Author's Note:

This is a stand alone excerpt from my story Talking With A Monster. If you care to read more about this timeline in this type of tone, please consider giving it a read.

Now, without further ado, enjoy.

Kuda was a muscular man.

He had been for the last decade or so, much to his wife, Coco's, delight. She'd been more than appreciative of his unexpected bulk when they'd noticed it in bed a year after their unexpected move to the cabin.
It hadn't been a planned move, far from it in fact as roughly fourteen years ago they'd been planning to sell the property after Kuda had inherited it from his great grandfather passing away after a long battle with cancer. At the time they'd both been city folk with little to zero interest in the outdoors whatsoever, in fact, it had been one of many common disinterests that had made them fall in love in the first place.
But then, the Androids happened.

They attacked city after city, town after town, it didn't take Kuda long to realize that the twins were explicitly striking well populated areas. The young man soon realized how limited his options were especially with Coco being pregnant at the time. He'd feared that his wife wouldn't agree, but much to his surprise, she'd been on board immediately, recognizing the threat, and understanding that their survival as well as their baby's survival depended on them moving. She agreed that it would be a temporary home until this 'Androids' fiasco blew over much like King Piccolo and the mysterious aliens that wiped out that one city had.
It was part of the reason he loved her. She was always rational, always thinking of the bigger picture.
She could see it as well as he could.

Suddenly that dry, old, decrepit, run down cabin in the woods was more than just a potential fire hazard.
It was their safe Haven.

And it was perfectly placed as well. So deep in the woods that it would be impossible to find without a map, compass, supplies for a three day journey, and luck.

Or, at least, so he thought.
The bulk of Kuda's muscle mass had occurred while renovating what would soon become their new home. It'd been tough work to make sure that the place was safe for raising a child. He'd only just finished by the time Coco had given birth to a beautiful baby girl they'd decided to name Reta. Kuda had never felt prouder, never felt happier before in his life than when he'd held his child in his arms for the very first time. The happiness he felt in that moment would only ever be rivaled by the arrival of his son, Cray, born two years later.

A over a decade passed with Kuda and Coco doing their best to teach their children what they would need to know both educationally, and to survive in the wilderness that was now their home. They made mistakes, struggled at times, and fought on the rare occasion. But in the end, they were happy with their lives. Soon, Kuda and Coco forgot about the Androids, forgot about going back to the life they once lived, and slowly forgot that at one point in their lives the mere mention of an outdoor activity would result in an immediate recoil.
Kuda loved his family, he would for as long as he lived.

But now...

Now there was a gun in his hand. It was some type of revolver but right now he couldn't be bothered to remember the make and model. His hands were trembling, the barrel ever so faintly smoking from a very recent shot. His ears were still ringing from it's explosive boom.
He was sitting with his back leaned up against a cold, metallic wall. From his eyes poured thin rivers coursing their way down each cheek. Coco was sitting beside him, leaning her head against his shoulder in a peaceful fashion. Her eyes were closed as if she'd merely fallen asleep beside him like she'd done so many times before. It was not uncommon for Coco to fall asleep with Kuda as her own personal pillow. She'd told him many a time that he was her favorite pillow on the bed.

Kuda couldn't help but whimper as he felt Coco lean against him. He had one arm wrapped around her, quivering as he watched her rest.

He flinched as his eyes trailed over the bullet hole in her forehead.

He averted his gaze, turning his eyes towards the locked door sitting roughly ten feet away.

Kuda shuddered as he watched the ten inch thick metal door begin to fold before him, crumpling down like a sheet of paper.

Of course he'd been the one to shoot her, he'd had to. He'd pulled her in close, hugged her, knowing that it would be the last time, kissed her for what would be the last time, and told her that he loved her with all of his heart, for the last time. He'd waited only long enough to hear her say it back, hear her sweet, wonderful voice, the voice that woke him up every day, that yelled out at him while he was working that food was ready; he'd needed to hear her tell him that she loved him. He'd needed to know it, to feel its warmth, to bask in it's wonderful glow just one last time, before he pulled the trigger.

He couldn't have done it before, he wouldn't have been strong enough to.

Kuda let out a deep, powerful, emotional roar of emotion, leaning forward as he held coco's lifeless hand with his free one. Just these few, short moments of knowing that she was gone were absolute agony.

It'd been the hardest thing he'd ever had to do in his life.

But he'd had to, he couldn't let that thing tearing down the door get to her. He'd seen what it could do, he'd seen what it'd already done.

-Five Minutes Earlier-

Reta and Cray had been hanging up laundry when it started. Kuda had been bugging his wife, teasing her from behind as they cherished this time alone within the small cabin. He'd been running kisses down her neck when they'd heard the scream.

Then they heard gunshots.

Weeks ago they'd debated on whether or not it would be safe to have Reta carry a small firearm on her considering she'd only being thirteen, but they'd quickly decided it would be safer for the two children as long as the girl was extra responsible and trained to use it right. They'd had several run ins with the local wildlife, some too close for comfort.

Kuda would regret making that call.

Kuda and Coco had been at the door an instant later just as they heard Reta's voice scream at something to 'let him go!'. Immediately Kuda assumed it was a creature too large for small firearms to put down or scare off. Reta was a good shot and would not hesitate to put a hostile coyote down in a couple shots.

Kuda paused for only long enough to look over his shoulder and order Coco to grab the hunting rifle kept locked away in their bedroom. Kuda watched her panicked expression stiffen as she immediately turned heel and dashed towards the door moving faster than he'd ever seen her go. She was a trooper, through and through.

Kuda loved her for that.

The man slammed the wood door open as he rushed towards where he'd heard the screams. He knew that he wouldn't be able to do much if this really was a bear, but at least he'd be able to stall long enough for his wife to get back with the gun. He listened as yet another shot rang out and his son's screams became weaker, almost like he was drowning.

Then he saw it.

And he froze.

He'd expected a large dog or maybe a cougar even, something he'd fought and scared off before. But this? He couldn't even begin to fathom what the hell this thing could be.

It was hideous in every way.

It had the general shape of a man, but with a hard green shell coating it's arms and legs almost like armor. It was hunched over, leaning over something that Kuda couldn't quite make out, but he quickly deduced that if this monster were to stand at its full height it would likely tower over any bear Kuda had come across before. It's limbs were long and thin, like a malnourished deformed insect that had learned to look like a man.

The next thing Kuda noticed was its tail. It had a long, slender tail that had flipped over its shoulder, aimed at whatever it was hunched over. Kuda could hear a terrible, blood curdling slurping sound enlaced with the sounds of his daughter's screams and what sounded like his son's dying breaths.

Immediately, Kuda snapped out of his fear as he heard the noises. Without another moment of hesitation he charged the creature, throwing everything he had into tackling it away from whatever it was hunching over, which Kuda was quickly realizing was his son.

He slammed into the monster shoulder first, roaring with the furious rage of a father desperately trying to save their child.

It felt like he'd just charged a brick wall.

Kuda cursed as he felt his shoulder dislocate. The pain was blinding, a flash of hot stinging sensations originating from his shoulder. The man fell back as he processed the pain. Now on the ground, he could see that the monster hadn't moved at all, hadn't even shifted as the slurping sound continued before petering out sounding like when you finished a drink a soda with a straw.

Kuda could now see what the slurping sound had been.

Laying in a pile at the creature's feet was a set a clothes.

Cray's pile of clothes.

He could see the end of the tail now, a sharp, pointed end that had embedded itself where his son had once been.

Kuda began to tremble as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. His son, the boy he'd raised with pride in his heart for eleven unforgettable years...was gone? His son? His son? No, it couldn't be, this had to be some type of mistake, there was no way that-

Kuda froze.

Reta was still standing there, gun raised in her trembling hands, tears pouring out in torrents down her cheeks. Kuda watched in horror as her face contorted into a stubborn, unyielding rage as she quickly raised the gun to the monster's temple and clicked back the hammer.

Reta had always been a fighter, always been stubborn. She'd always been the hardest to put to bed when she'd been younger and the hardest to convince otherwise when she thought she was right. She was a strong, proud young woman and a daughter Kuda had always been proud of despite butting heads on occasion.

He watched as she pressed the barrel of the gun to the monster's head, snarling with a viciousness that Kuda had never seen before, and pulled the trigger.

An explosion echoed out as the bullet attempted to piece the creatures bizarrely shaped head. Kuda watched with anticipation as the monster stiffened, seemingly affected from the shot. Kuda internally prayed that the bullet had worked, that this creature was finally going to slump over dead.

Instead he watched as the creature slowly turned his head towards Reta, a small dent in its head where the bullet had impacted, a dark glare in its eyes.

"Well, aren't you certainly brave." It said in a sickly, raspy voice. Kuda was quivering now. It could speak?

There was another bang, and then another as he watched Reta's thin arms push against the recoil of the weapon. He could see it in her eyes, that stubborn, hot flame, unyielding, unfolding, beginning to fall away in the face of a true, honest, childlike terror. Despite how she carried herself, despite always willing to go toe to toe with anyone and anything, Reta was still a little girl, only barely Thirteen.

The gun clicked.

Empty.

"No!" Was all Kuda could scream as he watched the tail raise yet again, this time aimed for his daughter.

Kuda raced forward, grabbing the tail with his one good arm and pulling back with all he could.

"Run!" Was the only word he could roar as he used every muscle in his body to try to resist the pull of its tail.

He watched as Reta turned immediately to shoot towards the house. She was a healthy girl, a fast girl.

But not fast enough.

Kuda felt the tail rip away from him like a bullet tearing through tissue paper. He heard Reta's terrified, pain stricken scream shortly followed by that slurping sound.

Not Reta! Not my baby girl!
Kuda raced forward, seeing the sharp end of the tail embed several inches into his little girl's back. She'd collapsed to the ground upon being struck, he raced to her side as he saw her struggling to push herself up, to get back to her feet so that she might run away from this horrid fate.

He fell to his knees beside her, slamming a hand into his shoulder as he forced the joint back in place. The pain was excruciating, but he hadn't even flinched as both hands wrapped around the end of the tail and he began to desperately pull up.

"Daddy! Daddy please help me!"

Kuda wanted nothing more than to do just that.

"It's okay baby! It's gonna be okay!"

He pleaded, not sure if he was convincing himself or his daughter. No matter how hard he pulled, no matter how hard he strained, the tail wasn't coming out. He could hear the slurping sound as he pulled, the sound of Reta being sucked away as he saw large clumps begin to work their way up the tail and into this vile creature.

Then she started screaming.

He could see her torso begin to deflate, sinking into the ground like she was a deflated balloon. He watched as her eyes met his in a desperate plea for help as her internal organs were slowly sucked away.

He turned to face the monster and screamed in a hopeless despair, knowing that he wouldn't have the strength to pull this tail out. "Please! Let her go! Take me! Take me instead! I'm bigger! Just give me my daughter-"

He watched as the monster's face contorted into what Kuda had to assumed was its best interpretation of a smile.

It's lips parted, "Oh, don't you worry, you'll be on my plate soon en-"

Boom

Kuda watched in surprise as one second, this hideous monster was talking to him, the next, half of its face had disappeared.

He watched as the creature fell back, screaming in agony as it's tail ripped away from his daughter, holding what was left of his face with both hands. Slowly, it became still.

His ears still ringing, he turned his head back towards the cabin. Sitting on the grass holding her shoulder in a tight grimace was Coco.

Kuda's eyes widened as he saw what lay next to her in the grass.

She hadn't brought out the sniper rifle.

She'd grabbed the anti-tank rifle.

It'd been their last resort, their final weapon if the Androids had ever happened upon their humble abode, well that and the small bunker surrounded by 10 inch thick steel they'd had installed years ago. The weapon was so big and bulky that Coco had never actually managed to lift the thing on her own before. Kuda had been the only one with any real training with it, and even then his training had been limited to what he could learn by himself. Kuda had no idea how she'd managed to grab it herself and race back so quickly.

He watched as his wife pushed herself to her feet, clutching her injured shoulder where the weapon had bucked back into her. "Don't you dare touch my children again you fuck!"

Kuda quickly scooped up his daughter into his arms. He looked down at her with a concerned gaze. She still looked partially deflated, blood and chunks of red mush was dribbling out of the puncture wound in her back. He pushed his hand there, trying to keep what remained of his daughter inside. He could feel her body trembling, going into shock after what her internal organs had just gone through. Looking down at her, at the pain in her eyes, the low moans and cries of sorrow, Kuda couldn't tell if his young daughter could still be saved. She hadn't just been stabbed...she'd had parts removed that could be replaced, couldn't be restored, especially not out here miles away from the nearest hospital.
Kuda began to cry as Coco drew near. He could hear the slow, pained raspy breaths from his daughter grow further and further apart as she struggled defiantly against the cold grips of death.

Reta was a fighter, she always had been, and she always would be until her very last breath. Kuda watched as her hand tightened around his, and he whispered to her that he loved her, and that he'd never been more proud of her as his daughter. Coco was beside them now. He could see it in her face that she was coming to the same conclusion that he had. Tears were slowly trailing down her cheeks as she gently stroked her daughter's head, before leaning in and placing a kiss on the girl's forehead.

"We love you."
Kuda felt her hand slowly release his as she finally stopped fighting, and let go.

Kuda couldn't stand anymore as he slowly lowered himself to the ground. He set down the lifeless form of his daughter as his wife sat down next to him.

"P-please, w-where is Cray?"

He looked up to meet her gaze.

She didn't know yet. Kuda didn't have the words, his voice felt like it was stuck in his chest. He slowly turned his head until his eyes were resting on the pile of clothes next to the vile abomination still on the ground.

He heard a shaky gasp next to him as Coco understood.

She tried to scramble to her feet, to rush to the lump of clothes which had at one point contained their son, but Kuda grabbed her hand before she could and pulled her back to him. She tried to fight him at first, as if she could somehow revive their son if she could just get to him, but Kuda knew that she couldn't.

She knew that she couldn't.

She fell back, as Kuda wrapped himself around her. The two couldn't speak, What could they say? No string of words could possibly come close to describing the loss of what had been their entire lives.

Reta and Cray, their two children, were dead.

The two clung to each other tightly and cried.

Until it woke up.

And now the two of them were sitting inside their bunker, Coco dead in his lap. They'd fought it of course. They'd fired every last round into that creature to try to keep it down, but it just kept getting back up. Eventually the two of them retreated here. They'd felt safe, they had food and water prepared to last them weeks if it came to that, they were safe.

Until the door started to wane and creek, folding to the monster's will.

Kuda felt numb as he slowly opened the revolver and looked at the last of the bullets he'd loaded.

There were two left in the revolver, but he only needed one.

The door was down now, the creature was lowering its head so that it could properly step into the small space. He could see its eyes on him, trained on him like a predator staring down prey.

Well, enjoy your meal. I hope you choke on the bullet.

He thought as he slowly raised the barrel of the gun to his temple. He knew what fate his corpse and his wife would share, but at least they wouldn't have to experience it like his daughter had, like his son had.

He grimaced. He hadn't been able to protect his children. He'd failed as their father.

He looked over the creature's shoulder towards where he could see through a window out into the open, beautiful blue sky. He remembered Coco commenting on how nice out it had been before the two children had ran out to do the laundry.

Kuda somehow found the strength to smile as he watched a cloud slowly drift by.

If he was going to die, he wanted to at least have the last thing he see be something pleasant, something that could make him happy, and not this representation of horror incarnate before him.

I'll see you all soon. Coco, I hope you can forgive me.

He closed his eyes, picturing his family before pulling the trigger.

And it clicked.

His eyes snapped open. He could see the hellspawn's face inches away from his own now.

Its hand preventing the hammer on the gun from going down.

He stopped it? How? It had been across the room just a moment ago! And why did it stop it!?

Why? Why would it stop him from shooting him? He was going to consume him either way, why deny this act? Why go through the trouble?
"I know you're asking why right now." He watched in horror as the monster did it's best interpretation of a smile. "In all honesty, I just like it when I get to hear the screams. I like to know that they are feeling every last moment of being consumed."

He felt the tail pierce through his torso.

And then everything felt like it was on fire.

Kuda let out a blood curdling scream as he felt his insides being sucked out of him. It was like no other pain he'd ever experienced. He tried to think of his family in his last moments, tried to think of the fact that he'd spared at least Coco from this fate, but the pain was too blinding for him to concentrate on any of that. All he could think about was how much it hurt. How much it felt like he was being violated in the worst way imaginable. It was like he was being sucked away from himself.

Kuda died staring up at the monster who'd killed his family. He died in his last moments knowing true agony.

He died without knowing why, or what, or who had caused it.

The man drew in one final, strained gasp of air, one that he knew would be his last taste of the world.

It tasted foul, reeking of this abomination's terrible, toxic odor.

Kuda closed his eyes for the final time.

-?-

...not strong enough…

The creature with no name loomed over the corpse of the woman before plunging his tail into her torso as well. It wouldn't inflate his power like the other had, but he was still hungry after having to reform so many times.

The creature growled as he acknowledged the fact that a handful of humans had managed to fend him off for so long.

He wasn't nearly strong enough to enact his plan yet.

He closed his eyes, using his senses to reach out for his next reasonably powerful meal to hunt. His sharp, cat-like eyes opened as he smiled. He'd found his next target.

I may not be strong enough now…

He Looked over to the metal door he'd managed to fold over itself to get inside.

But I will be soon.