Mirage

Leo continued moving deeper and deeper into the jungle, glancing in all directions with every step. He kept his body low as he navigated his way through the jungle, sticking to the routes that didn't have any broken branches or animalistic footprints. He was determined to stay out of trouble for as long as he searched for water, food, or a solution.

His stalker continued following him as he ventured deeper into the jungle. He felt the presence of something watching him, but every time he looked back, he saw no one.

"There's that feeling again. What's following me? Could it be a human? No way. I would definitely approach the first human being I see. It must be a creature. But why stalk me? Maybe it's one of the weak ones?"

It was not until he remembered how the first monster that attacked him stalked him as well without him noticing until it made a sound.

The thought of this sent a chill down his spine as he stood up straight and looked around, studying his surroundings. He couldn't see anything, but he knew that something was out there watching him. His guard was already up, but this made him way more intense and cautious.

"Even if there's something out there, I still need to find something to drink or something to eat or I won't have any energy to run."

He got back down and continued moving, but then he heard the sound of something running, he stopped and paid close attention to the sound and realized that not only was the sound getting louder but whatever was making it was huge and approaching him at an alarming rate. He quickly dived into some bushes that were nearby and positioned himself to get a clear view of the incoming monster.

[RUSTLE]

The branches and leaves gave way as it made its way towards the immediate vicinity of Leo. He was sweating as he waited patiently in the bushes for it to appear. And then it did. The monster was the same species as the one that first attacked him, but looked bigger, stronger, and had dark greenish scales around its body with brownish stripes. This monster was clearly older than the last one and would prove difficult to escape from, especially with his increased fatigue.

'To think that the one that gave me a tough time was not even mature. But I have to admit that it looks magnificent and the color would provide it with good camouflage in this jungle. But even with its body being bigger than the last one, I doubt that it can face the monster in the river.'

He watched as it came to a halt close to the bush near him and looked around as if it knew that Leo was around there somewhere. It brought its face down to the ground.

[SNIFF SNIFF]

It behaved like a dog and tried to lock on to Leo's scent. Leo saw this and became terrified because he was just too close for it not to notice his scent.

'I have to run.'

He was getting ready for another chase even with his body the way it was, but then the monster ran off. Leo was puzzled at the sight of this and felt that the monster's sense of smell was not all that good.

"Unless"

He then plucked out some of the leaves from the bush he was in and took a whiff of it, he immediately got irritated by the pungent smell oozing from it. This is the reason I survived. My scent was masked by this.

"Time for me to catch a break"

Leo had gotten a brilliant idea and began plucking out more of the leaves and stuffing them underneath his clothes to permanently delete his scent, at least until he needed to take a bath. He stayed hidden for a while and after confirming that the coast was clear, he got out and continued his search.

"I've seen four monsters in total now from two different species. They might be the only species in this jungle with the ones in the river standing on top of the food chain. But if that was the case, then the tiger-looking monsters would have starved to death because they don't strike me as vegetarians. There have to be other monsters in this jungle and the one following me might be from another species, a more intelligent species."

A short while later, Leo finally found a meal. From a distance, he could see a fruit that was similar in shape and size to a pineapple, but red in color. The weird part was that it was the only fruit on the tree, but Leo did not pay attention to that, he was just happy that he found a juicy meal that could fill his tummy and quench his thirst.

"At long last, my quest has finally come to an end."

He hurriedly walked towards the fruit which was about 7feet off the ground. The vicinity of the fruit was clear with no trees or plants except the one that was holding up the fruit. All this did not matter to Leo because he felt like he had been stranded on a desert with no hope for survival only to eventually find an oasis or a mirage.

"This must be a special fruit since it's growing alone."

He ignored everything around him and focused on the meal ahead, but just before he got to the fruit, his eyes glowed again, causing him to immediately stop. He was no longer under the control of his cravings and was thinking more clearly now. He looked around the environment and realized that the fruit was indeed suspicious. Underneath it was a pile of sand that formed a huge but imperfect circle with no grass or anything growing out of it.

"It's a trap."

He sat in place and was arguing within himself about whether the fruit was really a trap.

"You can't use earth standards to judge a trap here. This might just be a unique feature of the plant"

"But what if it is a trap? You are going to die and leave Jax behind. Why not confirm if it isn't a trap before grabbing."

"How do you expect me to do that?"

"Just think man, think."

Leo's eyes lit up as he figured out a way to test if it was actually a trap or not. He stood up and started searching for a long stick. He found a branch that had the length he wanted and broke it off.

[SNAP]

He then went towards the fruit and keeping his distance used the stick to hit the pile of sand beneath the fruit. He hit it several times and nothing happened, not even a slight change was noticed.

"You see, I told you it was safe, now go and have yourself a meal"

"Wait…I'm not soo sure about this, allow me to keep checking"

"Alright, it's your tummy"

He then proceeded to use the stick to poke at the fruit and still nothing changed. He could even hear the sound of a liquid coming from the fruit as he poked it and this excited him.

"Are you done? Are you satisfied? Hurry up and eat it before something comes here and eats you"

Leo dropped the stick and proceeded to grab the fruit, but before he could step on the sand, the glow appeared in his eyes again causing him to stop. He stood still and then turned around to go get the stick again.

"What the hell are you doing? Why are you taking soo much time to take that fruit?"

"I have a bad feeling about this. Let me try something."

He then broke off a small portion of the stick and threw it out onto the sand.

"Please don't be a trap, please don't be a trap"

He then extended the stick to the fruit and at the very moment that they made contact [BOOM]. In less than a second, a monster had appeared from within the sand and completely captured the stick and the fruit within its Jaws.