Chapter 2: Bad Dreams

John was following his father across a wooded forest carrying a backpack. The backpack was heavy and filled with hard objects that forced their way into the small of his back. They encountered a thorn bush, Jack's father walked right through the bush but Jack stopped, fearful of the prickly pain that the bush would inflict on him.

"Dad, I can't get through" said Jack

Jack's father pulled out a black machete and chopped the bush down "Hurry or we won't catch the Drinol"

"Daddy what is a Drinol" said Jack

"You will find out when we kill it" said Jack's father

Jack and his father continued across the woods until the trees thinned out and they came to a clearing. There they saw a huge creature that must have stood 20 feet tall. Currently, it was hunched over its most recent kill. Its back was a pale brownish gold and looked very rough and almost scaly. The prey it was devouring was hidden from Jack by the creatures own enormous bulk. There was a trail of blood behind the Drinol that lead out to the middle of a field where there were signs of a struggle between the Drinol and what ever poor creature the Drinol caught. Jack's father took a weapon of his shoulder and pumped the action to force one round into the chamber. Although Jack did not know this at the time his fathers weapon was a Remington 870 12 Gauge Shotgun and the round that he loaded into the chamber were not ordinary buckshot rounds but Teflon coated slugs. Jack's father motioned for him to stay in the woods while he moved out into the field. His father stopped 20 yards from the creature and brought the shotgun to his shoulder, aimed and fired.

The slug impacted creature in the left side of his back, but surprisingly the creature did not fall to the ground like he thought it would. The beast turned around and for the first time Jack got a look at the creature. It stood on two legs that were as wide as tree trunks and similar to elephant legs with hoofs like a horse but 50 times larger. Its arms were as thick as telephone poles and had lobster like claws on the ends of them. These pincers were now covered with blood. Its head is perched on top of its body with a short wide neck. The head its self was the size of a large pumpkin. His bloody teeth jutted out of his jaw at odd angles and his eyes were a vile yellow that showed the rage in the creature's heart. The Drinol started to charge towards Jack's father and he reacted by firing and pumping his shotgun at the creatures left pectoral until he had used the 4 rounds in the shotguns magazine. Jack's father dropped his shotgun and pulled out his black machete but, before he could land a hit on the beast it back-handed him with his massive claw and he went flying until he hit the ground 10 feet away.

Jack heard his father grunt "Get the gun"

By a stroke of luck Jack immediately knew what he was talking about. His father had put a large silver handgun in his backpack before they set out into the woods. His father had told him in the car that if he should ever need to use the gun to protect himself he should just tap, rack, shoot. Jack slowly taped the handguns safety off, racked the slide, and aimed at the beast that was mauling his father. Slowly he pulled the trigger and the colossal kick from the gun shook Jacks small body.

Jack had not done as well as his father at aiming his rounds, the bullet drove through the beast's leg and left a large exit wound. The Drinol dropped to its knees but it would not be destroyed so easily. It slowly limped to where the shot came from. Jack fired 7 more times each shot badly placed so that it hit an arm or a leg or missed all together. But 7 .50 Caliber Armor Piercing Sabot Rounds could not be ignored by any creature and the wounds took their toll on both the hunter and its prey. The shots that Jack fired broke both of his elbows and caused him pain that his young mind had never experienced before. Jack walked over the dead Drinol to his father's still breathing body that had been impaled by the Drinol's pincers.

"Dad are you okay" said Jack

"I'm fine son, I'm proud of you for killing it, you saved me" said his father

"Dad you need help, I'm going to get help" said Jack

"It's to late for me just get yourself out" said his father

"No! Don't say that your going to be okay" said Jack

"Goodbye son"