Huff Huff....
'Aah f*ck' I cursed.
Why did I do that? Because I was running from strange nightmarish creatures. I mean, I don't even know what the hell they were.
Two huge centipede-like creatures, with their mandibles as huge as a longsword, nibbled around me as though I was their daily food escaping.
The centipede jumped into the ground, burrowing the area as if it were swimming. The beings disappeared from my eyes inside the rough ground.
I was already brain-dead, unable to understand what was going on. The place looked swamped, crappy and ugly. The sky was dark, with the only source of light being the tiny stars. The moon was invisible, perhaps because it was an eclipse.
But all of that, the least of my worries.
RUMBLE...
The ground suddenly shook and the soil around began trembling.
I ran as hard as I could, my whole life and all of my ATP plunged into my legs. My body knew it was either do or die.
If I don't make it now, if I don't run now, I'll die.
So I ran.
I kept running without looking back. I could feel the creatures following me, a sudden attack sprung to my left.
Due to training in the army I was quick to react, but my body was not as fast as my conscience.
The moment I ducked to the right, I narrowly missed as the huge body of the centipede slammed into me like I was in a WWE ring.
'AAGH'.
COUGH COUGH....
My hands were trembling. The whole area was aloof, the trees destroyed and no normal creatures at all.
The centipede bore into me, its thick chitinous skin oozing with a green slimy substance, which I did not want to know.
My legs began trembling in fear, my eyes bulging and ears ringing. There was nothing at my disposal, nothing.
We both bore into each other, neither of us moving, gauging each other's next move. This guy, he wasn't an intelligent being, he was driven by instinct and that was something I was going to make use of.
I took a fairly large stone from the ground, looked at it menacingly.
'GRAAHHHHHHHH'
I shouted as loud as I could. The air filled my lungs and my voice echoed down the long forest. Of course such a thing was stupidity. It would attract nearby predators, but only the stronger predators.
Will a lion choose to eat a deer in front of it or the rabbit? The deer, right? The nature works on dominance. The predators weaker than this abomination will ignore us but the predators stronger will feast.
That is all I wanted. A sliver of chance to escape. I had to find human settlement and that scream would've definitely caught the attention of someone.
The creature was momentarily stunned. This was all I needed. I threw the rock in my hand towards it with all my strength. With the adrenaline rushing in, I had exerted too much into that throw.
The stone hit the creature in its face—or whatever that was. The creature seemed furious as it let out a loud shriek, enough to break a person's eardrum.
And it did.
My ears went completely deaf as they started ringing. My head throbbed, and I felt wobbly. But I knew I had no time, so I began running.
I didn't care what was happening around me. Whether the centipede met someone higher in the food chain or if it was following me back—
I DIDN'T KNOW...
I ran. Terrain after terrain, trees passed, and so did time.
All the strength drained, and my stamina rock bottom. Everything around me was a blur, and I was bleeding internally and externally.
After running for what seemed like an eternity, I observed a banyan tree in the middle of nowhere. The surrounding area was already in chaos.
The leaves had already wilted, and the tree looked bare.
With my body on the edge, I knelt down on the ground and supported my back onto the tree.
My breathing was getting ragged by the second. I gently pushed my head up, looking at the vast starlit sky.
The wind bore onto me until something locked onto my eyes.
A pair of feline irises watching me from afar. Its eyes seemed to be glowing in the dark. Its presence getting larger as time moved by.
GROWL...
Its paws slowly crept onto the ground, narrowing the distance between me and the beast.
Its eyes locked into me, like it decided I was going to be the mac and cheese for tonight.
Fck...Fck... Can't I get even a bit of rest?
I slowly darted around to see if I could grab anything. All I could see was a fallen banyan root. Its size was as big as a club and looked quite sturdy.
I swiftly knelt down and picked up my only source of defense.
As though mutually agreeing, we both were ready—the beast lunged onto me.
The dark night made it difficult for me to understand what sort of being it was. I could only see its feline pupils and its somewhat spiky hair.
The beast pounced onto me without wasting time. I held the banyan root horizontally, positioning it correctly on its jaws.
Surprisingly, the branch did not break at the beast's powerful bite force, but it held on.
There were already claw marks on both sides of my arms, but right now I had to get it off me.
I used my leg to kick the beast in its stomach, making it stagger for a while. Although my kick wasn't much of an attack, it was enough to prepare my next set of moves.
As the animal lunged back, I ducked to the side after throwing a handful of sand into its face—blinding it shortly.
Using the blunt end of the root, I banged the animal's side, making it stagger on the ground. The blow felt incredibly hard, and I could tell it was hurt.
Usually, any wildlife, when hurt from an unknown person or unknown entity, the first thing that activates in them is the flight or fight response.
And animals especially know when to fight and when not to. BUT...
Everything has its downsides—and that downside is what I am facing. The flight or fight mostly works until the predator is hungry.
That's right. If the predator has not eaten in days, then it will make use of any resources possible to eat—and an injured lamb like me will look nothing less than a delicacy.
The beast, adamant, lunged back at me—determined to assimilate me into its belly. But unfortunately, I am not him.
The already wounded animal was now speeding at me relentlessly.
Knowing it's now or never, I ran towards it with all might. It was all on who deals the damage first, and I knew it had to be me. It could handle a few more hits, but me—on the other hand—I'm just minced meat if I don't do well.
So, I did well.
I jumped just before its arrival, catching it off guard, smashing a huge smack directly onto its face.
The impact felt phenomenal as I could feel the root tremor even in my hands. As it slightly staggered back, I swung down, hitting its limbs—breaking its agility.
Wasting no time, I kept smacking the animal. No remorse. No guilt. I kept hitting it again and again. A single ounce of hesitation and I would be the one on the ground.
I thrashed it so hard that my final strike broke down the banyan staff.
Huff... Huff...
My breathless face glanced at the beast and it somewhat looked like a wolf. It was considerably skinny and its body was battered.
Blood oozing out and brain matter leaking from all the blunt force trauma.
It whimpered with the eyes of mercy. I could tell it wanted me to finish it off. I looked at it one last time before taking a look at my banyan segment. The broken segment now had a sharp end—functioning somewhat like a blade.
I quickly stabbed the edge into its skull, ending its life.
As I finally dropped the segment, I heard a small whimper around the bush.
Two young pups stepped out—one white and one black—whimpering as they came towards the corpse.
They began licking the corpse's wounds, snuggling around its belly.
"No... No... Please... I'm sorry... I'm sorry."
I held the two pups in my arms and hugged them tight. Tears began flowing down my eyes as guilt took over me.
I finally realized what I had done.
I had killed their mother.
Everything I had felt till now was real... and I was REINCARNATED.