UNTOUCHABLE - SEULRENE

SR - DEPRESSION

It was broad daylight.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

There were sounds of hurried footsteps against the grass.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

Two pairs of feet were sprinting. It was a downhill run through the forest. They were sliding down as they try to avoid the trees ahead of them.

A man, who's in his early forties, is running with his daughter. He's holding her hand to make sure she keeps up with his pace.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

The man looked behind to see if their captor is already behind them. There was none. Relieved, he turned to his daughter, who seemed so exhausted now.

"Daddy..."

"Just keep running, baby..." He took another glance over his shoulder.

They reached a bridge and crossed it quickly. But something caught up with them halfway. They stopped, took a glance from where the movement came from, and saw a creature standing at the end of the bridge.

The creature resembles a spider crab about the size of a horse. An orange armoured exoskeleton covered its whole body. It has six walking legs with white spots, about four feet each, and two three-foot chelipeds in front. At the centre is a small head that looks more like an ant except for the missing eyes. The third part of this monster is the abdomen that resembles a spider.

"Creeeeeeeeee!" the creature let out a high-frequency screeching sound.

In a heartbeat, the man and his daughter resumed running. After reaching the other end of the bridge, the man took out a knife and tried cutting the rope that's keeping the bridge still. The bridge wiggle, stalling the monster from moving.

Seeing the opportunity, the man sped up his efforts in cutting the rope.

1 snapped.

2 snapped.

The bridge finally gave out. There is a huge splash as the monster fell into the deep water below.

It took a few more seconds before the creature rose from the water, struggling to swim. It didn't take long before it stopped moving and floated freely on the water.

The man, amazed at what he witnessed, pulled out the small recording machine from his pocket.

"This is Doctor Kang entry number four-five-five. I just witnessed a monster drowning. Although they look like crabs, they can't swim. These creatures need oxygen too to live. A body can be retrieved in Wushu River. I repeat. A body can be retrieved in Wushu River for study."

"Daddy..."

The man turned to his daughter and noticed her uneasy expression. He trailed her line of sight and saw another monster walking towards them.

"Don't move, Seulgi," he whispered to his daughter. "They can't see nor hear us, but they can feel us. And if they felt a hard movement, they'll attack."

The young girl nodded and stayed still.

But the monster continued walking towards them slowly as if figuring out if they were prey or not.

"Daddy, I think it knows we're here..." whispered the girl, trembling.

The man knew his daughter is right. Their trembling bodies and intense heartbeats from the run gave them away. He looked around. There are no other places to go. Ahead of them is a monster and behind them is the deep river.

The man sighed. He looked at the monster, then at his daughter.

"Seulgi..." he whispered. "Remember, daddy loves you so much..."