I stood there, frozen before the tree in front of me.
Stress mounted in my chest; my heart was pounding violently against my will. My mind clouded over, but I quickly suppressed it. Fear was a luxury I couldn't afford.
Regaining my focus, my thoughts raced.
Something was wrong. It was illogical. I couldn't explain why, but there was something strange about this decapitated animal. I put that question aside for a moment; it could wait. For now, I had to ensure my safety.
The thing that did this wasn't likely in front of me. The front was safe for now. Therefore, the most probable direction for a potential danger was the rear, especially with my back completely exposed.
I turned around abruptly.
There was nothing. At least, not at a close distance. It was pitch black in the middle of the night, so I couldn't be certain with such little visibility.
Motionless, with a knot in my stomach and a fixed gaze, I stood there for several minutes, watching the darkness in the distance. I didn't notice any disturbance during that time. The wildlife was silent, but that wasn't alarming in the dead of night.
Concluding that I was too on guard, I relaxed a bit and crouched down in front of the dead creature. Still a little cautious of a potential surprise, I placed two fingers on the blood and slid them to the side.
The liquid, which looked dry, still left a small bloody trail behind it. From that, I concluded that fifteen minutes to an hour had passed since the animal was killed.
I was genuinely perplexed looking at the dead young rabbit. Why would a wild creature leave its prey intact? Why would it exhaust itself by deeply lacerating a tree only to leave as if nothing had happened?
Hihihi.
The rhythm of my thoughts was interrupted again.
An infant's laughter behind me?
Hihihihihihihi!
The noise started up again, more intensely.
You'd want me to believe a young child was behind me, laughing in this desolate place?
I began to chuckle silently to myself.
I wasn't desperate enough yet to believe in God. I had to hurry and find a sign of civilization before ending up buried in this forest!
I was certainly ignorant of my situation, but I wasn't stupid. There was a beast here, capable of lacerating a tree without much difficulty just a few dozen minutes ago. I was already lucky not to have been eaten once by it; I wouldn't tempt fate twice.
Without a moment of hesitation, I forcefully grabbed the fresh rabbit carcass with my one free hand and ran with all my might, following the river upstream, away from the childish laughter.
On the way, I encountered many obstacles. Between mud, pebbles, and tall grasses that snagged me as I passed, my body quickly began to succumb to exhaustion. Fortunately, it didn't last. After another fall, I felt nothing. I was as if weightless.
The danger must be far away now. The best thing would be to find a safe place until daybreak. High ground like a tree would work, but a crevice or a cave would be much more acceptable. Unfortunately, I had little chance of finding one; I was on flat ground.
The advantage of being in a forest was that I had an abundance of trees to choose from. Not being picky, I quickly chose one with many branches, easy to climb.
Clutching from branch to branch, my body tensed, and my arms pulled with force. Now about a meter and a half off the ground, the branch I was relying on suddenly broke, and I collapsed violently onto my back, crushing myself on that damn unstable stick.
Dazed, my right hand caressed the back of my head. As I lifted my head, I looked around. If we ignore the previous event, the area was rather silent. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except for a tree torn from the ground.
Hehehehehehehehe!
That sound again?!
Quickly getting up, I ran forward with all my strength. The sound now seemed very distant, but this time I didn't let up. This thing was following me! Or at least, it was capable of tracking me.
Quickly raising my eyes from the ground to check my surroundings, I saw a huge head peeking from the left of a tree in the distance. I stopped abruptly, cursing my bad luck.
This thing had a face similar to a praying mantis. From the start until now, this... insect? Or whatever it was, hadn't taken its eyes off me for a single second. It had stayed there behind its tree without moving an inch.
Suddenly, its head tilted to the side at a 40-degree angle, its gaze still fixed on me. Then it stepped back a few feet.
Had it decided to let me go?
Then, still confused, I suddenly felt a glacial coldness on my back.
"A trap to get my attention?! Damn this forest!" I swore, throwing myself forward.
Very quickly, a dull pain made me clench my teeth in agony.
The body of the mantis-headed monster finally became fully visible. It was as exotic as it was repulsive: a mantis head with large red dots on its forehead, a height of at least two meters, an abdomen covered in blackish keratin, long hairs all over its body, massive hind legs, and long front legs with weird 'blades' at their ends.
My back had just been slashed six times by a second creature behind me.
Still fixed on me, the insect in the distance started to tilt its head to the side again as its body began to tremble violently. Sounds of female weeping spontaneously resonated from inside this monster, while its mouth remained closed the entire time.