The Hunt

Looking back behind me I saw that the wagon I thought was full wasn't. In reality, there were only about four or five bags, and underneath them lay something making the wagon appear full. After Mr. Huna's whistle, a giant beast rose from under the bags.

With a height of two meters on all fours and, a body similar to that of a feline completely covered in chitin, along with its head that looked like the shifting of multiple animal faces, but made out of shifting centipedes. The horror that could breed nightmares rose from the wagon and looked at Mr. Huna

Producing three short whistles Mr. Huna pointed at me before speaking in some unfamiliar language. Not focusing on my fear, I racked my head for any hiding spots I could reach before the abomination behind me gave chase. Knowing the beast resembled nothing I had ever faced, I chose to assume the creature probably had the base characteristics of every predator that I know.

Finally remembering a close enough spot I diverted my run slightly to the left. After a couple of strides, I saw my goal in sight, a river with large patches of reeds growing throughout it. Guessing the beast could most likely track me by smell, I knew the river was the best decision due to both hiding me from view and hiding my scent.

Just as I got to the hill situated above the river I hear the sound of a loud crash. Feeling my entire body radiate with fear, I decided to throw caution completely to the wind. Jumping straight down I landed right on the bank of the river, it was just as I went to rush into a batch of nearby reeds that I I felt a sharp pain in my left foot. Looking down I saw that my foot from the ankle down was bent facing out.

Feeling a sudden wave of pain slam into me, I shoved my hand in my mouth and clamped down to keep from yelling out. Guessing that the crash had come from the fence, I hoped that the distance that I made running gave me a couple of moments before the beast found me. Forcing myself through the pain I limped as fast as I could toward the patch of reeds in the water.

Reaching the reeds, I took a breath before submerging in the water that had grown to chest height. Trying my best not to cause ripples, I position myself in the middle of the patch of reeds and slowly pushed my face above the water level. Forcing my breathing to slow down, I remembered all the times I met ferocious predators in my past life.

Thinking back I couldn't remember a single time I had felt this much fear. Questioning why I realized two reasons, the first was that while I still felt some semblance of fear, I still had a sense of superiority in knowing that they all used to be under my command. The second thing I realized was that before even while being hunted I always felt a tingling of exhilaration and joy at the thought of being able to turn the tides with my intelligence.

But with this creature, I felt non of that, from the moment my eyes landed on the beast any thought of fighting back or killing it was crushed the second it was formed. Thinking back to when I saw it rise up from the wagon I sensed an overpowering amount of bloodlust and maliciousness. Knowing my tracks would be found in a matter of moments, I tried to relax my muscles and let my body float in a way as natural as the river.

All it took was three seconds before I heard the sound of clicking and slithering right above me on the hill I jumped off. But that's not all, the sound of a familiar voice spoke out.

" Smart, looks like he used the river as a way to cover his traces."

There was a pause before I hear a series of whistles followed by the strange language spoken before. Confused I questioned why Mr. Huna would come with the beast to chase me. Thinking it could only be one of two reasons, I guessed either he just enjoyed the feeling of partaking in hunting me down or that the beast couldn't do anything without his order.

Seeing a ray of hope, I betted on my second guess being right. Running through all the ways I could use this information to escape, I suddenly heard a large splash from the middle of the river. Luckily there was a small gap from where I was in the reeds which I could see through.

Peeking through I noticed the beast standing in the river and on it I saw something about the beast I didn't see before. From its backside three tails were extended, each with some sort of bristles on its end. Wading through the river the beast seemed to be combing the surface of the water with its tails as its head that was pointed down kept shifting between different animal faces.

I watched as the beast got closer and closer to my hiding spot, before stopping only three steps away from me. It was right then I hear the bellow of a moose from right across the river. Snapping its gaze upward I saw the beast take off, and in the next moment, I heard what sounded like the moose and beast fighting.

Hearing the sounds of fighting grow distant, I still didn't let my guard down. Knowing that even though the beast was gone Mr. Huna was still around somewhere, made it so that every sense was focused on finding him. While I focused on my surroundings I couldn't help but have the stray thought, what kind of moose woold be capable of fighting that demonic creature?

As minutes passed and my thoughts started to get mudled from the pain in my foot, I started to think that maybe Mr. Huna had left. Ignoring all my other senses I focused solely on my hearing. I heard the sounds of the river flowing, the leaves swaying in the wind, and even the distant bellow of what sounded like the moose in pain, but right on the border of my hearing I heard a sound so faint it was almost unnoticable.

What caused me to panic though was that the sound was directly coming from my blind spot. Hoping I was wrong I slowly twisted my body around. Seeing what was behind me I felt all the color drain from my body.