“Woah! Uh… I just—” The hunter is too surprised by the way Kyle looks to register his mindless stammering. Taking a good look a Kyle, he raises a brow and opens his mouth.
"STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU— wait. What are you?!" The hunter slowly straightens from his crouch and cautiously approaches Kyle, rifle held out in front of him.
“Er. just a normal guy?” Kyle is freaking out. How is he supposed to explain anything to this guy? Oh, just waltzed right out of a creepy ritual looking like this. For goodness sake, his shirt is still stained with blood!
“I don’t believe that one bit. I know what you are! A-A DEMON!!!” As he yells that last word, he begins to fire. Kyle drops to the ground to avoid the first shot, and as the man starts reloading his rifle, Kyle scrambles to the edge of the clearing and starts sprinting.
The hunter chases after Kyle and continues blasting away with his gun, firing round after round of failed shots. Kyle weaves around the trees, doing his best to avoid the raining bullets. The once-friendly dog is also chasing behind alongside the hunter. Kyle jumps over a big rock to try and lose them but to no avail. Both dog and hunter are still hot on his heels, whizzing noises travelling past him, and Kyle is quickly losing his breath and stamina. He can't draw enough oxygen from the air to his lungs. If only he didn’t have such heavy and worthless wings on his back that he never asked for. WAIT! Wings! He’s got wings! How could he forget? He could simply fly away!
He continues onward, finding a clear path where the trees were more sparse, possibly wide enough to stretch out those limbs and take flight. His wings spread wide, and he can feel the slightest gusts of wind beneath him as they frantically move up and down. For a second, he can feel himself being lifted off the ground. But it’s hopeless, much like a chicken trying to fly. He falls right back down and tumbles, missing yet another bullet that pierces a nearby tree. He clambers to get upright again but unfortunately finds himself face-to-face with his pursuer.
“You’re not getting away this time!” The hunter says, triumphantly and manic, aiming his rifle right at Kyle. He sits there on the ground catching his final breaths, defenceless. The hunter is about to pull the trigger when a sudden crackling noise can be heard from a tree. The hunter looks to his side, then up at the falling log. His eyes go wide and he screams as the timber lands right on him causing several branches to skewer his body.
He squirms, driving the splinters and wood chips further into his chest. Blood trickles out slowly, pooling underneath him. The log crushes all but his head and an arm. His eyes are locked on Kyle, with furrowed brows and eyes ablaze with rage and agony. He shakily raises his arm to point at Kyle, not breaking eye contact.
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“y-you… monstrous-” He gasps, as scarlet liquid from his lungs clots his throat, making the rest of his words gurgles filled with pain. Pouring from his mouth while his eyes roll back and he drops his arm onto the stained grass. His fingers still pointing, accusing. Kyle takes a hesitant breath once the man finally stiffens. Holy shit.
He isn’t sure how long he stays in that spot, it’s almost as if the pointing hand of that man was keeping him locked in place, with the last words echoing through his thoughts. Monstrous. Was that really what he’d become? It wasn’t him who made that tree fall on the guy. He just so happened to look like a monster at the moment. Still, the idea was very distressing.
Kyle snaps out of his trance after the dog goes to lay down on his lap. Its tongue hangs out from the side as it pants and looks up at him with cute beady eyes. He couldn’t not pet the adorable thing, even if it was chasing after him moments beforehand. It gave him a sort of relief, that the dog didn’t think any less of him because of his situation. However, even with such a comforting companion with him, sitting right across from a corpse doesn’t alleviate much worry.
The dog seems to notice and gets up, it looks around and then back to him. As Kyle rises to his legs, the dog begins to tread along a hidden path to somewhere else. Having no direction of his own, he decides to follow the dog. It skillfully weaves around the bushes and trees, while Kyle stumbles behind it. The faint trail is overgrown, like nobody has walked here in quite some time. He tries to get around, but the endless stray branches keep scratching at him. Kyle notices that they’re heading upwards, the ground getting a little steeper and the trees thinning ever so slightly. After hiking for a while, the dog takes a turn where it plateaus. He follows in its steps and finds himself in a large clearing. He sees the blue sky with streaks of fluffy clouds and the glowing sun right above him.
Looking down, he spots the dog sitting at the edge of what appears to be a cliff, and over to the side, a cozy wooden cabin overseeing what lies beyond. He walks over next to the dog and takes a look at the world under him. The forest stretches out, but it meets a quaint seaside town, faded yet colourful buildings populating the streets that transition into wooden docks on the yellow sand near the ocean. The salty smell of the rhythmic waves wafts over it all. He can’t help but think to himself, Laura would love this place. She had always been an outdoorsy person, but her work needed her to be in the city, dull concrete buildings and roads with pitiful plant life dotted around. He promised to take her somewhere nice for a vacation some time ago. This place is the perfect place, except for the fact he still doesn’t know where he is. He lets out an exasperated sigh. The dog tilts its head at Kyle. then begins excitedly panting as it trots over to the cabin. There isn’t anyone inside as far as he can tell, so he goes to the front door and turns the knob. The door opens easily, and the dog wags its tail, anticipating for him to enter. Alright then, what’s inside?