CHAPTER X

Uncle Zac reappears with a book in his hand. He walks to the table, sits between the two teenagers, and begins opening the book. When he gets the page he wants, he places the book in the middle of the table for the two teenagers to read.

"Aswang is the most feared monster in Philippine folk’s legend. In their original form, they have bat-like wings and protruding tongue that they use to suck fetus from the mother's stomach. They used to hunt during the full moon. Their prey is fetus or organ in a small kid. Aswang is a shape-shifting monster. During the day, they take shape of a human-like…."

"Urgh ...," Josh growls. "So they can walk among us in human form? How do we find this creature? "

"If we look at the human form of this creature, we will see our shadows in their eyes upside down...."

"How do we see others at such close distance?" Josh asks.

Uncle Zac looks at Josh and snorts. "Can I continue?" he says, a little annoyed because Josh keeps cutting off his explanation.

"Okay," Josh says innocently. "Ah, get to the point on how to get rid of it, Uncle," he changes his mind.

Uncle Zac snorts again. His eyes go under the book sheet. "The way to eradicate this creature is by using a whip made of stingray or with pure copper," he adds, closing the book with a slightly annoyed face.

"Do we have to wait until the next full moon? For this creature to come out?" Aidan says quietly, more to himself. He cannot stand having to wait for the next victim to fall in order to catch this creature.

"It seems so, or you can try looking for its human form. You can kill it when it takes human form, as it is the weakest moment."

"We will be arrested for killing human. Face it, we have to kill this creature in its original form," Josh says.

"For now, we can look for its disguised form as human and watch it closely, until the next full moon," Aidan suggests.

"I will prepare the whip so that when the time comes to eradicate this creature, we will be ready." Uncle Zac says while leaving Aidan and Josh.

After Uncle Zac leaves, Josh and Aidan hold out their notes. They map the possibilities of the next attack. As the creature's main prey is children, the two young men look at the maps of the town of Mountain Side and mark all the settlements in their city.

"All right, there is one settlement on the Lower Side, two on the Central Side, and one on the Upper Side. We can cross the Upper Side because the creature has hunted there. That thing won't come to that place twice."

Josh looks at the designated location. "Maybe we can also cross out the settlement on the Lower Side. Most who live there are old people and teenagers." Josh says confidently because he himself is a resident of the Lower Side.

"Meaning, it's likely that the creature will hunt in two settlements on the Central Side. This settlement bordering the Upper Side is where I live." Aidan thinks for a while, trying to remember about small kids in his neighborhood. "Maybe there are one or two there, families who have small kids, The Jacksons and The Campbells. Meanwhile, settlements bordering the outer lanes of the city seem to be inhabited by young families. This place is more likely to become a hunting area. What do you think?"

"Unlike your place, this settlement is even bushier. There will be many places for the creature to hide before attacking those children," Josh adds. "There are also many trees in the Upper Side settlement because it is close to the forest."

“Yeah, I think we need to investigate that place”.