A loud whoosh from somewhere nearby caused the cubs to stop dead in their tracks. That wasn't just the wind. They weren't alone. Someone—or something—was watching them. Waiting to strike, as Wafu had said.

"Is that the…" Nala gulped nervously, "monsters?"

"It wasn't the wind, that's for sure," Wafu replied, taking a few tentative steps forward. "I think they're getting ready to pounce."

"Pounce?" said Simba, looking around. "Pounce from where?"

"We'll never know," Wafu said. "In the blink of an eye, we'll be in their claws. You won't ever see it coming."

"That's comforting," Haiba said. "I'm guessing a healthy plan of action would be to run, right?"

Wafu nodded. "That would be my suggestion."

"Let's get going," Simba said, before hurrying onwards. Truth be told, he was rather anxious to escape from this dreaded place. It was giving him the creeps. Villainous murderers like Hago and Shocker, he could deal with easily. But this… this was something else. Something that might just be invincible. From what he'd learnt in life, immortality wasn't impossible…

Stomp!

Simba couldn't help but skid to a halt. "What was that?" he asked, whipping round to look at the others.

Stomp!

They had stopped too. "They're coming," Wafu said, eyes darting around, trying to get a glimpse of the horrid creatures.

"They have to be close. We have less than a minute."

Stomp!

Simba swallowed hard. Okay, this wasn't just creeping him out—it was starting to get scary. And fast. "Come on. There's no use just standing here."

He broke into a run, hoping that the others would follow his example. His eyes scanned the area, but he couldn't see anything. He wished that these monsters—whatever they were—would just come out and show themselves. If they wanted to kill, then why were they holding back? It didn't make sense. Did they just thrive on fear itself?

Maybe they do, Simba thought worriedly. The fear could just be a starter for them—right before the main course…

As for dessert… Well, he just didn't want to think about it.

Binamu sniffed the air. "Smells like smoke," she said. "Can anyone see something burning?"

"No," whispered Aibu, sniffing the air along with her. "But maybe… I think this fog might actually be smoke."

"You might be right. Maybe it is," Simba agreed. "But… what's burning?"

That was when Nala screamed.

Everyone looked to see Nala, with one paw clamped over her mouth and the other pointing at something dangling from a tree in front of her.

"Look! Look!" she cried in a muffled voice.

Narrowing his eyes, Simba approached the 'thing' dangling from the tree. Upon closer inspection, he realised what it was, and gasped in horror.

It was a cub. Suspended from his hind legs by vines, rocking back and forth. He probably had brown fur once—but that was hard to tell, thanks to all of the blood.

The blood. It literally covered—smothered—the clearly dead cub. There was a huge, gaping hole in his stomach. It looked like his insides had been ripped right from his body. His eyes were missing—gouged out, most likely. His midsection had been separated from the rest of his body. A pool of guts formed at the base of the tree. It was a mess.

Simba felt like he was going to throw up. He turned his head away from the corpse, and the nausea just about passed.

"Oh, gosh… That's sick."

Aibu closed his eyes as tightly as possible and covered them with both paws. He didn't want to think about it, let alone look at the body. "Tell me when it's over," he mumbled.

Haiba frowned, sick to his stomach at such a sight. "The monsters did this, didn't they?" he asked Wafu. "This… this is your friend—right?"

Wafu nodded solemnly. "That's Damu. And yes—the monsters did this. I just… didn't realise how horrible it was." He looked traumatised.

Simba didn't want to look at it again. He'd seen dead bodies before, but this was on a horrific scale. This cub hadn't just been murdered—he'd been destroyed. Mutilated into an unrecognisable, gory lump of flesh.

Binamu remained silent, just glaring at the body. If she had any inner emotions, then nobody was able to see them. She seemed so closed up. Still suffering from the mark Haiba had left on her, most likely.

But then, she spoke. "I'm not letting this happen to me, too." She strode off. "If any of you have good sense, then you'll follow me. Haiba, you can stay if you want."

Haiba rolled his eyes. Was she going to continue to get worked up over a mistake? If anyone was to blame here, then it was his mother for even suggesting that he work up a relationship with Binamu. "You know, Binamu, you really have to learn to let things go!"

"And you have to learn how to act like a normal cub," Binamu shot back over her shoulder.

"You should learn the same lesson," Haiba muttered under his breath. "You're anything but normal."

The snapping of twigs caused everything to fall silent once more. Another sound followed after it. A chilling, horrid sound.

Something breathing. It was a loud, raspy, wheezy sound. A typical sound from a creature… or a monster…

"Don't stop," Simba said quietly, picking up the pace. "We have to keep running."

The monster—wherever it was—grunted angrily in response. It didn't take long for Simba to realise that it could hear them. It understood what they were saying—and it didn't like it. Simba didn't think they had much longer to wait before it attacked…

Just keep running, he told himself. Just keep running.

The grunting got louder. Everyone started to notice it. Nala focused on the path ahead of her. Haiba frowned. Binamu glanced left and right nervously. A worried look crossed Wafu's face. Aibu just shook and trembled in fear.

The noise was echoing across the jungle now. A rustling in nearby bushes was heard. The monster was just metres away from them. Getting noisier and noisier, until…

With an almighty roar, something leapt out from the trees and skidded to a halt in front of the six cubs.

It was a monster. What a perfect way to describe it. It looked like no animal they had ever seen before. A huge, hulking grey thing with two small hind legs and two humongous forelegs. Razor sharp claws extended from its huge paws. It had a snarling, twisted grey face with fangs that were dripping with blood. It glared at the cubs with a look of pure venom in its eyes.

"Run," Simba whispered.

And they did just that. Sprinting in the opposite direction, hoping in vain that they would escape the monster before it tore them apart—just like it had with that corpse dangling from the tree.

The monster opened its mouth wide and let out a deafening roar. It didn't exactly look too happy about its food escaping.

The cubs kept running. Not looking back. They had to get away. They had to— Another monster leapt out in front of them. It looked identical to the other.

The six cubs stopped. Looking back and forth, they realised that there were more monsters lurking in the trees. All of them looked hungry.

They were surrounded.

"They've caught us," Aibu said, trembling. "We're going to die."

Forming a circle around them, the monsters closed in. Licking their muzzles at the prospect of such a delicious meal.

With a massive paw, one of the monsters reached out—and picked up Wafu.

He screamed, struggling in its grasp. "No! Please! Let me go! Let me—"

And the monster bit his head off.