The tambaloslos

"Get back here!" Walter yelled on reaching the ground. He rushed after Adeola and held her by the hand, "We're still talking."

"Let go of me!" She yelled, wriggling her hand out of his grip.

"Just stop being a drama queen."

"Oh really?"

"Yes! It's annoying. Why on earth are you the one upset here?"

"How dare you talk trash about my family? Who exactly do you think you are?"

"How dare your family so confidently do trash? Just for their own selfish purposes. Stop playing victim!"

"Just stop talking to me already. You've said enough."

"You brought me out in the forest, and you want to leave me here? Take me back, I'll leave you alone after."

"Shhhhh"

"Why should I keep qui-"

"I'm serious, lower your tone. Can't you hear that?"

Walter stopped talking, looking in the direction Adeola was focused on. She started scanning from left to right, up and down, then held Walter's hand and started taking steps backwards.

"They're everywhere." she said.

"Who is everywhere?" Walter asked in a worried tone as he still couldn't see anything.

"Walter, you've gotten stronger. But do you have enough strength to run?"

"Can't we just fight back?"

"We aren't with our weapons."

"Right! That's true."

"We're going to start running on my call. Understood?"

"Yes." He replied.

Right then, he began hearing the rustling of multiple leaves and the movements of the trees. He looked up and in the shadows, saw multiple ape-like creatures standing on the trees, but still wasn't able to see clearly. As they kept getting closer, their features became clearer.

They were short, humanoid creatures with the stature of chimpanzees in respect to their long, skinny arms and legs. They had very wide mouths that pushed all facial features backwards whenever they smiled, and they very frequently did. Their most noticeable feature was the python-like structure that seemed to hang in between their legs.

"What the hell is even that?"

"I thought you knew mythology, you don't know about them?"

"Not at all."

"I'll explain later, those are tambalosloses. No matter what happens or what you see, Walter, don't stop running. And if I call you while you're running and am smiling, that's not me. Just keep running."

"What?"

Right then, 3 of the beasts jumped towards them at the same time. Adeola grabbed two with her 2 hands while Walter helped kick the 3rd one out of her way, buying her enough time to hurl the other 2 at the group that stood in front of them.

"Runnnn!" She yelled.

With the space they created in front, they had an exit, so Walter and Adeola began running, with Walter leading the way. As they ran, their route slowly became clouded and they both began hearing voices and seeing things.

"Walter, don't forget what I told you" Adeola exclaimed, her voice fading into the clouded area.

Walter stopped and turned around to see if she was still there. But he was alone in the smoke.

He looked left and right, he began hearing laughter all around him. He could tell that he was already surrounded.

The laughter got louder and louder when suddenly a voice pierced through the noise,

"Walter! I told you not to stop! This way!" It was Adeola's scream. He then turned forward once again and Adeola offered him a hand, as they both kept running forward. The laughter got louder.

"This way! Let's hide behind that tree."

"Hide? for how lon-" Her hand covered his mouth from behind, stopping him from completing his question.

The smoke was still everywhere, but she didn't remove her hand from his mouth. The laughter was still loud. Suddenly, Adeola began hugging Walter from behind. "Please don't move, Walter. We're in danger." She said, as she kept hugging him tightly, with her hands still covering his mouth. Slowly, she reached for his trouser and tried pulling it down.

"What are you doing?" He said, mumbling because her hands still covered his mouth.

Suddenly, the light hug became very tight and multiple hands held him down. Walter fought, biting the hand that covered his mouth. He tried to get up but the hands held him pinned to the ground. He fought hard, but the beasts were strong and held him bound. With every ounce of strength he had, he pushed back and began running. While trying to run, one held his trouser and tore it off, but Walter kept running. He could feel they were gaining on him but he kept running.

As he increased his speed, the smoke started clearing, he then saw Adeola in front.

"What happened I told you to keep runni-"

Of all the lessons he took, he found learning how to kick to be the easiest. So in that moment of time, he jumped high and kicked her in the tummy and continued running.

What have I gotten myself into? He wondered as he continued running with all his speed, when from the tree, one of the beasts jumped on him. The momentum sent him to the ground. This one was a lot bigger than the others, it pinned his hands to the ground and conspicuously tried to sit on him when Adeola, with a rod slammed its head with all her might, shattering it's skull.

She held her stomach in pain.

"Why did you kick me back there?"she asked, still holding onto her tummy.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were one of them." He said, getting up and dusting himself.

"What happened to your trousers?" She asked, in shock as she kept staring at his torn clothing.

Curiously she asked, "Did they do anything to you? What did they do to you?"

"I fought my way out, I had no idea of what they were trying to do, but they didn't even want to hurt me, but they were so interested in my trousers. Weird."

"Are you…are you sure?" She asked, her eyes still reflecting her curiosity.

"yes..I mean, I was fast enough to–"

He stopped on hearing the laughter getting more serious once again.

"Alright, we need to go." Adeola said.

So they kept running until they got close to the village. They escaped danger together once again.

There was an awkward silence when they arrived for about 5 minutes as they began walking back to their house.

"What were those creatures trying to do to me?" Walter asked.

"Nah, if you don't know the tambaloslos, I'm not telling you anything."

"Common, why not?"

"Go figure what they were trying to do to you, and if you can't figure it out, wait till you return to earth to Google about them."