The Hunt

The sun has barely risen from the distant horizon. The thick vegetation on the surrounding was still dripping from the strong rain the night before. There are many puddles of mud everywhere, making the grass on the ground look like little islands and continents.

Everything was rather quiet with only the exception of the sound of the birds singing tunes above the trees.

"There. On the bush up ahead, can you see it?" A man suddenly broke the silence, pointing his fingers to the direction.

"No I can't see it. Let's go and get closer" A man answered, shaking his head slightly.

"I think we should wait some more. It's risky to go to near it. It might just notice us first before we even see it." Another one said, gripping the weapon on his hand tighter.

Everyone went silent again, trying their best to locate the thing that they had been tasked to hunt. They are a group of five men, four of them are armed with rifles but the last one has nothing except the chain in his hands. He is a prisoner called Foxtrot-5.

Foxtrot-5 was ordered to assist these group of soldiers and track the beast which attacked the border guards the night before. They had been out in the woods for almost six hours now.

He was told that some kind of beast or a mutated rabid animal attacked yesterday, killing two patrol guards and heavily injuring another eight. The eye-witnesses described it as something that stands on two legs like a man but run like a four legged animal. It resembles a bear but with a leaner body build.

If any other beast made the attack yesterday, the city council might just let it go. Beasts and wild animals are mindless creatures with no self awareness and only act on instincts. They are easy to kill. This case however is somewhat different. It was the first time that they had encountered such kind creature so it was important they capture it alive and learn more from it.

"What if we just rain fire on the it's general position right now, then we will just pick up it's remains and report that it was already dead when we found it." A soldier said slowly, making eye contacts to everyone.

"That's a nice idea but we were tasked to bring it back alive. We are allowed to rough it up a little bit though." Another soldier said. He was looking through a scope, surveying the location which Foxtrot-5 pointed earlier.

"Yes, It's a must that we bring that beast alive, that's why we have this prisoner to track it for us."

The group fell quiet again. All four of the soldiers are experts in combat, killing enemies is a simple task for them. They did not personally witness the attack last night but they are confident that they can eliminate any kind of beast that will face the other end of their weapons.

"Look, the bush just moved again. I guess it's feeding on something." Foxtrot-5 said again, raising his chain-bound hands and pointing a finger to the location he was referring to.

"Man, you have a pair of sharp eyes." The soldier with the scope said, tapping his shoulder in approval.

"We are moving in. One will stay behind with our prisoner here while the three of us will go and capture it. No guns needed, it would only give us unnecessary weight. Speed and agility is what we want today, knives will be enough." The forth soldier spoke up. He has been silent all this time but Foxtrot-5 had figured out that he was the man in-charge.

The three soldiers nodded to each other and lighten themselves down.

Foxtrot-5 watched with wide eyes as the soldiers piled up their weapons beside him not seeming to care that he might take one and attack them with it.

"Our unit is good at job like this. We excel in sneak attacks and disabling a target in the fastest way possible." The soldier said proudly. He looked to be the youngest of the rest and must be the reason why he was ordered to stay behind and guard him with the weapons. He must have thought that Foxtrot-5 was worried for their safety when the soldiers disarm themselves.

Foxtrot-5 sighed silently. He did not know this soldiers but they all seemed capable. He was just surprised that they were too confident against an adversary they have never encountered before. 'They must be strong themselves. They are soldiers after all.' He thought to himself.

"So, what were you doing before you got imprisoned? What was your life before?" The soldier asked, breaking his silence.

"I was convicted for attacking a merchant's caravan, killing all ten people on it." Foxtrot-5 answered in a flat tone.

The soldier beside him suddenly froze up with disbelieving eyes. Foxtrot-5 saw clearly as his companion slowly reached for the gun laying on the ground. The air became suddenly heavy with tension.

"You asked a question, I just answered. Don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to attack a well-trained soldier while my hands are bound by chains." Foxtrot-5 chuckled, shaking his head slightly.

The soldier eyed him suspiciously for a while before relaxing."How did you get your name? Foxtrot-5?"

"It's the new identity that the prison chief gave me after I was sent to prison. I don't know what it mean." He answered.

"Just behave yourself and we will give your prison chief a good feedback report about you when we return back." The soldier finally said and focused his attention to the advancing group ahead.

Foxtrot-5 nodded in agreement and looked ahead.

The three soldiers crept slowly towards the heavy vegetation where their target was located. From time to time, the bush would shake and the leaves will make a rustling sound, only confirming the position of the target they were hunting. They were about 4 kilometers away from the nearest village.

The location they were heading to were a bit uphill but the three soldiers were doing a good job moving silently and making their target clueless to their presence.

Foxtrot-5 saw as the lead soldier reached the edge of the shoulder-high bush and gestured his two companions to move faster. He felt his companion beside him tense in anticipation.

'I guess it feels painful to be left behind to babysit some prisoner while the action is going on just a few dozen meters away from you.' He thought as he took a quick look at the soldier beside him.

The lead soldier jumped from the back of the beast, taking it completely by surprise. He thrust his sharp knife towards the beast's shoulder, trying to avoid a vital body part.

The beast let out a deep howl and trashed violently. It did not take long to free itself from the soldier who lunged at it as they both rolled on the wet grass. The dense vegetation quickly fell and uprooted from the ground, exposing the beast for the first time.

Its physical appearance finally become visible to them. It very much look like a bear but it doesn't have a fur to cover its skin. It has a fine scale that resembles that of the skin of a lizard.

The beast slowly stood up from the ground where it was quickly surrounded by the three soldiers, each of them had a knife that glint on the rays of sunlight. The beast stood taller than the three soldiers and its claws looked like a bird's talon. Its shoulder was bleeding dark greenish but it seems unfazed as it let out another threatening howl.

"Be on guard, Its skin is so hard that I barely scratched it with the knife thrust using my whole body momentum." The lead soldier said in a strong voice.

"Do we need guns for this?" The biggest soldier asked with somewhat mocking voice.

"You go and take some gun yourself if that would make you feel comfortable." The third soldier sneered back, suppressing a laugh.

"Be serious in this. This beast is the job. Remember that we need to not kill it." The lead soldier barked at them, making the two soldiers focused again.

"Let's get this." The biggest soldier said again before he charged forward.

Foxtrot-5 watched silently as the three soldiers attacked the beast. Each of them were moving in complete harmony, with the intent of exhausting the beast and draining its strength with successive knife slashes. The Beast was strong itself, swiping with its claws aggressively with no sign of being tired.

A soldier lunged for a stab at the beast's back when the knife just bounced back from it's skin. The soldier was completely caught by surprise as their previous attacks were able to penetrate its skin.

The beast howled in anger and slashed with its claws, hitting the soldier in the chest. Blood burst immediately as he was flung towards the nearby tree. The soldier lay there, gasping for air.

"What happened? Why aren't our knives working against it anymore?" The lead soldier was frozen in place for a second after he witnessed what just happened.

"I don't know, I suggest that we use guns this time." The other soldier said with a worried voice.

The beast has numbers of wounds already and they have been fighting it for half an hour. The time that passed may not seem that long, but in close quarter armed-combat, 30 minutes is enough time to drain anyone's stamina. Granted that they are maybe facing a mutated beast, but there are three of them. In addition to that, they have the fact that the beast just made an attack the day before so it has not yet rested since then. It must not be capable of fighting at full strength.

"Go get a rifle, shoot it in the limbs. I will keep it occupied for now." The lead soldier nodded in agreement and faced the angered beast once more.

Foxtrot-5 have seen it all happened. The time he saw the other soldier get thrown like a rag doll a few meters from them, he urged the soldier beside him to go and rescue his downed comrade. It was a good thing that these soldiers were wearing reinforced body armor. Although it was now ripped with claw marks, It has done its job to protect the vital body part of the soldier. The claw slash just ripped the armor and managed to penetrate the skin, but the wound was shallow. The soldier must have been more hurt by the impact of his fall which knocked him out.

Foxtrot-5 watched closely as the soldier finally regained his consciousness.

The biggest of their group came back and grabbed a rifle.

"This is getting dangerous now." He said before heading back again towards the fight.

It took another minute before the loud cracking noise of rifle fire erupted.

The beast finally fell down, its legs and arms were riddled with bullet wounds, greenish blood flows like a stream around it.

"Go get some chains and bind this beast. We have to secure it first before we stop its bleeding. we still need to bring it back alive." The lead soldier said with a tired voice.

All the three soldiers sustained some degree of wounds and bruises. Foxtrot-5 and the soldier standing to guard him were the only ones uninjured.

They slowly wrapped the beast with chains and bound it to the cart they brought along to carry their rations and supplies. They expected the hunt for this beast to take few days or even an entire week.

"It's a good thing that we have this tracker with us. We accomplished our mission in less than a day." The lead soldier said, tapping Foxtrot-5 on his shoulder.

"That's true, someone like you would be a big help to the military. Too bad that you're a convict." The seriously injured soldier with the slashed chest agreed. nodding toward him.

"How long have you been serving your sentence?"

"I was sentenced with 25 years of imprisonment. I just barely served more than 2 years now. It's about 2 decades and 2 more years to go." Foxtrot-5 answered flatly while tightening the chains around the beast.

"Wow! Just what kind of devil were you before?" The biggest soldier leaned on him, curiosity was visible on his face.

"He attacked a merchant's caravan and killed 10 people." The soldier that was guarding him answered.

"That was more than 2 years ago right? Well, you are already serving your sentence. When we get back, I will talk to our superior and maybe he could lighten your sentence or maybe reward you with something." The lead soldier said again before jumping into the cart, giving the beast another kick in the face.

"That's very kind of you, Thank you." Foxtrot-5 said in a low voice.

It took few more moments before they finally stabilized the condition of the captured beast. They watched it closely while it slowly opened its eyes.

They were about to finally move out the place when the beast trashed violently again, trying its best to free from the chain around its wounded body.

"Should we shoot another rounds on it?" The biggest soldier suggested, clearly annoyed by the sudden situation.

"No need for that, let's give it a minute and it will realize that it's already game over." Another soldier chuckled and hit the beast's face with his rifle which made the beast let out a sharp screeching sound.

"See, It's crying helplessly now."

"You're damn right. It can't do anything anymore. Let's move out" The lead soldier finally said and urged the horse that was pulling the cart to move forward.

They have been already a kilometer away from the area they fought. Everything seemed back to silence when the beast let out another sharp screech.

"Something is wrong, This beast in not making the same howling sound as it did during the fight." Foxtrot-5 said as he watched the beast closely.

"Sure, This beast now is crying like a little puppy, that's only to be expected." The biggest soldier answered which make everyone else laugh.

"I don't think so, I believe it's calling for help." Foxtrot-5 said.