Friend of Monsters

Part 4

H-
They rest peacefully at their friends house, undisturbed by the sound of giants raiding the home, or of grieving tears. When they wake, it is late in the night and quiet. They don't feel the need to wake anyone, so they write a quick note to leave on the table - stating they lost their phone so they may be slow to get back with them, but that they were going home for the night - as well as an offer to hang out maybe next friday.

They still ache, though they feel much better than they had before as they slip into the truck and flick it on to pull out of the drive and onto the road - keeping their headlights dim, and the music off.

About halfway to the park, damn near where they had last seen Daki, their truck peters to a stall...A quick check, and a couple confused head tilts later, they deduce the battery died...Unfortunate...and anxiety inducing regarding the number of giants around right now.

They pace for a moment, biting their nails as they think and staring out into that clawing darkness, expecting eyes to shine out at them at any time - for claws to reach out to them, for fangs to greet them....

They spot a flicker of light deep within the woods, a camp probably, and with anxiety twisting their guts, they heft their flashlight in one hand, and their spare knife in the other. Thank god they always kept one in the dash...

C- In the darkness, there was a flicker of silver pinpricks that glistened from the direction of the campfire, though it quickly vanished as soon as it had appeared. It could have been a trick of the light.

A sudden scream tore through the night, but was cut off as soon as it began. A sound of shuffling in the distance against the underbrush.

H- They freeze at the glint in the shadows, heart pounding in their ears until they dismiss it as a hallucination, a trick of their paranoid mind. Maybe it was an owl in the trees...Yea! An owl!

Then they heard the screaming.

They almost turn back, almost. Where would they even go? They didn't know if they had the courage to walk the 3 miles left to home...

But yet, they'd find the courage to go towards the screams....

Maybe they were playing. Telling spooky stories. Doing camper things. Yea! Just camper things! People liked to be loud for no reason sometimes - especially drunk people. It's fine.

They grip the knife tighter, trying to ignore the what if scenarios bubbling in their mind. Maybe, at worst, it was people being assholes to each other, they could handle that. Yea. They got this.

And then the clearing came into view...

C- Daki towered over the campfire within the clearing. Fire blazed within his silver eyes. He was holding a writhing human close, snickering at their squirms.

"That's right, I appreciate you if you squirm all the way down. It's more fun that way. You can try to escape if that floats your boat. But..." He snickered. "We'll see how far that gets you."

He didn't seem to notice Sam immediately, preoccupied with his meal and his starvation. He was drooling at the mouth, and couldn't resist any longer. With a wide grin, he bared his teeth then shoved the human's top half into his mouth. There was a muffled scream in response. The human's legs kicked madly in Daki's grip.

The giant ignored them, pushing them in deeper. He bit down on the chest, not enough to kill them, but enough to draw blood, enjoying the sweet irony taste of it. His throat bulged out as the human began to pass through. Blood and drool poured down from his jaws.

Once the human was more than half-way down, he tossed his head back and snapped his teeth again over the legs with a sickening crack. It didn't sever them, but the bones were crushed to pulp. He continued to swallow down the human, putting a hand to his throat and traced down the bulge as it sank down to fill out his stomach, curling up there nicely.