It was a few minutes past midnight when something woke Moxxie up. His eyes flashed opened as he laid beside his wife in the tent, rain pouring down outside and thunder going off from above. At first he thought that it was the storm that woke him and he tried to go right back to sleep. But then he felt it again. The ground was shaking. Shaking, but not from an earth quake. It was shaking from large footsteps.

"Millie." He said shaking her shoulder. "Millie wake up."

"Huh? What?" She asked with a yawn.

"Wake up and get to the kids's tent now."

"Why? What's wrong?"

She received her answer when the ground shook again. They both immediately came out of their tent, Millie went to the children and Moxxie went to wake everyone else up.

"What time is it?" Vaggie groaned half asleep.

"It's after midnight and it's pouring down rain, so somebody better be dying." Angel complained.

But soon everyone felt the earth shaking. Giant footsteps that made the ground vibrate. The footsteps were coming toward the camp. Coming closer and closer. All fell silent as they stared in the direction of whatever was coming this way. They could see a light in the distance, the light of a flare. Someone was running with it, but they didn't get very far.

Something and huge dark was following the flare. It grabbed the person running with it, he let out a scream of terror that made everyone's breath hitch and their bodies tremble. Then silence. A very unsettling silence. One that gave you the feeling that something really bad was about to happen next.

The figure came closer again, moving through the pouring rain and it didn't stop until it was in clear view of all who stood before it.

There it was. A twelve foot, scaly and yellow eyed creature with the body and tail of a lizard and the head and neck of a snake. It dropped something from it's jaws, something that fell to the ground with stomach churning SPLAT! It was one of the mercenaries, he was dead and half of his body had been severed off. Most likely bitten off and swallowed by that creature. The mix bred reptile then released a loud hiss that struck fear into the hearts of those who were still alive.

What came next was the camp exploding in chaos. Gunshots were fired and screams were heard in the night, everyone running to either hide or fight. However with it being so dark and the raining pouring so much, it was hard to aim well with a firearm. Moxxie tried to take a shot but he tripped and dropped the rifle. The snake-lizard then seized the opportunity, he grabbed him by his foot and lifted him high up.

"Oh God!" He shouted. "Somebody shoot it!"

Blitzo tried to shoot but he was out of bullets. He desperately set to work reloading his rifle. When Millie caught a glimpse of her husband in danger, she rushed to his defense.

"Max! Maisie! Stay here!"

She bolted from the tent and searched for another firearm. When she got her hands on one and loaded it with bullets, she and Blitzo both shot at the creature's face. It dropped Moxxie and he fell on to Stolas's tent. He wasn't harmed but the impact knocked him out. As for the snake-lizard, it furiously turned it's attention to those who had attacked him and swung it's tail at them. They were sent flying into a tree and lost consciousness as well.

Angel quickly thought of a plan to get the animal away from everyone. He grabbed a flare from his backpack and lit it up.

"Hey! Over here!" He called waving it around to get the attention of the overgrown reptile. "Your mother was a salamander on drugs!"

"Oh shit, what the hell is he doing?!" Vaggie asked.

The snake-lizard hissed again and darted after Angel. He ran like Satan had come to drag him to Hell. Charlie and Vaggie followed after them, Stolas and Loona went to see if Blitzo, Moxxie, and Millie were still alive. None of them noticing the mercenary making his way toward the tent where the Hamiliton children were.

"Angel stop!" Vaggie cried. "Drop the flare! You don't know how to deal with that thing you idiot!"

But he didn't listen. He just kept trying to lead the snake-lizard back into the jungle. But the snake-lizard was faster than Angel expected. It grabbed Angel's shirt with it's fangs and started to lift him up, Vaggie latched on to his arms and tried to pull him back down but she got lifted too.

"Holy crap! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!" He panicked.

"Correction! We're going to die!" Vaggie cried, dangling from Angel's arms.

Poor Charlie felt absolutely helpless in that moment. Her best friends were about to be eaten alive and she didn't know how to prevent that. Oh why did she not grab a gun or something?

Suddenly the air was pierced by a howl that did not match any creature Charlie was familiar with. A howl that sounded like the voice of a beast but at the same time the voice of a man. Everyone including the snake-lizard became perfectly still as they searched the area for where that howl had come from. It had come from the shadows. Something was hiding in the shadows.

Without any further hesitation, a 7 foot figure with crimson fur, claws, and antlers came charging from shadows and lunged for the reptile. Despite being five feet shorter than his opponent, he proved to be incredible strong. He knocked the snake-lizard over, causing it to drop Angel and Vaggie. Next the two creatures wrestled each other to the ground, fighting to kill their rival. The three college students believed that the snake-lizard was more dominant but the other beast proved victorious when he finally killed the reptile by tearing it's throat out with his jaws. The snake-lizard fell dead and for a moment nothing could be heard except for the rain, and the intense breathing of the young man and the two young women.

Then the red beast turned around to look at Charlie. He was the strangest animal she had ever seen. Far stranger than anything else she had witnessed on this island. He stood up right and walked on two feet. There was a remarkable intelligence in his eyes. Brown, human-like eyes that were so focused and intense. Charlie found herself completely entranced by them, unable to look away.

Another gunshot broke the spell and there stood Valentino with a rifle. A rifle which was loaded with a tranquilizer dart but no one else knew that.

"There you are." He said grinning sadistically and taking aim. "You won't get away from me this time."

Panic and hatred flashed in the creature's eyes. He acted too fast for Valentino to take another shot. He pounced right on to the man, snapping his jaws at him. A few mercenaries ran toward them with shots firing recklessly.

"Hey! Watch it!" Angel said pressing Vaggie up against a tree, sheltering her from the bullets. "You trying to kill all of us here?!"

But the men didn't seem to care at all that they could have possibly shot an innocent bystander in their attempts to kill the creature. Because of this, one by one, they had their necks ruthlessly snapped by the beast's forceful grip.

He heard Charlie let out a terrified scream. For a moment he just looked at her again, then he scooped her up into his arms without warning.

"Wait! What are you doing?!" She cried. "Put me down! Put me down! Put me down!"

Vaggie and Angel moved to save their friend but in a flash of lighting, the beast was gone. Spirited off into the jungle with Charlie in his arms.

"Charlie!" Vaggie called. "Charlie! Charlie!"

But no matter how loud she called or how desperate her eyes searched the darkness, she could neither hear or see her friend.

"What the hell was that thing?!" Angel asked.

"The most dangerous animal on this island." Valentino said standing up from the ground.

Once again the animal he targeted had eluded him and now there was no way to lure him back. But he wasn't going to give up yet. He was not going to let his prey get away from him that easily. Not this time.

"We better head back to camp." He suggested. "Check for survivors, tend to the injured, and see what equipment still works."

"What about Charlie?" Vaggie said.

"Not good looking for her in there in the dark and in the rain. We'll become hopelessly lost. Our best bet is to leave at dawn. At least there will be light."

"But what if she's dead by then?"

"Believe me Miss Ramírez, it won't harm her. Not now anyway. It'll wait."

"For how long?"

"Can't say, but it won't kill her tonight. You can be sure of that."

Vaggie would have protested further but Valentino had a point. It was as still pitch black out and raining like a monsoon. There was no way they would ever find Charlie at this time. It would be better to wait until the sun came up. But it wouldn't be a pleasant wait.


As the beast carried Charlie through the jungle, everything blurred past her eyes so quickly. Her head was spinning and her throat hurt from screaming "Stop!" and "Let me go!" She had put up quite a struggle against the beast. She wriggled, kicked, and hit him but his hold on her was too strong. She just couldn't escape his grasp, and eventually exhaustion combined with the shock of everything that happened and the chill from the rain made her feel terribly weak. She fainted.

He brought her to his den and carefully laid her down on his makeshift bed of leaves and furs. She was completely out cold, so he took this time to study her again. He thoughtlessly brushed the strands of wet hair from her face and caressed her cheek with a gentle touch. He could have never imagined anything so beautiful.

But he was confused. Why was he so intrigued by this female? Why did he just grab her and run away? Who was she? Who were those people with her? Why had they come here? What did they want? Yet none of those questions would be answered until the young woman awoke, so he just decided to get some sleep until further notice.