2

I tracked the beast for a day and a night, stopping only to drink water and eat. Eventually, I reached the mouth of a small cave in the hillside. Here, the forest dark and grey, many of the trees in this section were dead or rotten. A fitting place for a monster to rest its head.

Before going inside the cave, I paused to make sure the gun was loaded, lit a torch from my pack, then I said a prayer to all the gods I could remember.

The monster left a trail of blood passed the entrance of the cave, which was narrower than I expected. The roof of the cave was barely twice my height and I just as I was beginning to wonder how a beast as large as the one I hunted fit in such a place, the narrow path opened up to a large chamber that had large stalagmites dripping a dark yellowish water to the floor.

The light of the torch showed the beast backed into a corner. It’s hackles were raised and it growled at me defensively. It knew I was coming long before I spotted it, and it had assumed the most defensible position in the room.

I drew the gun and pointed it at the beast. I could still see the trickle of dried blood under its eye from where I shot it the first place.

Shadows danced in the torchlight. I steadied my aim, ready to fire, but the beast knew what was coming. It lunged at me, claws outstretched. I fired. A flash of gunpowder lit up the room. The shot grazed the beast shoulders, a new spout of purple ichor darkened its fur. But the shot did nothing to stop the beasts advance. It pinned me to the ground with its massive arms, snapping its jaws at me.

It was going to eat me, just as it had the rest of my family. I suppose it would have been fitting. But one of the god’s I prayed to must have had other plans for me.

As the beasts jaws came down I raised the still burning torch and jammed it into the beasts one good eye.

It squealed and instinctively grabbed at its eye.

I took the opening to reloaded the gun.

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The monster was starting to recover. It was blind, but it was also equally as angry.

Even without its eyes I saw its nasty maw scan the room and land on my location. It bared its fangs again and pounced at the same time I finished loading the slug into the barrel.

Quickly, I pulled back the hammer and fired. This time, the bright flash of the exploding powder was muffled by the fur of the beast. My shot landed directly in the beasts heart. It lay limp on the ground, but I was not taking any chances. I took out my axe and finished the job.

I thought about saying another prayer, or maybe even crying, but before I was able to release the lid on the emotions I tried so hard to keep bottled up I was interrupted by a peculiar noise.

It was the sound of a baby crying. It was a sound both terrifying and strangely comforting. A sound I longed for, but not here. Of all places not here.

Had the monster stolen a child? That is what I thought at first, but as I located the sound of the crying I quickly realized that wasn’t the case.

The child had patchy brown fur and two golden horns sprouting from its little head. Beyond that the little thing looked remarkably human. It had no fur on its face and belly and it had a pale white skin that looked almost the shade as my own.

But it was definitely the child of the beast I just killed. The two golden horns and yellow eyes were evidence enough. It might be cute, but so are the cubs of lions. And when left alone, those cubs became dangerous. The same was true for monsters, perhaps even more so. Even though they might be cute as babes, they grow into dangerous and scary adults.

The baby squired on the ground, still crying for its parent.

I had no more bullets in the gun, but I did have my axe. There was no use dragging it out. Left alone the babe would die a slow death, or worse, it would grow up to be like its parents. No, the right thing to do was put it out of its misery.

Yet, as I raised my axe something within me stayed my hand. I knew it was a monster, but it looked too human, too much like—

Never mind.

All I can say for sure is that for the first time I considered that monster’s had babies too. And if they did, did that mean they had love too? And family?

It was these thoughts that made my axe slip from my grasp and clatter to the ground.

I don’t know what I was thinking, but as the child cried I picked it up and held it in my arms. Part of me was guilty for taking its mother away, part of me was disgusted with myself, but another part of me felt like this was the right thing to do.