Ollie ran as fast as he could in the dark forest, pushing away low-hanging branches with his free hand. The sound of Grika’s labored grunts faded as he quickly outpaced the pygmy.
“Kimmie!” he shouted. No response. “Kimmie!”
“What?” she finally called out, a bit to his right. He angled toward the sound. “What’s wrong?”
He burst through the thick brush they’d been using as a hiding spot to find Kimmie right where he’d left her. She looked up at him from her spot on the ground, eyes wild with fright.
“C’mon!” He reached down and took her hand. “Move!”
He led her through the brush, eyes darting across the blackness that surrounded them. The goblin could be hiding in any of it, and he had no doubt it was close by, watching the whole thing. He only hoped that its curiosity worked in his favor tonight.
“What’s wrong?” Kimmie asked, frantic.
“It ambushed us,” he said, focused only on the path ahead. “It knocked me down and then started coming for you.”
Her pace picked up next to him. His arm throbbed where the goblin had hit him. Probably bruised, which was about as good as he could expect after getting in a tussle with a greenie. They ran for a while, far longer than Ollie remembered going when he first set up this new trap. At first, he wondered if he’d run past it, but then he saw the clearing and darted through, looking for the ledge on the far side. He skirted the edge, which dropped a good ten or fifteen feet down to the rocky beach and was buffeted by large rocks on the other.
He motioned her forward, over the rocks, then turned to guard the path behind them. He held Remi straight out with one hand, ready to fire at the first thing that moved.
Nothing followed them. He glanced back to see Kimmie on the other side of the outcropping. He backed up and then darted over after her. He crouched down on the far side and pulled Kimmie down with him. They waited there, Ollie doing his best to mute the heavy breaths he’d given Kimmie a hard time about only minutes ago.
“What are we doing?” she asked.
He peered over the top of the rocks. “I have another trap set up over there,” he pointed at the two trees that formed a canopy over the path. “If it followed us, and I’m pretty sure it did, then it’ll walk right into it.”
“Okay,” Kimmie said. “Good idea. Wait. What happened with the last trap?”
“Shhhhh,” Ollie said, not wanting to explain to her how he’d been outsmarted.
Ollie settled his breathing. Once he could hear over his own breath, he realized he was hearing nothing. All the frenzied activity of the last few minutes had cast the forest into complete silence. Nothing moved or made a sound.
He squeezed Remi’s handle, knowing that this was his only chance to catch this creature tonight. If it got spooked and ran away, he’d have to spend hours scouring the forest with Grika and hope to get lucky enough to stumble across the thing’s lair. And if that didn’t work, he’d have to start all over again the next night with a brand-new plan. All because this stupid greenie was too smart for its own good.
A crash of rocks echoed across the clearing, followed by a thump. Ollie looked up to see the net he’d placed farther up the ledge hanging from a thick branch, tightened at the top. He scrambled from his hiding spot and shined his flashlight to see nothing in the net, though, save for a few big rocks.
His mouth hung open. He’d been outwitted again?
He put the flashlight in his mouth and hefted Remi with both hands. The goblin was close, and he wasn’t about to get surprised like last time. Of course, it was at that very moment that a scaly hand smacked solidly into his face, knocking the flashlight away, just as something big barreled into him from the side. Ollie stumbled sideways before crashing onto the ground, lights bursting across his vision from the hit to his face. A weight lifted from his chest and he heard heavy footsteps running away. He blinked away the fog and pointed his gun at the retreating figure. He aimed low, firing a round at what he hoped was the goblin’s legs.
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The shot tore through the brush. Kimmie yelled from somewhere behind, telling him not to shoot. He ignored her and fired again, eliciting a squeal in the distance. Once the echo of the gunshots faded away he listened carefully.
The forest was silent. But then he heard it. Scuffling. And grunting.
He grabbed the flashlight, got to his feet, and immediately stumbled as a wave of dizziness washed over him. He caught himself before hitting the ground again, shook off the haze, then hurried forward, keeping his gun and the flashlight pointed straight ahead.
He found it a moment later, leaning against a tree, clutching the gunshot wound in its leg. He shined the light on its face, and Ollie saw narrowed yellow eyes staring back, a fierce snarl on its lips. Ollie grinned triumphantly.
“Gotcha.”
A low growl emanated from the goblin’s throat, like a dog giving its last warning before lunging. Ollie knew better, though. He could see some intelligence in this one’s eyes. It was bluffing because it knew it didn’t have a chance.
Ollie motioned to the welts on his face.
“You thought you could do that to me twice?”
Kimmie came running up an instant later. She stopped with a gasp when she saw the creature.
“Look what I found.” Ollie’s smile widened, only for him to wince at the pain in his face. “Ow.”
Kimmie ignored him and took a cautious step closer, staring at the goblin as if in a trance. It wasn’t much different from a typical greenie, maybe a tiny bit taller than most, but also leaner. A smattering of black hair covered its head, and two droopy ears hung from each side. One had a tear where an earring had probably been ripped out. Large scars dominated its bare torso and arms, and the only piece of clothing it wore was a pair of tattered pants that ended at about its knees. It blinked a few times and Ollie realized that its eyes were larger than a normal greenie, making it look less like a devious little monster than most of the others he’d destroyed. Regardless, Ollie had seen some sad-sack goblins before, but this one easily took first prize for Most Pitiful.
Once Kimmie arrived, the goblin, now outnumbered, lost its defiance. It kept its gaze low and slumped it shoulders, as if trying to shrink into the darkness. Ollie reached out and grabbed Kimmie’s arm, dragging her a half-step behind him. He gave her the flashlight, then reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out a mini-Rubik’s cube wrapped in a plastic baggy. He handed it to her.
“Toss that over to it. Don’t take it out of the bag.”
Kimmie furrowed her brow as she examined the toy. “Why?”
“You said you wanted to catch it, right?” He motioned to the goblin. She tossed it over and it landed right at the goblin’s feet.
The goblin looked at the baggy, then at Ollie and Kimmie, then back at the baggy. It was clearly torn about what to do next, so Ollie lowered his gun, trying to make the decision easier. The goblin watched Ollie warily, then relaxed enough to stare at the bag. But it still didn’t reach for it.
“Weird,” Ollie said. He pulled out another baggy, with a different toy inside. This one was similar to the Rubik’s Cube, only shaped like a diamond. One of dozens of rip-offs of the original. He handed it to Kimmie, who tossed it over. It landed next to the first one.
The goblin’s eyes went wide at the sight of the new toy, and it quickly snatched up the baggy. It looked at it, studying the puzzle within. It fumbled with the baggy, its slightly oversized hands having trouble gripping the edges. It finally ripped the bag open, and immediately set to work solving the puzzle, forgetting its own injury in its zeal.
Kimmie looked at Ollie. “Oh. My. God,” she mouthed.
Ollie nodded in response. They watched as the goblin twisted and turned the toy furiously.
“What do we do now?”
He held up a hand. “Wait.”
The goblin slowed its movements, then slowly blinked twice. It stopped and sniffed its fingers, then blinked a few more times. It looked up at Ollie, right before its large yellow eyes rolled back into its head. The goblin wavered, then collapsed onto the ground in a heap.
Kimmie gasped. “What just happened?”
Ollie walked over to stand next to the gently snoring goblin. “Knockout juice. That toy is covered in it.” He poked the goblin with his shotgun, just to make sure it was asleep. It didn’t stir so Ollie crouched down and examined its skin, finding the scars of battle, and of initiation, all over. A Golak mark had been carved into its shoulder, like a bulging, inverted V, and then strangely scratched out. Like Kimmie had said, its right leg was twisted a little to the right, making it lame, but not useless. The gunshot wound in its other leg still spit up some blood, but that would heal on its own soon enough.
Kimmie moved next to him, still staring in awe at the creature. “What now?”
Ollie rested his shotgun on his shoulder. “We need to make sure this thing is alone. It’s time to go to phase two.”