[3rd POV]
The poachers woke up from the terrified scream of the guard.
Eighteen members of the poachers still remained in the Serengeti. They had three vehicles with them. At night, there were always three individuals stationed as guards. But now those three were dead, killed in just an instant.
Now, fifteen humans remained.
Although the scream was short-lived, there was something about the sheer terror in the sound that immediately killed every ounce of sleepiness inside them. They became alerted, their hands oddly shaking not just from the chilly air but from something else.
"Everybody up!" the leader of the group, Clinton, said while loading up his rifle.
They were at the end of their mission, so their weapons and ammo were on the brink of running out. But they still had enough firepower to blast through a herd of elephants, so none were too worried.
Wild animals were scary, but they were nothing in front of their guns.
The group woke up with their weapons in hand. They turned on their flashlights, but not too much, as such lights could reveal their location to the rangers in the middle of the night.
"Get the cars ready just in case," Clinton said to the other members. There was no need for all of them to be at the edge. It was better to secure escape and other choices in case something went wrong.
Some of the members immediately got to work. They had hidden their vehicles amid dry bushes and some dead trees. So five out of the fifteen members began clearing the vehicle and preparing it in case they needed to make an escape.
The threat remained unknown. But ten members with guns began making their way towards where they heard the scream. Most were carrying a hunter's rifle, some had shotguns, and a few had pistols too.
"Jared, Mark," they yelled in hushing sounds while making their way towards the dry sparse forest. The North Serengeti was always greener than the rest since it was near the Mara River, but even then, the trees were not in full bloom.
When they flashed their flashlight, it was easy to see what was in front of them.
"Flliz, anyone. Is there anyone who can respond?" Clinton said while leading the group forward.
And after they moved past the first tree in the treeline, they finally saw something that froze them completely.
"...."
Two mangled corpses. The state that these bodies were in was so gory and horrifying that some people began gagging immediately.
Their bodies were crushed completely, and each head had deep punctures that nearly exploded their heads. The poachers did not know how to take in the sight.
Was it an animal attack? No. No animal they knew could leave a human in that state. And if it was a wild animal, they would hear the animal's roaring sound or perhaps the struggle of their comrade in his final moments.
And even after the animal killed them, it would proceed to make a lot of sound, perhaps eat the corpses on the spot.
And it could not be a human either. The bodies were destroyed in such a way that a human never could. There was no stab or the clean cut of a knife. It could not be a gun or a bomb either since they only heard a scream.
So the question plagued their mind.
What did this?
"It's a monster," some whispered among themselves. Fear immediately struck their hearts and they began sweating profusely in the chilly night.
Clinton on the other hand gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes on the corpses. The state they were in looked like they had been crushed by a big animal, something like an elephant or maybe a hippo.
Or... it looked like something fell on them.
He froze.
...
"Point the flashlight on top of the trees," he said in a tight whisper.
They had been avoiding flashing their light upwards since it could be spotted easily like that. But with his words, three flashlights moved and shone on top of the trees.
"Jesus Christ," everyone flinched back.
Vultures.
A dozen, no hundreds of vultures were sitting on the tree. When their flashlight shone on them, their eyes reflected the light to create an illusion that they were shining. The vultures did not move, simply watched them closely like they were statues.
Everyone gulped.
"Boss, I think we should just leave," one member said in a begging voice.
But Clinton began lighting up more trees in the surroundings instead. What they saw was still vultures that were perched on the branches like they were waiting for a meal. These were the same vultures that scouted the entire northern region to find them.
It was a gripping scene. One that frightened them like little kids because at this point, everyone believed that there was some demonic supernatural shit going on.
A movement in the bushes caused everyone to flinch back and aim their weapons towards it.
"Do not shoot aimlessly," Clinton warned them.
The bush continued moving even when they shone their lights on it. After waiting for a few seconds, the group made their way towards the bush.
In the end, they were happy to find out that it was just a vulture cleaning its wings with its beak. It looked at them and clicked its beak when they neared him.
But it was in that moment that they finally saw the third corpse.
"Jared?" they called when they saw the seemingly unharmed corpse.
This body was not mangled nor crushed. It was a body that laid face down on the ground. There was no splatter of blood or anything like that.
It looked like Jared had passed out in fear of whatever was around here.
"Take him here," Clinton said.
Two people came forward and grabbed Jared by the feet. Then they dragged him back to the group. But when the corpse moved, the head that was facing the ground began painting a red line.
Not just a red line, pieces of gloppy flesh were left behind. They were pieces of flesh.
That was when they realized that Jared was dead. His head had been bitten off in a vertical half. He had no face at all.
The two people pulling him fell on their butt and quickly scurried away. They tried their best not to scream but it was hard not to.
"Boss, I really think we should leave."
Clinton flashed light as far as he could. He was scared but also enraged at whatever killed his men.
But the others did not share his sentiment. They were absolutely terrified at what their boss was thinking. A deep phobia they never had emerged in their mind.
Those flashlights, what if they landed on something monstrous? What if those same lights revealed to them something they should never see?
It was hard to be brave when faced with an unknown.
But contrary to what they knew, the flashlight was not just helping them to locate the beast they were searching for. It also helped the beast locate them exactly where they were in the darkness of the night.
After a few more seconds that felt like hours, Clinton dropped his stance and relaxed his posture. He found nothing. It seemed whatever killed his men had already left.
And those vultures were waiting for them to leave so that they could eat the corpses.
Although angry, Clinton was not going to set out to hunt this animal in the middle of the night.
"Let us go," he said.
And all hell broke loose.
A flutter of wings, a sudden gush of whirling, and chaos descended upon the still night. The vultures attacked the humans all at once.
Flashlights waved mindlessly in a flash of chaotic light, guns were shot out one after another as the people began screaming their lungs out as the vultures attacked.
Vultures never attacked living beings. But if they did or if they were ordered to do so, they could be quite lethal. Beaks that were sharp enough to tear through hide and rip off flesh from buffalo easily were able to tear open the humans in all exposed areas.
Talons that could tear skin were enough to tear off a nose or the lips. To make matters worse, the vultures came to their faces and tried to gouge out their eyes.
Shotguns exploded, rifles shot into the air. But the vultures were too much even if they shot down one. They clustered around the ten humans, more than ten vultures for each human.
No one cared about keeping quiet or not revealing their position. They screamed in pain as their eyes were gouged out and their scalps were torn off. The vultures attacked from the back, hitting the skull with their sharp beak, they attacked from the front, aiming for the eyes, they attacked from the sides, ripping the ears.
The people began dropping their guns because at that point, guns were no use. The better strategy was to use their hands to grab and throw away the vultures on their faces or protect themselves.
It was a trap. The moving of the bushes to lead them further into the forest where the vultures would surround them. The corpse was a distraction that made them stay while every vulture got ready.
They had been caught in someone's trap.
But who?
After the guns went off and were dropped, a deep roar reverberated through the entire forest. The vibration was deep and loud enough that they could feel it through their feet. The humans froze, horrified.
But it was all too late as Leo flanked them from the side and demolished them in seconds.
No one survived.
No one out of the ten humans survived.
..
..
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This was a shorter chapter so if you reach 700 stones in the next 3 hours, I'll give you extra tonight.
After 3 hours I'm gonna sleep so I can't upload anymore so ya, good luck.