The Lost Ones Book 2: Welcome Home

Chapter 25

By this time Jerome had fallen asleep, The only one awake now being Tyler. He stared up at the sky, it was only about noon.

There was a small breeze that rustled the leaves and something rattling in the bushes.

Tyler sat up, his eyes darting to the bush.

It went still when he looked over.

Tyler continued to stare, his eyes squinting a bit.

Two magenta eyes gleamed in the bushes when the light hit them and suddenly something leapt at him.

"W-what the!"Tyler cried out and flinched back, accidentally kicking Jerome in the side and waking him up.

"Tyler...?" Jerome's eyes widened when he saw the creature.

A humanoid figure leapt at Tyler, arms extended and giving out an unnerving screech of anger.

It seemed to be an enderman at first glance.

But upon a closer look.

Its skin seemed to be charcoal black but came off as unnaturally so. Its jaw dislocated when it screeched revealing small barely noticeable fangs. It had slight claws as well.

But what caught them by surprise the most was the short black hair that stood up messily. It looked more human than enderman but also not human?

"Gah!" Tyler dodged to the side, still on the ground. He rolled onto his stomach, frantically pushing himself up onto his feet. He turned to face the monster, his hand reaching for his sword.

Behind them Jerome stood, his partially broken axe in hand. "W-what is that thing?!"

"I don't know! It's like some sorta... enderman or something!"

It screeched again, having landed near Jordan and it turned and looked at him as if to attack but stopped, cocking its head at him making a strange noise, standing over him, still in a fighting position.

"Jordan!" Tyler drew his sword, running up to Jordan and grabbing his arm. "Come on dude, wake up!"

The creature turned to Tyler, eyes glowing a screeched again, swing at him but moving to almost be in between him and Jordan.

Tyler tightened his grip on his sword, tempted to swim but just... couldn't. Jerome looked at Tyler confused. "What are you waiting for dude?! It's right there!"

It hissed again, stepping forward but not attacking but moving completely between him and Jordan who was still out cold.

Jerome slowly advanced, raising his axe in the air. When he got close he paused, noticing the strange stillness of the encounter.

Tyler stared at the monster in the face, the hilt of his sword lowering. "If you're gonna hurt Jordan you'll have to go through us." He threatened, hoping that this wasn't going to be the case.

It moved into a defensive like pose and hissed again, stepping forward, trying to make him back away from Jordan.

Jerome was about to attack but stopped, a curious look appeared across his face. "It's... protecting him..."

"What?!" Tyler looked over at the bacca dumbfounded.

It hissed at them again, making them step back but stayed closer to Jordan, unwilling to step too far away.

"Oh my gosh it is..." Tyler's sword was completely lowered by this point. "But why?"

Jerome shook his head. "Maybe it thinks that we hurt him? I mean he did pass out helping us."