Ben shook his head. "Me neither, I did nothing special. I have too many mangas to read right now."
Yuki clicked his tongue, feigning frustration. "Since I introduced you to these works, you're acting like an otaku?"
Until then silent, Hugo abruptly changed the subject, as usual:
"Damn, I'm going to change clubs again… I have to get close to her no matter what."
Hassan sighed. "You always talk about girls, is that your only topic of conversation or what?"
Hugo shrugged, a mischievous smile on his lips.
"Dude, if I had Kaiser's luck, do you think I'd still need a strategy to get close to her?"
Carter raised an eyebrow. "His luck?"
The rest of the group fell silent, waiting for the continuation with interest.
Hugo pointed to Kaiser with his chin. "Look at him. Before Hannah left on vacation, every day, she was in his room."
Yuki's eyes widened. "And he did nothing?"
I sighed. "What do you want me to do? We don't have that kind of relationship, guys."
Ben burst out laughing. "No point in discussing, this case is hopeless. Linsey has him under her spell forever."
I narrowed my eyes. "You're bold to say that, Ben. Do you remember last year?"
Ben burst out laughing, deliberately avoiding the question.
Suddenly, Yuki stopped and turned his iPhone toward them, displaying a short video.
"You guys may have traveled, but… have you ever found a gem like this?"
The screen showed a stunning teenager by the beach.
Hugo's eyes lit up. "A Latina?!"
"She's hot!" Carter validated, drinking his can.
Ben was surprised. "Wow, where do you know her from?"
Glancing absentmindedly while biting into a hot dog.
"Not bad… but she's just a Black girl in the sun, I don't see any Latina there. Who is she?"
Hugo seemed more annoyed than Yuki and raised his voice.
"How is she 'not bad'? Dude, you saw the babe at least!"
Kaiser shrugged. "Yeah… she's an eight at most."
Ben was outraged. "Wow, you're harsh, Kaiser! She's a 10/10."
Kaiser sketched a smile. "No, if you look closely, her nose isn't perfectly fine, and besides, the sun enhances her mixed skin color…"
Yuki rolled his eyes, annoyed. "Argh, shut up, bro. She's just perfect."
I raised my hands in surrender, preferring not to inflame the discussion.
"Anyway, guys, during my vacation in the Antilles, I met Miranda in the Dominican Republic. At first, she was just a friend… but now, we're together."
Hugo didn't miss a beat:
"Did you already fuck?"
Yuki smiled, pleased with the conversation's turn.
"I'm not like Ben, dude."
Hugo and Yuki exchanged a check, laughing at their complicity.
Hassan burst out laughing. "Missed shot for you, Ben!"
Hugo chimed in, laughing. "Last year, this guy let a girl slip through his fingers!"
Ben clicked his tongue, annoyed. "I had everything under control… A little quiet date… But hey, it happens, guys."
"No, that kind of thing shouldn't happen…" I continued, laughing.
And Carter drove the point home, bursting out laughing.
"At the last moment, you had diarrhea!"
The whole gang burst out laughing, while Ben, gave them a dark look.
Then suddenly, there was a noise outside.
A crack.
Instantly, the atmosphere changed. Everyone fell silent, straining to listen.
"A deer?" Hassan whispered.
"Or some creep spying on us," Carter suggested, grabbing a flashlight.
"I'll go see," Yuki declared, getting up.
He pushed the door and pointed the light outside. The trees cast distorted shadows, and the wind rustled the leaves. Nothing visible.
The night air was cold and damp, clinging to my skin as I stepped out of the cabin. Ben's flickering flashlight cast distorted shadows on the tree trunks around us. The atmosphere was strange, heavy.
*Roar*
*Howl*
"Did you hear that?" Hassan asked, his voice tense.
No one answered. We all silently scanned the forest.
I took a step forward, my shoes crushing something soft under my foot. A chill ran up my spine as I lost my balance. I tumbled heavily, expecting to land on moss or roots.
But it wasn't that.
The ground was sticky, warm.
I rolled onto my side and looked at what had made me fall.
My stomach turned immediately.
It was a piece of human flesh, torn, bloody. Muscle and skin flaps still hung from the exposed bone. The blood was still fresh, dripping onto the moss, forming a dark pool that soaked into the earth.
I felt nauseous.
"FUCK!" I scrambled backward.
"What the—" Yuki began before his gaze followed mine.
A horrified silence fell over us.
Hassan approached, illuminating the scene. His face, usually relaxed, froze.
"What the hell is this…?" he murmured.
"It's... it's an animal, right?" Hugo suggested, but his voice trembled.
A dull thud, a crack from the darkness, broke the silence.
Our heads turned as one.
The sound of heavy breathing came from between the trees.
Then a roar.
Over there, in the shadows, something was moving. Something big.
"Run," Hassan said.
And in an instant, everyone bolted.
In the panic, we instinctively scattered in different directions. Me and Ben took the left, racing through the forest.
Branches whipped my face, dead leaves crunched under my hurried steps. I struggled to keep up. My breathing became short, too fast. A dull pain formed in my chest.
The side effects of my damn meds.
Ben was slightly ahead, glancing back.
"Go on without me!" I gasped.
"Stop being stupid, Kaiser!" He slowed down, grabbed my arm to pull me forward.
But my body didn't respond anymore.
My legs gave out. I collapsed.
Ben immediately turned back to help me up.
Then he froze.
So did I.
Ahead of us, just a few meters away, stood a massive silhouette.
What we'd taken for a wild beast… wasn't just an animal.
It was bipedal.
Huge muscles bulged under thick black and gray fur. Its arms were too long, its fingers ending in curved, sharp claws.
Its eyes.
Two glowing yellow orbs in the darkness.
Its maw, agape, revealed sharp fangs from which drool flowed.
I wanted to believe it was a hallucination, another one.
But Ben was there. He saw the same thing.
"You... you see that too?" I stammered.
He slowly swallowed. "Yeah..."
The air stank of decaying flesh and fresh blood.
The creature stared at us, motionless, as if gauging our fear.
Then it lunged.
I screamed, backing away, but Ben instinctively stepped in front of me.
The impact was violent.
The creature threw him like a mere toy, sending him crashing into a tree with a dull thud.
"Ben!"
He didn't move.
My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would burst.
The beast slowly approached me, its claws scraping the damp earth.
I was paralyzed.
A whistle cut through the air.
Then a roar of pain.
An arrow had pierced the monster's eye.
It shook its head furiously, roaring in pain. A second arrow emerged from the shadows and lodged in its shoulder.
But it didn't fall.
It was even more enraged.
Its muscles tensed, ready to attack again, when a distant howl echoed through the forest.
The beast hesitated.
Then it turned its head and vanished into the night with a flash.
My breathing was ragged.
I slowly turned toward the source of the arrows.
Perched on a branch, a female silhouette stared at me.
I couldn't make out her face, but her amber eyes glowed faintly in the darkness, holding a crossbow.
Then, in an instant, she disappeared.
I stood there, trembling, my gaze lost in the void.
I snapped back to reality at the sound of a faint groan.
Ben.
I rushed to him and gently shook him.
He slowly opened his eyes, breath short. "Fuck... It hurts..."
"We have to go," I murmured.
I slung his arm over my shoulders and helped him up.
After a few minutes of effort, we finally reached the road where the others were waiting, looking panicked.
Yuki rushed over. "Is Ben okay?"
I nodded, unable to speak.
"We should leave," Hassan added.
"But Hugo—"
"I'm here."
We turned to see Hugo emerging from the woods, breathless but unharmed.
No one said a word as we returned to the pickup.
The silence was oppressive.
Even Hugo, who usually never shut up, remained frozen.
No one wanted to talk about what we'd seen.
It was easier to convince ourselves it was mass hysteria.
But I knew it was real.
It wasn't the first time I'd seen something like that.
But it was the first time someone else saw the same thing.
Back home, I went straight to my room.
I took two pills this time.
Just to be sure.
If it was still a hallucination, then tomorrow, all this would be just a bad dream.
But deep down, I knew.
It wasn't a dream.
And it was only the beginning.