What Lurks Behind The Trees

A pesky danger

          

Gregor woke up to the sound of birds chirping. He squinted at the sun's blinding rays and sat up. Everyone else was starting to wake up, stretching and covering their eyes from the light. Everything seemed normal.

"We should hunt for some food," Alan said.

Gregor walked between the trees with Alan. He took out his bow, getting ready to shoot some animals for food.

"This fraction is a much needed break from all the madness we've witnessed in the previous fractions," Aden muttered, stretching his arms over his head and letting out an exaggerated sigh.

"Yes, I feel drained," Gregor said. But a sound in the bushes made him freeze in his track; he looked at Aden and put a finger to his lips. Before he could even turn around, Aden was being pulled from his ankles. He fell to the ground as he was being dragged by a short creature. Gregor's mouth gaped, it was a creature that reached his knees, had a human-like appearance, only a bit different. Its ears were pointed and it had no nose, only two slits for nostrils. Its sharp canines glinted and its eyes turned to crescents as it sniggered menacingly. Their bodies were covered in moss, making it a perfect camouflage in the overly green forest.

Gregor kicked the creature off Aden and a dozen of them came rushing out of the bushes, grabbing Gregor and Aden and pulling them to the ground. They were stronger than they looked.

"What is this?!" Aden yelled

"I don't know, but they're really annoying," Gregor said as he kicked one off his leg.

One of the short creatures bought his hand to Aden's nose and released specs of dust that entered his nose in an instant. Soon Aden lost consciousness. Gregor's eyes widened, he yanked his arms away from the creatures and brought out his dagger.

The creatures sniggered, and before Gregor could swing his dagger, an imp jumped on his back and bit his neck with sharp canines, causing him to hiss in pain. The other imps followed, jumping on him and bringing him down to the ground. Gregor struggled against their strength and in the corner of his eye; he could see Aden getting dragged away between the bushes.

Gregor summoned his Slayer arm and flung it at the short creatures, shaking them all off his body. They tried to jump at him again but Gregor striked them with his sharp claws one by one until they were all bleeding on the floor.

But Aden had disappeared from his sight already. He followed the direction they took him. He jumped over bushes and crouched under branches as he rushed through the forest searching for his friend. They had managed to bite his neck and arm, afraid it could harm him, he took out the turquoise water and drank a few sips, not wanting to waste it.

He started hearing distant noise, the sniggers of the imps. He walked closer and climbed a tree so they would not find him. He looked down and frowned, the imps had four bodies hanging over flames. Gregor could recognise that Aden was one of them. They were roasting them for food. Gregor's stomach lurched at the thought. There were dozens of tiny imps huddled around them, giggling and clapping as they watched.

Gregor looked around to see if any of the other men had followed the imps and saw Barton crouching on a tree and Rowan on another. He waved to get their attention, and once he did, he took out his bow and they followed. He took out an arrow from his quiver and aimed, nodding to signal Barton and Rowan to shoot.

They hit two imps, which made the other imps look around in confusion. Gregor wasted no time and shot more arrows, always hitting an imp. Rowan was very precise and shot them dead each time. Once they were all down, Gregor climbed down the tree and ran towards the men. They untied the men and laid them on the grass. They checked their pulse.

"These two are dead." Barton said, pointing at the men, one of them was the one that was taken at night. "This one's alive,"

"Aden is alive too." Gregor said, taking out his turquoise water and pouring it down Aden's throat. He waited patiently for any movement from him. Aden woke up gasping, eyes wide in confusion. "Why does this always happen to you?" Gregor asked.

"Those little imps," Aden said, his eyes landing on the flames "They wanted to eat me?" He shivered slightly.

"Let's go back to the others." Rowan said.

----------------------------------------

"Alan, there are imps in this fraction, they roast and eat humans," Gregor said when they reached the other men.

"I know, some men were taken and we didn't notice," Alan said, rubbing his temples.

"Maybe we should all stay together then," Aden said "They almost roasted me alive."

They started walking together silently, hunting down every animal that passes them. It wasn't the easiest way of hunting as a group of men was noticeable and so animals could spot them easily and run away. Once they gathered enough meat, they set up a spit using wood and started the flames.

Gregor closed his eyes and the delicious meat and savoured the flavour. It wasn't as delicious as his mother's food, but it was bearable. He was too busy eating that he didn't notice a tiny hand coming to his face and spraying dust on it, making his eyes roll and head fall back to unconsciousness. He was pulled from his armpits quietly into the bushes. The imp sniggered once they were out of sight. He pulled Gregor deeper into the forest and to an opening where more imps waited by a deep pit. The pit was filled with logs and branches, perfectly dug to fit a human body.

The other imps sniggered mischievously when they saw Gregor and rushed towards him to help push him into the pit. They pushed Gregor in the pit and threw a lit torch in, making the whole pit burst into flames.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey guys! Tell me which character is your favourite, mine is Aden! Also, tell me which fraction of the forest so far you think is the scariest, I think the third is the scariest.

Don't forget to vote and comment!