CHPT 82: Deadly Duo

The raiders walked in the night with intense paranoia. They were over a mile away from where they killed the Hero's the Rikah betrayed. But they didn't feel like they escaped at all.

Members of the group talked with each other about what the man in all black was and how he was so strong, but nobody brought up his roar— about how it scratched and ripped at their insides.

"He's not catching up to us, can you all stop crying and focus!!" Rikah said from the front of the line.

Immediately after she spoke, a member at the back of the group started screaming something at the top of her lungs.

"W-What? He's here! He's coming! RU—"

Before she could finish, something they couldn't see ripped her hand off and flung her to the floor, killing her instantly afterward.

The raiders watched in horror as their fallen comrade was mangled and ripped into by something none of them could see. Soon after, a pair of bright green eyes came into view. They didn't even have to question who it was.

"R-RUN!!!"

The raiders weakly took off down the dark trail.

One of them saw Claude running close behind him, he pulled out a throwing knife and weakly threw it in his assailants direction.

He was relatively relieved after the man in all black veered off the path and jumped into the forest that bordered the trail.

Until he saw the green eyes blowing past the trees at insane speeds. He looked like a phantom as he ran through the forest beside the raider.

The raider used everything he had to run faster and get farther away from the monster in the woods, but before he could; something he couldn't see tackled him to the floor. He tried to fight, but he was dead before he could even lift a finger.

Claude forced his legs to move faster as he headed towards the front of the line. He could see her— the traitor, Rikah, running with two men close behind her. He growled and sped up with his eyes focused on her bodyguards.

Rikah was running on pure adrenaline. She could feel the light burn in her quads beginning to settle and spread through her whole leg with every few steps. But she couldn't stop, stopping meant her death.

"Deelan, use your throwing knives to slow that thing down!" She yelled to the bodyguard behind her.

"...."

After a few seconds of silence from her bodyguard, she repeated herself only to receive no response again. She turned her head back in search of her mute guard and found that Deelan wasn't with her anymore.

She looked over to her second bodyguard and saw him looking at the forest that lined the path to the right of them. His face was drained of blood and tears smeared his face paint. Following his eyes led her to see the dark figure leaping and bounding through the shadows.

Tears flooded her eyes and the panic within her increased ten fold.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!!" She yelled desperately to the beast in the shadows that ran alongside her.

She was met with the quiet snarls and deep throaty huffs he made as he vaulted low hanging branches and maneuvered around trees.

Suddenly, a green light glowed in the forest and her heart sank, she didn't know why— but she knew it wasn't a good thing.

FWOOOSH!!

Out of the forest, a thick tree limb shot out in front of them at lightning speeds.

"Hmph!" She made a sound of effort as she used her quick reflexes to vault it.

Her bodyguard wasn't as fortunate.

"KUGH!!" He ran into the tree branch and wrapped around it like a rag doll from how unexpected it was.

"AHHHHRGGH!!! NO NO!!! RIKAH! SAVE MEEE!! I CANT SEE IT!! GET OFF!!"

Her bodyguard began to scream for her, the fear in his voice caused it to shake and crack until he sounded like a wailing mess. She spared a glance back at him and saw something she couldn't explain.

An invisible force was pulling him by the leg. Her bodyguard clawed into the rain soaked dirt intently, but whatever was pulling him had unbelievable strength.

She quickly turned away and kept on running, the guards cries suddenly stopped and a loud crunching noise broke out from behind her, followed by a wolf-like growl of satisfaction.

She ran and ran aimlessly down the path, no longer worried about where she was going or what was in front of her. Any place away from the monster in the forest and it's unseen companion was acceptable.

During her mindless run, she started to remember a story her mother told her. A story about a giant yellow eyed monster that ravaged raider camps all over. The way her mother described it was completely terrifying. It was so terrifying because people said it spoke and showed an uncanny level of intelligence. Nothing like a Werewolf, something that killed on its own volition. This monster her mother told her about didn't kill and maim raiders because the full moon told it too once a month. It simply hunted her ancestors for sport.

That's what the thing chasing her reminded her of. The hate filled eyes that burned like embers, the animalistic nature combined with a cunning and clever usage of inducing fear and panic. The monster in the forest reminded her of a myth, a nightmare. Something cruel and dark, something unfathomable.

The dark path went deathly quiet sometime during her trip down memory lane. After all the raiders that came with her were brutally maimed and killed and the steady downpour of rain halted. There was no sound at all, other than her own ragged breaths and the stomping of her boots in the mud. It reminded her of something all raiders picked up pretty early as children living in the wild....

The only time it was truly silent was when a predator was nearby.

FWOOSH!!

Out of nowhere, the monster chasing her burst from its spot in the woods, it soared through the air with its clawed fingers reaching out for her. She looked into its verdant green eyes and could no longer compare them to a humans. This wasn't a man or monster, it was her worst nightmare— and she created it.

She let her fear eat away and rot her insides in the slowed moments of the monster lunging at her. She could only whisper quietly in what she thought were her very last moments of life.

"I'm so sorry..."

"RAGHHH!!!!!"