Running Water

Ricky needed to catch his breath. Even if the fight with the hunter had been short, it had been explosive. He had also exerted himself when sneaking up on the creature.

But if he wasted time, at least four other hunters would catch up to him.

Ricky did not want that to happen.

He left the corpse behind and sprinted into the forest away from the other hunters.

The creatures cried out when they saw the corpse of one of their own. They howled again when they started chasing Ricky.

Since Ricky was in a rush to get away from his prey, he didn't have time to hide his tracks. If he had tried, the creatures would have caught up to him, grouped up on him, and killed him.

'Shit.'

Ricky had also noticed that, compared to the scouts, the hunters were adept at tracking. Their anger might cloud their judgment, but Ricky would rather presume they would continue chasing him until they found him.

'I have to kill them.'

Ricky ran as quickly as he could.

He had longer legs than them, and he wasn't carrying anything long and unwieldy like a spear. After a few moments, he had put enough distance between them for him to no longer hear their growling chatter. He could catch his breath for a moment as he thought about what to do.

Ricky looked around to see if there was anything he could use.

If he could separate them and fight them one at a time, he might be able to get through this. He had better reach than the creatures when they didn't have spears. They were about as strong as him, but Ricky was quicker and smarter.

Ricky soon found a hefty stone nearby. He put it on top of a branch that he needed to stretch to reach.

'There's a stream nearby, right?'

Ricky had sprinted without orienting himself, and he had rarely been this deep into the forest. But there was a stream leading toward the village close to the paths he usually took. Following that reasoning, if he entered deeper into the forest, the same stream should flow close by.

Along the way, Ricky also picked up a few pebbles and sticks.

'Ah! There it is.'

After a short while, he found the stream. He also vaguely heard the creatures' faint growls.

Since he had stopped sprinting for his life as he gathered what he needed, the creatures started catching up again.

Forcing himself to stay calm, Ricky prepared the final trap.

With a deep breath and slightly labored breathing, Ricky got up and went over to the other side of the stream that was barely large enough to house edible fish. He could walk through it with ease if he was careful.

The shorter creatures would have trouble. It wouldn't be enough to stop them, but it would slow them down.

"Gyaak!"

One of the creatures stepped out from between the trees and pointed at Ricky with his spear while shouting.

Ricky held one of the larger pebbles, which was big enough to fill the palm of his hand, as he looked at the other four creatures that left the trees.

'Five in total. Totally doable.'

"Just to make sure, but I'm guessing you can't understand me, either?"

"Kraak!"

The foremost creature screeched and charged at him.

"That's a no."

The other creatures followed the first into the water.

Ricky didn't hesitate as he threw the stone at the creature in the lead. He struck the head, and the creature stumbled in the flowing water. It would have fallen if the creature next to it hadn't caught it.

Ricky grabbed another decently-sized stone and hurtled at the creatures.

'Shit.'

They were already halfway through the stream that almost reached their knees.

The water and Ricky's stones had forced them to slow down. But they would arrive before Ricky could stone even one of them to death.

Ricky threw the next stone at another creature. He didn't need to kill them, after all. He only needed to disrupt their balance. The first one still couldn't stand on its own, and it leaned heavily on number two.

So, Ricky threw the stone at number three's face. It struck the ugly thing right on the nose. Ricky couldn't say whether it was an improvement or not.

Three creatures had trouble standing and walking upright in the stream. But the other two had already gone around them and made their way to the edge.

The quicker of the two was about to take the last step before reaching land again when his feet snagged on something and he face-planted.

'Oof.'

The creature's entire lower body sank into the water and was about to get swept away by the stream. But it held on to the shore with its clawed fingers. However, it gave up its spear to do so.

Ricky didn't let go of this opportunity and darted forward to grab the spear. It was better than any of the sticks he had found.

At the same time, he kicked the creature in the face to get it back into the water and knock it out.

'Do they float?'

It was another thing to add to his notes. Maybe water would be an effective way of hunting these creatures in greater numbers.

Unfortunately, Ricky didn't have time to watch the creature since the others had made it ashore and recovered most of their stability.

Ricky looked at them for a moment before circling to their side and jumping over the stream.

The creatures looked at him dumbfounded.

They hadn't realized that they could jump over the stream.

However, now that Ricky had demonstrated how to do it, it didn't take long for them to try, especially when driven by the rage of losing another of their kin. They took a couple of steps back before sprinting toward the stream and Ricky behind it and leaping.

Ricky took a step forward and skewered the one furthest to the side with his spear.

The creature impaled itself in the chest with Ricky's spear.

Ricky didn't bother extracting his spear, instead, he grabbed his latest victim's weapon and jumped over the stream again before the others could react.

"Are you coming?"