Page 90 of Escaping Rejection

We plotted a route down the hill toward the river beside the mountain. The rain slacked off even more, and we decided to head back and check on the others. On the way down, I stopped dead in my tracks and looked back over my shoulder. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

“Do you feel it, too?” Kira asked.

I gazed into the jungle, trying to see what had caught my attention. I had the strongest feeling that something was watching us.

“Like we’re being stalked?” I asked.

“Yeah. I wasn’t sure if it was all in my head or not. All that time with cameras everywhere, I’d sort of gotten used to it.”

“This is different.”

Kira took my hand and pulled me along. “I know. It’s weird, whatever it is, but we need to get back to the others.”

She was right, but I kept my senses sharp as we returned to the cave. I never heard or scented anything more, but that weird sense of being watched never ceased.

We’d almost made it back to the cave when a lizard-like creature came slithering out of the jungle toward us. The thing was covered in mud and soaking wet. It was a cockatrice, a smaller creature that resembled a dragon but with a head that looked like a rooster’s. It rushed us, screeching a battle cry. It only came to hip height, though from the aggression it showed, you’d think it was ten feet tall.

A group of them would have been dangerous, but one was easy to deal with. Kira kicked it in the face right before it could attack us. The thing flipped over, either knocked out or dead. We didn’t stick around to find out.

Back at the cave, the others still looked exhausted despite their naps. Thankfully, J.D. and Abel had managed to heal up a bit more. They could walk unassisted, though both were limping.

“Everyone stay alert,” I said as we exited the cave. “If you see something, say something, and say it fast. Understood?”

They all agreed, and we headed out, again ascending the hill. The storm had almost completely passed. Any monsters who had taken shelter would be out and about, looking for a meal. As silently as we could, we moved up the hill and down the path Kira and I had chosen.

“Does anyone else feel like a rabbit instead of a wolf?” J.D. hissed. “I feel like we’re being hunted.”

So Kira and I weren’t the only ones who felt it. I glanced over my shoulder to see that our entire group was feeling it. Whatever or whoever was watching us was still there.

“We feel it, too,” I said. “Kira and I noticed it earlier. Just stay the course and keep a lookout.”

After descending the hill, we found ourselves in an area of the island I’d never been to before. The jungle wasn’t as thick with trees, but heavy vines stretched between every trunk, creating a sort of spiderweb.

Gavin grabbed one of the vines and tugged at it. “These things are tough. We’ll need to either go around or find some way to cut through—fuck!”

A roar exploded from beyond the heavy wall of vines, and a massive head ripped through the plants, sending shreds of leaves flying. Gavin stumbled backward, backpedaling with his feet and his good arm. Beyond the torn vines, nightmares emerged, the mutations Kira and I had encountered on the last challenge. Multiple beasts had been melded into a single creature by some strange combination of science and magic.

An explosion went off next to my ear, and I jumped. Kira stood, gun forward, barrel smoking. The bullet tore through the skull of the first monster, a thing with the head of an alligator, the body of a lion, and the arms of a human but with thick talons for nails. I gaped at the body as it fell forward, blocking the way for the two other monsters behind it. One had strangely stunted and twisted wings on the back of a body made up of equal parts tiger and human. The other had the head of a massive snake atop a body with the mottled gray-green flesh of a kappa and the legs and arms of a bear.

“What the fuck is that?” Gavin shouted.

Before I could answer, the creatures burst through the barrier and were on us. Kira fired the last two rounds of the gun, but the snake-headed beast struck her, making her shots go wild.

Chaos erupted. Gavin grabbed Chelsey and pulled her aside as the winged tiger monster tried to bite her face, its teeth missing her by inches. I shifted and leaped onto its back, biting and tearing at a stunted wing. The scream that came from the maw of the thing made my guts go cold. It sounded almost human. Hearing that noise come from that thing was like a nightmare come to life. Once again, I was hit with a strange sense of surrealness.

J.D. was trying to help Kira fight off the snake-headed creature. It swung an arm out and caught him in the chest, cutting four shallow wounds below his collar bone. He fell backward, but Kira managed to keep him from hitting the ground.

“Run! That way.” She pointed through the hole in the vegetation the creatures had created.

These things were too strong to take on without either weapons or fighting-fit people. As it was, almost our entire party was wounded in some way. Kira took J.D.’s hand and ran for it. My teeth were still locked on the wing of my quarry, but as the others rushed through the opening, it roared its strange alien cry again and threw me off. Tumbling through the air, I looked down. The huge tiger mouth opened. A combination of human incisors, tiger canines, and jagged, serrated teeth snapped at me. I hit the ground in a roll and ran after the others.

Dirt flew up as my paws slammed into the ground. I caught up to the others fifty yards on, but something was wrong. Kira was screaming, and Gavin and J.D. were holding her back.

“We have to go back for him!” Kira shrieked.

I shifted back to my human form and grabbed her shoulders, looking into her eyes. “What’s wrong? Who are you talking about?”

The guilt, horror, and devastation in her eyes tore at my heart. There was guilt, horror, and devastation. “Abel. He’s not here. We left him.”

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