands went to the waistband of the shorts. Slowly, I pulled on it until it slipped out of the person's leg. That's when I noticed. The legs were too slender and the butt… too round. What kind of boy looks so nice waist down.
'Wait… I don't even know their gender'
It was a realization I regretted not getting first. Immediately, I turned the person over. Hair covered their face. I pushed the hair aside like I was dusting an old book.
'Shit. It's a girl'
There was this sudden urge to look back down. Which I instantly suppressed. My eyes staying on her face.
… Her face…
Something about it was so familiar.
'Do I know this person?'
Her eye brows twitched. My eyes widened.
'Is she still alive?'
Immediately I checked her pulse.
'She is still breathing. But how come, with all those wounds. How did she even get here'
I rose from my squatting position, my nakedness forgotten momentarily. I looked at the paths before me. There was a blood trail. Coming from that direction. It was certainly where she came from. But the trail went past her and all the way.
My eyes traced it over the dry leaves and the dead branches. It stopped in a hole on a hollow tree. There was so much blood there. That was certainly where she was attacked. But why was she here.
Maybe she was going back this way. Which means she wasn't running from whatever was in this direction. Something must be chasing her instead. Well, I wasn't sure. All I knew for now is that I should go forward. I looked back at the girl on top dry dead leaves. My eyes fell beneath her waist.
'Shit'
I looked away immediately.
'Damn it. I looked. I still looked'
My gaze reverted to the shorts.
'Should I give it back? Damn it'
Even if I wanted to, it's a lot harder now I know she is a girl.
Anyways, I need to wear something. I cannot walk around naked. Am sure she wouldn't mind.
I justified my action and put on the shorts. Then slowly, I picked up the girl on the ground and threw her on my back. She was… weightless. It made my trip easier. I straightened up and started walking, eyes on the ground following the trail of blood.
I walked for a while before I began to see something in the distance. It looked like a house. Although the bushes greatly obstructed my vision. The trail of blood lead that way so I continued. As I neared, I began to hear voices. They were loud and intense. Speaking a language I could not understand. But meeting other people was a great help to my predicament. My pace increased immediately.
AUTHOR
"Listen kid we need strategy if we are going in there to find the beast you just described."
Leo was on the ground, a man with balled fists staring at him, one hand on his shirt's collar. His dad was standing next to someone ten years older than him who owned the voice that just spoke.
"Strategy?! Someone's life is at stake here and all you have done for the past eight hours is throw your weight around. If you are too scared to go in and save her, I don't care. I don't need your help. Leave me, I will go by myself." He was panting and yelling at the same time.
"You really are stupid. Do you think anyone can survive that beast. Your friend's dead boy. Don't go killing yourself over a corpse. We don't intend to do the same too." The man over him said to him.
"Stop saying she is dead." Leo yelled into his face.
"Why you little…"
… The bushes rustled…
Everyone paused immediately.
"Don't move," the man whispered to Leo letting go of the neck of his shirt. Everyone else was moving too. Silently grabbing their guns. Leo's eyes was on the moving grasses. The sound was getting louder. It wasn't heavy like a giant beast but it was alarming.
Leo's dad was In front, his hands raise to signal a firing.
3… 2… 1
A boy burst out from behind the autumn brown and green.
"Hold your fire!!!"
But some one had already pulled his trigger.