Sam's plan went like this: Xander will return back in about two more minutes. If he did not hear Sam's scream, he definitely heard the roar of the beast. The beast down below would attack Xander as soon as it either sees him or hears him. Sam could use this. He knew which direction that Xander went in, so he knew which direction he would come from. With this, he knew the direction that the beast would take. If Sam could jump from the tree and land on the beast, he could use his strength as a warlord and do something to the animal. He didn't exactly know what he was going to do but Sam figured that he could cross that bridge when he got there.

But there were a few problems. The animal's hearing was a lot better than Sam's, so it would be able to hear Xander before Sam could. If it started to move before Sam could, Sam doubted he would be able to react in time. The next problem was the height. If Sam jumped down from the second branch onto the ground, he would definitely break a bone or two. The pain that he felt yesterday from the fall right before he went out was enough to increase his fear of heights by a lot. There was another issue with jumping at this height, aim. If he was jumping from this high up, Sam doubted that he could be very accurate. If he missed and fell in front of the beast, he would not only get hurt from the fall, he would also be served to the animal on a silver platter.

And, so, Sam changed his plan. Instead of letting the animal hear Xander, Sam would hear it with his own screaming. It wasn't foolproof but at least it increased his chances. For the height problem, Sam decided to jump down to the first branch before he jumped onto the creature. It would hurt like hell with his leg, but it would still be better than being eaten.

Sam nodded his head and started to execute his plan.

Xander was worried about Sam. Xander heard Sam's scream and only a few seconds after a loud roar coming from the same direction. He was holding the rock and tried to go as he could. He headed straight to the tree that he slept on and ignored whatever was in his way. If there was a bush, he jumped over it. After running for a few seconds he heard another scream.

"XANDER, HURRY UP AND COME OVER HERE. TRY TO BE AS QUITE AS YOU CAN. WHEN YOU ARE NEAR ME, SCREAM AS LOUD AS YOU CAN." There was a slight pause as Sam breathed in, “XANDER, HURRY UP..." Sam repeated it over and over again.

Xander paused his running as he listened to Sam's words. Xander felt relieved that Sam was okay and he could hear in Sam's voice that he wasn't doing this because he was in a panic but because Sam had a plan. He wasn't exactly sure what Sam was trying to do but he trusted Sam enough to do what he said.

Xander did exactly as he was told and tried to make as little noise as possible. He decided to still carry the rock because Xander was worried that if he set it down, it might make a loud sound. He moved towards the tree and this time he was a lot more careful. He tried not to step onto anything that might make a sound. He was slowed down in the process but Xander wasn't too worried about that. From Sam's voice, he could tell that being quiet was very important.

After another minute of walking, Xander finally got close to the tree. Sam had not stopped shouting the entire time and only took a short break between the yelling to catch his breath.

Xander was close enough to see the tree in the distance and also see Sam yelling from the second branch. He was unable to see the animal on the ground because of the thick bushes that were impossible to see through.

'This should be close enough' he thought to himself. He took a deep breath in, as much air as his lungs could hold, and shouted as loud as he could. He shouted the first thing that came to his mind.

"XANDER IS THE GREATESSSSST!" Xander cupped his hand near his mouth so that the noise would be louder in Sam's direction.

He breathed in and looked towards Sam. He didn't really know what to expect, maybe a pack of wolves heading in his direction but something that he would not have expected even in the wildest scenario happened. He saw Sam jump down from the second branch to the first, pause, then Xander saw Sam jump from the first branch. What made it so unexpected wasn't because he jumped but because of how. Xander saw Sam jump, hands, and head first towards the ground. For Xander, who didn't see the black animals headed straight for him, it certainly looked like Sam wanted to kill himself.

Sam looked in the direction that Xander was supposed to come in. He didn't stop shouting. The animal below him was pacing close to the tree. It tried to climb onto the first branch before but it was too big and couldn't fit. It fell back down and continued to pace around the tree as if waiting for Sam to fall down.

Any second now, Xander would get close and the creature would hear him. The only thing that Sam could do now was to keep shouting and wait. His throat already felt a little raw from the continued shouting but Sam still kept going.

Sam noticed movement and his eyes shot towards it. Sam could see Xander. Sam instantly stopped shouting and waited. He could see Xander taking a breath in. Sam knew what was coming and so he jumped.

"XANDER IS THE GREATESSSSST!" Shouted Xander.

By the time Sam heard him, he had already landed on the first branch. The leaves on the end were shaken but the animals didn't notice. Sam felt as if his whole right leg was one fire. Blood, which had been mostly stopped by the bandages, started to flow again.

Sam ignored everything, the pain, the feeling of blood drops falling onto his shoes, the sound of the leaves, and concentrated on one thing, the black creature below him.

As soon as the animal heard Xander, it stopped walking around the tree. Its head snapped towards where the noise was coming from and it tried to figure out who was making that sound. It remembered the other humans, the one that is heard leaving from before.

In its head, it thought that while waiting for the one on the tree to come down, it could have a nice meal.

It started to sprint towards the noise, as silent as it was before.

Sam saw the animal crouch down. He could tell that it was about to start running. He knew the speed that it could run from before and he knew how far he could jump as well.

'Here it goes,' he thought to himself as he started to run on the branch. There wasn't too much space for his feet but he wouldn't let himself die because he couldn't balance on a tree branch. That would be a pathetic way to die. Sam looked at the branch so that he could concentrate on running and gathering momentum without falling. After Sam ran a few strides, he jumped.

In his mind, Sam thought that he would land on top of the sprinting animal but he couldn't be sure. If it took too long before running, Sam was dead. If it ran too slow, Sam was dead. If it ran too fast, Sam was, once again, dead.

While falling, Sam kept his eyes open. He had to fight his instinct but he needed to see if he was going to grab onto the animal. He saw the black shadow start to move, he felt himself picking up speed as he fell faster and faster.

The shadow got closer and closer until it was right below him.

Sam got the timing wrong. He was late by a few milliseconds. Sam would land right behind the animal. Sam realized this and didn't give up. His hands shot forward and grabbed the neck of the beast. Sam grabbed it as if his life was on the line. He felt his hands moving away from his body and with them, the rest of his body. He was pulled onto the beast by his hands and Sam wrapped his legs around the torso of the animal. He put enough strength so that he would not fall off.

Now was the time to cross the bridge. He was on top of the animal but what should he do now. Sam remembered something, from a long time ago. It was about a guy that killed a lion by choking it. Sam's hands were already around the beast so he started to squeeze. He felt like he couldn't squeeze enough in this position so he pulled his left hand back and curled his right hand so that his elbow was in the middle of its neck. He pushed down with his left hand and pulled up with his right.

The creature had barely noticed when the human jumped on to it. In the back of its mind, it was happy that it didn't have to wait for its second meal anymore. It could eat as much as it wanted without having to wait. When the human began choking it, it was surprised. It never expected the human to have a plan. All of the humans it has seen were stupid. It was also a surprise to a smaller extent when it felt the amount of force that the human could put on its neck. It was still able to breathe, so it was fine, it thought. But then it felt the human move, right after it could no longer breathe. It stopped running and tried to throw the human off of its back. It shook its body left and right as if its fur was wet and it was trying to dire it off.

It didn't work. The human was clinging too tightly. It let itself fall to its side and rolled onto its back. If it could not shake off the human, it would squeeze him to death with its body weight.

Sam felt all of the weight of the creature on top of him being pressed onto him. He couldn't breathe, there was not enough space for him to do so. The pain from his leg was back. He couldn't exactly tell the creature's weight but Sam knew for sure that it was at least 700 pounds. All of that was being pressed onto his chest, thighs, and legs.

Even with all of this happening, Sam continued to choke the animal. He didn't know how long it could go on without air. He didn't even know if he was choking the animals or not.

Sam continued to squeeze with his hands and the animal continued to struggle. Sam didn't know how long he was in the position. Seconds could have passed by or an hour. Sam felt the creature slowly losing its energy. He could feel it moving with less and less.

'Only a little bit more,' Sam thought to himself. He pushed himself to the absolute limit. 'Only a little b-'

Sam passed out. He had been only his breath for two whole minutes. He had forced himself to stay awake and finish the job but in the end, his brain ran out of oxygen and Sam couldn't think anymore.

The creature had thought that its life was over. It could feel its mind struggling to stay awake and it knew that it was over. It would be killed. It didn't give up and continued to push the human against the ground but its eyes closed. It waited for the eternal slumber to take a hold of it but it never came. It felt the arm around its neck loosen. It realized what that meant. It took a deep breath in and opened its eyes, to finish what it started.