Hell Forest

Chapter 2: The Werehyena

May, hyperventilating, immediately ran with the baby in her arms. The leopard gave chase, pawing the soft ground away as it made to catch its prey. May's eyes darted back and forth as she looked for anything to use to gain distance. Spotting a thicket of low hanging branches and a tree trunk, she slid through a crack that was small enough for her and the child just as the leopard pounced. It left deep claw marks in her back but it was not enough to grab her.

May, popping out on the other side, ran behind a large tree and placed her back against its wet bark to numb the pain. She let out muffled groans as she watched her clothes turn red. The leopard roared and clawed at the branches, trying to find another way through. Just as it was about to climb over the tree, something else caught the attention of both parties.

A loud thud was heard. It boomed and reverberated throughout the whole forest. Footsteps like those of an elephant made the ground vibrate as the new creature made its way through the forest. May could tell that it wasn't an elephant as it was too small to get through the thick vegetation. But if so, then what was causing all the branches and boulders in its wake to snap and break?

The leopard turned its attention to the newcomer and roared as it stood its ground. May stood silent behind the tree as she heard it leap but instead of hearing a cry from the other creature, all she heard was a whine from the leopard. A second later, the crunching of bones and spilling of blood haunted the forest which was soon followed by the sound of chewing. May's soul was then tormented when a laugh, like a bass-filled chorus of a hundred men who were all off-key, rose. The laugh was so horrible that it nearly brought the poor girl to tears.

The creature then lumbered with its thunderous footsteps and just as May thought it was going to leave, her heart sank after what it did next. It began to sniff its surroundings, huffing big gulps of air; the creature slowly thundered its way to her. May would have fainted from fright had it not been for the child.

The baby, who was sleeping, was disturbed by the monster's laugh. As he began to stir awake, May tried to find something to quiet him down before he wailed and gave away their position.

"No no, not now hush-hush little baby, don't get me killed," May said in a hushed, worried whisper, "you are strong and I believe in you. I am begging you not to doom us both."

The child was still uneasy, and May was sweating more and more, "what will it take to shut you up? Are you hungry again? I don't have any fruit..."

The monster lumbered, sniffing the air more heavily. It once again laughed, the cruel, guttural sound was enough to make all the nearby birds take off from their nests.

May put one of her hands to her mouth as she nearly laughed out of insanity, "I am in Hell, I am in actual Hell."

Looking down at the baby again, she came up with an idea.

Breathing in, she said, "I am only doing this for survival purposes..."

She then lifted her shirt and brought the baby to her chest. She did not know how the whole breastfeeding thing worked but the last thing she expected was the baby clamping down with the sharpness of a thousand razors. It took all her strength to not scream out in pain as the baby drank.

The monster sniffed the air again and after relaxing, lumbered away in peace. May waited until she could no longer hear its thundering steps before she giving out a cry of agony.

She fell to her knees and struggled to regain her breathing. Pulling the baby away, she gave it an acidic stare but all it did was laugh in return. Looking into its mouth, all she saw was gums, no teeth or anything sharp.

"Babies are strange creatures," she said resting on the tree trunk and nursing her breast.

Tired, May decided to sleep for the rest of the day and travel at night. She retied her clothes to cover the wound on her back and put herself in a position to sleep in the tree's roots. The only problem was that the baby was not allowing her to, he laughed and pulled at her hair despite the woman being beyond exhausted.

"This child... is this what mothers have to go through? Gosh, I hate this. Sir, can we please align our sleep schedules?"

The baby was restless and getting annoyed. May then cradled him and rocked him to prepare for a nap.

"That thing back there, I can't believe we survived it... I hope it isn't so but a creature that can act like that can only have been a bouda, the monster from hell.

The baby quietened when she said that word. Understanding, May decided to continue.

"How about a story? My mama used to tell me one to calm down all the time. Ahem. Here goes...

It is believed that there are ferocious monsters that live deep in the forest and savannah. These creatures are like regular hyenas but in truth, are much more than that. From a distance, you would not even be able to tell the difference. When hunting, they are known to take the form of man and lure people with their deceptions. They are so big and strong that they can kill any animal with ease and no one man can overpower it. They hunt at night for they fear the sun, it strips them of their power. That is why we have curfews and always go home before sunset. Most of the time anyway...

In my village, it was once stated that one of these demonic creatures was seen lurking in the forest near the village borders. That is why we named it the "Hell Forest"; for only a creature disgusting to God would dwell here and it is where we threw everything we deemed unworthy in his eyes. They were going to do the same to you since we didn't know where you came from but of course, I of all people had to speak up and get roped into this as well.

As much as I pray it isn't true, we could very well have to run away from that... thing. It might be our turn to be hunted by God's disgrace; bouda, the werehyena."

When May was done, she looked down to see the baby sleeping with a smile on its face. That smile made May happy, her pain lessened, and she felt a lot softer yet couldn't explain why.