The day was coming to a close, yet the tiny tiffin center was still bustling with customers which was as per business. Tucked away in a small corner in one of the many commercial districts, most of its customers came from the multitude of factories scattered all over the area. However, every now and then it would get a customer who is way off their course, or so it may seem.

The clock showed nine-thirty when Amar arrived at the tiffin center. Amar, at the moment, was on a very private business. He had been travelling for two days straight for the job. It was supposed to be a one-time deal, yet he has been on it for almost two weeks. Most of that time was wasted looking for the two women, with whom he had a personal connection. Yet, he never found them and had lost all hope of finding them until he found a new lead, pointing him back home.

Amar is, or was, a police officer. For the longest of times, he had been on the good side of the law, with not even one blemish on his record. However, things have changed lately. There was a rumour, some even call a conspiracy, that he and his subordinates have been up to something fishy. No one has the details of this business, but the meeting between him and the chief inspector has become the talk of the town. Ever since then, he has not put on his uniform and has been missing from work.

Parking his car before the tiny tiffin center, he took a moment to breathe. He was nervous. He had been ever since he started. He imagined all the possibilities of the job going sour but none of them became a reality and couldn’t help but wonder why. The more he thought about it, the more insane he was becoming. Steadying his nerves, he finally got out of the car and headed in. Thin and somewhat tall, he looked shrunk with his sagging face and dropping eyes. The gruff beard did him no favours either, making him look sorrier than he deserved.

Outside the center laid a row of newspapers. All of them were going to be outdated in another couple of hours. Nevertheless, he grabbed onto one of them tossing a coin to the seller before going in.

The man at the counter took one good look at Amar, he made no comment but could make out the tired expression on his face. He had never seen him before. Despite the hundreds of customers popping in and out of the place, he had a reliable memory to recognize the few who visited the place regularly. ‘First day at the job, I guess,’ he guessed before giving Amar the bill and food coupon.

Once he dropped the coupon to the waiter, Amar finally got a moment to rest. Having travelled continuously for two days, he had gone too far north. At one moment in his journey, he began to fear the women had crossed the border and that he would never see them again. Lucky for him, that was not the case. They had been much closer than he initially thought.

As he was nearing the border, he had heard the news about ‘the maid of the woods’ pop up again. He had heard quite a bit about it in his job but thought of it as nothing more than a rumour. Feeling the desperation, he decided to put a little more thought into it. The woods east of the city is dense and has a dark history. Home to rich sandalwood trees, it was home to smugglers for the longest time who profited from the illegal cutting of these sacred trees. It is well theorized that they were the ones who first invented the ghost of the woods, using stories and spooked visitors, who really should have read the signs, to keep people from interfering with their business. With much of the valuable trees wiped out, the smugglers moved onto newer pastures, leaving behind the ghost stories. One among these is the infamous ‘maid of the woods’. A beautiful young woman who would lead young-blooded men to their doom. There are several versions of this story. One, in particular, talks about an ancient queen of an ancient kingdom. The queen is told to be of a dark origin, a secret hidden by her parents from the world and the queen herself. When people hear rumours, they begin to talk, even makeup stories of their own. One such tale claims the queen was destined to kill her husband and rule the kingdom with an iron fist. The king, who has a history of being gullible, fearing for his own life has the queen banished into these very woods where hired bandits completed the job for the king. Her anger has turned her into the ghost that hunts young men to take revenge for her husband’s deeds. A great story, but they fail to mention the details including the name of their queen or the kingdom. Many, however, believe that the woman to not be a ghost but a living, breathing woman working for the smugglers. It is easy to create a myth, especially one that captures the imagination and more importantly the fear of common folk.

The stories slowly died out, but the woods remained covered under the shadow of a dark past. No one went into these woods and those who did didn’t have any tales to tell. But it seems that the ghost has decided to make herself seen again, suspiciously around the same time the two women went missing. It was a long shot, but he felt confident in his judgement. Confident enough to turn around and head back into the heart of the country.

He pulled out the newspaper he had just bought and began to skim through it, looking for anything that mentioned the forest in the east or the maid that lives there. After checking thoroughly twice, he was dismayed to find not even a single mention of it. He tossed the paper aside and fell back on his seat, sighing dully. The first detail that had caught his attention was the change in the appearance of the maid. One always described her as beautiful and unbelievably attractive. However, when she made her way back into the news, she was now being described as something straight from a nightmare. Old, large, and lacking any teeth or eyes, she resembled more of an old hag than a beautiful maid. Many believed that the maid has become corrupted, attaining that form because she did not get any young blood to feast on. Interesting theory, he thought, people will make up anything to make sense of what they see.

‘... you heard about the maid?’ someone said in the busy hall. Amar’s ears quickly perked up on hearing those words and began to look around to see where the information came from. Two men sat at a table that was a few tables apart from him. He tried to concentrate and hear what they were saying but couldn’t make it out from the regular buzz of the hall. He immediately got on his feet and headed over to them. The two men paid no heed to the people passing by, so he maintained his distance. Luck was in his favour as he found a table right next to them occupied by a woman. Without even asking, he took the seat in front of her. The lady across the table, who was busy cleaning up the plate in front of her almost jumped when he sat before her. She threw him a cold glare, but he paid her no heed nor did he even acknowledge her presence. She did not like it one bit, not one bit.

Despite her irritation, she quietly returned to finishing her meal. But her attention was focused on the man in front of her, something was disturbing him, and she noticed it. He was nervous, his hands shivered ever so slightly as he kept shifting them. His eyes constantly shifted towards the men to his right. She nonetheless kept quiet.

‘Wait, you actually saw it?’ the man right next to Amar asked.

‘Not really. I heard from someone who did see it,’ replied the other.

‘Yeah right. So, it is a story again.’

‘Don’t dismiss it so easily. That guy doesn’t tell stories. If he says something, it is probably true.’

‘How or where did he even see it?’

‘He was actually one of the first to see it. You see he was part of a group who often goes to the forest to look for good quality wood to be cut. They ran late that day and had to stay there much later than they wanted to. They were making their way back when they came across this… thing,’ he said in disgust.

The other looked at him fascinated. So did Amar as he quietly eavesdropped. ‘Thing?’ the other asked.

‘Yeah. It wasn’t like anything they had seen in their life. It looked more like a walking corpse; no human would follow that thing even if you paid them.’

The two of them burst into laughter.

The lady finished her meal and quietly sunk into her seat. She pulled out her phone and got busy fiddling with it. Amar continued to eavesdrop, but his patience was wearing thin.

‘So, it is real?’ one of them asked.

‘Not just that. They came upon a road… a mud road. And you heard those stories.’

‘The house at the end of it?’

‘Yes. It was around there, I believe, they saw it.’

‘Oh wow! So, the whole talk of dealing with this problem is actually real?’

‘I don’t know. We have to wait and see. I think everyone knows for sure now. It is only a matter of time before the police or some official goes into the wood. Then we will know for sure.’

Amar had heard enough. He quickly got on his feet and walked away hurriedly. The man at the counter called out to him to collect his food, but Amar didn’t even look back. He got back into his car and quickly backed away onto the street and into the dark.

*****

East of the city lays vast swathes of forest, covering acres of a rugged region whose hills ebbs and flows like sea waves. The forest is cut through by several miles of roads, most of which have eroded over time thanks to neglect and overuse. Many trying to use these pathways would find themselves lost easily as some of these roads were never finished, leading to dead-ends.

One road, however, finds itself resurrected from the dead, thanks to the requirement of commerce. What was once a broken, two-lane metal road has now become a large six-lane well-maintained highway that connects the west district of the city to the nearest port city towards the north. The highway cuts through thick forest lands which were once advised to be avoided at all costs. Cutting through the land ruled by smugglers and bandits, many merchants and vessels carrying precious goods found themselves at the mercy of these cut throats. This meant that other ways had to be used to avoid danger but that meant losing precious time and resources. Fortune came knocking once that land became safer to travel and many co-operations used all their influence to make the highway a reality and the rest is history.

Amar felt like an idiot. Having left the conversation so abruptly, he now found himself aimlessly wandering the highway without a clue where or what he was looking for. He had been driving for over two hours, slowly cruising along the shoulder of the highway. He observed the forest closely and with as much attention as he could foster. For most of the time, he has been looking at dense tree cover which was hiding behind the streetlights. Even though the moon stood high and tall, it could barely penetrate beyond the front line that ran along the highway.

As he continued to peer into the dark, his eyes began to sting with fatigue. His entire body felt the stress of countless hours of sleepless nights, and it demanded to stop right now. But Amar’s will was strong. He was willing to push himself as hard as he wanted and right now, he wanted to get the job done. However, the longer he tried, more hopeless he felt. He prayed for something, anything that would help him at the moment and much to his surprise, something did turn up unexpectedly.

It was faint, but he saw skid marks on the side of the road that veered off into the forest. He stopped the car immediately before taking a turn, driving off the road and onto the unpaved path lining the highway. Pointing the headlights in the direction where the tracks disappeared into the forest, he got out of the car and quickly approached the tire marks. On any other occasion, those skid marks would have flown right over his head but today he was desperate enough to make use of anything he found.

He closely observed the marks, pretending as if he knew what he was doing before doing the only thing he knew, following them into the woods. The tree line was dense and even the somewhat powerful light of the car’s headlights barely penetrated the front row. He stopped a few feet away from the edge and tried to peer in and see if he could spot anything. Sadly, he could barely make out anything in the darkness.

A chill ran down his spine as he realized that he might have to go in and investigate. He took a deep breath and slowly approached the entry. The light from the headlights did cover some distance as he could somewhat see the layers of trees deep inside. Meanwhile, apart from the truck that passed by every now and then, the whole place was drenched in dead silence. Not even the chirping of the crickets could be heard. Everything felt very ominous.

Tiptoeing his way deeper into the thicket, he looked for any signing of the vehicle that drove in. The tracks he had been following quickly vanished under the dense foliage that covered the ground, leaving him stranded. However, he didn’t have to look too far to see what had left those tracks behind. Just a few feet away from the tree line stood a car that had driven straight into a tree. As soon as he noticed it, he ran straight to it, stumbling through the uneven forest floor.

The hood of the car was crushed, most possibly on impact, however, the rest of the car looked alright. Inside, the airbags were deployed, and strains of blood covered the seats and dashboard. Amar quickly began to inspect the car. He recognized it but needed only one sign to know for sure. He hopped over to the shotgun seat and snapped open the gloves compartment. Rummaging through the content, most of which he knew was his, he found a photo. He looked at it with a broad grin before laughing in delight. He tucked it away in his back pocket as he walked away from the crashed car and towards his own vehicle.

Opening the trunk of his car, he pulled out a black bag which he immediately unzipped before rummaging through the contents. He pulled out a flashlight, testing it before putting it in his front pocket. Going back into the bag, he felt for a few other necessities. He zipped the bag close and put it aside before turning his attention to the floor of the trunk. He slowly peeled the soft fabric off the floor, revealing a hidden compartment. He quickly popped back out and looked around, making sure he was alone before proceeding to pull out a short-barrelled rifle. Still hiding it in the trunk, he checked the parts to make sure it looked fine. Digging into the compartment, he pulled out a box of shells to accompany the rifle. He threw them into the bag and proceeded to zip it close with the rifle sticking out. Shutting the door of the trunk close, he locked the car and stood before the dense treeline.

He pulled out his phone and looked at the map. There was nothing on the map apart from the highway and just vast areas of green. Thin brown roads cut through these lands here and there but nothing of significance. He shut his eyes and tried to recall the conversation the two men had. He remembered one mentioning about looking for wood, but other than that, nothing of significance crossed his mind. He put the phone back into his pocket and took a deep breath. With that, he slowly proceeded to enter the forest.

‘What the hell am I doing?’ he kept whispering to himself repeatedly as he slowly made his way through the forest. He walked past the crashed car, giving it one last glimpse as he continued in the direction away from the highway. He had no clue which way he was walking, was he going deeper into the forest? Or was he just going to cut a circle and return to the highway?

The thick forest continued to go on forever, not letting up for even a few meters. Despite the cold night, Amar’s skin was burning. His heart rate was at an unhealthy high, beating against his chest that he could hear it in his ears. Sweat poured out of his forehead and down his face. His sight blurry, unfocused, and unable to tell what he was looking at. Moon shined bright but the thick canopy barely let even a few rays pass through. The harder he tried to focus, the stronger the pain between his eyebrows got. He felt fatigue grip his body as his joints ached and every muscle in his body screamed for him to stop. Yet he wouldn’t. Not now. Not when he was this close. Or so he thought. He could only hope to find something that would allow him to continue.

The loud chirping of crickets filled the empty night air. At first, he found this calming, better than dead silence, he thought. Soon enough it turned into an annoyance. The chirping only got louder and louder and was now just an ear-piercing cacophony. The journey itself wasn’t any easier. Thick foliage covered the ground and space between the trees, making it harder and harder for Amar to cut through. Every time he took a step, he prayed to not encounter any kind of crawling creatures. Amar has a history of phobias that always kept him away from attempting such endeavours. But that was not the case today. Nevertheless, he used whatever was left in him to slowly push the shrubs aside and keep moving forward.

Thirty minutes had passed since he first started. Even though he wasn’t sure where exactly he was headed, he made sure to keep track of his location and time. Right now, the map told him he was in the middle of a big green patch of land which was about as useful as a bucket in a sinking boat. As he continued to push through, he found something bright illuminating through the leaves of the tree in front of him. He stopped right in his tracks and quickly pulled out his phone. The map told him nothing, just more green. He put it back into his pocket and slowly proceeded. Pushing through the vines and foliage, he found himself entering a clearing. a sizeable patch of land covered in tree stumps and short grass.

Amar bent over and let out a sigh of relief, unable to stop himself from grinning slightly. He felt as though he had just managed to do the impossible. He picked himself up again and looked around. The moon, lit the open area drenching it in soft white light. The chirping of the crickets had reduced though had not entirely disappeared.

He slowly walked among the chopped trees, finding one where he could sit without getting a splinter on his bottom. There was one wide as a coffee table but had worn out like it was cut years ago. He brushed his hand across the surface clearing it off any undesirables before finally falling onto it with a dull thud. He dropped his bag onto the ground and slumped over, resting his face in his palm. He shut his eyes and began to breathe calmly for the first time in days.

He was tired, very tired. Having found this small moment of respite, he felt the urge to fall over and rest. The longer he sat, with his face resting in his palm, the more he desired for some sleep. His eyes refused to open, yet he was determined to not rest, to not stop. Using all his might, he dropped his arms and slowly opened his eyes, letting out a dull sigh.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and took a look at the map once again. As before he found himself in the middle of a big green patch. No mention of any clearing or anything. The men at the tiffin center claimed to have seen the woman when they went looking for wood. He was sitting in what should be an old logging site. Now the question was which way should he go? He began looking at the place around him and all he could see are a few broken roads, cutting the forest here and there. Years ago, these roads were created by loggers who found a home in these woods. Once they abandoned the forest thanks to bandits, the roads now start out of nowhere and end nowhere. He thought of all possible places he should be heading but all seem to be a shot in the dark. The harder he tried to make some semblance of a plan, the more frustrated he got.

He closed the map in frustration when he accidentally opened the gallery. A photo, an old one at that, appeared on the screen. He looked at it for a moment and all his thoughts and worries melted away. Without thinking, he opened to full-screen and gave it more attention. Two people occupied the photo, a couple to be precise. They looked happy and content. He felt a mix of emotion, calmness, envy, but ultimately serenity. He hadn’t seen it in a while and after all this time, he wondered why he had left it in here. They reminded him of a time when he was happy. A time long gone. Often, he wondered what happened to them; to him. Was he the one who killed his own happiness?

Every time he asked this question, he always convinced himself with a no. ‘I am doing the right thing,’ he told himself. ‘It is for a good cause,’ he repeated often. He quickly closed the app, once again not bothering to delete it. Whether it was because he wanted it to change him, or to keep him motivated, this even he did not know.

Just as he bent down to get his bag, he heard something. The crunching of leaves, the cracking of branches, and the bending of weak steam. He knew it wasn’t the wind, for the air that night was dead still. More importantly, the chirping of crickets had vanished completely, leaving him drenched in dead silence. He looked over his left shoulder, towards the direction where he guessed the sound came from. In the thicket of the dense forest, something was hiding. He couldn’t see it; his tired eyes didn’t let him see anything beyond five feet but he felt its presence. His body froze in fear, stiff as wood. The hair on his arms stood up as a cold shiver shot up his spine.

It moved… towards him. Slowly, each step it took on the mossy forest floor could be heard. Amar had plenty of time to act but he couldn’t. His mind blanked out, unable to process anything. Fear gripped his heart as his chest sunk and turned cold. One step at a time, the beast moved closer to him. However, before it could reveal itself under the light of the moon, it vanished. It leaped at inhuman speed, covering the distance between it and Amar in just mere seconds. Seeing the beast at an arm’s length away, his body finally reacted, woken up by a shot of adrenaline.

Without a thought, his body ducked, falling to the ground as the beast flew past him carried by the moment of its powerful leap. It hit the ground and tumbled a good few feet. Digging its fingers into the ground, it stopped itself at the cost of cracking its broken, yet sharp, nails. Amar immediately looked up and saw the beast in full detail for the first time and it was as hideous as they said it was.

It looked human, but not entirely. Thick black hair flowed down to its elbows and was covered in foliage that it had picked up from roaming the forest. Its skin was pale and dry to the point it looked cracked and flaky. Black holes occupied the place where its eyes were supposed to be while its teeth, of those that remained, were charred black much like its fingers and fingernails. It was covered in a deep green cloth, ragged on the edges, and worn out in several places. It truly did look like something out of a nightmare.

It let out a hoarse scream, something that resembled to what humans spoke, before charging towards him. Amar realizing this scrambled to his bag. He held onto the barrel of the rifle and tried to pull it out. But the zip that held the bag close wouldn’t let it go, trapping the rifle butt inside. The beast reached in a second thrusting both its arms at him. However, Amar managed to block it with the rifle firmly held with both his hands. The two crashed onto the ground with the beast on top of him, as he pushed it back with the rifle. It had one hand on the rifle and the other on the ground next to his head. It moved closer to his face, exposing its sickly teeth. Amar, who was pushing the beast with all his might, looked at it face for the first and recognized it immediately. The beast slowly lifted its right arm off the ground and placed it on his head, slowly crushing it.

Amar let out a loud scream. He felt intense pain as his head was being squeezed. The beast had immense strength and he knew he had to do something now, else that would have been his last breath wasted. Just then, he noticed the beast buckle, titling onto its left arm that was gripping the rifle and bag. Involuntarily, Amar did something clever. Gathering all his remaining strength, he pushed his left hand, which gripped that free end of the rifle, up. The beast leaned to its side as its hand slipped from the bag. It crashed onto the ground, letting go of the bag and his head. Seizing the opportunity, he rolled away, freeing himself from it.

He hurriedly crawled away, with the rifle in one hand. Once he gained some distance, he tried yet again to yank the rifle out. The beast, however, was already on its feet charging towards him. In a desperate move, Amar swung his rifle as hard as he could, finally freeing the rifle while sending his bag flying into the air, the contents of which now lay scattered across the ground. Before he could grip the rifle properly, the beast had reached him.

Rather than face the beast again, he instead bolted. Pushing to his right, he ran as fast as he could, gaining some distance between him and the beast as he cocked the rifle. The beast was slow to react, and he used that to gain some distance from it. He spun around and aimed the rifle at it. Seeming to react purely on instinct, the beast began to sprint in his direction swinging its arms fractionally as it ran. Amar finally pulled the trigger, and a loud bang rocked the silent sky.

The bullet missed by quite a distance. But he remained unfazed as he immediately cocked the gun and shot another fire. This too vanished into the night. His hands shivered, unable to hold the muzzle steady. He watched it get closer and in a frantic attempt, tried to fire another shot but the beast pushed the barrel away and Amar was forced to let the rifle go. It flew into the air, landing on the ground as Amar made a desperate attempt to run. He did not know where he was heading or what his next plan of action was. He just ran.

He didn’t make it to the edge of the forest before the beast caught up to him, slamming him into the ground. Panting heavily, he began to crawl, trying to wriggle himself free for the beast’s death grip but the beast was already on him. In yet another unexpected move, he pushed himself up on one side with just his right arm causing the beast to fall to its left. He rolled away and managed to gain some distance, but even he knew it was useless. Turning over, he faced the beast, who was preparing to leap at him.

His heart was thumping hard, his breath was short and fast, and his skin burnt. “Alekya,” he called out, “don’t…” The beast did not respond, instead, it prepared for one final leap. At that moment he felt the jaws of death at his throat.

A loud boom filled the night air as a bullet whizzed past the beast’s face, nearly cutting it. “Dammit!” someone cursed. Amar didn’t move as his gaze was fixed on the beast, who now was looking in the direction of the gunshot. He followed and saw a woman standing across the field with his rifle aimed at the beast.

Another shot was fired, this time hitting the beast in the right shoulder, almost throwing it off balance. The beast let out a horrendous scream before charging towards the woman. The woman meanwhile cocked the rifle and hit the trigger only this time there was a click but no fire. The beast leaped at her at point-blank, but she evaded the beast by leaning to her right and leaping out of the way. The woman was faster than the beast. It crashed onto the ground while the woman scurried to the side. She began to look around, her eyes searching the scattered items on the ground.

She looked back to see that the beast was already on its feet and rushing towards her. Seconds before the beast could reach, she found what she was looking for. The beast thrust its hand towards her, intending to strike her in the face. The woman, however, ducked just moments before its hand reached her. From underneath, she slammed the beast where a human’s liver would be with the butt of the rifle. The blow was powerful enough to raise the beast into air, making it scream seemingly from pain. She followed it up by striking it again but this time straight down onto its back, slamming it into the ground.

The beast seemed to struggle, but she did not wait to find out. She sprinted over to the case of bullets, picking them up without stopping. As she ran, she began reloading the rifle. She glanced back and noticed that the beast was missing. Coming to a quick halt she turned around to look for the beast, only to find it right up against her face. It had managed to creep up to her without making a sound. It swung its right arm in, but she blocked it effortlessly, catching on to it with her left arm. The beast felt something poke her abdomen but by the time she realized what it was, the woman had pulled the trigger and the bullet pierced through it.

The beast swung its other arm and managed to push her off itself, gaining some distance between them. However, the woman was already pointing the rifle at her. She pulled the trigger and the bullet struck it square in the jaw, cracking it. The beast left out another scream, this time sounding a lot angrier than before. Yet she remained unfazed.

The beast, however, seemed to have had enough. It kicked into the ground, picking up dirt with its foot which, in one quick motion, it threw in her direction. The woman covered her face, protecting herself. She expected it to attack her during that moment, but instead, the beast spun around and ran in the other direction. She thought of chasing for a moment but decided not to. Instead, quietly watched it disappear into the thicket from which it came.

Amar sat quietly in the same spot where he believed his graveyard would have laid. He watched the stranger fight the beast with such fineness, he believed for a good while he was dreaming in his death. The beast vanished into the darkness but the two of them cautiously watched their surroundings to make sure it didn’t just trick them. Once she was sure it wouldn’t return, she turned around and walked towards him.

“You alright?” she asked as she stood before him with her hand reaching out to him.

Amar shrugged off the offer and got up on his own. This mildly irritated her, but she didn’t comment. He walked away from her towards his bag. She smirked at his ignorance and said, “Looks like we have a mysterious man here. Wonder what he is doing in the middle of the jungle at midnight?”

“I can ask you the same question,” he replied as he picked up his bag from the floor and began checking its contents.

“Ah! So, you can talk.” She sat down on the chopped trunk as she continued to pry him. “You made me curious, so I followed you.”

He was caught off guard by her comment. He never expected to be followed, let alone by a woman. Turning back, he shot a puzzled look at her and asked, “you followed me?”

“You really don’t remember me?” she asked.

He remained silent as he tried to remember if he had ever seen her face. She looked pretty young, a round face with cheeks sunk in making her face appear thin. A scar ran down her right forehead and seemed to continue downward as it cut her left lower lip and the chin beneath it. Her thin black hair was cut down to her shoulders. She was short, shorter than himself who was only five feet six inches tall, but her body was carved from a different stone than him.

“Not surprised. You seemed to be in a whole different world. Even missed having dinner back at the tiffin center.”

“So, why did you follow me?” he asked.

“Like I said. I was curious. You aren’t really as natural at acting as you think you are. Half the people in the tiffin center would have known you were up to something if they had not been busy with their own life.”

He didn’t reply. He simply continued picking up his things from the ground.

“So, are you going to tell me why you are chasing after the beast?”

“No,” he replied bluntly.

“Is there a bounty or something on it? Did the woodcutters hire you?”

He did not reply. She was, however, not irritated anymore. For she seemed to have almost solved the puzzle. Yet, she continued to pry, “come on. You owe the woman who saved your life that much.”

The words seemed to have finally gotten to him as he stopped and sighed dully. “Yes,” he replied, “I kill that thing, I get paid.”

“Seems like a fair deal to me,” she replied. Getting back up on her feet, she walked over to him and handed him his rifle. “Also, seems like you could use some help.”

He took the rifle from her and replied, “I can do this on my own.”

“Yeah right. That thing would have pulled your heart out had I not stepped in.”

“Listen, I am thankful that you saved my life, but I am not willing to have partners right now.”

“You are seriously willing to walk into certain death?”

“Yes,” he replied as he walked past her, in the direction of where the beast had disappeared. Quietly he slipped a bottle into his pocket as he slung the bag over his shoulder.

“Well, you got guts. I can give you that much,” she said but was ignored yet again. She turned around, intending to follow him, only to see the muzzle of the rifle pointed right at her face.