Chapter 2: 2 | Ghoul on the Loose

The demonic creature peeked inside the carriage with a wide red set of eyes. A foul stench spilled out from it, making its way into King's nose, churning his stomach. 

The creature then reached out its coarse bony, clawed hand for King, when—

"M-m-m-monster!"

King jolted. His eyes grew wider than ever. With still a bit of difficulty, he turned his head and darted his gaze towards the person who had screamed out and saw their coachman from earlier. The man was bleeding in the head and was shaking, his face of utter horror. He let out a terrified whimper when the creature, told to exist only in telltales, flashed its teeth which looked like a row of rusted needles. 

A vampire.

The coachman screamed. Stumbling on his wobbly feet, he ran into the forest, crying for help. The vampire let out a high-pitched shrill. And suddenly, bat-like wings cloaked in cruel blue veins jutted out from its back. Then, it shot into the woods like a bullet.

King struggled to get up. He uttered curses underneath his breath. Hoping, he was thinking that the coachman might survive by seeking shelter or help or from any type of aid at all. But... Shelter? From that? Help? From who? Deep inside, King knew that the man had no hope. 

A moment later, a hair-raising scream resonated inside the forest. King gritted his teeth. 

Pandora scrambled to the side, breathing heavily. "There's nothing we could do. Save your own guts instead!" she said before kicking the surrounding wall of a crack on the wooden carriage. In one firm blow, wooden planks shattered. The gap grew wide enough for them to pass by. Pandora got out first, and the two followed. Though it felt as if their joints rusted out, they pushed themselves into racing deep into the forest next.

King kept running, propelling his feet to move faster. However, despite his spent efforts, an inhumane screech abruptly erupted from above them. 

Douglas tilted his head upwards, seeing the huge silhouette similar to a bat flying from above them. "Run!" he yelled.

The vampire chased from above the trees, red eyes pinpointing its prey from one of the three down below. It then fixated its sights on one of the males.

"Go for narrow tracks!" Douglas tipped. "Its wings won't be able to—"

The vampire swooped down and landed a few feet in front of Douglas.

"Bloody shi—"

The lad couldn't even finish his words when the creature roared and started thundering toward him. With huge eyes, Douglas turned around and scampered back in the direction where they came from. "It can run! It can fuckin' run!"

"Run! Run!" they synchronously screamed.

Due to the rush, King could not see the gap that lay right in front of him a few meters away. All it took was one step into the air, and he lost his ground. Literally. King made a short yelp before falling down below. He rolled down a slope and crashed onto a large rotting log.

King quietly grunted. His consciousness was floating back to the abyss inside his head. Just when he was fully about to, the high-pitched screech from that thing chasing after them was enough to whack him out of his la-la land. He immediately sat upright. Finding no better hiding spots to bet on, he scrambled into the log's hollow.

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The inside was musky; soil and moss covered the crawlspace. King used his forearms to push himself inside, but he suddenly stopped dead on his track when something suddenly dropped from above, warping the log from where it landed. A greyish foot, adorned with sharp nails, popped from the hole it had created. But whoever owned it drew it out again.

King's heart almost stopped. He let out a strangled gasp and laid still. Adrenaline was pooling in his body, his heart pulsing like a festive's beat inside his chest.

The log rattled faintly, creaking ever so slightly. Something was rustling from above. King strained his ears. He could hear the raspy breathing and could smell the stench that nearly made him gag earlier. But he remained unmoving.

Then, the lad felt something slither onto his slacks. King felt like he was nailed even more on his spot. He slightly lifted his head, looked back, and saw a centipede crawling on his boot, slithering up his leg. 

King doesn't hate creepy-crawlies, but he doesn't have an affinity for them either, especially on something which could sting worse than a bloody needle. He had enough of Douglas' pets. A strangled sob whipped out of his lips when the critter disappeared under his vest. 

King would have kept his ground, even at the possibility of being bitten by the centi-legged creep. But the razor-sharp claws that drove down the deadwood above him, barely poking a hole in his head, stole his attention away. He screamed.

The vampire violently carved through the wood, screeching while peeking inside with its treacherous eyes. Its red eyes gleamed and yellowish drool, thick and sluggish, dripped from the edge of its eerily wide mouth. King tried to scramble away, but the crawlspace offered little. A moment later, a scream tore out of his lungs. The vampire's claws dug into his calf's flesh. He clenched his teeth, letting out only a fraction of his voice that wanted to escape at the top of his lungs. But when the undead stirred its hooked digits, the lad failed in holding back his screams.

Just when the vampire was about to hurl King, wham, it let out an inhuman scream.

Pandora drove a sharp fragment of wood through the vampire's head, through the temple, and out the cheek. Screeching, the creature threw its arm in her direction. Pandora was quick on her feet, though. She dodged it with ease. She wasn't a neophyte to combat. The vampire charged at her again. Only before it could touch a strand of her hair, an imposing silhouette hurled it away with a forceful punch on its deathly face.

Pandora rushed to King. She seized his leg to look at the damage, and the latter screeched in pain. "Sorry," she uttered, frowning. She pulled back her hands and aided King in getting up.

"I could have defended myself," King spat. He bit his lip and swallowed the knot in his throat, holding back the pain spiking in his leg. He didn't mean to discredit or set some negative rumination on Pandora's goodwill. It was just instinctive. He hated getting help.

"What a temperate way to say thank you." Pandora's grip didn't reel away from him, though. She darted her eyes back to the vampire, seeing two creatures instead of one.

"Is that..." King's eyes went wide open. He gestured a finger up mechanically, pointing at the monstrous figure in the distance. 

Standing a few meters away from them was a brawny seven-foot-tall leopard with a dilating brown-spotted hide. He recognized that form. It might have had a smaller frame from when he had last seen it, but it was definitely, "Doug?"

A high-pitched roar from the vampire reeled back their attention. It wobbled on its alabaster-gray legs in the distance, heaving and raking its fingers at its head. Blood, the color of burnt orange, seeped from the hole Pandora dug on its head. It flailed around, brandishing its elongated claws in the air. When its crimson red eyes landed back on the three, it suddenly stopped. It exposed its teeth, face creasing into a menacing sneer, before emitting another ear-piercing shrill. Douglas bared his claws and fangs, roaring back as well. 

However, before the two could clash, entirely a minute-earlier déjà vu, a robust punch drove right on the vampire's jaw this time around. 

The trio, dumbfounded, stood with eyes wide open as another roar permitted through the air.

It was a bloodstained-brown werewolf, standing six to seven feet tall. King would have enjoyed touching the deceivingly soft-looking maroon fur if it weren't for those bared razor-sharp teeth, claws, and overall menacing profile.

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