While looking around, Vim finally decided to look down on the ground, and when he did, he saw something that caused his eyes to open wide in surprise. He tried his best to hide his shock, "This..."
All nine of them, were in a 3-feet hole that seemed to resemble a foot. "There's a monster... "
Vim wasn't the only one who realized this. The old man Tram was the first to talk. His voice was uncharacteristically fast and fearful, "We need to find a place to hide. And quickly!"
Everyone, this time, agreed. The place was conveniently mountainous, so it was easy for them to find a cave to seek refuge. Before they could take breathers, they made sure the cave was secure. Closer to the cave's entrance, the old man, Tram peeked outside to check any threats as his head moved left and right like a surveillance camera. After confirming the absence of any noticeable threat, he returned and stood infront of everyone. "Waiting here is not the best solution."
That was the truth everyone wasn't ready to face. "But we should be able to survive if we stick together." He added.
The green haired girl retorted, straight to the old man's face, "Listen here old man. You're not our leader. Stop telling us what to do. We'll survive this and go our separate ways."
The beautiful man's eyes stared at the green haired girl intensely. His face didn't exude any emotion. But his eyes and the loom from he's smooth voice did. "Girl, stop your mumbling. You'll get us all killed. Now behave yourself and shut up for once."
The green girl wanted to retort but chose to keep quiet. From all the gazes in the room, it was evident that everyone felt the same about her. "I'll listen, only because I don't want to die."
Everybody had sat down leaning against the walls of the cave, except the standing beautiful man. The silence was deafening. Old man Tram sat closest to the door.
"One of us should go outside and find us a better place to hide," Old man Tram looked among them.
Of course the first to reply was the Green haired girl, "Why don't you do it since you're so full of yourself?"
The old man stood up, "I was only suggesting it because I already made up my mind to go."
"Then get going." Her response made everyone present to dislike her even more than they had already did.
'Tram.. I must have heard this name before.' Vim had more knowledge about slaves than anyone else. And how this old man acted, it reminded him of someone he knew.
Everyone watched the old man's back as it blended in with the darkness while he left the cave. No one else there was desperate enough to put there life on the line. Not on the first day that is.
Seven minutes after the man left, it was awkward. No one was willing to start a topic. The girl sat by the wall, the chill of the place got to her causing the girl to hug her knees. Vim silently watched her, unwilling to start a conversation.
When she noticed his gaze, she was going to bad mouth him but stopped when she felt something so cold and slimy touch her. She jumped back, and everyone thought she was about to throw yet another fit.
"Who touched me?" Everyone in the room became highly aware, some looked at her as if she had gone insane because no one was close to her. Vim was the first to notice slime on her clothing, "That looks like saliva... Oh, we have to run!"
The beautiful man who had only spoken once, spoke again and this time it was urgent. "Everyone get out, now!"
Everyone rushed out immediately, the trembling guy who was far behind everyone felt something grab him. Vim got ahold of this and instinctively threw his sword a few centimeters above the trembling guys shackled leg. 'We must be dealing with something invisible.' He threw the sword just to confirm that. And when he heard a screeching, it confirmed his theory.
When the sword stabbed through the monster's leg, green fluid splashed from it and immediately after, the monster ferociously roared in pain. It was definitely invisible. It left the trembling guy and began chasing after Vim.
The trembling guy looked at him as if he was a hero when the monster left to chase after Vim. Everyone who had escaped the cave foolishly ran to the same direction, following the beautiful man who was fastest.
'I need to separate from them...' Vim thought as he turned right, towards the forest. 'I can hear it's footsteps. But I have to guage it's size.'
The monster's loud footsteps followed behind Vim as he rushed into the forest. "Hey monster, you're too slow for something meaning to have a meal!" Vim exclaimed experimenting on whether it made use of it's other senses.
And like he thought, the monster seemed to pick up its pace. It's footsteps got louder and the land beneath was shaking violently. In a split second, Vim felt a slash on his back. "Tsk," he hissed yet continuing to run towards the forest.
His speed had reached its max, he could no longer accelerate any further. And the wound he had sustained moments ago was taking it's toll. The more blood came out, the more danger he was in. Finally, he made it into the forest.
And like he had anticipated, the trees restricted the monster's movements. Unlike it, he managed to dodge the trees while the monster just ran through them therefore reducing it's speed. After crushing into a lot of trees. The monster's visibility retained. Still trying to survive, Vim didn't bother looking back.
"Somewhere to lay low, I seriously need to rest." he looked around in haste. Out of sheer luck, he found a crack on the ground and jumped into it without second thought. The monster saw all this. It irrationally tried to catch him but it was way too big to fit into such a small compartment.
"Rooarr!" The monster roared while still trying to fit it's claws into the crack. It was at this moment when Vim saw the monster in all it's majesty. It was 7 feet tall. It's arms were much bigger. It would make you wonder how it moved around. It's arms were about 10 feet tall each, and that was because the 4 claws on each hand were about a meter tall but with much girth.
The monsters legs were maybe 60 centimeters tall, which explained why it couldn't catch him. Though that was not the most terrifying part - which was the monster's face. It had an exoskeleton protecting it's face and chest. It only had 8 teeth, four on top and four at the bottom. All looked dangerously sharp.
He then saw his sword on its foot still stuck. "Okay, I really need to escape right away." Vim had grown accustomed to not being surprised, but he had not faced anything or seen anything like this which was causing his always steady heart to beat extravagantly fast.
Vim was analysing the monster while also thinking of ways to flee, the monster persistently digged into the crack trying to make it bigger so that it could have it's dinner.
When the crack was big enough for the monster to attack, it seized the opportunity. Of course Vim didn't give it a chance to attack, he hurriedly got out and started dashing. The monstrosity, at a loss, chased after him with it's adapted red eyes helping it find him even if it was dark.
'Why do I hear human footsteps?' He didn't have much time to dwell on that thought, so he pushed it at the back of his head and continued to run.
As Vim was running, he felt light headed and felt like he no longer could control his body causing him to stumble a lot. After rolling down painfully, he returned to normal and immediately got up like nothing happened. And when he did, the monstrosity had already pounced on him. At such a range, it was impossible even for him to dodge, especially when he felt weaker than he did before. His breathing was uneven while he watched the monster's claws come to his face.
Like a bullet escaping a gun, old man Tram with with all his strength lifted Vim from the attack and put him down a few meters ahead. "You okay son?"
Vim looked at his face, "Yes, thank you."
The monster incurred loss after loss. It got angrier when everything transpired. It lunged at both Vim and the old man once more. This time, Vim and the old man dodged in opposite directions. "We need to escape its clutches no matter what! There's a giant canyon up ahead, that should be safe enough!"
The old man relayed the information and began to run ahead. Vim followed suit. While running, he reached his arm to his back and felt the profusely bleeding wound. He had completely forgotten the fact that he was bleeding. 'I won't last long if I don't close off this wound.'
"Roarr!" The monster roared and ran faster this time. It used it's huge arms to propel it's entire body forward. Vim and the old man both noticed the speed of the monstrosity. At this rate, Vim was going to die.
Old man Tram made up his mind and turned around to face the monster, hoping to slow it down for at least some seconds, for Vim's escape. Vim, taken aback, asked, "What are you doing? The end of the forest is close!"
"Go son, you're the only hope we the slaves have. Your life is far more precious than my own!" Vim watched the old man get infront the monster. Unlike the old man's expectations, he was slashed in half by the monster.He died not given a chance to wallow in regret of on his futile attempt to buy time. The time he thought he would buy wasn't nearly enough to blink, let alone add to Vim's swift escape.
Parallel to the old man, Vim appreciated Tram's undertaking thereby puting him in higher regards than Vim originally did, despite how much it went down the drain.
blood made it's way in the air, contrasting the forest's bush-green scenery. The monster had only stopped to slash the old man, now it's eyes locked onto Vim.