Bialowieza

James sent little clouds of moisture from his mouth as he panted in the chill darkness. With the safety of a thick pine at his back, he allowed the weight of his gear and the pain of his injuries to overtake him. He could ignore them no longer. As he slid down the tree to rest on his haunches against it, he could feel warmth running from the shorn flesh of his arm down to fall upon his legs and the needle-covered forest floor. He didn’t need to look upon his injuries to understand how dire they were. The deep, triplicate grooves carved into his arm burned as though filled with molten iron. Absently, he reached for the small pouch containing his first aid kit atop his left hip. His hand passed unobstructed across his wide belt. James let out a shaky breath and leaned his head back to rest against the tree.

Of course he didn’t have his medical supplies. He’d been with the Tenebris Collective for three years without firing his weapon, let alone receiving injury. Much like the majority of his supplies, he had shed it for comfort long before disembarking on this mission. None of his squad had thought anything would be different on what was ostensibly yet another fruitless mission into the dense, primeval forests of Poland, and few brought anything aside from their communications equipment and weapons. James gave a mirthless chuckle as he realized that, if anything, his rifle was the item he should have left behind. As many shots as the five men landed on the thing, it seemed neither to experience pain nor care. 

Thinking back to the initial encounter with the creature, James felt his hands tremble. It came upon them in the dark without a sound. By pure chance, James had been using his weapon light to illuminate the sprawling undergrowth before his squad when an odd glint caused him to halt his movement. He had thought it was a long-dead stag given the mottled skull and stretching antlers that protruded from a thicket in front of him. When the skull’s jaw split open and keened with enough force to cause his ears to bleed, his team opened fire upon it. He couldn’t remember who was the first to fire, but James knew that, if he lived, he would never forget what he saw in the erratic, strobing light of the gunfire. The skull had lifted from the bramble in a smooth upward motion as it shook slightly from the rounds impacting upon it. It rose easily twelve feet into the air upon a thin frame with overlong arms and scattered patches of coarse fur. Before the five guns had gone silent, the creature attacked. 

A single swipe removed the head of the man beside James. A crescent of blood trailed behind the foot-long claws that stretched from the creature’s spindly arms. James reflexively interposed his right arm between himself and the creature as he saw it strike out at him before his comrade’s head had even landed on the ground. While the move had undoubtedly saved his life, the force of the blow tossed him backwards as though he weighed nothing and ripped harsh gouges into his forearm. The crackling gunfire continued as another team member helped James back to his feet. The integral radio within the headset he wore screeched into his ears as its tiny speakers overloaded from one of the men’s screams. James saw that the creature had gored the man on its antlers and simply raised its head again, raining viscera upon its form as the man writhed and screamed. 

Will, the one who had helped James stand, gave him a hard shove and shouted over the gunfire and screaming. “We need to split up! Stay on comms!” Following this, Will sprinted into the darkness away from the creature. James wasted no time in following suit. Not five steps into his retreat, he heard the last gun go silent. A moment later, the impaled man stopped screaming. James ran to the base of a large tree and flipped the switch to kill his weapon’s light.

A sharp pain in his arm brought James’ attention back to the present. With his light snuffed and any moonlight drowned by the dense canopy above him, he groped blindly in the darkness across his arm. The cuts from the creature were deep, and even through his gloves he could feel the blood rapidly oozing out of him. James knew he had little time left. It had been a few minutes since he and Will had run, and he’d heard nothing on his headset since. He decided to risk a bit of noise.

“Will?” he whispered, his voice cracked and low.

“Yeah. Still here.” 

James nearly cried in relief.

“W- what the hell was that thing? It tore straight through us!”

“Hell if I know. Guess the old man was right, though. Only took him five years to find his monster.” The calm in Will’s voice was unnerving. James couldn’t understand why Will wasn’t losing his mind as well.

“What?” James’ voice was louder now, despite the necessity of silence. “Are you kidding me? I don’t care how much money he threw at us, this isn’t worth dying over!”

Will gave a cold laugh. “You signed the same paperwork I did, bud. If all the NDAs and waivers didn’t raise your eyebrows, I guess you just weren’t paying attention. Tenebris has always been about finding and killing this- whatever this is. As much money as he’s got, the old man’s gonna get this thing if he wants it. We might not get it, but God knows he’ll send in more suckers like us once we fail to return.” James heard the sound of Will’s gear shifting around in his headset. “I’ve got nothing left but my knife and a flare. How’s it looking for you?”

James felt around his vest and belt, taking stock of what he had before responding. “I’ve got two flares and some rope. You thinking about making a run for it? Distracting it with the flares?”

“Nope. I’m thinking about burning this bitch.”

It took James a beat to collect himself enough to speak again. 

“A-are you serious? You saw what it did to the others, right? We didn’t even scratch it with all-”

“That’s exactly why I’m serious.” Will’s voice was cold and low. “I knew these guys for five years, and I’m not about to turn and run like a scared little girl. You want to tuck tail, be my guest, but I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t at least try to bury this thing.”

James felt his face flush with embarrassment. He never thought of himself as a coward. If anything, he would have thought he was braver than most. The creature had proven otherwise.

“Let’s at least get back to the truck. We’ve got more gear and-”

“No time,” Will interrupted, far louder than before. “It’s here. Run if you want, James. Just be sure to tell the old man what happened here.” The steel in his voice sent James sputtering. He tried to shout out, to convince Will to come with him, but words wouldn’t form. James stood with a wince and glanced around in the darkness. 

Suddenly, a blinding red light pierced through the forest. James instinctively lifted his rifle in its direction, though lowered it when he remembered his weapon’s ineffectiveness at harming the creature. Will stood bathed in the eerie crimson glow of the flare in his left hand. James saw a fluid motion in the shadows before Will, and in one great stride the creature was standing before him. As though it understood the challenge presented to it, the lithe monstrosity stood to its full height and splayed its arms outwards. The hair on James’ neck stood on end as ice ran up his spine. His body ignored his command to flee. Frozen, James could only watch as both Will and the creature lowered themselves into fighting stances.

The creature swung with preternatural speed, its massive claws arcing through the air towards Will’s head. With surprising alacrity, Will ducked the blow and lunged towards the creature’s torso, thrusting his flare into its gnarled skin and pelt. When the chemically-fueled fire made contact with it, the creature’s maw split wide. It threw its head back and shrieked its pain into the night. Even at a distance, James felt pressure in his ears and saw the bushes and shrubs around him tremble from the noise. The unearthly noise broke James from his terror as he realized that this was not a call of defiance or a promise of violence, as the creature’s first noise had been.

This was a scream of pain.

Spurred into motion, James broke off into the forest. With a sharp click, he unbuckled the sling holding his rifle to his body, sacrificing its impotent firepower for greater speed. The red glow of Will’s flare provided just enough illumination to weave between trees and the tangling undergrowth. Cowardly or not, James knew he had to make it back to the transport. Will’s thirst for vengeance had proved that the creature could be injured. He needed to regroup- to wrap his arm and report back to Tenebris Control. With their resources and this new knowledge, James knew that they could take the creature down. A harsh, charnel noise in his headset almost caused James to pause. A sound much like cloth ripping preceded a pained gurgle before his radio went silent. He promised himself as he ran that he would return with the proper implements to kill this monster. 

Will’s flare went dark a few seconds later. James debated continuing his retreat, though knew that he would likely trip or run headlong into a tree without a source of light. He stopped his flight and heaved his respiration into the forest as he retrieved his flares. Having discarded his rifle, they were the only light source he had left. He removed the safety caps from both, though hoped he would only need the duration of one to make it back to the truck. With how much blood he was losing, he doubted he could remain conscious through the burn length of both anyway.

James squinted as his flare came to life in his hand. He thrusted it out before him and gave his eyes a few seconds to adjust. When they did, there was no longer a path before him. Instead of squat greenery, James saw a fur-encircled section of scorched hide that still held a few dying embers of its own fur. Slowly, he lifted his head, drawing his gaze up the length of the creature’s body. The antlered skull stared back at him. The void of its missing eyes seemed to drink the light as nothing could be seen behind their depths. 

Whether shock, adrenaline or simple acceptance had taken him, James felt no fear at the creature’s appearance. He slowly drew the lit flare towards his other hand and ignited his spare. The skull atop the creature twitched at the sputtering chemicals. James grinned defiantly at the tall thing, all but baring his teeth.

“Don’t like fire, do you?” he asked it, holding the flares out before him. 

A low, rumbling growl emanated from the skull. James felt his mouth open in utter surprise as the grating noise formed words. In a macabre shift of tone, James could hear Will’s words coming from the skull.

“Sc- scared little. Scared little g-girl,” the creature stuttered from pieces of Will’s earlier admonition. A rage began to roil within James’ stomach. He could take being called out by his friend. He could take the shame and guilt of cowardice when it meant living.

He could not take the creature’s mockery with the voice of the dead.

“Let’s find out just how scared I am,” he said, advancing on the creature.