I had never felt so cornered before in my life. My heart was pumping faster than ever, so fast I wondered if my veins could take up all the pressure.
Who were these freaky-looking people? What did they want with me?
“Wh-Who are you people?” I backed away slowly, trying to avoid their flaming eyes.
“You are one of us,” Hulk-guy rasped, ignoring my question.
“I don’t understand,” I didn’t know whether to deny it, or to tell him the truth. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
The yellow glow in his pupils turned more intense, and he raised a hand, as if he was going to hit me. “Don’t deny it,” he said in a low voice.
“I…Who are you people?” I asked again. “What do you want?”
“We are here because you summoned us,” a voice came from somewhere in the group. “We sensed that you were in trouble, so we came to help.”
“I summoned you people? What?” I was making weird gestures with my hands. “You guys must be out of your minds!”
“Okay, you clearly don’t understand what is going on,” Hulk-guy let out a deep sigh. He stepped forward, and the yellow gleam in his eyes vanished, only to be replaced with a light brown colour.
“Is there something I’m missing out on?” my forehead creased as I raised my eyes to meet his. “What do you guys want with me?”
“We don’t want you, we need you."
“Huh?” I flinched when he put a big hand on my shoulder.
“We need you to trust us on this,” he said, and stuck out a hand. “My name is Matt, by the way.”
I remained vigilant, unsure of what to do. Should I just shake his hand, and just believe him? Was I that gullible?
“I get it, you don’t trust me,” Matt lowered his arm, and let out a throaty laugh. “I can’t believe I thought that actually would have worked.”
“What…could you…Could you at least tell me exactly what you mean?” I was getting so confused, it was making me annoyed.
Fifteen pair of eyes locked on me, studying my every move, my anxious face. “We are under your every command,” Matt said, breaking the silence. “We are beasts, just like you. We came because we sensed that you were in trouble, and that you needed some backup.”
“Why me? Why would you even bother to help me?”
“That’s because you’re our master,” a guy in the group bellowed. He was thin and tall, with sandy hair matted onto his forehead. “You’re our leader.”
I was sure my jaw dropped so low, it hit the ground. Me? Their leader? Was there some sort of mistake? How could I be the leader of a pack of murderous beasts? How could I even be their master and not know it? Was this what Seth was talking about?
“Yeah, you heard the man,” Matt said, turning from his mates to face me. “You, Jared Simmons, are our rightful leader. We are under your every command.”
“Okay, there must be some sort of mistake here…” I gave a sheepish laugh. “I can’t possibly be your leader. I’m just a beast who is unable to control himself.”
“You’re wrong,” Matt shook his head. “You were destined to lead us, Jared. You are our hope. The future of our species remains in your hands.”
“There are not many of us left,” a girl chimed in. “We’re dying out, one by one. The only hope we have now is you, our master.”
“What…what can I possibly do? I’m just...I am of no help,” I protested. “I can’t help others when I can’t even help myself.”
“We can do this together,” Matt assured me. “We’ll stop all this, we’ll stop all the killings.”
“What killings?”
“The humans, they’re killing us all. They’re driving us out of our homes. They shoot us when they have the chance,” Matt replied me. “And now it’s our turn to fight back.”
“We’re dying out because of the humans, the destroyers of our habitats, our families. We came forth because we sensed that they were placing you, our leader, in danger, and that they were going to kill you.”
“You knew I was in danger?”
“Hell yeah we did,” Matt chuckled. “We could sense that you were in trouble. And when we found out it was the humans, we knew we had to do something about it. We had to stop all this madness.”
“And so we came up with just one solution. Something we could all do to get our revenge.”
I swallowed, hard, dreading the worst. I knew this wasn’t over. This war could never possibly be over.
“We just thought…we’d kill them all,” Matt gave such a sinister grin, it raised every single hair on my skin.
“You’re crazy,” I said after a long, wavering moment. “This is just…insane.”
“The only thing that’s insane is us not doing anything to protect our own kind,” Matt said gruffly. “The humans deserve this. They deserve to die.”
“No, you don’t understand,” I shook my head. “A war just ended. A war between us and the humans, who call themselves the hunters. They are the ones who have been hunting us down all this while, and their master is now dead. This is already the end. We’re safe, Matt.”
Matt snorted, and deep down I knew he must have thought I was stupid. “No, we’re not. Why else would we have come all the way down here? We sensed danger. Something disastrous is coming our way.”
“But we can’t start a war that already doesn’t exist. It’s over, Matt. Just go home, I’m fine. I don’t need any of your help.”
“No, Jared. You’re right, the war doesn’t exist. And that’s only because it hasn’t even begun,” Matt clenched his large fists together. “Someone is planning something against us out there, and let me tell you, this won’t be good.”
“What, you can sense it?” I wanted to say something sarcastic, but stopped.
“No, I know it,” Matt said. “I know this is going to be the fight to the death. The humans won’t stop until every single one of our species is dead at their feet. They want to be the superiors; they want to claim the throne. The only way to end this for good is to kill, to strive, to survive.”
“You are truly mad,” I said, shaking my head. “How can we take on an army with only…less than twenty of us?”
“Believe you can, and you will,” Matt prodded me in the chest. He stepped back when he saw the frown on my face. “What do you say, master? Are you with us?”
If this was how it was going to be, then it should. If they wanted me to be their leader, by all means, yes.
This was my time, my moment.
“Fine,” I nodded, bringing excited expressions to their faces. “We’ll hunt them down, and kill them. One by one,” I rubbed my hands together, a demonic, atrocious smile on my face.
I didn’t know why, but it felt right. These were my people, my allies.
And if someone had to stop the foreboding evil that was going to befall us, it was going to be me.
YOU ARE READING
HUNT, OR BE HUNTED
Mystery / ThrillerHe was always blacking out, always confused, losing control of his actions. And when he did, he would have no memory of it. What he didn't know was that there was a monster inside him, a monster that he couldn't control. Once it took over, not a sin...
