"Wow. I've never seen so much color in a sunset before." Rose turned her head to smile back at him. Her hair matched the blazing sky, brilliant red mixing with glimmering bronze spilling to her shoulders. On her left hand, a bejeweled ring sparkled as it was worn for the first time. Below the porch of their rented cabin, the Tennessee mountains stretched away into the distance, greens and browns fading to gray in shadowed silhouette. She faced the west again, shivering slightly in the evening chill. Daniel placed his jacket over her shoulders, and out from beneath it she slid one hand to grasp his, tugging him to the railing beside her. Rose leaned her head on his arm. Together, they watched the colors shift to violet and blue before fading into the night sky. The lights of windows and streetlights sparkled around them as the mountains imitated the stars above. Daniel breathed deeply, savoring the blend of his fiancés perfume and the fresh spring air. If only this night could last forever.
- - -
If only this night would end already. Try as he might, Daniel could not get comfortable enough to fall asleep. There was only a thin layer of sand between him and the rough stone. No matter how many times he adjusted his position, there was always something prodding into his body. His feet were cold. His head hurt. His mouth was dry. He needed to pee. Eventually, the last became pressing enough to stir him to action. Powering on his phone to use as a flashlight, Daniel walked a short distance away from the overhang to answer the call of nature.
The starlight caused the features of individual trees in the valley to blend into some amorphous mass, a gelatinous shape jiggling ever so slightly as the wind shook the highest branches. The night was anything but silent. If the insects had been a gentle drone during the day, their chirping now seemed loud enough to drown out city traffic. Occasionally, the hoot or howl of a larger creature announced its territorial claim over the cricket chorus. His phone illuminated a puddle of technological blue around his feet. Stones, tufts of grass, and previously hidden obstacles were revealed in stark detail within this space before fading once more into obscurity after his passing.
After finishing his business behind a suitable stony outcrop, Daniel was returning toward his place of rest when something prompted him to stop. The steady sound of creatures around him had fallen silent. He held his breath, heart rate beginning to climb as he imagined a horror-film soundtrack beginning to play. The radius of his phone's light seemed far too obvious in the black of his surroundings, and Daniel clicked off the power, straining his eyes and ears for any sign of danger. Seconds passed with agonizing slowness. Daniel tried to convince himself that he was not the protagonist of a monster movie and had nearly succeeded when his eyes recognized movement near the entrance of his cave. Visible only in its contrast to the star-spackled background, a large shape loomed between him and the dubious safety of his emergency shelter. A snuffled snort reached Daniel's ears, and the silhouette doubled in height as its owner reared back on its hind legs, stubby snout turned in his direction. Frozen in place, Daniel's rational mind raced through what to do in a bear attack. Make yourself big. Get loud. It's more scared of you than you are of it. Don't feed the bears. The last wasn't helpful, so the young man took in a deep breath, stretched his arms wide, and clicked on the flashlight as he let out the loudest shout he could manage in the stillness of night.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The shout ended abruptly in a startled squeak as his flashlight illuminated what was most definitely not a bear, nor any wildlife he recognized from the zoo or nature documentaries. Sure, it stood as tall as a grizzly bear, and its thickly muscled form appeared to have a ragged coat of brown fur, but the angular jaw and pointed ears were more canine than ursine, not to mention the fact that it was wearing tattered clothes and clutching a stone-headed spear in one clawed hand. Despite its use of tools, any thoughts of civilized discourse died as abruptly as his earlier shout when the creature reared back its head and let out a high-pitched, barking howl, then lunged toward him, spear first, across the short distance.
[Plot Armor] activated.
Daniel was startled by the sudden appearance of the words in his vision and stumbled a step backwards. A loose stone rolled out from underfoot and he fell to the ground. A sharp pain lanced through his cheek as the spear tip narrowly missed its intended home in his jugular. With the creature much closer, Daniel was struck with an odor of sweat and rot as its hot breath washed over him. It took a step closer, spear raised for a downward strike and
[Plot Armor] activated.
Its foot landed just beyond the narrow ledge, slipping on the slick grass and throwing it off balance. The spear slammed into the soil beside Daniel's torso remained there as the creature lost its grip and began to tumble down the steep slope. Daniel felt pain and a sharp tug in his leg as one claw grabbed his calf on the way down. His weight proved to be an insufficient anchor compared to the hulking monster and he let out a cry of shock and agony as he was pulled off the ledge and joined the descent. His vision over the next few seconds was a blur of grass, soil, sky, and fur as he and the creature slid, scrambled, and fell twenty feet to the shrubbery below. Partway down, the creature lost its hold on his ankle and the two separated. Daniel hit the bottom and second after and a few feet away from his attacker. His cell phone had fallen from his hand and shone upward, illuminating the snarled faces of three other monsters looking down from where he had just been. Daniel grabbed his phone and scrambled to his feet, limping along the path he had carved through the brambles earlier that day while the creatures scrambled and slid down the embankment towards their fallen comrade. Past the thicket, Daniel trusted more weight to his injured leg, nerves complaining with every step as he ran through the forest, each moment carrying him further from the yapping cries.