Kicking Around (Completed!)

The Kickoff

Seconds later it made an odd panting sound, followed by a low, guttural growl. It took off running through the forest toward the cliff, a slender horror moving impossibly fast. Moments before it reached the edge, it slowed down, banked to the left and kicked the fur ball squarely in its center.

There was a sick, wet sound as the giant foot connected, and in the next instant the bear ball was launched over the forest canopy below, unraveling grotesquely as it sailed out of sight. The creature bellowed joyfully, turning to face Dan with a large grin spread across his face.

Dan sat frozen, petrified to move. He wished he were invisible, but the monster was clearly making some kind of an attempt to communicate with him. He slowly raised his hand and raised a thumb high.

"Uh..." he began shakily. "Good kick?"

The creature's grin vanished. It stomped over to where he cowered, crouching low and lowering its head even more until it was eye level. Dan didn't move. He simply stared back and started to cry. The creature's head was easily ten times the size of a human's. Softball-sized, black eyes bore into him, unblinking.

"And..." Dan stammered through his tears. "Th...thanks...for...uh...saving me?"

The creature said nothing.

Dan slowly stood up and waved a hand timidly. "I mean it. I...uh...really appreciate it." He nodded his head, afraid to say anything more.

The creature's head started to bob in tandem with his. A second later it chuffed at him, possibly in an attempt to laugh. Then it smiled. Dan's heart lurched inside him and he smiled back, trying to remember if he'd ever heard of any savage sightings mentioning a creature capable of smiling.

Dan laughed, nodding his head even more. He was wrong. This day didn't suck after all. In fact, he could easily envision a future where sucky days no longer existed for him. Ever.

The creature continued to grin at him as it casually reached over, wrapped a massive hand around him and lifted him off the ground.

Oh, crap.

Dan's arms were now pinned tightly against his body, and as the creature walked toward the cliff, swinging him beside itself, he felt one of his ribs snap from the pressure. He screamed in agony, his eyes wide at the terror of what was happening. At what he knew was about to happen.

The creature lifted him up toward his face, still grinning. Through his pain Dan was overwhelmed with the putrid breath washing over him, black bits of bear dung still stuck between a pair of yellowing fangs.

A hand suddenly reached over, came to rest on his head, and stopped.

"Please..." Dan begged. "Please, don't...I don't want to die...I just—"

There was a loud pop, and suddenly all of Dan's pain vanished instantly. His head flopped limply to his shoulder, and he watched helplessly as the creature closed its hands over his body and started to crush it, rolling him over in its hands just as it had crumpled the bear not two minutes earlier.

An immense headache started to flood through Dan's temple as he was gingerly placed on the edge of the cliff, facing the forest. Through his one functional eye and his lopsided, pounding head, he watched as the creature strode away back into the forest once more.

Just as he felt himself fading, about to lose all consciousness, Dan heard a deafening roar and the ground beneath him started to shake. He could only stare straight ahead with his one good eye as the monster ran toward him with shocking speed, the weathered foot connecting with his broken body at the last possible second.

Dan died long before he hit the ground.