A shriek from up close pierced my ears, my face was distorted from the discomfort. The high sound was killing my ears, not literally.

"Shushushushush!" - I tried to silence the toad-like creature that was terrified to find me coming closer. I was in a difficult spot to be honest. As to why I didn't straight away murder the creature by piercing its throat with a spear.. well, that was the problem.. This one was obviously a kid. I couldn't just outright kill a child.. even if it was a man-eating, toad-like goblin-thing.. besides it didn't look as ugly as the ones I saw, it was just a smooth-skinned, big eyed and giant mouthed .. bald alien kid.. I DON'T KNOW how to describe it, and it was obviously aware of the fuck up it has gotten itself into.. My shushing didn't help to calm it down, besides its foot was pierced by a spike trap, covered by the moss - so pain was fueling its fear quite a bit.

"SHUT UP!" - I barked at it, slapping the little one with an open palm. I was against killing it, hurting was a part of not killing.. whatever, it stopped shrieking. It whined though, which sounded like a mix of whining and croaking.. It covered itself with its tiny hands. Finally some piece and quiet to think..

"Four shrieks.. four traps.. four small toads.." - I looked at the situation, trying to figure a reason.. and there was a perfect reason for all that. My fingers rubbed the bridge of my nose, why the fuck did have to deal with all this?

"Kids are fucking stupid no matter what race!" - I grumbled as I looked at the child angrily, it was still in pain. As my hands reached down to its foot, the toad tried to kick me, and paired with the tiny sharp claws, it made a slight cut on my wrist.

"That doesn't help!" - The thing didn't understand me.. of fucking course it didn't.. why would it? I showed it the cut, pointed at it, then showed it my stone knife, then pierced the moss with it. The thing shook like a leaf, continued whining, but didn't try to claw at me.. seems like my point came through. I made a noose from a rope I had with me and threw it around the toads neck.. just in case it decided to bolt off, well.. now that I think about it, not with a wound like this.

"ok.." - I grabbed its foot and grabbed onto the top of the spike.. The toad was obviously whining, hell, it was totally crying.. any kid would.. I pushed onto the spike and pulled the leg, more shrieking for a short while, a few cuts on my arm, but the foot was free... and bleeding. The toad tried to crawl away as it saw me reach behind my back, I yanked the rope and got its head into a choke-hold. The thing was opening that big mouth to reveal no teeth, the rim was just covered in hard protrusions, it was literally like a mouth of a bullfrog.

"If you scream, I will hit you..if you bite, I'll hit you even more.." - I'm great with kids. As my right hand was holding the thing in place, and held to the lower part of the mouth, I threw a numb-berry in the opened shriek machine and forcibly closed it. A few moments later it swallowed the berry, and in half a minute seemed to calm down - the numb-berries were amazing. I ripped a paper-leaf from my poncho, wrapping the foot of the child tightly.

"Fuck.. four more to go." - I yanked the rope, and the toad shuffled behind me. I knew the foot wouldn't hurt for some time, so I had to get going.

....

I left the three toad-goblin children tied to a tree, while I went to get some more paper-leaves. Yep, one of them was unlucky.. and now I was carrying its corpse along with me, as well as the cause of all this. I lied the body on the ground, to the terror of the little toads, they already saw what had happened to their friend.

"So was it worth it?" - I angrily threw the four rat-bits on the ground before the toads. They understood that I figured it out, and not only that but I was furious. I picked a rat-bit up and held it closer to the toad children as I yelled.

"Was this! WORTH THAT?" - My voice thundered as I pointed at the tiny body wrapped in paper-leaf. They trembled, the huge eyes were filled with all sort of emotions, and I myself - was devastated..

"Fucking idiotic children... FUCK!" -My body simply relaxed, as if giving up... I was responsible for this, and I was angry with myself, toad children and the whole situation at the same time.

...

"I'll regret it..." - I was walking through the forest slowly, dragging the little toads behind me on a leash, as well as carrying the parcel with the dead child.

"But.. I can't kill kids.." - the spears which were tied together were catching onto the bushes and hitting the occasional tree. I didn't like what I was going to do soon.. but I was going to do it anyway..

"Why couldn't it have been something else... WHY KIDS?" - My thoughts were haphazard and lacked any construction, they were scattered, as I could not concentrate to save my life. I was doing something that was contrary to my own survival..

"I know what will come next.. FUCK!" - My eyebrows were showing regret and anger, I even had a vein swell on my forehead, really, emotions were rushing all at once.

I stopped... That was the spot, the place where I've seen the adult toad goblins butcher a human. There was the bush to the left of me, I laid there.. watching. Now I stood there, with a rope holding a bunch of younglings, as well as a dead body on the ground. Almost nothing was different, I had some tools, had a bunch of spears with me, a tattered after turning into bandages- poncho.. but other than that.. I was still the same person..

My chest pumped up as I inhaled air, I could feel my lungs stretch and fill up with air.. a bit more, then even more once again... and then I yelled on top of my lungs, letting the voice echo through the forest. Thundering sound hurt my own ears, made my chest vibrate, but I kept at it until my throat began to hurt..

The kids on the leash jumped in surprise, and then I stopped. I looked down on them and poked them with the atatl, opening my mouth. One of them seemed to get the point, as he let out a shriek, others followed him after a few moments.

"Enough.. shut up." - My hoarse voice sounded like rusty old sandpaper getting scratched on itself, not pleasant.. I bumped one of the screamers with an atatl on the head, one by one they stopped shrieking - it seemed like they adapted rather quickly.

I took a breath and took out the spears, setting them up near me. Then loaded one into an atatl, my movements were filled with a bit of desperation, it hurt me to do so, and would hurt me inevitably. The toadlings croaked something jumbled, but I just shushed them.

"Now I wait for them to come..." - I guessed that the toads would get the message, but I didn't think it would produce the results it did..

...

I focused my eyes on the spot where I've heard the rustling noise from. Something was running through the forest, and I was sure that it was a toad-goblin. I aimed. More rustling followed from the same direction.. a lot more.. fucking hell, did the whole toad village run here or something? It was getting closer and closer, I won't lie that I wasn't nervous, a cold sweat trickled down my spine, that was until I saw the first one come into sight. A toad mug peeked out from behind a tree, it seems that it was the first one from many, as the rustling in the distance didn't cease. It saw the kids, and eyed the threat. Somehow it didn't seem as menacing now, the short legs and burly body wasn't all that scary, but I knew that they were capable of hunting a human..

A few more appeared, then even more.. It seems like they felt a lot safer with such an amount, as they snarled and started walking towards me, they were still quite far. Most of the rustling stopped and curious toad eyes looked at me in dozens, some taking cover between the leaves, some peeking up from the grass. All of them had some sort of crude weapon, and one of them looked different - for one he was a bit larger, and secondly- had some sort of a headpiece or something. Being the only one without a weapon - made me conclude that he was some sort of a leader amongst them, so he surely was important somehow.

The toads were slowly walking towards me, I didn't hesitate..

Exhale, inhale.. The whole process to me seemed like an eternity, a then came an explosion within me.. My spear soared through the air and went past the approaching toads, striking the tree next to the toad with the hat. It was too fast to dodge, too unexpected.. and too powerful. Pieces of bark exploded like shrapnel, flying all over. Even though it lacked any power - it was quite a sight to be honest.. and that's forgetting the thundering crack of the wood.. It was a good throw..

Panicked looks appeared on the faces of the creatures, but I was already loading a new spear..didn't throw it though, the first one was a warning shot. Different pitched croaking went on from the "chieftain" of the toads, and the approaching ones stopped. The message was received.

"I guess you don't want to lose any men.. and before you get to me I'll be able to kill quite a few.. smart choice" - that wasn't something I'd gladly accept - the fact that the creatures had at least some sort of understanding and intelligence.. Though I calmed myself, it seemed like my plan was working. The chieftain stepped a bit forward, waiting, some toads were creaking at him, though a short croak shut them down. I didn't misjudge, he was in charge.

I tied the rope which I dragged the kids with to the paper-leaf wrapped body... and let them walk, thrusting the rat-bits to one toadling whose hands I untied. The look on my face was sad and disappointed, even through the black paint on it, that much was obvious. It didn't look me into the eyes, staring onto the ground. As the kids approached the first line of toads, the adults looked at the parcel, and angrily croaked, which was followed by a whole outbreak of angry sounds..

"...figures.." - Once again the chieftain croaked everyone quiet, this time with a significant delay and headed towards the children. A few croaks later his eyes were fixed on me, waiting. Can't say I wasn't waiting for something similar. I stabbed a spear into the ground and took out my knife. Holding it in reverse grip I stabbed the tree,which I stood next to, dragging the blade and leaving a deep cut. Marking my own territory like a wild animal.

The line.

I really hoped that the toads would understand that they should not cross it..I really did.