𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙎𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙩 [𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝚇 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛]

[5]

"So you're telling me, that this beastly man, comes in and steals you and your small village's stuff, and then goes and hides out somewhere in the forest to be unseen until the next nightfall?" You asked and the pair nodded. "Yep that's it, and we need a bounty hunter such as yourself to defeat him for us. We can't do it by ourself, we're just puny little farmers." He explained, it seemed as if he were going through a PTSD episode with the way he was frightenly staring at you.

"Listen, bounty hunters don't just go out and fight for the fun of it-" You began and you were interrupted by this man's friend. "We know! And we're willing to pay. The whole village has pitched in." He said as he looked at you desperately. You sighed, "Alright how much?" You asked and the man pulled out a sack slightly larger than your credit sack. In normal circumstances you would have said no way in hell because of how low the pay was. But with what trouble you were in at the moment plus provided shelter you had no other option than to accept. "Alright, you've got a deal." You reluctantly accepted as you shook the man's hand. They gleefully cheered as they led you to their village.

The sun was beginning to set now. You had been shown where you were staying a few hours ago and you hadn't really been doing much other than figuring out a plan as of how to defeat this man-beast. Suddenly your com-link began to go off. You answered it to see a holograph of the Mando come up. "Mando, any updates?" You asked and he nodded, "Randell has spoken on your part and even himself provided evidence. It's just a matter of time before you're released. They just need to finish up legal matters. I should come pick you up within mid-day of the planet's cycle of tomorrow. How're you holding up?" He asked and you shrugged. "Fine I suppose, but I didn't have credits to buy lodging so now I'm being paid with credits and lodging to defeat some man-beast the villagers say is taking their stuff." You said it as if it were some every day thing.

"You're what?" Mando asked as he stiffened up and you laughed. "Chill Mando, I've had to deal with worse. Thank you for the update." You said with a side smile. He nodded as he lingered for a moment. "I'll let you know if there is anything else..." He said and you nodded in response. Mando then ended the conversation, you were sad, you felt... Happier when you talked to him. But you couldn't think of that now. It was dusk, so you were now scouting the village as everyone was in their wooden huts.

Thats when you heard a 'snap' behind you in the woods. You whipped around and drew out the blaster Mando let you borrow. It was dead silent, you shrugged it off as an animal and were about to put the blaster back in it's holster before an ungodly creature lundged at you. You, being a bounty hunter were used to being lundged at. You had grown quick reflexes and you luckily dodged out of the way. You looked at the thing and you were disgusted as it looked like a horrifically mutiated Tusken Raider.

You shot at it, but it seemed as if the blasts were doing little to nothing to harm the beast, it only made it angrier. It reached for you again, it seemed as if its hand was the size of your head. You rolled and ducked out of the way. It then used both its arms to swing at you, but you jumped upwards onto its head. You sat on its shoulders and began to punch the beast's face mercilessly. The beast then grabbed you by your arm and flung you forward, making you fly right into a pond. You resurfaced and coughed, but wasted no time to move as the beast was running right towards you. You narrowly escaped the beast's grasp as he reached for you again but only grabbing a handful of water. you climbed out of the pond and grabbed the knife Mando gave to you.

You had to wait for your opportunity again to get on top of the deadly beast. You then began to quickly scale a giant tree in attempts to hop down and land on the beast. You gripped the knife tightly as you climbed but the beast barely grabbed onto your foot and yanked you down. He then, and again, threw you what felt like star systems away from him. Your back hit straight on to the trunk of a tree and you were absolutely sure that a few of your ribs broke. You cried out in pain but you couldn't let a few broken bones stop you.

You weren't going to quit, you always told yourself that in the face of death you'd keep fighting until it was literally impossible for you to keep fighting, because you'd literally be dead. The beast used all fours to charge at you again, and you stood up, pain surging through your body as you held the knife in your right hand, your left arm holding your torso.

Once the beast was close enough to you, you extended your arm, which forced the kife forward. You plunged the knife into the beasts neck, it gurgled out in pain but it's momentum didn't stop and it slammed into you, making you hit the same tree again, you yelled out in pain. The beast was on top of you, but it was limp, and suffocating you. You had to push it off of you, and push your way through the pain you felt coursing through your body as you shoved the hideous beast off of yourself. You grabbed the knife out of it's throat, it's putrid blood dripping off of the knife, it was satifsfying to watch. You let out a sigh of relief as you walked back to the small hut you were staying in.

Luckily you made it into the hut, as well as shutting the door behind you but you couldn't make it a few more steps to the bed. You collapsed to the floor and almost near instantly passed out.