Leafy ferns raced past as he ran, whipping against his face, arms, and torso with wet slaps. He squinted against the pounding rain, gasping for breath as he sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him through the driving rain. He swerved to avoid a tree stump, stumbling over an outstretched log. He let out a whimper and kept running, paying no heed to what direction he was traveling or where his path would eventually take him. He just needed to run, and run fast.

Thunder cracked overhead, a brilliant flash of lightning that lit up the jungle around him. He could see waving branches, undulating seas of waist-high grass, and forest creatures fleeing from the storm. He used another stump as a foothold, throwing himself forward and propelling himself through the foliage.

A deep warbling croak rang through the night, echoing off the walls of the ravine on either side of him. He could hear heavy footsteps in the treetops above, shaking the branches above his head. He could see their eyes shining in the darkness, glowing yellow-gold in the illumination of the lightning strikes. They were toying with him, surrounding him and watching him panic and fight his way through the jungle. Like a nexu and its prey, they were playing with him, biding their time to strike.

I have to get out of here, he thought as he ran. I have to... have to get back to the camp. Have to...

But the further he ran, the less he believed the camp would provide shelter. They had torn through the others with ease, yanking them off into the darkness and silencing them within the shadows. The others had been picked off one by one, spirited away after they stumbled or fell too far behind. Now he was the only one left, trying with all his might to make it to somewhere – anywhere – out of their reach.

Keep running, he thought. His heart was pounding painfully in his chest and his breath was coming in sharp, agonizing gasps. Whatever happens, whatever you see... just keep running.

His foot caught an outstretched rock and he sprawled forward into the grass, his armor now splattered with mud. "Oh no," he gasped. "Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

He scrambled forward, digging up wet fistfuls of mud as he did. Before he managed to get so much as a few feet, there was a heavy splash behind him. He flipped onto his back, pushing himself away as quickly as he could manage in the thick silt. Through the driving rain, he could see a dark figure uncurling from its crouch. It stretched up, taller and taller, until it towered over him. The being was holding a heavy, angular spear in its taloned hands, its eyes blazing as it stared at him. It barked out at him in a deep guttural tongue, long black dreadlocks flying in the gale. As he watched, two more identical figures dropped from the trees, hefting identical spears. They advanced on him, moving with a fluid grace that almost looked unnatural. The heads of their spears angled down, pointing to his chest.

Another bark of dark, savage words. The three were growing closer and closer while he scrambled away. He quickly scrambled back to his feet and sprinted back into the trees. He felt more than heard one of the spears whistle past him. A second spear slashed through his shoulder, digging through skin and muscle. A scream tore itself from his lips as he staggered, clutching his arm. There was another flash of lightning, a peal of thunder. He saw the grass all around him waving violently, creating an ocean of foliage that disoriented and confused him. Everywhere he looked, he thought he could see the ominous shadows that dogged him, their glowing yellow eyes surrounding him. In the flash of lightning, however, he could only see the undulating shadows of waving fern leaves and bright yellow flowers bending in the wind.

In the next bright strobe of light, he definitely saw something moving in front of him. There was a knot of figures picking their way through the underbrush, crouched low with their heads swiveling back and forth. He put his head down and charged forward, intent on barreling through them and then running onward as fast as he could.

The first figure he knocked aside with ease, shoving with all his might and sending the creature staggering. It let out a surprised shout and crashed to the ground with a wet squelch. He tried to do the same to the second figure, but suddenly a very human-sounding voice shouted, "Contact!" and a blinding explosion of blue-white light slammed into his chest, knocking him to the ground. He splashed into a deep puddle, gagging on a mouthful of muddy water.

"Target down!" the same voice shouted. "Human male. Mando'ad, Team Leader."

He staggered back to his feet. "Who... who are you?"

One of the figures stepped forward, lowering an angular Mandalorian beskad saber. In the dim light and sporadic illumination of the lightning, he saw it was a woman in mud-spattered armor, wearing a thick cloth poncho around her shoulders.

"It's all right, vod. We're Rangers," she said with a reassuring nod. She removed her helmet to reveal a young face and long blond hair tied back in a functional bun. "Almost mistook you for a rogue kalo wolf. What are you doing this deep in the jungle?"

"I'm a… a h-h-hunter," he managed to gasp. He watched the other soldiers fanning out, creating a tight perimeter around him and the blue-armored woman. Like her, they were outfitted with swords and spears and shields. There wasn't a blaster among them. "My company and I w-were after rumors of rancor living in the jungles. Worth a lot of money."

The woman laughed over a deep crack of thunder. "No rancor in these trees, vod. Just Echo Snakes and Kalo Wolves. A Gundark or two, maybe, but no rancor."

"No!" he cried. "No, there's... there's something else in these woods. Something worse."

"Worse than Echo Snakes? What the kriff are you talking about?"

He gasped, and clutched at her shoulder. "No! You have to listen to me! They're here!"

Her face grew serious. "Who?"

"Kar'ta Epar'e," he moaned. "Kar'ta Epar'e!"

One of the Rangers scoffed. "The Heart Eaters? Bullshit. They're just legends."

"Right," another agreed. "Boogeymen who live in the trees and eat the flesh of warriors they kill. Ghosts who guard the treasure of forgotten Mandalorian command posts in the jungles. Osik if I've ever heard it."

"Quiet," the blond woman said. She turned back to the hunter and said, "What happened to the rest of your people?"

"D-dead."

"I figured that out while you were running through the trees like a nuna with its head cut off. How?"

He gulped, flinching when lightning flashed overhead again. "We were camped up on the ridge. Figured we'd have a good view of the entire valley from up there. We were sheltered by the trees, so no Shriek-Hawks could get the jump on us."

"Smart. But what happened to the rest of your men?"

"W-we were settling down for the night," the hunter stammered. "We hadn't caught anything during the day. People were angry and drinking more than was smart, so I ordered that they turn in early. About halfway through the first watch, one of our men – Chatori – vanished on us. Figured he'd wandered off to take a piss, but after an hour, he didn't show up again."

He shivered in the cold rain. "I sent out two of the other hunters to look for him. They disappeared too."

"You sent your men to wander through the Werda Kurs in the middle of the night?" one of the Rangers growled. "Don't need no fancy Kar'ta Epar'e to pick them off. Kalo Wolves or Blackstalkers would do the job just as efficiently."

"He's right," the blond woman admitted. "This valley is full of predators more than capable of taking down a sleepy, hungover big-game hunter. Hell, they could have just tripped and fallen down a ravine. Anything's possible in this jungle."

"It wasn't Kalo Wolves," the hunter insisted. "And it wasn't Blackstalkers. We know how to deal with those. We know how to be careful. We aren't some idiot aruetiise who think carting around a big gun makes them invincible."

"And yet…" one of the Rangers muttered, shifting his spear to rest on his shoulder.

The blond woman shot him a warning glare, illuminated by another brilliant fork of lightning high above. "So three of your men went missing. Then what?"

"T-then… we got the rest of the boys up. Started fanning out, looking for them. Calling out."

"You were shouting? You realize there's no quicker way for an Echo Snake to sniff you out? Those things hunt using sound, you know."

"We were miles from the nearest river," the hunter snapped. "There weren't going to be any Echo Snakes up on the ridge. We figured… figured maybe they had fallen asleep in the bushes somewhere. Sleeping off the booze. But then we h-heard it…"

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Heard what?"

He looked up at her, his entire body shaking.

"Drums."

As if caused by the words, one of the Rangers suddenly screamed. There was a swift thrashing in the bushes to their left, then the man fell abruptly silent. The blond woman instantly yanked her helmet back over her head, signaling her men with a swift cutting motion of her hand. The remaining soldiers fell into a battle-ready crouch.

"That was Darius," someone called. The jungle around them seemed strangely silent.

"The hell just happened?"

"He's not answering his comm. His IFF just went offline as well."

"Darius!" the young woman called, drawing her beskad and holding it with a sturdy two-handed grip. "Sound off! You trip on something?"

There was no answer but the steady pounding of the rain. Even the thunder seemed to have tapered off, as if in anticipation of what was about to happen. The young woman cursed and gestured to her men.

"Fan out!" she called. "We're short-staffed as it is. Find him!"

"No!" the hunter shouted, clutching at her shoulder pad. "No, that's just what they want you to do!"

She scoffed. "What, you think it's more Kar'ta Epar'e?"

He nodded frantically. "Yes! This is just what happened last time!"

The woman shook him off. "Just stay back. Whatever happened to Darius, it wasn't mythical jungle monsters. Probably bandits, trying to get the jump on us."

The Rangers slowly started moving through the tall grass, weapons at the ready. The hunter cowered in the center of their search ring, nervously glancing over his shoulder every few seconds and whimpering every time he heard a branch creak or a distant bird call.

"Darius? Darius!"

"It's like he disappeared."

"Where the kriff-"

He heard another scream, abruptly cut off like before. The remaining Rangers spun and found another of their teammates gone. The grass where he had been standing was splashed with blood, but there was no other signs he had stood there only seconds before. The blue-armored woman cursed and said, "All right, new plan! Back-to-back! Make sure-"

Another scream, then another. The branches above their heads suddenly erupted into sound, the leaves thrashing as the air was suddenly split with heavy, thudding drumbeats.

"The drums," the hunter moaned, covering his ears. "Not the drums!"

More screams. The Hunter could see dark figures leaping down from the trees, seemingly melting out of the darkness as they tackled the Rangers and then leaped back up into the canopy, carrying the screaming Rangers with them. The woman pivoted back and forth, swinging at open air with her sword as the drumbeats got louder and louder and-

And suddenly everything was silent and still. The woman was alone, save for the hunter still cowering against a tree trunk some distance away. She slowly backed up, sword blade aimed up into the branches above her that had swallowed her teammates. She turned slowly, listening to the wind whistling through the jungle all around. Breathing hard, she wiped the rain off her visor and grunted, "Kriff. This isn't good. Not good at all."

She gestured to him. "Get over here! Back to back, before it happens again!"

He hesitated, then shook his head. "No! I''ve gotta get out of here!"

"We have to form a two-way wall," she said, tossing him a sword that had come clattering down from the trees in the commotion. The hilt was wrapped with leather and emblazoned with the Ranger insignia; a blade from one of her fallen comrades.

"Whatever's out here is trying to surround us!" she snapped. "If you want to make it out of here alive, stay close to me."

He shook his head, backing against a tree and throwing the sword aside. A tearful whimper escaped as he looked around as he saw shadowy figures slithering down from the trees, silently surrounding the woman in an ever-tightening circle. He pressed himself to the trunk behind him, squeezing his eyes shut as one of the figures passed by. He heard deep, rumbling breath, then heavy, thudding footsteps as whatever it was made its way to the last remaining Ranger.

She muttered a curse over a new clap of thunder and pressed a hand to her helmet, sending out a comm call. "This is Mandalorian Ranger Tamai Vasser, calling for immediate reinforcements! Coordinates are thirty-two-twenty delta quadrant by six-"

She slashed at one of the figures that drew a little too close. It leaped back, clenching taloned fists before silently approaching again.

"Damn it," she muttered. "I'm surrounded, in need of immediate reinforcements! I don't think… I don't think I'm-"

A sudden flash of lightning illuminated one of the dark figures towering over her. She spun back and raised her sword to strike, but a clawed hand flashed out and yanked the weapon away, tossing it into the underbrush. She craned her neck up to stare into the blazing yellow eyes and simply stood while the creature reared back and raised a long, taloned hand.

The hunter didn't stick around to see what was going to happen. He turned and took off again, sprinting off into the jungle before anyone saw him. Seconds later, he heard the woman scream. And then, just like all the others, she fell abruptly silent.

From then on, all that could be heard were the sounds of the storm.