Write to Rank Submissions

Round 3 - A Sacrifice

Thomas panted as he eyed the Ducabbah alpha.

The alpha stood up to his full eight-foot height despite his four-legged build. The alpha looked like a cross between a deer and a bear with blue sharp spikes decorating its back though they didn't compare to the sharpness of the teeth it bared.

Thomas raised his rifle at the majestic creature, struggling to keep his breathing under control. Hunters were to only hunt Ducabbahs in hunter groups, especially with an alpha present, but Thomas needed the full pay cut desperately.

Thomas thought back to his little sister, laying on an operation table awaiting the money needed to treat her vast injuries. 

He didn't have a choice.

Thomas took aim, steeling himself as he squeezed the trigger.

Bang.

Thomas stumbled back as the diamond-encased bullet penetrated the Duccabah's side and it fell slowly with a loud thud.

Thomas snorted.

Well, that was easy. Why's everyone so wary of these?

He walked up to the downed Ducabbah, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and withdrawing his similarly diamond-encrusted blade.

Like his father used to say; that was when it all went to shit.

The Ducabbah's head shot up like a catapult, its pained eyes raised to the sky as it let loose an agonizing wail. The wail hit Thomas like a shockwave, sending him flying back into a tree as the sound attacked his very being, making it feel like his soul was trying to rip itself from his body.

Thomas moaned as he struggled to stand after the effects left his body. 

What the hell had that been, a last-resort attack?

Thomas realized how wrong that thought was when four creatures emerged from the underbrush.

The Ducabbah pack growled as they saw their alpha laying in pain, latching onto the cause of his pain as one. 

Thomas.

He was becoming the hunted.

Thomas shakily drew his rifle as the Ducabbahs advanced on him slowly. The Ducabbah pack's bite was just as deadly as their alpha despite being much smaller.

Thomas shot at the closest one just as it leaped at him, hitting it right in the head. He reloaded with self-taught precision, shooting another before it could reach him. He twirled on his heel, facing the next one with a grin and squeezed the trigger. 

The bullet never came.

Thomas wasn't exactly well off financially, he had only been able to acquire three diamond-encrusted bullets.

The Ducabbah smashed into Thomas' stomach head first, causing him to double over as the antlers pierced his skin. 

Thomas gritted his teeth against the searing pain at his sides, drawing his knife and driving it straight down repeatedly into the Ducabbah's exposed skull. 

The last Ducabbah didn't wait his turn, launching himself at Thomas who barely managed to duck in time.

Thomas threw his weight onto the Ducabbah he had been stabbing, pushing it down to the ground without resistance. Thomas looked down at his bloodied shirt which sported some new tears where the antler had breached.

He faced the last Ducabbah which still seemed shaken from its head-on collision with the tree. Thomas' ribs hurt but he didn't have time to worry about his injury, instead taking a defensive stance with his knife outstretched.

Thomas imagined he looked beyond dumb or perhaps suicidal to any onlooker to the face-off. He didn't care though, he couldn't sit and do nothing while his sister suffered.

The Ducabbah give its head one last shake and then refocused its gaze on Thomas. 

The Ducabbah covered the ground between them in just two strides. Thomas dropped his knife and drew his gun, positioning it sideways from his left to right hand just as the Ducabbah bit down. The weight of the Ducabbah pulled Thomas down to the floor with it on top, its jaws latched onto his gun. Thomas could feel the gun cracking under the pressure from the powerful jaws. 

Thomas hadn't thought this far ahead, he had acted instinctively after realizing his knife wouldn't be enough.

The gun started to creak, bound to break at any moment. 

Bang.

The Ducabbah suddenly slumped forward and Thomas rolled out of its way as it fell lifeless to the floor.

A figure stood behind it, rifle still smoking from the shot. "That's quite a haul you got there, kid."

"Dad!" Thomas yelled, running in his arms.

"I'm sorry my expedition took so long but I'm back, Thomas." The man announced. "Now what the hell are you doing hunting Ducabbahs alone?"

Thomas updated him on his sister's grim condition and his quest for enough money to pay for her procedure.

His father nodded. "I would've done the same thing in your shoes, boy. However, Ducabbah hunting isn't for 14-year-olds and I hope you learned the importance of caution today."

Thomas grinned. "Yes sir!"

He hadn't.

"Well, don't let me keep you." His father nodded toward the downed Ducabbah Alpha. "Finish your hunt."

Thomas walked up to it firmly, knife in hand.

A sacrifice for the greater good.