35 On The Prowl

I don't think I've ever been as grateful to be reborn as a rat as I am right now. Because of my great sense of smell I picked up the scent of a small animal fairly quickly. I followed the scent while moving as quickly and more importantly as quietly as possible. The forest seemed peaceful. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming. On days like this guys like me, should be kicking back and saving a nice smoke.

Speaking of which, it's been really long since I've smoked. I haven't been getting a craving but that's probably because of my semi-new body. But still, I kinda miss the flavor. Does tobacco even exist in this world? Wait, would it even be safe for me to smoke as a rat? Well let's just consider my nicotine addiction cured for now.

Back to hunting. It didn't take much tracking before I came across my first potential prey. I was hidden in the trees when I spotted it. It was a large rabbit with antlers. I analysed it and saw it was called a [Jackalope], I bet i'll taste good cooked. I aimed my crossbow and fired. The rabbit went down without a sound.

I climbed down from my spot in the tree to pick up my prize. Just as I was about to pick up the rabbit a green fox ran by and snached up my food! I tried reloading my crossbow to shoot the fox but it had already run off before I could shoot! "Damn it!" I kicked the dirt in frustration.

Well, it is what it is. Just gotta find something else. I'll stay on the ground to be quicker this time. I wandered the forest in search of something to eat. After wandering for a while I came across what seemed like deer hoofs. If these tracks lead to a deer that'll be a way better meal than a rabbit!

I started following the tracks and after a while they led me to a river. Isn't this the same river I dumped those bodies in? The deer must've drank water from here before going back into the forest. I continued looking for the deer going back into the forest. For some reason the area was extremely quiet, no birds singing whatsoever. After a little more tracking I had found it.

It's head was behind a tree so I couldn't see its face. It looked like it was eating something, probably plants or some fungus. This will have to be a body shot. I quickly used analisis, it was a [Wendigo]. That was all the information I could see. Huh, that's a weird name for a deer. I aimed my crossbow for where I thought it's heart should be. I fired.

The bolt pierced it's hide and the deer flinched a bit but it didn't fall or run away. Instead It looked directly in the direction the shot came from, directly at me. The moment I looked at its face a shiver went down my spine. It's face was covered in blood. it's eyes weren't on the sides of its head like a normal deer. They were directly on the front of its face, like a predator. It's mouth wasn't small like a deer, instead it had a large maw with white sharp teeth that stretched from ear to ear! It had large antlers that looked ghostly white And in it's mouth it held a severed human hand.

Welp, it's official. This world sucks.

This 'thing' is a crime against nature, but then again I'm not familiar with what's natural in this work. I quickly drew my crossbow. This time it has to be kill-shot, I don't know how strong this thing could be. I shot my crossbow aiming in between it's eyes. My shot hit dead on but the bolt bounced off it's skull as if it was made of stone! The deer started growling at me, showing me it's sharp wolf-like teeth. "Oh... shit." I whispered to myself.

The deer started twitching wildly like a corpse getting electrocuted! It's back was growing larger and sharp bony skikes started coming out! The deer's front hooves were starting to grow larger and completely change shape! Instead of small deer hooves the wendigo started growing giant claws! With its claws the wendigo started to scratch its face furiously! The wendigo let out a gastly screech that sounded like a woman getting tortured! It started to rip the skin off it's own face revealing a white bloody skull underneath!

"Fuck ALL of that." I whispered.

Nope, uh uh, No way this thing's a natural animal, I refuse to believe it. I'll never be able to have a good night's sleep here knowing things like this simply exist.

Not breaking eye contact I slowly started to back away. Slowly… slowly… *CRACK*. That was the sound of me stepping on a dry twig. This seemed to provoke the wendigo and it let out a shriek for the ages!

"So this is how I die again? huh, neat."

The wendigo charged me! It's claws were out and it's mouth was hanging wide open! I pulled out the sword to block an attack from it's claws but it sliced right through the blade! That makes the second weapon I've broken. I pulled out my crossbow but the wendigo swatted it out off my tail breaking it in two! WOW, I really can't have anything in this world!

The only thing i have left is my legs and boy i'm gonna use 'em! I dove out of the way of another attack, It's claws slice right though a tree that was right behind me causing it to fall! I started to run for my damn life! My agility was really starting to shine in this forestry terrain. I could freely move around obstacles. The wendigo had a different strategy for traversing the terrain, It simply bulldozed over anything that stood in its way.

RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN WHY DO I ALWAYS GOTTA RUNWAY SO MUCH!?!?

I climbed to the top of a tree and started jumping from tree to tree as the wendigo chopped them down in a single swipe! I can't just keep running forever. I have to do something! I kept jumping till there were no more trees to jump to, just an open field.

The wendigo's attacks were slow and sluggish but they had some serious devastating power behind them one hit and I'm rat sashimi! I wrapped my long tail around my waist to make it easy to dodge without risking it getting cut off. Eventually there was no more ground to run on. We had reached a high cliff. I'm cornered! I have two options; fall to death or get mauled to death. A sane person would choose the least painful way to die. I'm not sane.

I drew both my broken blades. If I'm gonna die I'm making one last stand! "You big ugly fucking monster! know this even if you kill me I swear on my last dying breath that I will make you pay for every millisecond of it!" I gave my last final speech.

The wendigo looked confused. "What? I was chasing you cuz I've never seen any creature like you… I wanted to catch you and study you. You look like a rat, just bigger and stronger!" Said the wendigo. It's voice sounded like that of a teenage girl's.

"...what? First of all you can talk, second of all what the fuck?" I was left in a weird state of panic. My nerves are starting to calm down but my body is still in a state of overdrive! "So you don't want to eat me?" I asked nervously.

"What!? No! The thought of rat fur getting stuck in my teeth is making me gag! Wendigos like to eat humans instead!" She said very casually. Thank god that I'm not human anymore! "So you're not mad about me shooting you?" I asked.

"Oh that? I barely even felt that! Plus us wendigos are extremely resilient to physical attacks with the combination of extremely thick skin and high regeneration!" She said proudly. "And the whole deer shapeshifting thing?" I asked. "Normally a fully shapeshifted wendigo is indistinguishable to a normal deer, you see we are extremely talented at shape shifting! but sometimes when we eat we need to partially transform back into our true forms which make us look very strange."

"And the whole clawing your face off thing?" I asked. "Oh that!? Yeah when windigeos transform back into their true forms it makes our faces itch like crazy!" She explained. "Does it hurt?" I asked. "Tons. which is why I was screaming so much." she said. "Must suck." I commented. "Eh, you get used to it." she replied

"You sure like talking about yourself don't you?" I asked. "Yup!" She said eagerly. "But I want to hear about you now. Let's go somewhere else to talk." she said. She picked me up by my tail and started carrying me over her shoulder. "Hey watch it, that part's sensitive!" I told her.

Damn it.