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Track 9

"Well, uh, we're..." Yahd trailed off, looking over to Kalimba, who stared back wide-eyedflu.

'If he decides to shoot, none of us here are fast enough to activate our energy and push Yahd out of the way before he dies,' Asher thought.

"Don't look at them. Look at me," the soldier ordered.

"Okay, okay," Yahd's hands were high in the air, "We got a bit lost, alright. We were on this trip with our parents—like a kinda safari tour trip, ya know? They let us kids tour around by ourselves and we drove off an embankment and got lost trying to get back to the route. We've been going for a few days; but it seems like we've been going 'round and 'round in circles. There's no way we can call anyone since our phones can't connect to anything out here..." he trailed off, watching to see what the soldier was going to do next.

He stared into Yahd's eyes for a while, then eventually put his revolver back into his pants. "Alright, whatever. I don't have time for this shit," he sighed. "Alright, we gotta move!"

Everyone took a sigh of relief as they watched them all pile back into the helicopter and fly away.

"I would'a honestly pissed myself if I was Yahd," Asher said.

The helicopter quickly descended over the small town.

"Alright," the soldier hopped off the side of the helicopter, walking to the nearest local he saw—a tall man with leathery skin. "You wouldn't have happened to see either one or multiple people come through here with a little girl?"

"Ah yes sir, I did not just ten minutes ago."

"Really?" His eyes lit up, "Do you know where they went?"

"Hmm," the man scratched his chin, "If I recall, they went east," he said, pointing in said direction.

The soldier smiled, "Thanks, man." He hopped back into the helicopter, relaying the info to the pilot.

Still on the scent, the beast sprinted through the lonely desert.

As it took another step forward, it felt the sand give way, as if it were standing on top of an impending avalanche.

The sand continued to give, cascading down as the space surrounding the beast transformed into a vast pit, sloping toward its center.

A brief sniff informed the creature that this was no ordinary landslide. Regaining its balance as it descended the pit's side, it seized a rock resembling a sizable bowling ball and hurled it toward the middle.

Upon the rock's impact with the sand below, something hidden beneath the surface stirred. Its teeth closed around the boulder, reducing it to dust with a single bite.

Completely forgetting about Melody, the beast jumped down further into the pit; grabbing the sand-creature and pummeling it with its feet and hands.

It made quick work of the monster; tearing off chunks of its flesh and bone, devouring it until it was just a bloody stain on the sand.

The red beast opened and closed its jaw, feeling the muscles around its skull grow and change; knowing its bite was now more powerful than ever before.

With a single bound, it hopped out of the pit; the taste of the girl was back in its mind.

Leo and his two colleagues strolled into the town.