The Final Escapade of Doug Walker

In a distant land ruled by malevolent lords, there lived a man, a foreigner in these lands. The man lived humbly in his cottage, tucked away in a corner of a dark forest. The man woke up every day, worked his small farm and eventually retired for the evening. This was his daily routine, which he carried out every day for seven years. He was content with his simple life and lived happily, until one night, under the cover of a smiteful storm came upon the cottage a group of cavalry soldiers. The man is awakened by heavy banging on his door and a gruff soldier yelling "Hey! Is anyone alive in there?!" The man rushes to the door and greets the group of 4 men and invites them inside "Hello, friends, my name is Raphael, please please, come in!".

Once everyone was inside Raphael made a round of drinks for his guests "Say, i've lived here for seven long years and i have scarcely seen another soul, let alone have guests, especially at this hour!" He jested

"So what brings you gentlemen out here?". One of the men, with a great bushy beard, finished his drink in one gulp before responding

"Ahh, well that's a long story, just know that we have been sent into the area to hunt a...creature. Fear not, you should be safe out here, as secluded as you are, we accidently found your cottage to be completely honest. Thank you again for letting us in, ah my name's Benvolio, I'm the captain. The others aren't so talkative but there's Ernast, Vadik, and Marko." Each of the men nodded and held their cup up when their name was said.

"Nice meeting you all, and you are more than welcome to stay overnight, let the storm pitter out before you move on again"

"Ah! We very much appreciate that my friend, we will stay the night then, again thank you for your generosity, normally the locals in these woods are a bit eh... reclusive, let's say"

"Oh?" Raphael asked confused "I didn't even know other people lived out in these woods, I mean I assumed there would be some but I've never seen another soul."

"Yeah, there are a few others like you, they can get pretty hostile though, especially if they see uniformed people like us. They are just a bit... used to being independent away from society, some call them uncivilized." Benvolio finished

After that little conversation, Raphael gave the soldiers a few more rounds of drinks and then they all headed for bed. Early in the morning, Raphael was awakened by a loud and unnatural noise, similar to that of a platypus. Raphael gets out of bed and puts his shoes on, but before he can get to the front door, Benvolio stops him and shushes him "The beast we've been hunting" he whispered. Raphael looks and sees the others all getting equipped to go out and hunt this creature, Ernast and Vadik both carrying net launchers and Marko equipped with a PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle with Benvolio himself carrying a PPSH-41.

"Jeez, that quite the rifle"

"Yeah well, sometimes things don't want to stay dead" Marko said coldly.

"Indeed, well men, the hunt is on, Raphael take this gun and stay here, if we do not return by sunset take one of our horses and ride into town, inform our commander of everything that has happened." Benvolio said sternly as he handed Raphael a double barrel shotgun.

Raphael stood at the doorway with his shotgun as he watched the soldiers take three of the horses and ride into the woods, towards the odd noise. Once they were out of view he closed all of his doors and windows and sat down, waiting for something to happen. After a few hours he heard a loud bang and screaming followed by the distinct sound of gunfire. He readies his gun and peeks out a window to observe the woods. In the distance he can see smoke and trees shaking violently.

Raphael assumes the worst and, going against Benvolio's order, takes the horse and rides toward the smoke. Raphael rides cautiously but swiftly through the tangled dark forest for an hour or so before reaching a clearing. The clearing looked like a battlefield, a crater in the center and blood strewn about. Behind a rock he saw Benvolio "Benvolio!" he shouted as he dismounted and rushed over to the soldier.