HUNTED
The sun was now rising over the Chthonic Island. Darius and Peyton had walked for some time after encountering the Joro-Gumo, but nothing eventful had happened since. They had heard things moving in the jungle, but seen nothing. It seemed Eve’s warning to stay on the path was a wise one, as many creatures seemed to wander through the deeper parts of the jungle, searching for prey. Peyton had looked through a gap in the trees at one point as the sun rose above the island and seen a creature in the distance that looked like it was made up entirely of human skeletons, hundreds of them, mashed together to form a gigantic creature that lumbered through the jungle aimlessly. Darius strongly suggested that they remain out of its sight, lest they wanted their own bones to join the mass.
Eventually, the path was cut in two by a river. It was a relatively small river and looked fairly narrow, but they were still dubious about approaching it. However, they could see the path start up again on the other side.
“Well, we’re still on the path, right?” Peyton asked. “I don’t see anything around.”
Darius was looking in all directions, not taking any chances. “It should be safe to cross. If it’s fresh, maybe you should drink, as well.”
“Is water safe to drink here? I mean, there isn’t any sort of supernatural bacteria or anything I should be scared of, is there?” Peyton asked. But she was desperately thirsty and began to walk towards the river anyway. Darius moved with her, his curved blade already in hand. They approached the edge of the river with caution, looking all around for any sign of danger. Peyton reached the water and knelt down on the riverbank. She carefully reached out and touched the water with her index finger, swirling it around in a figure-8, her eyes scanning the opposite shore, waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, she pulled her hand back and sniffed the water on her finger.
“Smells fine,” she said to Darius. Then she licked her finger. “Tastes fine, too. It’s fresh.”
Feeling satisfied, but no less wary, Peyton cupped both hands into the small river and brought the water up to her mouth. She gulped it down steadily, then retrieved more water for another drink.
“We probably shouldn’t stay still too long, should we?” Peyton asked Darius over her shoulder.
“No, probably not,” he agreed.
Peyton cupped one last handful of water and washed it over the deep scratches on her arm, souvenirs from the giant spider-woman. The water ran down her arm as she washed the wound, causing the blood to run down her arm. From her arm, the blood flowed down over her elbow, down the length of her forearm and over the back of her hand. Finally, it trickled down her fingers until it dripped from her fingertips, falling silently through the air until it dripped into the river with a minuscule splash that neither Peyton nor Darius could hear.
“Okay, let’s go,” Peyton said, standing up and patting her hands dry on her jeans.
She and Darius began to wade into the river. The water only ever got as deep as their knees, even out in the middle. The flow was gentle and the river floor was smooth, easy to navigate with no rocks or sinkholes to trip them up. They were beginning to climb out onto the opposite riverbank when Peyton heard something that sounded like a bird chirping. She turned around to look over the river, but couldn’t see anything. It was just as still and silent as it had been before. Peyton turned back to the path and kept walking.
The chirp happened again. A short burst of musical notes, right behind them. Darius heard it that time, too. They both turned around, only their feet still in the water, and searched for the source of the noise. All Peyton saw in the river was a spot where circles of water were rippling out, as though someone had dropped a stone.
Suddenly, silently, something lifted its head out of the water directly in front of them, not three feet away. Only the top part of the head showed, though, everything from the nose down remaining submerged. It had a rounded head, similar to that of a dog, but with a much shorter snout. The ears were long and pointed, twitching as they moved around, listening for movement. The creature’s fur was wet and sleek, but thick and grayish-black. The eyes were a light shade of orange, smart and calculating, watching Peyton and Darius curiously. It lifted its head farther out of the water, revealing itself up to its chest, the fur there changing from grayish-black to a dark white plume. It’s mouth seemed to be smiling, the mouth-line spanning the width of the jaw and up the cheeks to present a wide intelligent smile, the ears still moving from side to side. It cocked its head to the right and considered Peyton and Darius, uttering yet another chirp, but came no closer.
Peyton began to back away from it, slowly stepping backwards out of the water. She didn’t know what the smiling animal was, but she knew from the previous experience that she wanted no part of it. However, Darius grabbed her elbow and held her in place.
“Stay very still,” he whispered as quietly as he could. “Don’t make any sudden movements.”
Peyton froze and kept both eyes on the creature in the water as it stared back at her. It seemed fairly harmless and reminded Peyton of a dog or large cat. Its face seemed friendly enough. Even if the cunning smile on its face was strangely unsettling and gave Peyton the creeps.
“What is it?” she asked Darius under her breath.
“Ahuizotl,” Darius replied. “Don’t move. And stay quiet.”
Peyton and Darius watched the Ahuizotl as it remained motionless in the river. Time passed and it seemed like the three of them were in an intense staring contest, but as they all continued to stare at one another, the Ahuizotl began to come closer. It moved slowly, moving forward with the caution of a dog being scorned by its owner, but that eerie smile was still on its face. It began to emerge from the river, first its front legs, which were muscular and strong. The feet looked almost like hands, with bony fingers sinking into the mud as it walked, sharp claws raking the ground. Then the body rose out of the water, dripping wet, followed by the rear legs, which were much like the front legs, but looked much more powerful, built for swimming and running. The creature was similar in size to a German Shepherd, standing tall and proud, like nothing could hurt it. It continued to come closer, its long tail dragging in the water, the tip still submerged. It walked slowly up to Darius and Peyton, sniffing with its short, wide nose. Darius, with his blade in his hand, still didn’t move. Peyton stayed as still as she possibly could, certain that the Ahuizotl could hear her heart beating. The creature looked directly into Peyton’s eyes, sniffing the air again. It suddenly made a chirping noise, somewhere between a bird chirp and a cat’s meow. The closest thing Peyton could think of in similarity to the chirping noise was a short, loud, high-pitched, purr.
The creature was almost entirely out of the river now, only its tail remaining half-submerged. The Ahuizotl was within a foot of Peyton now, sniffing with interest in her direction. Every instinct Peyton had was screaming at her to turn around and run as fast and as far as she could, without looking back, but she stayed still, waiting, praying that the animal would get bored and go back to the river. Instead, it seemed to just be staring at her. Then its eyes began to drift away from her face. They lowered and panned to the side, now looking about a foot below Peyton’s eyes. Peyton suddenly realized that it was staring at something on her arm. Slowly, carefully, Peyton moved her head, ever so cautiously, to look down at her arm. At the spot where the Ahuizotl was staring, she saw the wound she took from the Joro-Gumo. She saw the blood that still marked the flesh. The open gash that was still raw and full with drying blood. The animal that stood before her now, as large as a big dog, was staring directly at the blood. In her fear, Peyton’s hand twitched.
The Ahuizotl suddenly bared its teeth and growled, sounding now like a tiger. Its teeth were small, but looked razor-sharp and numerous in numbers. The creature finally lifted its tail out of the water and arched it over its back, like a scorpion tail ready to strike, but on the end of the tail, instead of a stinger, was another hand. It was a horrible, gray, scaly four
-fingered hand, with wickedly hooked claws at the end of each finger, now curving in Peyton’s direction. Faster than Peyton could see, the tail suddenly shot forward, the hand reaching for her throat and the sharp claws flashing in the light.
Before the hand could touch her, though, Darius moved with all the speed a Reaper could muster and slashed his blade through the air. The Ahuizotl suddenly seemed to scream as something splashed down into the water. Looking down, Peyton saw the severed tail-hand floating in the river, blood pooling around it. The Ahuizotl shrunk away from Peyton and hissed ferociously at Darius. Then it lunged forward at Peyton, reaching out with the claws on its fore-legs, but Darius swung his blade again and drove it down into the monster’s head, up to the hilt. The creature yelped once, then fell limp. Darius threw it off, freeing his blade, the animal splashing noisily into the river, where it bobbed briefly beneath the surface, then bounced up to float gently on the current.
Peyton breathed a deep sigh of relief. Darius wiped the blood from his blade on his pants-leg, turning to Peyton.
“Can we go now?” Peyton asked.
“Yes, let’s. The sooner we get to Fate, the better.”
Peyton then glanced up at the treetops overhanging the river and suddenly felt her mouth go very dry. “Um, Darius?”
Darius turned to look where Peyton was staring. He slowly surveyed the branches above, knowing instantly that they were in trouble. High above, the trees were filled entirely with dozens and dozens of Ahuizotl. Perched and hanging from branches, all glaring down at the two of them growling and hissing and beginning to climb down, teeth bared and claws extended.
“Run!” Darius yelled, grabbing Peyton by the arm. They both turned and started sprinting along the path. The Ahuizotl took chase, growling and barking and snarling, some running down to the jungle floor to pursue them, while others stayed up in the trees, following through the branches, jumping and swinging like carnivorous monkeys. Darius and Peyton ran as fast as they could, hearing the drum of the Ahuizotl feet behind them.
One suddenly leaped out of the branches ahead, landing on the path before them. It crouched low and snarled at the two of them as they ran towards it. It crouched down on its haunches, baring its teeth and swinging its tail from side to side, eyes darting between the two it planned on tearing apart. With one last snarl, it seemed to decide on who it would kill first and lunged with its teeth bared right for Darius. Darius quickly fell to his knees and slid along the ground, raising his curved blade as he skidded along. As the Ahuizotl flew over his head, he stuck his blade into its belly and cut it from sternum to stomach. It sailed overhead and Darius, with one fluid movement, rose back to his feet and kept running beside Peyton, while the gutted animal landed on the ground behind and rolled along, entrails spilling across the path. Its brethren ran over it, barking and snapping at the heels of their quarry.
“Keep going!” Darius yelled over the snarls of the Ahuizotl. Peyton glanced over her shoulder and saw a sea of teeth and claws in hot pursuit. She looked ahead and saw that the jungle suddenly came to an end, the path leading out into a large open space of long grass. She and Darius burst out of the jungle and into the clearing. In the center of the clearing there was the base of the volcano, towering high above, black smoke rising aimlessly into the air from the top. Ahead of them, in the side of the volcano, there was an opening that lead underground into complete darkness.
“In there!” Darius yelled, pointing at the opening.
Suddenly, from the tree line burst the Ahuizotl, having massed in quantity and now numbered in the hundreds. They exploded from the pathway, but also launched from the trees for yards across, sending leaves flying as they burst through bushes and treetops, barking and growling and snapping, drool flying from their still smiling mouths.
Darius and Peyton ran as fast as they could toward the opening in the side of the volcano, Peyton expecting one of the creatures to tackle her to the ground at any second and devour her. They reached the opening and Darius ushered Peyton inside. She ducked her head and hurried into the cave. Darius glanced over his shoulder at the approaching Ahuizotl and his eyes widened in shock. They had approached so fast and were now so close. Several were diving through the air towards him, mouths wide and teeth ready to bite through his neck. Darius turned back to the opening and dove headfirst inside. He tumbled down the steep incline, rolling over and over, until he hit the floor and came to a stop at Peyton’s feet. She bent down to help him up, ready to keep running deeper into the long, dark tunnel. As Darius climbed to his feet, he looked back up at the opening to the cave.
“Wait, wait,” he said.
“But they’re coming!” Peyton cried.
She looked up to the opening and stopped. The creatures were out there, but they were now yelping as though in pain or frightened. As Peyton and Darius watched, they could see the shadows of the Ahuizotl moving around outside, then they suddenly vanished, their yelps quickly growing farther and farther away. Then everything was silent. Darius turned to Peyton.
“They won’t come here,” he said.
“Where are we now?” Peyton asked, wondering what could be fearsome enough in this cave to make the monsters of the jungle run in terror.
“We’re beneath the volcano,” Darius explained. “Fate is here.”