Page 8 of The General's Captive
I had been caught.
Notes.
• Keep out of populated areas.
• Try to avoid canned foods, long shelf life but heavy and harder to carry in backpack.
• Find a public Library, get books on mythology and mechanics. (Need to hotwire a car)
• Need tools to do this
• Don’t travel at night. They like the darkness!!!
That sound!
The terrifying sound was different to the one I had heard that day at the cabin… which told me it was something different. My heart was close to pounding its way right out of my chest because every video I watched now played out my potential death on repeat.
I quickly threw myself back behind the car, fumbling with my bag to get out my only weapon, a hunting knife. It had been in the truck bed along with the guns that I had left, seeing as I didn’t know how to use the rifles.
Not that I was an expert with a knife but at least I didn’t have to load the damn thing. Although I wasn’t sure how effective I would be just waving it around, hoping to do some damage.
I knew that I shouldn’t have kept it in my bag, but carrying it constantly was not the best of ideas for someone who wasn’tconfident with any weapon. So, I had wrapped it in a cloth and kept it in my backpack.
Something I was now cursing myself for because the knife had slipped to the bottom. And emptying all my belongings out here in the open wasn’t exactly an option. So having no choice but to forget the knife, I decided to make a run for it instead.
Grabbing the arm of the backpack, I peered around the car but saw nothing. The store I was aiming for was just a few meters away. So, with my target in sight, I readied myself to make my move, when all of a sudden, my scars started to itch to the point of burning.
It was like a warning of some kind, because the next thing I knew, the roar came again, only this time, it seemed like it was on top of me! My horrified suspicions were confirmed from the mighty crash of a giant beast landing on top of the car I was hiding behind. I crawled backward on my hands and knees, looking at the beast with pure terror. I had seen nothing like it in my entire life!
Okay, so that wasn’t exactly true. I had seen three things like it in my life. A lion, a goat, and a snake. Now had I see them combined in some freakshow, Frankenstein, unholy creation…? Er… that would be a very firm no. Actually, make that a hell no, with a double dose of Hell!
But that was precisely what I was looking at now.
It appeared that all of them were a part of this grotesque creature. The mighty lion’s head looked down at me like I was its dinner, with its mane of midnight black hair floating around its head like smoke. His glowing red eyes burned like hot coals among the darkness of its face. Its white teeth shone in the daylight as it snarled down at me, its drool seeping down the huge fangs, before landing with a splat on the roof.
Its large, strong paws, also that of a lion, crushed the metal underneath as it balanced on the now crumbling top of the car. Sharp claws extended and I swallowed hard at the stains of red.
As for the rest of its mutated body, the tail was a black snake, its tongue flicking rapidly as it hissed at me from over the lion. It had bright red markings on the scales of its head… yeah, like the added warning was needed!
The body of the creature was still that of a lion, but on its back was part goat, with its head and neck attached to the right side. It was looking around at everything but me, and I wondered if it had any idea I was down here about to become their lunch.
In fact, I wondered what the point of it was, because it looked fucking clueless! More like one of those friends who always got drunk at the bar and you ended up having to carry home at the end of the night.
The only way the creature was in any way similar to the first I had encountered was the way that it was surrounded by a black fog. It was also in the eyes, because all three sets were blood red. The smell of death lingered too, and I repressed a gag.
It seemed we were at an impasse. Me, staring into the multiple glowing eyes of death, and them, staring down at me deciding which part of me to eat first. And that was when the intrusive thoughts of mine won, and the words that spilled out of my mouth next, brought that impasse to a crazy end.
“Good, kitty, nice, kitty… just fuck off, kitty!”I said as I tried to back away slowly, keeping my hands up like this was no longer the universal sign for ‘please don’t shoot’, but now the ‘please don’t eat me, big beastie’ sign.
My inner-self wanted to face-palm my forehead, right about the time the lion roared in anger before making his next move.
It leapt toward me and I rolled to the side a lot quicker than I thought possible. Then, while keeping my bag in hand, I jumpedto my feet and entered through the glassless frame into the general store.
The place was much bigger than it looked from the outside, going much further back and having an additional floor. So naturally, this was where I headed. I ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, then once I was at the top, I turned to see how far the creature was behind me.
Incredibly fucking close, that’s what it was!
“AH!” I screamed and threw myself backward. And just in time too, because the lion’s strong jaw was far too close to ripping my face off by a mere fraction. The snake hissed, the goat bleated, and the lion roared in harmony.
