Rescue: The Scream

"Brother Isao… Brother Shoma… I gotta find Big-Bro Isao and Big-Bro Shoma quickly!"

The small figure of a child could be seen rushing across the forest, furiously panting as they ran as fast as their legs could take them…

The flapping of wings could be heard as a matte black raven could be seen flying high up in the sky, encircling a particular area in the district of Tuikiang. Its wings silently flapped, keeping the bird maintain its elevation as it gazed down intently with its deep black eyes that had a speck of purple on the line of the iris that encircled its pupil. As for what exactly it was staring at? Well…

A series of snort-like grunting could be heard in a lush green forest. The source of the noise was a wild boar that was currently foraging for food, stopping directly in front of a large berry bush as it began furiously munching on the delicious-looking berries.

"Dinner…" an extremely quiet but calm voice could be heard about fifteen metres behind the wild boar.

Whoosh!

The sound of an arrow being shot from a bow, silently gliding through the air, suddenly sounded, coming from the direction of the voice as it headed straight for the wild boar.

Puchi!

A smooth sound of a puncture could be heard in the vicinity. And half a second later…

Thud!

The boar's body immediately went limp as it was struck by the arrow, falling to the ground with the aid of the arrow's momentum. And seeing the body fall to the floor, a light rustle could be heard as the hooded figure of a teenage boy appeared from behind a tree. The gentle breeze blew creating gaps in the leaves of the trees, allowing for the boy's firm slender figure to be seen as his purple eyes stare happily at the now-dead boar.

"... is now secured," he finishes his sentence with a light smile as he puts his bow back and retrieved the arrow which had struck the boar right through its left eye before firmly lodging itself in the pig's brain, killing it immediately without a single shred of a chance of letting out a response of any kind. He picked up the boar easily and threw it on his back, walking away from the scene.

Crackle… Crackle…

Somewhere in the middle of the same forest, a large pile of stones was set up in a circle, pieces of wood placed in a square building up to a series of sticks and leaves on the top of the varying pieces of wood; forming an unlit campfire.

Next to it, a young teenager about the same age as the boy from the forest was lying down on the grass with a calm expression on his face while nibbling on a piece of grass. His grey eyes gazed straight at the boundlessly blue sky that was waiting to slowly fall victim to the arrival of dusk.

"How's tonight's dinner looking Shoma?" he suddenly asked out as he slowly got up, shifting his gaze to a particular side of the forest.

"Dead… Quite dead…" another voice answered as a teenage boy walked out, his arms carrying a boar over his right shoulder as a large black raven sat on his left.

Walking over to the campfire, Shoma set the boar down on the grass right beside it before walking over to a tree log and sitting down as he spoke, "The rest of the procedures are now yours."

"Clean as always, good shot," the other teen commented as he walked over to the boar observing it for a few seconds, focusing particularly on the wound where the arrow had penetrated.

"Male… About 120 kilos so it's definitely bigger than the usual for its species. We'll be fed for at least a few days with this," Shoma reported as he began to pet his raven, getting a happy croak.

"Anything in its vicinity?" the other teen asked as he rolled the pig over so that its legs would be facing him.

"Nope. It was alone, though I did see some tracks of a tiger," Shoma spoke out in a lighthearted tone.

Hearing this, the other teen's movement seemed to halt for a second. There was a slight change in his expression as he commented, "That's strange… Doesn't that tiger live on the West side of the forest? We purposely left that side of the forest because of it."

"That's why it's even stranger," Shoma said as a tinge of concern appeared on his face, "Something must have happened for the apex animal of the west side of the forest to make its way this way. We have to go and check it out so that it can return to its home, otherwise, the village may be put in danger."

"So when do you suggest we go check it out then?" the teen asked as he pulled out a knife, slashing right at the underside of the boar, creating an incision that exposed the boar's internals. He then began cleaning the boar's insides while saying, "I'm a little hungry right now."

"No rush. We can take it sl-"

"Aaahhh!"

A loud scream suddenly broke out in the distance, causing both teens to immediately turn their heads toward the source of the noise. Instantly, they rushed forward as they recognized the voice.

An eleven-year-old child with a small knife in hand could be seen dashing across the forest with an extremely horrified expression on his face as a loud roar could be heard from right behind him.

Feeling the aura of death looming once again over him, a determined look appeared on the child's face as he tensed his extremely sore legs and suddenly dashed to his left.

Barely avoiding the descending bite of the tiger, the boy landed two metres away, right next to a small rope that was tied to a tree and he immediately slashed the rope, cutting it with a single swipe. He had led the tiger in this direction for this exact reason.

Immediately, the grassy forest floor underneath the five feet tall tiger seemed to have suddenly disappeared as it fell into a ditch that was about 5 metres deep.

Seeing the tiger fall did not cause even a shred of happiness or relief to be seen on the child's face. Instead, he took in a large breath of air and screamed out at the top of his lungs. Furthermore, immediately after screaming, the child turned around again and continued running once again.

The contraption that the tiger had fallen in was a trap that the hunters of the village would normally use to hunt boars. The unsuspecting boar would fall into the trap and with the hole being five metres deep, there was no escape no matter how high it could jump, and the hunters could shoot arrows or throw spears from above to subdue it.

However, against a tiger, it was clearly obvious that it would be nowhere near as effective but it had bought enough time for him to clear out about ten metres of separation. Nevertheless, such a distance would definitely not be maintained for long as the tiger was definitely going to escape and be right on his tail once again.

Jumping out of the ditch after a few seconds, the tiger let out a deafeningly angry roar as it had felt as if it had just been ambushed and began looking around cautiously for any danger that might be lurking about. However, realising that there was no danger around him, it began rushing towards the kid once again.

'Why does everything seem to be against me right now?' the child thought as he felt as if his legs were at their breaking point but endured on due to the feeling of impending doom.

'Why is the tiger of the West here?' he thought in panic as a horrific expression appeared on his face.

The tiger was quite famous among the villagers and was known to reside in the West of the forest and due to this, the villagers have constantly left it alone and hunted on the East side of the village, labelling the West side of the village as the territory of the tiger.

'I can't make it in time to any of the traps nearby,' the kid thought as he could hear the sound of the tiger running increasingly louder, 'I have no choice now. I hope that I bought enough time for myself.'

The footsteps of the running child came to a halt as he deeply panted, taking in a series of deep breaths before slowly turning around, pulling out his knife as he got into a battle stance, hoping that that scream that he had given earlier would get the attention of anything nearby and lead them towards him.

Rustle!

The tiger could be seen dashing out of the tree line, its speed immediately slowed down as it saw that the boy had stopped running and was positioned as if he had decided that he was going to fight it. A low growl sounded from the tiger as it began to slowly creep up on the kid, vigilantly waiting for an opening while being wary of when the kid might possibly charge forward.

Now one on-one with a huge apex predator that was almost double its height, the situation seemed to kick into the kid as his previously gained determination seemed to suddenly disappear as his legs became wobbly from fear.

"Th-th-there's… no… wa-way I c-ca-can beat a tiger," he shakily mumbled as his eyes widened in fear. He had run to the forest as fast his legs could take him, desperately trying to make it to Isao and Shoma but little did he think that he would be getting chased by a tiger and now, possibly being killed by the beast.

Roar!

As if he was able to sense the kid's fear and see his legs seemingly turn to jelly. The tiger's body immediately crouched down, letting out a low growl as it bared its fangs at the kid, readying itself to dash forward and capitalise on this chance.

However, just as it was about to pounce…

He~he~he~he~he~!

A strange rough high-pitched laughter suddenly rang out from a few metres right behind the kid followed by a series of rapid footsteps that resembled a four-legged animal.

Following the laughter, a large animal that was three feet tall suddenly appeared in front of the kid. Its fierce copper eyes focused on the tiger in front of it as its pale brown figure containing zigzaggy stripes on its back came into the limelight with the fur on the top of its back seeming to flare upwards as it let out an angry growl.

The tiger immediately roared back in response as it stood tall, clearly caught off guard by the appearance of the hyena but the fight in its eyes was still clear. It believed that it could take out the hyena.

However, the previously scared expression on the kid's face seemed to have disappeared upon seeing the hyena and a relieved expression appeared on the boy's face. He knew what this meant.

Swoosh!

About a second later, two figures hooded in a brown cloak appeared beside the boy.