It made perfect sense to Mallory. After being scared off all those years ago, the Scarred Man finally came back for revenge even stronger than before. Of course it made sense to Mallory, I had never admitted my lie to her after all. However I was completely bewildered.

Due to some concoction of conflicting emotions, (whether they were remorse and relief or empathy and apathy, I never came to understand) I had visited his remains a handful of times. With a keener noise than I, Phillip pointed out that the remains refused to produce a stench. I thought it to be his pure predatory aura preventing even bacteria from approaching him. Then, on the day I saw a bird for the first time, I could no longer find his remains. I believed it to be the result of some scavenger. Soon I had managed to put the stress of the Scarred Man to rest.

Here we were, trudging through the muddied forest, in search of some sign of the Scarred Man. Though we knew he would most likely return to his nest, we weren’t too fond of getting ambushed from behind.

“You should have brought Phillip along,” Mallory sighed.

“I didn’t think it would be appropriate for him to see,” I responded.

“See what?” Her voice had a hint of tease to it.

“Well I thought if something were to happen, then he wouldn’t appreciate being there.”

“You actually thought something would happen?” Mallory sounded intrigued rather appalled.

“No, but Megan made me anxious when she suggested that that’s why you wanted to spend time alone togther”

“Do you and Megan talk about sex often?” Mallory seemed a bit bitter, I couldn’t possibly fathom why.

“No, never. Megan and Adrian had to explain what they were referring to because I didn’t understand their euphemisms.”

Mallory breathed a sigh of relief.

Mud stifled the snapping of twigs beneath our boots.

She was curious, and asked, "would you have thought something would happen if Megan hadn’t said anything?"

"I think so," I admitted.

Her face, for only a second, flashed contemplation. Quickly she laughed then said, "don’t worry, we’ll never do anything!" She put her finger on my nose. The wink she gave me appeared to be a last second addition to further confuse me.

I had no time to consider what she could possibly mean because she spoke again, "looks like we’re going to have to check out the building. We should start a fire, and get some food cooking before we head there."

I agreed before picking up dry twigs and leaves. A relatively clear spot beckoned us to it. Dead tree stumps and baren dirt spotted the pseudo clearing.

I set the twigs on the ground. Mallory lifted her shirt to reveal her belt. Handmade by Mallory and a perfect fit for any outfit, it had a spool attached to it allowing for quick and easy access to string.

A zipper sounding noise came from the spool as Mallory pulled the string. When the length was to her liking, she snapped it off the spool. Her fingers danced with the string creating a simple inseam for fire. Seconds after it touched the twigs, the string caught fire which then spread to the twigs.

The backpack I was carrying had some rations in it. Cold metal cans caught my attention. Peeling back the lid released the smell of cold baked beans. I smithed a pan and poured the contents of the can into it.

The soft stumps under my butt was moist. It shifted slightly as I did the same.

The smell of beans soon filled my nostrils. Mallory reached into my back and took from it a couple of hard rolls. As we ate our food I couldn’t help but smile.

"What?" Mallory smiled behind her bread.

"This is almost like the first time we had lunch together."

She dug a packet of dried meat out from the bag then tossed it to me. "Almost, yeah! Except this bread is ten times better than school food."

Blood rushed to my cheeks, but the light of the fire helped hide my blush. "Thank you," I said, "the secret ingredient is Phillip’s pee."

"It is not!" Mallory jokingly pushed me of the stump.

"You got me, it’s actually a bit of almond extract." I dusted myself off.

"We should get going." Mallory bit a chunk of dried meat off the slab. We began to clean up, stuffing our trash into a side pocket of my bag.

Through the crackling of the fire the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard. I couldn’t inform Mallory, she was already a step ahead of me, killing the fire before I could turn to her.

The blanket of stars draped over us, while the moon became a nightlight. My eyes soon adjusted to the low light.

Attentively I waited, peering into the direction of the footsteps.

A comically large bush rustled. Through it a monster exploded out. She was a giant, about seven feet tall hunched over. Incredibly gaunt, to a concerning degree. Her skin was pulled tightly over her bones. Elongated fingers fused together to form something akin to three talons. Any mammory glands had long since rotted away leaving not so much as an impression. Her arms and legs were stretched out as well causing her uncanny aura to amplify. Drenched in blood was a rather large cut across her throat, how she was still alive was beyond my knowledge. A mouth full of unkempt sharp, ridged, and/or flat teeth gapped open, allowing a vile stench that many would confuse for death to emanate from the deep rotting trench that was her throat. The noseless slits that were her nostrils were that much prominent when it became apparent that she was perfectly bald. Pain filled sunken in eyes leered into my soul. I had never faced a monster so large before, I don’t know how to respond.

A disgusting gargled sound attempted to escape her throat. Anger and worry filled her eyes when nothing left her mouth.

Then I heard a terrible roar. A terrible growl that through the years I would grow to love, but on that night in which I first heard it it petrified me.

It caused the monster in front of me to look over her shoulder, even if it was briefly.

When she turned back to me she gargled blood once again. A moment later Mallory screamed. A short spear I had smithed grew in length as I turned to assure that Mallory was safe. I found it bizarre that she was no longer behind me. In her place was the night sky obscured by leaves.

I was unable to feel my chest, it was as if it was gone. I turned my head to face the monster again.

Her shoulder twitched, then suddenly immense pain filled my chest. That’s when I had the genius thought to look down.

Her tallon like fingers pierced my chest. My arms and legs dangled off the ground as she swiftly lifted my back towards the moon.

Mallory screamed.

The monster that this monster feared bellowed again.

I felt my spine snap and my chest crack. I tasted dirt and could no longer feel my legs. My neck felt like as though thousands of needles were being oushed into it, but still I turned. I did so just as her large foot quickly come down onto my head, crushing my skull.