The Beast-Man

The entrance of the forest was gloomy, although it was day time. The forest was full of noise, but it didn't come from animals or bugs, it was from machines operating, and they could tell there were a lot of machines in there by the frequency of the noise.

They had to tread carefully because the vines on the ground were impeding their ways in, the vines were large and looked alive, furthermore, there was red spots scattering on it, looked like blood, tons of blood.

Rachel looked at the blood, worried, and wanted to back off but both Darwin and Matthew kept going ahead without paying any attention to the blood, Rachel had no choice but to follow them in.

The green picture in forest didn't show any promising signs, all they got was creepy feeling that something was going to go wrong any moment, what was weird was there wasn't any bugs in there, Rachel was so stressed, she wondered if she could bring them all home safely.

Fallen leaves creaking beneath their feet, wind whistling through the tree, the leaves high above on the tree blocking the sun ray out, birds flying above the forest like they were scared to move near the forest, formidable ambience all over the places, however, none of them could stop Darwin and Matthew determination to give the justice to the bodies found, they were like scavengers, all they focused on was the noise in the centre of the forest.

''Told you it was a bad idea," Rachel moaned, pulling Darwin's shirt, wanting to stop him to adventure any further.

"Don't worry, it will be alright,'' assured Darwin.

''Arrrr …" scream came out of nowhere, the scream was so loud that it startled the birds flying above and it almost felt like the ground was trembling.

"Wait, something is happening over up ahead, we need to back away now, please," Rachel was pulling Darwin and Matthew backwards.

Darwin was looking warily for the first time, he exchanged look with Matthew who was showing worrisome too.

Both of them didn't know whether to move forwards as planned or pulled back. However, their excitement towards the scream overshadowed their worrisome at last.

'' I think that was a man screaming, someone needs our help, we should go help him." Darwin rebutted.

"Yes, he needs our help," agreed Matthew.

They both charged ahead despite Rachel refusal.

Hearts pumping, hands shaking, they knew they were heading for trouble, but they didn't stop, because someone was yelping for help somewhere in there. The smell of blood flooded towards them, they knew right away that someone was injured in there, they needed to offer assistance in any way they could.

 "Don't come any closer, I don't want to hurt you," suddenly shouted a voice from deep within the forest, hoarseness in the voice, like a beast.

They stopped, looked curiously in that direction, they had to looked hard because it was quite dark in there.

"Hello? Someone there?" Darwin shouted, looking a little bit scared. "What happened, buddy?"

"Look," Matthew pointed his finger to direct Darwin attention towards east.

"Be careful, don't alert it, he may hurt us." Rachel looked at both of them, she held their hands to prevent them from moving any closer.

Not far away, they saw someone crawling on the ground, or was that someone?

He was covered in thick, black fur, like a beast, but he had human face, it was clear that he was a man.

He looked at the three of them, he was covered in blood, he looked fierce with animal instinct to kill them but also looked merciful to control himself from doing just that, he made himself stay down so he wouldn't charge towards them.

"Go away, I can't control myself, I will hurt you." Shouted the man, showing his long, sharp teeth.

The teeth were stained with blood, moreover, they could see that his hands, or rather paws with claws were covered in blood too. Apparently, he had hurt someone or animal just now, that's why he was so guilty as to trying to keep his distance from them.

"Are you alright? What has happened to you?" Darwin said worriedly, going closer and closer to the man on the ground. He moved slowly cause he wasn't sure if the beast-man was going to hurt him.

"I don't know, I lost my memories, all I can remember is I went in there like you all and after that, I have no recollection at all," said the man, cold sweat dripping down his face, he was clearly in pain.

He was still trying to stay down, claws on the ground, trying to control his urge to hurt them. "Go away, my instinct is telling me to hurt you, I think I have hurt someone just now, just that I can't remember anything at all."

"Come, let us bring you out," said Darwin, trying to give the man some solace, patting the man on his back, he tried to pull him up on his feet.

However, the man pushed him away, Darwin could see the claws on the man's hand closely, and it was certain that he saw some fleshes on his claws, the man definitely hurt someone or maybe some animal, if there was any animal in here.

"Leave me alone, I can't resist any longer my urge to kill you,'' he was licking the fleshes and blood on this claws, the man covered up his eye so he wouldn't see their faces, he was trying very hard to not roar again, the sense of danger was now looming all over them.

"Come back, Darwin," Rachel ushered, looking at the blood all over the man, disgusted.

Darwin backed away, but he couldn't leave the man alone in there.

"I think we need to help him, Rachel." Darwin looked at Matthew, seeking support from him.

Matthew, while worried, knew that was the right thing to do. "I agree with Darwin."

Both of them looked at Rachel, seeking her approval.

"Let's hope we won't get ourselves killed," Rachel looked frustrated.

Three of them looked at the man, waiting for him to calm down, Rachel paid full attention to him, looking for any sign of him trying to attack them, she was so ready to pull the other two back if the man really got up and launched his attack towards them.

They were so nervous, paying full attention to him made them temporarily ignore the noise in the centre, as if the forest was so quiet, the man squirmed, claws deep in the ground, he moved back so he wouldn't hurt them, he was indeed in a lot of pain due to his instinct to kill everything in his way.

His scream on and off, it was like he would never calm down, but suddenly a rabbit came past him, he sprinted at it the exact moment he saw it, he pressed it down on the ground, his saliva dripped down, the rabbit was struggling, terrified.

The man opened his mouth and started his devouring. His jaw and teeth were so strong that he tore everything apart in his mouth. First, its skin, then its viscera, then even its bone. The poor rabbit was completely vanished into his mouth, not a single trace was left behind.

He was so satisfied, the calmness finally settled in, he looked relief, smile blossomed on his face. He was finally able to look at them in their eyes without the fierceness on his face.

The man stood up, shook off the dirt on his body, and smelled the blood on his claws, he expressed the sense of both disgusting and satisfaction.

He moved slowly towards the centre of the forest, and before he disappeared into it, he looked back at them, with warning sign in his eyes. "Leave now while you still can, I am going to figure out what has happened to me and the rest of my team, I don't want you to become like me."

Three of the them stood there, couldn't believe what they had just seen.

"Let's find out what happened to that man." Rachel changed her attitude after she saw his sorrow. "We can't let the person responsible for this get away."

"Agreed," Darwin was shocked by her determination now, he looked at Matthew who smiled too.

Three of them continued carrying on, everything in there seemed out of the ordinary, still not a single sign of bug, nor did they see any animal besides the rabbit the man had devoured, moreover the roots seemed to be following them, the thorns on the stems seemed to be hitting them on purpose, the branches above their heads were swaying vehemently when they came closer to them.

"I feel like our presence aren't appreciated here." said Matthew while looking around.

Rachel and Darwin both nodded, they were injured by the thorns on the way in although they tried to avoid them so hard, it felt like the thorns were moving towards them.

"Stop right there," came a voice not far away.

Three of them looked around and saw an old guy was coming towards them, he had white beard, was fat. He was wearing lab coat with some spots of blood on it, clearly he was doing some experiment in there.

 "Didn't someone in your village told you that you were not supposed to enter the forest?" groaned the old man angrily.

"But we saw someone like an animal just now, we were curious about what was going on," replied Matthew while the other two nodded.

"Be careful, there are a lot of soldiers behind him," Darwin said with low voice, while eying the troop behind the old man.

The troop was following him, with guns and shields, apparently they were protecting something, they were instructed to kill whoever came in looking for the secret in there.

The old man stared at them fiercely. "That is none of your business, just back off and don't come back in ever again."

He was determined to chase them away. ''Go away, we are under strict order to protect what is in this forest and we are not allowed to let anyone near it."

One soldier of the troop pointed his gun at them, the rest of the troop looked at them indignantly, and one of them shouted. ''I will make you regret if you come in again, there were other people came in before like you, it didn't end well for them, trust me."

"Alright then,'' said Rachel, ushering the other two back, worrying about the troop shooting them.

Darwin and Matthew reluctantly moved back, Darwin looked at them, from head to toe, trying to garner some clues as to what was in the forest.

They turned back and walked slowly towards the exist, they were disappointed, because they missed the secret that was just a few miles ahead of them.

"I have no idea what has just happened,'' moaned Matthew on the way out.

"We will definitely come back, "reassured Darwin with his head held up. "Let me come up with a plan first, I will figure out a way."

"That poor man, I think he and his team aren't going to survive, we need to unravel the hidden secret," said Rachel with tears in her eyes.

"I think that rabbit escaped from the centre, I saw the marking on its back, it was a number, apparently it was marked for some kind of experiment the old man was performing," said Matthew.

"I won't be surprised, because I didn't see any other animal in this forest," Darwin looked at Matthew.