Page 13 of In Darkness and Dank

The monster growled.

Something clicked.

The safety of a rifle being disengaged.

“No!” Kittisak shouted, trying to turn and shield the monster behind him.

The next few seconds were over in a blink.

The monster roared and grabbed a hold of Kittisak, his claws sinking into his shoulder and drawing blood. Kittisak cried out in pain, now off balance and falling back against the monster, forcing his claws to push in deeper as the monster tried to catch him.

Everyone fired.

Kittisak’s chest exploded in pain—searing and white hot—that stole his breath away. The monster caught him with one arm and lunged out with the other.

Someone screamed.

More gunfire.

Kittisak’s body hit something, maybe the cot, and he had the sensation of falling again.

The monster’s strong arms wrapped around him tight as they dropped, and there was suddenly water all around them. They must have come down the ridge through the back of the tent and landed in the river. Kittisak couldn’t breathe, he was in utter agony, he was being swept away by the current, and then…

Then everything went black.

3

Kittisak groaned brokenly as he woke up. He couldn’t see shit, and the last thing he remembered was falling into the river with the monster. He was somewhere dry, he could breathe, but the next sensation that assaulted him was total and absolute agony.

Two distinct tracks of fiery pain ran across his left shoulder, with three more searing over his side—claw marks. He could recall the monster trying to grab him and get him out of harm’s way, but the effort hadn’t exactly been successful judging by the awful pain in his stomach and the right side of his chest. He’d been shot twice, maybe more. It hurt every time Kittisak took a breath, and his eyes flooded with tears.

He was dying.

He was going to fucking die.

Howling in anguish, Kittisak clawed at his wounds. He didn’t even know what he was doing except he wanted the pain to stop. He groaned when he found sludge caked over his injuries, and he frantically tried to wipe it away. His delirious brain was rattled with the fear of infection even though he knew it was pretty ridiculous to be worried about that since he was much more likely to bleed out first.

Someone grabbed his hands and pulled them away, tutting at him like how one would scold a child.

Kittisak snarled and tried to fight, pulling at the hands holding him and going absolutely berserk.

“Prrrrp. Prrp.”

Kittisak knew that sound.

It was the monster.

Kittisak froze.

The monster was here, ever so gently pushing Kittisak’s arms back by his sides and making more soothing little sounds.

“I’m dying,” Kittisak whimpered. His chest was tight, the pain was endless, and he didn’t know if he was going to pass out, throw up, or both. “I’m gonna fuckin’ die. I’m dying. Please, I don’t want to die. I can’t. I can’t!”

The monster went on purring, and he laid a strong hand on Kittisak’s brow. He said something, a word Kittisak didn’t recognize, but it seemed to be one of comfort because he kept repeating it.

Kittisak wanted to ask him what it meant, but everything was getting dark again.

His last conscious thought was wishing there had been some light here wherever they were so he could have seen the monster’s beautiful starry eyes one last time.

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