Caleb ran for another fifteen minutes through shrubs and grasses before stopping for the first time since he broke off from the trio. He doubled over in a fit of panting and perspiration in spite of the cold October night. Caleb couldn't help but worry about his brother, he knew he'd be looking for him. Only if he'd listened to him, he was thinking when a brief shuffle of leaves startled him out of his reverie.
"Josh?"
"where're you?" he asked albeit he doubted that it was truly his brother. He turned his head frantically like a dancing masqurade as a wave of panic washed over him, then he saw it right in front of where he stood. The same glistening but sinister pair of eyeballs which they had seen approached slowly.
Caleb knew then that he was in trouble, it would be too late, too stupid and too dangerous to run. He was faced with two bleak options: attack his assailant or hope for some miracle. The earlier, he gave more consideration as he reached slowly behind his belt where he concealed a stiletto. He trudged backwards as he was doing this and the creature followed as though it was pulled to its prey by an invincible rope. Caleb tried to swallow the lump forming in his throat as a tree trunk blocked his path, it was then that he did something he rarely does - he prayed. He tightened his grip around the knife handle as the creature poised and bared its teeth in a ferocious snarl that will take the life off its victim.
But instead of the attack Caleb expected, all he heard was a voice - an angered, cogent and yet familiar scream that shattered the serenity of the night. What he saw next left him baffled, "what madness would lead someone into making such a grave mistake?" he wondered as he watched the human form now wrestling on the grassy floor of the bush with the formidable creature. It suprisingly took him a full ten seconds to identify the fearless, or maybe crazy person who threw himself on the creature with bare hands. It was in fact his brother.
"Josh?" he muttered in utter disbelief.
Only a few minutes ago as Joshua was searching for his brother, his search had almost proved successful when to his dismay, his brother was already cornered.
"Run!" he screamed still entangled with the deadly creature.
"no way" he said half to himself as he broke into a sprint brandishing the stiletto in his right hand.
"I said..." Caleb stopped short when his brother's voice trailed off in a distorted sound of pain as the powerful canines sank deep into the left side of his neck, it withdrew its head violently leaving a gaping and bloody hole where the neck used to be, the powerful jaws has claimed another victim. A tremendous wave of anger and blind fury enveloped his mind as he watched his brother gurgling and gasping. He stared from his dying brother to the creature that stood triumphantly over the its victim.
Every iota of fear was immediately replaced by the rush of adrenalin as he charged forward with the only weapon he had on him. Even the warning snarl from the creature couldn't deter him from his assault. Blinded with fury, Caleb collided with it, circled both arms around its huge form. With the creature running wild and dragging the boy along, Caleb held on with a hand and with the other he slit its throat with one belligerent stroke. It stumbled and left the both of them rolling along the forest floor as a loud shrill cry filled the night. Caleb walked to the limp creature with his hand still bleeding from a wound he sustained in the melee. After standing over the creature that had cost them so much for some seconds, he made to walk to his brother but something caught his eyes. A single cowrie shell hung around its neck like a dog tag, his brows furrowed knitted as he wondered where he had seen the object but dismissed the thought. He tore it off and was about to take his souvenir when something happened, he was taken aback as the creature metamorphosed into a human form.
"I said it" he whispered to himself as he stared blankly at Emeka with his throat still bleeding.
"I knew it!" he screamed as he brought down a boulder on the limp body, blood and pieces of bone spattered around him.
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