I almost puked, the smell of rot was so strong, but a loud crash and a gunshot rang out in the room Jared was in, and all the remaining pieces vanished at once. I was just barely saved. I grit my teeth as I lifted myself up and ran towards the source of the noise.

Jared was standing near the door, and in the corner of the room right next to the window stood the creature. Its grin widened as it saw me enter the room.

"Four shots left," Jared said without taking his eyes off of the monster. I stared at it, and readied myself for a fight.

A deafening silence filled the room. One of the creature's eyes turned to look at me, while the other pointed towards Jared, both looking in different directions. All three of us were completely immobile, Jared with the gun aimed, me with the plank of wood raised, ready to swing and the creature stared at us, ready to pounce and use its entire body as a weapon. But now it was just as vulnerable as any other living thing.

Now we could kill it.

A jolt of strong wind surged towards the house, shattering the window and sending a torrent of rain onto the space between us and the creature. That was the signal flare! Jared was the first to move, pulling the trigger of the shotgun, sending a burst of bullets flying towards the monster. It moved faster than I had ever seen it move before, ducking fast enough that it actually dodged half of the blast. Part of its shoulder was hit, ripping through its skin and exposing the bone beneath. It barely faltered, and posed its claws in a position to strike at Jared as he tried to aim again.

Before it could even take a swipe at him, I swung the plank of wood down with all of my might, hitting it directly on top of the head and momentarily stunning it. The creature glared at me in a daze as it wobbled and tried to regain its balance, and for a moment I was paralyzed with hesitation. This time I swung the plank up, connecting it with the creature's jaw. I heard both bones and the plank crack, splinters flying up into the air around us. Jared aimed his gun at the creature's head, ready to fire. It faltered, almost fell, then brought its foot down hard and regained its balance. It swung its claw towards Jared. Jared pulled the trigger.

I instinctively recoiled from the shot being discharged so close to me and the shards of wood that jutted up into the air upon the bullets connecting with the wooden floor. I felt and heard blood splatter around me. I turned, expecting to see the creature's head no longer attached to its body, but what I saw instead made me scream. I couldn't help it. I screamed at the top of my lungs and dropped what remained of the wooden plank onto the floor.

The creature had only a single bullet lodged into its body, right on its forehead. The spray of blood had not come from the creature, but from Jared. I looked down and saw the shotgun laying on the floor, with Jared's arm still grasping onto it, his fingers still posed on the trigger as if they were trying to fire the gun in one last desperate attempt of defiance.

Jared's left arm had been cut completely clean off at the elbow by the creature's claws. A loud noise pierced the air, drowning out my own scream.

It was Jared, screaming and crying with all his breath.

No.

No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

We were so sure, so ready and confident that we could have beaten this thing, sure that it was even remotely on the same level as a human being or a natural beast. But it was unnatural, it was monstrous, it was even more cruel than nature itself, or maybe it was the very cruelty of nature?

It turned towards me, looked me directly in the eyes and did one of its mouth tearing grins at me, like it had just told some hilarious joke. I visualized a crowd of the bastards in my head, guffawing and cheering like madmen. Then, it let loose one of its screams, a scream of triumph, all while keeping direct eye contact with me. I covered my ears and collapsed onto my knees. I looked down at Jared's face and saw the look of someone pleading, struggling for life and survival. But his pleading was ignored. When the creature's scream died out, so did Jared. His eyes closed shut, and he stopped moving.