The beast before the town

Meanwhile, out on the main road not far from the cabin where Hunter slept, a lone carriage was being escorted by several men on horseback.

The transport in the middle of the group was carrying a little girl. She had short black hair resembling a boy's, and she wore a plain white dress that gave her the appearance of someone who had just been taken from a mental asylum. Both of her hands were bound together with rope, and a magical sealing bracelet was placed on her ankles and neck. She sat in silence, her head lowered in hunger and sadness.

Outside, there were four other individual riders who made up the rest of her escort party: two horses in front and two at the back. These men were heavily armed. They wore expensive-looking armor and carried swords, axes, spears, and arrows. Including the driver of the carriage the little girl was kept in, and the girl herself, that made a total of six people.

At some point during the journey, the little girl reached out both of her hands through the curtains of her carriage and began to beg for water. “E,” she said. “Eee,” she said again, cupping both of her tiny hands together.

“Huh?” The driver of the carriage turned around, having heard the little girl’s pleas. The moment he understood what she was asking for, he promptly ignored her and focused his attention back on the road.

A few minutes later, one of the men riding in front gestured for the entire party to stop. He had heard something.

He drew his sword, moving a little closer in the direction of the noise with his horse. He peered over the side of the road. There was a ditch — a forest ditch.

It resembled a giant hole off the main path, and the sound he had heard coming from it a moment ago discouraged him from wanting to investigate further. He turned his horse around and began returning to the others in the formation. But then, something happened.

A massive gray creature suddenly leaped out of the hole, briefly launching itself toward the sky before dropping on top of the man and his horse. The beast was the size of two full-grown cows put together. It had a head with six black eyes and razor-sharp, shark-like teeth. It possessed a tail like a scorpion’s.

It bit the head of the screaming man clean off, then killed his horse by biting its neck and ripping out its throat. Turning its attention to the remaining men and their horses, it produced a deafening shriek and lunged to attack the rest of the party, tearing flesh and breaking bones, human and animal alike.

In its carnage, it smashed into the little girl's carriage, tipping the caravan over on its side. Inside, the little girl was knocked around from the impact but remained unharmed.

She was quiet, shaking with fear. She prayed whatever monster had attacked them would go away soon and not find her. Several minutes later, the chaos outside died down. With great effort, she climbed out of the carriage to sneak a peek, only to find the entirety of her escort dead. Not even the horses were spared.

Worried for her safety, she took off running into the forest, unknowingly moving toward the cabin where Hunter was currently taking up residence. Unfortunately for her, the monstrosity had been staring at her the entire time, gazing down at the little human from its spot perched on top of a tree.

It had not gone after her because it had recently eaten and was still digesting. There was even an arm sticking out of its mouth at that very moment. But now it had her scent. It would find and eat her soon.

***

Twenty minutes later, Hunter was still fast asleep. Just outside, however, something in the water took interest in the cabin and began rapidly crawling toward it.

Because Hunter had forgotten to close the door, it simply skittered into the living room, sniffed around a bit, and headed straight into the bedroom. It then crawled up the mattress.

It gazed at Hunter as he was sleeping through tiny black, beady eyes. Then, without warning, it darted toward the man's face.