Trial 017 - 2019 Wattys Sci-Fi Winner

Chapter 14

I walked out of the clearing, leaving Bekah to take care of Tanvir. She would be fine; she had Calvin to help her out and I had to check on the snares I set yesterday. The first one I'd set had taken hours to do, and while it had turned out much better than the others I made later, I decided it wasn't worth spending all that time on just one snare. We needed more than one to make a good catch.

I found one of my snares after a little while of travelling close to the brook. It was a loop of string set close to ground level, with a pile of berries as bait. If a creature stuck their head through the loop to eat the berries, there was a chance they'd spring the trap, causing it to tighten around them like a hangman's noose. To my disappointment, it was empty and the trap was untouched, including the bait. I sighed, wondering if I should fetch fresh bait. Or maybe those berries really were poisonous and now my trap was worthless.

I found the second trap not too far away, but unlike the first, this one had been triggered. The bait was gone, but my shoddy workmanship had meant the snare was loose enough for whatever triggered the trap to have escaped. I found the third trap not much better, with the bait gone and the trap completely untouched. I moved on to the fourth and final trap, and as I neared it, I could see immediately that something had triggered it.

The branch I'd bent had sprung back, wrapping the snare on a small ankle. A strange creature hung upside down, its thin arms flailing, tugging at the snare. Resembling a large chimpanzee, the creature had a head of gray fur and a long tail flickering from its behind, swishing from side to side. From where I was standing, I could see that the creature had long hands and feet, probably adapted to jungle life, and its ears were large and twitched continuously.

My foot stepped on something that crunched underfoot, and the creature swiveled its head almost completely around to stare at me. Our gazes met, and I found myself staring at eyes of burnished gold.

The monkey hissed at me, baring its teeth even though it didn't have fangs. I spread my hands placatingly, walking closer.

"It's okay," I said. "I don't really want to hurt you. Just eat you is all."

It hissed again, swinging tiny fists in the air. I backed up, wondering what I should do with it. When I made the trap, I'd intended it to strangle the prey, not dangle them. I hadn't actually thought about what I'd do when I walked in on my catch still alive.

"What do I do?" I muttered aloud. "Am I supposed to snap your neck?"

Bending down again, I reached for the monkey, but it smacked my hands away, giving me a grumpy look. Luckily, it had no claws, so I wasn't hurt.

"Or I could just finish you off," I decided.

I pulled out my knife, flipping the blade out. At the sight of the blade, the monkey suddenly fell still, staring with wide eyes at the knife. I looked down at the creature, which continued to dangle upside down on the string. It stared back at me with its gold eyes, wide with defiance and terror all at once.

I couldn't do it.

I flipped the knife closed, slipping it into a pocket. Then, I took a step closer, gently reaching for the knot. Seeing me lean in, the monkey screeched in panic, flailing and swinging as it tried to get away from me, but I got a firm grasp on the snare, quickly tugging at the knot with my fingers until it untangled.

The monkey creature slipped out of the snare, landing on the ground and quickly bounding to its feet. In an eyeblink, it had run half a meter or so away from me. The creature slunk around, keeping low to the ground and eyeing me warily. It had a flat, dark face and a slim nose, and when it opened its mouth to snarl at me, I caught a glimpse of a bluish tongue.