Captain Jonathan was sitting down on a stone in the beach, where his boat was docked. He always took pride in what his job was and his hobby; well duh, being captain, and hunting. He always loved hunting. He started doing it at the age 9, when his now-deceased father gave him his very first rifle as a birthday present.

Ever since, he always went on hunting with his father, hunting animals such as rabbit, wild turkeys, and much more. He caught his first fox with a snare at the age 11. He caught his first deer with his first rifle at the age 14. His father gave him a hunting dog as well, which died at the hands of a wild boar later.

Aware of one of his crew members, an old colleague, approaching slowly from behind, he commented shortly.

"Do you want to go and hunt, Erik? I'm rather stiff in the limbs. Maybe this will help them out."

He stood up grunting, clearly not comfortable with his legs, which were paralyzed and aching after sitting down in the same position for a long time. He longed to grasp his rifle and bring another trophy back to his cabin house; a head or a scalp; to admire before leaving this island. He knew that his colleague was a fan of hunting as well; they always hunt and share the money from their game together.

Surprisingly, Erik refused.

"I'm afraid not, Johnny." He sighed.

"Why not? It's a nice time in the woods; maybe we can shoot down a deer or two, or maybe a boar!" an astounded captain replied.

"I've been thinking about dropping my hobby of hunting. I've thought about how they would feel, being helpless about our guns and knives, and how desperate they would be… I don't know how I've been killing all those animals like nothing all those years…" He remorsed with a sigh.

"As though they have feelings!" commented the captain, with an exasperated wave of a hand. "Perhaps the hot evening air is affecting your judgment. I highly recommend you to go back to your cabin to cool your head, because you are uttering pure nonsense at this moment."

"Well then, how come I had this thought since last winter?!" He spat, deeply offended, as he stormed back the boat, back into his cabin. His friend was acting the most unusual at this moment. He decided to think of something other than how distressed his friend seemed like. He thought of how the crew seemed to be so nervous of coming to this island.

All descent sailors knew about his island, due to its notorious reputation for ships, boats, and ferries vanishing at these cursed seas around the island. Some sailors say that it's because of a monster who roams the depth of these seas unknown; some set forth theories that there is simply a lot of rocks that are hidden beneath waters that can cause the wood under boats to crack when sailors accidently sail into them.

Rubbish, Captain thought. Complete Rubbish. He dusted his pants and walked back into the boat.

Once on deck, he sucked on his pipe, slowly considering the legend that this godforsaken island held. It was called Bermuda Island among the sailors; yes, after that famous triangle where ships disappear and where the devil has his lair, and blah blah blah, more unreasonable idiotic stories. Captain, after a few minutes, decided that they should start sailing again, for his cargo of goods from the East continent had to reach the Western continents as soon as possible.

It was near midnight, when his captain's cap flew off of his sandy brown hair by the strong, cold, gust of wind. He reached out to grab his symbol of authority, but he alas, reached too far, which made him to tumble off the rail into the freezing water down below. He swore later on that he heard a brief high and a cold laughter accompanying the breeze.

He poked his head out of the current and screamed for all his throat could muster, but the ship sailed away, blind to any yells of help. Faster than ever, it sped away on the black waves.

Jonathan, as a captain that is not experienced in ship wrecks, panicked, but did the right choice; swimming to shore. After what seemed like hours, he made it. He hated the way how of all people, he had to be the one who falls off the boat. His last thought was how desperate and scared he was.

And so he blacked out.

The next day, around afternoon, did he finally open his eyes to a strange new place. It only took him a shuddering moment that he was in the place that the sailors feared most – The Bermuda Island. With a great deal of strain, he struggled into a standing position and looked out into the shore and the forest toward the middle of the island. As expected, the boat was nowhere on sight. Strangely enough, he saw a mansion rooted to the cliff, which seemed out of place.

"Well," Jonathan spoke to himself. "The person there can't really be that bad, can he?"

Oh boy, he was wrong.

He climbed up the hill with difficulty, only to feel a metallic pointed tip of a gun posed to shoot his head. He looked up to see a man with a poker face on with formal black clothing. Suddenly, there was a mildly shocked expression on his face that quickly let him to sheath his gun.

"Well?" He said in a polite tone and a newly seen smile on his face. "May ask you, Jonathan, how you have managed to avoid my capture?"

"What capture? And how do you know my name?"

"Mind, sir, if you can listen to me in my most prized mansion?"

Slightly suspicious, Jonathan thought, but he nodded and followed.

"I beg pardon for my, err, slightly dramatic/menacing meeting with you just now." He commented.

Oh yes, Captain thought sarcastically, I don't mind at all!

"You can call me General Daric."

"It's fine, a man has any right to try and defend himself to any foreigner that approaches his house. And nice to meet you too, and I do not see it necessary to introduce myself, is it not?"

"Yes, sir, thank you for understanding, I am the most grateful."

As General Daric led him through the halls, Jonathan noticed the walls of stuffed heads of animals such as deer, oxen, bulls, you name it. This man was a hunter, Jonathan thought. A good one, it seems. The man gestured him into a dining room, and served him wine and food. The General started explaining.

"I have read your book about hunting wild deer in the natural habitat, quite a lot of skills mentioned there that would be unusual for an inexperienced hunter to possess." He paused. "Ever since then, I was craving to meet you. You see, I have hunted lots of animals as hunter and things are getting tedious. They die and get hunted way too easily." He paused once again to twirl his fork. "So I bought this island and built a mansion here for I was rich and overflowing with money. Now, I am hunting with a game that I've never hunted before, but it enjoys me greatly, and that's all I do nowadays." He looked up. Jonathan now saw a lunatic twinkle in his host's eyes that could only come from a madman. "I now hunt game that can match my intelligence and strength."

Jonathan gasped. Trembling, he voiced the question that was beginning to scare him in his head.

"What animals are you talking about?"

The General leaned in and whispered.

"Human. Human beings, Mr. Jonathan."

"But that's just outrageous! That's murder, General, mirthless murder!"

"Hunting sir, and it enjoys me. Tomorrow, I will hunt you. I see you are intelligent in hunting. I do that to all the people I capture, which will be the fate of your crewmates, whom I already captured."

"What!" cried Captain. He was in complete shock.

"Well, they're not completely hopeless. I don't kill them off if they survive more than 3 days."

"So you mean…"

"Yes, I'd like to play this game with you. You shall have an hour start. I will expect much more from you than your crew mates or any other, since you are a hunter; more intelligent than rest of the prey."

The Captain could only stutter a few words before drifting away. Slip, slide, zoom; and he was in a dreamless sleep.

-To be Continued-