Wild Predators

I dived to the right and stayed close to the ground to the best of my ability as I felt something graze the top of my head. My hands were shaking, I was scared for my life, the monster attacking me would have no problem ripping my head off if one of its tentacles ever touched me. I couldn't think straight as green fangs bit the ground I had just stood on, crushing dirt and rocks alike.

I realized this was a great opportunity to attack the monster with the knife I had in my hand but my body didn't listen to me and instead struggled to run away. I didn't take a single look at what was happening behind me, I pushed my legs to their limit and shouted in fear, I didn't want to die, not yet. Thoughts of becoming food, having my bones gnawed upon for days then being left to rot in the middle of nowhere surged in my mind, horrible depictions of my flesh being torn apart as I still had a breath in me filled my head.

I ran towards what seemed to be a forest, my vision was too blurry to properly understand where I was going. I couldn't control my tears and I was too afraid to realize that I was heading straight towards the trunk of a tree, that would have been the end of me if my leg hadn't been grabbed by a green tentacle. I screamed to the top of my lungs, bringing my knife towards my leg in full force, I hadn't even considered what would happen, it was instinctual. My knife hit the tentacle and continued on towards my leg, blood spurted out.

I heard the monster behind me shouting, surely in pain and anger. I needed to keep on running, the trees would most likely protect me, at least that was what I hoped for. I winced at each of my steps, feeling the knife hitting against my bone and scraping my flesh, I had embedded it too deeply within and thus left it there until I was safe from harm's way. My palm reached a tree, I grabbed the bark and threw myself forward, rolling in the dirt. I thought myself saved, I didn't know why, it was obvious I was still in mortal danger yet I smiled, I unknowingly slowed down, most likely at the behest of my relieved heart.

I felt the pain right afterwards, I looked down and saw the tip of something green sticking out of my hip. The tip rapidly enlarged to become the size of my arm, then contorted to entangle my body, I couldn't react in time. I screamed, crying for help while being dragged towards the maw of the ravenous monster that had attacked me. I didn't want to look at it but it held me up above itself, making me have to stare at the dozens of eyes it possessed madly moving around my body. "Eaten by a fucking plant, I can't believe it.". I had given up, nobody was around to hear me shouting for help and I was incapable of even struggling, my body wouldn't respond.

Its mouth opened up, revealing a few more sets of fangs behind the ones that were already showing, I was about to be minced into bits. There was nothing left for me to do, I closed my eyes and decided to wait, my thoughts were coming to a halt, there was nothing left to think about. It bit off my left arm, pain came and made me cry, my heart pumped ever so quickly. It seemingly decided to relieve its anger on me, bashing me against the ground a few times, surely some of my bones broke as I coughed blood each time I ate dirt.

I was released, let go from a height of a few meters. I laid there and stayed still, blood gushing out of my now empty left shoulder. I wanted it to finish the job, squash me or rip my head off, anything to rid myself of the torture I was going through. In the end, I stayed there, sprawled on the ground for around an hour, every breath I took creating ripples on the puddle of blood that had formed underneath me: 'I think it's safe to say it left you here to die.'.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, both would have been an acceptable reaction: 'I'm not even worth being finished off.'. The thought of surviving slipped through my mind, but my vision always came back to my absent left arm, I'd be a cripple either way. 'I'm going to die of blood loss, I shouldn't worry about this sort of stuff.'. Maybe it was the shock that made me wriggle, in the hope I'd lose blood faster.

'I won't say what you're doing is meaningless but a look at your Health might help you understand why one would think that.'. I didn't want to admit it, the implications of it were too severe for my well being, though that's quite relative in such circumstances: 'Now's not the time for stupidly anecdotal reflections. Get up!'. I braced myself for what was to come, used my remaining arm to prop myself up and pull out my knife.

I brought up my Status and focused on my Health [Health: 8/63], it had just gone down one point: 'It's the first time it's changed since the last time you were hurt.'. It was the worst joke I'd heard, it didn't make any sense at all yet it was happening right in front of me: "So losing an arm, having tens of bones broken and losing half of your blood doesn't warrant death as long as you don't hit 0? That doesn't make any fucking sense!". My voice was hoarse, maybe for the best as I'd probably have alerted another monster of my presence otherwise.

I tried swinging my foot towards a tree, resulting in me wincing in pain from the abrupt movement and instead almost falling to the ground once again. A mix of spit and blood shot out of my mouth, I was still heavily injured and needed to recuperate from my wounds: 'Towards the mountain it is then.'. I had thought it to be the best way to go, as Esteban wouldn't have told me to go somewhere dangerous on my first mission.

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'I'm going to puke.'. And so I did, heightening my hunger pangs: 'The smell will help monsters pinpoint your location, get away from here.'. It was easier said than done, first I had to force myself to look away from the gruesome sight in front of me. At first, it hadn't dawned on me that a small red mound wouldn't normally smell this bad, also that such a thing would appear in a forest of all places. My curiosity got the better of me and thus I gazed at this messy pile of organs and cleaned off bones.

'Either you run away from here right now or you go up a tree.'. I clearly understood I couldn't stay here anymore, it was too dangerous. I let out a few sobs and walked away as fast as I could, which wasn't anything redeemable according to the common standards of running away. After some time, I was able to hear shouts that resembled wails coming from behind me, it was the first sign something would go wrong.

'Hide somewhere! You'll never outrun those things at this pace!'. I desperately looked around for any hiding place. Trees were clustered around me, and they were sufficiently high to hide in, but I'd never be able to climb one in my current condition. I then shifted my vision closer to the ground, and it luckily dawned on me that I could crawl underneath a pile of leaves that weren't too scattered about.

It took me about a minute or so, I was finally hidden from view, at least as long as the things coming for me weren't relying on scent to chase after me. It wasn't long before sounds of rustling leaves and panting breaths reached me, giving me some time to prepare for what was to come. My heart quickened when I first laid eyes on the things that had been chasing me, they were running on all fours, each distanced by a few meters between them. The ones that had arrived near my hiding spot immediately stopped, uncaring towards the momentum they had built up possibly injuring their body.

If I had to give a name to those things, I'd say they're grey goblins. They were short, stout, with grey leather-like skin; they possessed weapons of all sorts: maces, short swords, staves, sai, either made of wood or rusted iron. 'Shit, they're looking right at me!'. I held my breath and clung to the ground, it would also have been better if I had stopped scrutinizing them but I couldn't help myself. Their eyes were bulging out of their sockets, red and blue veins coursing through them, they had two small holes for nostrils and huge grins plastered on their faces.

Some were frothing at the mouth while holding some weapon with their large crooked teeth: 'They've been following your footprints, you're lucky they don't seem able to smell you.'. It was a given after I saw their appearances, nobody would be able to smell something while having no nose. I kept looking at them, some made yelps, others clawed at the ground and stood up, staring at the crown of the trees above.

The first grey goblin to have arrived shouted out in a guttural voice, surely to communicate with its brethren. Some responded in a similar way, others simply hit the ground a few times. They regrouped and went back the way they came in an orderly manner. I waited a few minutes before coming out of my hiding spot, a rancid smell assaulted me as I did, making me gag in disgust: 'They left a few gifts for you to find, and you just stepped on one.'.

I noticed the slimy feeling occurring on the sole of my foot as I walked away, it left me no choice. I abandoned my shoe, hoping that someone else would find solace upon discovering such a thing in the middle of a forest: 'I can already picture it, a young man fleeing from his pursuers, as they rapidly approach and death seems ever so near, he reaches this clearing. The sun's rays point him towards this piece of leather and plastic in front of his eyes, emanating the foulest smell of his existence. He...'.

'Hey, I don't know what you're playing at but you're being chased.'. Albeit that I had in fact not been paying attention to my surroundings, I was miraculously alerted by the growling coming from my backside. The grey goblin trotting towards me was lenient enough to give me some time to turn around and brace for impact. It plunged head-first into arm's length of me, howling as it tried to bit my remaining arm.

Most people would have probably felt time slowing down, consequential to a rush of adrenaline that'd burst forth when face to face with death. I did not, my leg hit its stomach head-on, hurting me in the process but flinging the goblin away nonetheless. It went faster than anything I'd ever witnessed, I felt my muscles expanding in exhilaration as pure strength resulting from their usage escaped my frail body.

I was hyperventilating, bringing my body forward almost unconsciously to approach the grey goblin laying meekly on the ground, its organs surely crushed. The sight of a humanoid creature on the verge of death brought me to tears, was I ready to take a life for my own survival, even if the victim previously tried to kill me? I could walk away right now and let fate decide for me, it wouldn't change a thing, I'd still be chased down by the others from its pack.

My right hand couldn't properly hold on to the knife, it slipped through my fingers and crossed the goblin's line of sight, piercing the ground beside it. 'You don't believe in signs, it'll never be an excuse for you to end a life.'. I sobered up, dispersing the fleeting thoughts that had surged in my mind to give way to a form of escapism. 'Choose and be done with it, you don't have much time.'. My hand gripped the handle of the knife once more, to do so I had to bend and bring myself closer to the goblin.

'Did it understand its current predicament? Was it pleading for its life even though it was too weak to voice out anything? Or maybe it dared me to do it, to give it a swift death knowing that I'd be torn to pieces by its brethren?'. I couldn't know, and I preferred not to. My knife pierced its rough skin, cutting the carotid and plunging ever deeper, reaching the dirt beneath. Its features a mixture of madness and rabid hate in my eyes, I left it there to be eaten by whatever would do the job others wouldn't.