“Daisuke?” Kiyo mumbled under his breath. His right hand swabbed at the mucus leaking from his nose rubbed raw.

Whooooiiiiiiiiish! Snap! Whiiiiiiiiish! Crack! Thump! Whiiiiiiiiish!

A little red wad appeared on the brim of Kiyo’s vision. Barely able to make it out through the tears. Branches broke in the object's wake, each little snap echoed back to Kiyo. Legs dug into the coarse earth, Kiyo pushed his body back into the tree. He perched his chin up to get a better view of the thing gliding through the woods toward him in the distance. Or the person.

Is that Daisuke? Kiyo questioned as he became able to recognize the maroon garment from afar.

“You back already?” Kiyo called out.

No one responded, but the mass continued to drift in closer. Squinting his eyes, Kiyo could hardly perceive if that was Daisuke. The speed of the red blob alone was too fast for him to keep up with; a flying blur.

“Daisuke?” Kiyo tried to grasp his friend's attention, hands waving above his head. The longer the silence dwelled, the more paranoia seeped into Kiyo’s mind. He shifted his hands back behind him as he prepared to dart off. Terrified of what it could be.

A tepid breeze was all that grazed Kiyo’s ears. He watched the red blob draw near, pale edges visible beneath the garment rippled by the wind. Four loose limbs dangled freely in the wind with it. The body was limp and tattered as it unraveled to reveal itself. Daisuke.

Whiiiiiiiiish!

But he wasn’t slowing down.

“Hey!”

Kiyo’s nails clawed into the wood, palms littered with splinters, he thrust himself forward off the tree. With a narrow gaze, Kiyo anticipated Daisuke’s arrival, but it was far sooner than he realized. Petrified as he waited, uneasiness began to settle in, but it was all only for a couple of seconds. In a blink of an eye and his friend arrived.

Whiiiiiiiiish! THUD!

Daisuke’s body slammed into a tree to the left of Kiyo, his back taking the brunt of the hit as he bent around the tree. A gruesome cry flew out of his lungs from the impact, Daisuke’s body crumpling to the ground. His skin was bloodied and shredded.

Kiyo jumped to his feet, shoving the sweltering stress quelled within him beneath the dire concern swarming his mind. Gaze locked onto his friend folded around the tree, Daisuke’s torn clothes unveiled deep gashes across his chest. Blood oozed out onto the cold ground. The golden yellow vass stained a vile dark red.

Overcome with dread, Kiyo lunged down and sat Daisuke against the tree. His hands hovered over the wounds, revolting tooth marks ingrained in his flesh as if Daisuke was chewed alive. It couldn’t be, right?

Kiyo flinched back as Daisuke lifted his head up. A toothy grin shone as he gazed past Kiyo toward where he came flying in from. Face lit up in exuberant unnatural glee, Daisuke smiled through his blood-stained teeth. 

“I found one,” Daisuke coughed up with a spurt of blood flowing through his words.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! 

Within seconds, a frigid shudder rode up Kiyo’s spine as he noticed the noise, the footsteps thundering toward them. He glanced over his shoulder down the line of trees Daisuke came from. His eyes broadened at the creature bombarding through the woods knocking trees aside: a teratoma in the flesh.

It was barreling right toward them.

The monstrous creature stood nine feet tall, its malleable flesh covered in a thick coat of gravel and tree bark; natural camouflage to hide within the area. Its arms swung forward and clutched onto trees, propelling its lanky and heinous mass through the woods. Serrated bones made up its hands and feet, logs crushed to mere splints with every tree it grappled onto. Teeth dotted the being’s body randomly, little clumps of pearly white bones slicked with saliva. The teratomas’ murderous intent was all one felt when eye to eye with the foul creature. Kiyo stranded right in its path, Daisuke cradled in his arms.

Its mouth gaped open from its chest cavity, and razor-sharp fangs gnashed at the wind as massive clumps of drool gushed out onto the ground. The bloodshot pupils bulged out of its grimy eye sockets, loose divots encompassing its eyeballs.

Eyes locked onto its prey, the teratoma bombarded through the woods, nothing stomping it from relishing in the feast that was Daisuke, not even Kiyo.

Pure terror rang out in Kiyo’s mind as Daisuke sat in an idle pleasant trance, mesmerized by the monster bent on eating him. On replenishing itself off of Daisuke’s flesh, his mass was the key to quenching the hunger of the weakened clusters of tumors scattered across the scarred teratoma’s body. Nothing more than a captured prey in the teratoma’s beastly eyes.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

Low on time, Kiyo’s breaths fell short as he glanced from the teratoma back to Daisuke. Only a single plan was on his mind as he slung Daisuke onto his shoulders: running. Taking off from the creature, he could only blindly run toward where he thought the path was, feet stomping as fast as they could, hoping someone would be there to help them.

“Help!” Kiyo cried out, his pain-stricken tone accentuated by the scrunches of horror that gripped his face.

Daisuke blissfully giggled at the monster as it closed in on them, still absorbed in the pure illusion brought on by his scars, by his curious nature.

“Kiyo, look. It’s so—big. I never thought they’d be that tall.” Daisuke said casually with a shaky point back toward the beast.

Daisuke’s wounds opened as they ran onward, his blood trickling down onto Kiyo. The cool liquid stained Kiyo’s leather cover, but that was the last thing on his mind. A subtle detail that only heightened his desire to get out, to save his friend.

Whoosh! Bang!

Peril rained down on them as a branch flew overhead, an aggressive attempt by the teratoma to slow them down, to corner his targets. Discordant sounds screeched out behind the two boys, the beast growing tired of the chase. The noise was only an amplifier of the fright within Kiyo. Face struck with fear.

“No-no-no-no-no!” Kiyo screamed as he tucked his head in against Daisuke and picked up the pace.

But there was no point as the creature gained on them, a grievous roar bellowed out from its swollen throat. Trees knocked over and sent flying toward them, Kiyo weaved between the chaos in a zig-zag pattern, trying to outmaneuver the perfect man-killer.

“Help us! Someone!”

It was hopeless. Kiyo’s cries fell upon the forest’s ears, small critters scurried out of their way but no one able to save them was in his sights. He peered from right to left, but only the dense cluster of trees encompassed his vision.

The trap in action.

Swoosh!

The teratoma's right arm swiped forward at Daisuke, its injured prey. Kiyo caught sight of the bony hand and ducked to the side to dodge it. The serrated fingers missed Daisuke and plunged into Kiyo’s back, his white robe torn open as blood splattered out into the air.

Ernnggh!

A weak puff of air burst from Kiyo’s lips as he toppled onto the earth. Daisuke launched ahead by the impact, rolling against the gravel into a splinted stump out in the open.

No. Get up. I need to get up. Kiyo thought to himself as he pressed his palms against the roughened earth.

But he was too slow, the teratoma’s pace descending to a crawl as it stomped toward them. Overhead the monster stepped past Kiyo and honed in on the markings it had left behind, Daisuke’s ripped flesh. Wrapping its talon-like claws around Daisuke’s right leg, its saw-toothed fingers pierced the skin. It lifted him into the air and toyed with its prey as it slammed Daisuke into a tree over and over. Globs of scarlet blood rained down upon the lifeless gritty earth. Kiyo was helpless to do a thing as he watched from behind, mouth gaping open as horror choked out his throat.

Finished toying around with Daisuke, a mushy sponge tongue poked out of the teratoma’s mouth and latched onto Daisuke’s exposed wounds. The grisly texture pricked the boy’s ruptured body and caused it to sizzle. The atrocious stench of burnt flesh filled the air as the creature harvested Daisuke’s skin. Its body drenched in abnormal radiation sucked away at the gleam of radiance embedded within Daisuke’s tender mass. Each lick dug past the numbness of his withered soul, his mind yanked back down to earth.

“Aaagh! Aaagh!” Daisuke cried out in agony, no longer able to dwell in a painless state.

Head lifted above the mound of wisps in front of him, Kiyo reeled back with wide eyes as the monster started to consume his friend. As it took its time to revere in the kill. Daisuke’s supple flesh was a prime meal to nourish its own decaying body.

“Stop it!” Kiyo spat out as he carelessly stumbled over toward the beast.

He punched at its skin, yet only cut his own from the loose clumps of teeth that dotted the creature’s skin-like hair. Knuckles thrashed open, Kiyo fell to his knees and clutched his right fist to ease the pain. The monster paused its absorption and took notice of the small boy knelt at its side. Enjoyment paused to deal with his next course.

Dink! Plunk! Snap!

With a cock back of its right back leg, it punted Kiyo back into a tree, a powerful enough thrust to shake off a few limbs.

Dazed, Kiyo propped himself onto his knees and stared at the travesty in front of his eyes. His scrunched face recoiled in pure disgusted terror, unable to comprehend it. His friend munched away ever so slowly, yet he was helpless to stop it. To save him.

Do something!

In a moment's notice, Kiyo sputtered for breath and balled his fists. Blood dripped from his forehead onto the earth below, his body worn out by the beast. But he had to do something.

Kiyo darted forward and picked up a loose limb that had fallen onto the ground from the teratoma’s destructive charge.

Snap!

Split in two, he grasped one in each hand and rushed at the creature. Emotions concealed behind the curtain of golden hair that swung in his face, he used all of his remaining strength as he hurled himself at the teratoma.

Whoosh!

Kiyo dodged a haphazard swipe from the creature and went in for the attack. His eyes locked in on his two points of impact. 

Slerch-slerch!

He plunged the first stick into the creature's chest and the other through its tongue. The sensitive monster jerked back at the surprise spike of pain from such a feeble creature it considered nothing more than food, stunned by the small boy's sudden movement.

Sent into a frenzy, the teratoma backed off, releasing Daisuke onto the earth head first. Upon hitting the ground, the collision knocked him unconscious as Kiyo rushed in between Daisuke and the beast, hands fanned out toward Daisuke.

Kiyo knew what he had to do as the teratoma circled back and stared him down. Muscles tense and fingers clenched tight into his palms, Kiyo stared through the scarlet streams that drizzled over his eyes. His body reduced to nothing more than a small barrier of protection.

He was Daisuke’s last line of defense, the one who would have to save them both.