The group walked back up to the mountain. They could sense the the tense atmosphere between one another, especially between Emily and George. Piter wanted to break the silence, he was rubbing his hands slowly, slowly. Blowing hot air on his hands. "Why the heck didn't I got my gloves?" He thought, then let out a sight. "Maybe, us humans, are worth are suffering." He caught up to the goatman and pulled his left arm gently. He looked back.
"So, how did you come to be?"
He was confused by Piter's question, and so did the rest.
"What do you think you are doing?" George asked in a defeated voice.
"Hey, I we need to know who we are working with, shouldn't we?" George, though annoyed, he understood where he came from. "True." He mumbled. The goatman didn't say a thing. Emily looked at him, waiting for a response. He continued walking. Piter felt a little embarrassed, he faked a cough in hopes he would receive the message.
"I will tell as soon as we light up a fire."
"Does the fire do damage to this things?" Emily asked.
He nodded. "It does, but it is also to attract it through the smoke and light." She nodded and all continued walking. When they arrived there they saw an old man waving at the goatman. The group got confused, however they waited. He started jogging towards them. The goatman shook his hand with a smile. "Did you get any leads?" The man shook his head. "Nope! Are you sure there were two?"
"Yes, I am!" He said in a very confident tone.
The man looked over to the group. "Who are this fellas?"
"They volunteered to help me..." "Like heck we did." George thought. "They also helped take down one of the two."
"You already killed one?" The man jumped around, turning and laughing like a child. "HEEEEAHHH! THIS. THIS IS WHAT WE NEED."
The group was taken aback from his childish behavior. With Piter and Mario holding their laughter, whereas the goatman wistful smiled. The man saw at his face and instantly stopped. "Sorry, I..."
"It's ok." He interrupted. "Doesn't matter anymore." He looked at his feet then around them. "You revived the fire I see."
The man looked back. "Oh, yeah. I thought to have it ready."
"Great idea." He smiled. Emily looked at him. "Will you tell us now?" Everybody turned to face her. "Your story, I mean." They looked at him. He nodded. "Very well, since you are working with me..." He let out a sight. "The least I could do is to explain to you what we are facing." He Walked over, pulled a log and sat in front of the fire. His ears and eyes analyzing the environment. The rest started taking seats around the fire. keeping their weapons and torches close.
"It all began a long time ago..." He said, seeing his reflection in the fire. "I was an ordinary goat in a small, yet cozy, farm in Mexico. A great man raised me." He smiled. "He and his family were nice to us. They fed us, bathe us and took care of us. Sometimes they to eat some of us..." He laughed. "It was quite unfortunate for some but we accepted it, after all that is the circle of life. Despite the lows, it never felt that they just kept us around to eat us. It was genuine love from them. There I met my friends, my family. 3 other goats, lots of sheep, lots of chickens and... 2 dogs." His smile run away from his face. The group leaned closer. "It was simple, fun. It was nothing extraordinary but, it was ours, it was real. The 2 dogs quickly became my best friends. We ate together, ran, played and watched the stars together every night." He laughed. "I remember this one time one of them broke their back legs and couldn't walk for a month or two. His kids were very sad, but they didn't want to spend time without him, so they built a small wheelchair for him. Another time, the youngest kid was scared because she was starting a new school the next day. She stood up the whole night, after midnight she came in the farm and slept in the wheat alongside us, we rounded up next to her so she wouldn't catch a cold. The next day, before she left for school, she hugged each and every single one of us. After she came home she was jumping up and down, she threw her bag and told us about her day." He paused, getting lost in the memories as the old man kept the fire going. The wood was still noisy and there was no sign of the werewolf. "It was exactly what I needed but never knew that I wanted. I genuinely believed that it would last forever." He stared at the fire, with his eyes half open. He remained silent for a couple moments until Emily asked him.
"What changed?"
His grip became tighter, his eyes quickly changed to sharp. He stared at the fire breathing air full of fury. "AMERICA!" He growled. "America is what happened!" The group fell silent. Now only the fire's crackling and snapping. Piter, George and John exchanged looks, but didn't say anything. They all felt bad for him. They waited giving him space. He was losing himself on the memories. He took a deep breath with tears flowing from his eyes. He rolled up his sleeve, washed up his tears continued. The wind began becoming quieter but they weren't noticing it that match. "From what I could gather, the CIA hated how Mexico were developing many crops with a single vaccine or sprays. Which lead to the veggies being grown being very healthy and good for one's health. Same thing goes for the animals. They weren't vaccinated. So every farmer was made to vaccinate their crops and animals which produced milk or chickens with duck, which produced fresh eggs. To make the deal better for the farmers they would get paid 3 times the amount they were paid before. The majority rejected this offer, including my family. However it didn't matter, the moment even the minority took their side it was all downhill. They persisted up to 2010..." He paused again. "One day I woke up in a cage, inside a building that I had never seen before, with people whom I had never met before. There were tons of other animals. I don't know what happened to my family... And I don't think I want to know. The scientist there run tests on us for the following 3 years. They wanted to create a serum that would harm people, or even transform them to monsters so they could control those who were unable to notice what was happening. We were tortured everyday for those 3 years. We didn't even have each other, they isolated us from one another. One day I saw a man, whose face I couldn't see because he was wearing a big hat that covered his face, he patted me in the head and said something. When I woke up, I was on the floor, outside my cage. I saw every cage broken and no animal was inside. Up the ceiling, I saw blood, blood everywhere. Bodies of the scientist and agents thrown everywhere, eaten. I was terrified by the view. I got up quickly to leave, but I fell to the ground. I then saw my body... It was, nothing like I had remembered. Despite the fact that it looked human, I knew better. I had become a monster. I didn't knew how or what to feel. When I got up I saw a creature similar to what you saw before just a lot smaller. Blood all over his mouth, I got scared until it spoke..." He paused again, his anger had become sorrow.
"What did it say?" George asked.
He looked at him. "My name... It said: "Luis, you are awake." I realized immediately that it was my friend Rexy. One of 2 dogs I was raised with. We were together since we were newborns. Even if he had changed into a creature of hell, I could still recognize him. It might not have had looked like it, he was as scared as me. When I leaned closer he backed off, saying: "No, Rexy baddd!" I closed the gap between us, at that moment he ran away. Jumped through a wall. I ran after him and saw another one. It was his mother... The one we killed before. She followed him without leaving a single word for me."
The wind was now non existent. The group were exchanging looks between one another. The man just threw wood onto the fire and sat down again.
"That's why I am here. Since I got out I have hunted them, and killed them. After a long time, there is only one remaining." His voice started to break. Piter, who was sitting next to him, placed a hand to his back and patted it. He started sobbing more and more. Until he couldn't keep his tears from floating. The rest remained silent, not wanting to make him feel worse. John saw owls flying away from the woods. He got up and hit Ann with his elbow. She saw it but before she grabbed her she noticed two red eyes staring at her, with one being much, much bigger than the other.
"Luuiiii-" The Rexy screeched. Everybody jumped from their seats, with Luis wiping his tears. He looked at Rexy. Bigger, uglier, scarier, much scarier than what he remembered.
"Brother." He said between breaths. The rest formed a pyramid formation behind Luis.
"LU..." The old man yelled at him. "We have work to do!" He couldn't keep his eyes away from him.
"Why did you leave me-" He spoke in a chilling tone but felt as if he paused with each word he spoke. "You promised- we will always be-" He came down the tree, towering all of them in stounding 12'4 feet tall. "We would be forever- Why didn't you follow me?- Why do you hurt me?-"
While Luis was unable to raise a fist, Ann raised her shotgun and started shooting at it's bigger eye. Rex screamed at the top of his lungs. His screams shook the entire forest. Before they could react, he pushed through them and threw them up in the air. They fell down to the ground with their backs. Trying to get up but to no avail. Rex looked around, with foamy on his mouth, he grabbed Eva with right big hand. He grabbed her hard she couldn't help but scream, feeling her bones stretching like a gum. Luis was gaining back his consciousness, turned around and without thinking he did a long front flip and kicked Rex on his right, bigger, eye. Rex let Eva go and held his right eye while losing his steps.
"YOU TWO!" Luis called out to John and Emily. "DON'T STOP SHOOTING!"
They both got up up, with trembling feet but they couldn't let it stop them, they starting shooting at Rexy's eye while Luis was holding him down with all his strength. Rexy screamed louder and louder. His screams were unbearable to listen. The rest covered his ears, whereas Luis was keeping his cool. Acting as if it was just another monster. Ann ran out of ammo, when she reached for backpack she realized she didn't have any left to reload.
"JOHN! AMMO!"
"IN MY POCKET!"
She rushed up to him, but before she could claim the ammo Rexy grabbed John tightly. He threw the gun to Ann while trying to escape. Luis tried neck locking him but he refused. Rexy, while holding on to John, ran backwards hitting and breaking every tree on his path while using Luis as his shield. The group started rushing towards them. With Ann and the old man, who carried a torch with a sharp end, led the way. The rest followed, each of them carrying a torch of their own. "It's all my fault!" Emily started telling herself, hey eyes looked ready to cry. George kept looking at her, blaming her for the situation.
Rexy kept pushing back, they had reached a small cliff on top of the mountain. Luis was holding to Rexy's fur, he grabbed him hard trying to close his enormous mouth. John was pushing and kicking. Nevertheless, that was not enough from stopping Rexy. He was bleeding and growling. A growl that could kill anyone who heard it.
"Why do you want to hurt me Lui-" Rexy spoke between his growls and heavy breaths. "You hate me-"
Luis was trying to keep tears from coming. He carried on neck locking him. Not letting go.
"WHY?-" Raising it's voice.
"I'm protecting you." He said in a low tone, trying to control himself.
Rexy turned his head to glance at him. Luis stared at his grotesque face, reminiscing the way it was before they became monster. Just a cute puppy who later became a beautiful grown dog.
"Why?" He thought to himself. "Why it didn't last? What did we do to deserve this ?"
He began tearing up again. Staring at his brother's small left eye. His pupil and iris were red, in addition to that, his sclera was as dark as the bottom of the ocean. He spoke up.
"Do you still love me?-"
Tears ran down his cheeks. He nodded. "Of course I do. You are my brother."
John saw his chance and pulled out something from his pocket. It looked as if his right arm had gotten bigger. As soon as Rexy glanced towards him, John punched him on his right eye as hard as he could. Causing Rexy to release him and scream loudly. The group, hearing that scream, started running faster than before, barely managing their breaths. While the rest had panicked expressions, the old man was jumping from joy.
"You know-" He said between breaths. "I can't remember the last I felt this alive!" He laughed out loud. Leaving the rest in a total shock. "Not even Piter says something like this. Congratulations old man, you stole Piter's award for the worst timing in comedy." George thought. He saw that the group looked shocked by his reaction. "OHH come on you children. Laugh a little, only communist don't laugh or smile!" He laughed again. The rest more confused.
"Interesting..." Mario said.
They could now see the rest, with John having just survived Rexy's grip. He glanced behind him, spit on the ground and went up to them. Taking slow steps backwards. They rounded up to him, Piter put a hand on his shoulder. They didn't have much time to ask about one another though. As Rexy had entered berserk. Blood streaming from his eye and a polluted air was coming out of his eye. Holding it. "LUIIISS!!" He screamed. He repeated his name over and over. Luis took his chance he went for a jump that would make him land in front of the group, to give himself an extra boost he stabbed Rexy's left eye blinding it permanently. Rexy was hitting and kicking anything that was close to him in hopes of hitting them. Luis wiped his tears. Let his left hand open in front of Ann, who handed him her gun. He aimed, and shot. Seeing Rexy barely holding his balance he shot at his feet. He lost his balance and fell of the cliff, he couldn't stop screaming from both pain and anger. Luis hand the shotgun back to Ann, and reached for the torch the old man had made whom hesitated.
"Are you sure? I can I do-" Luis interrupted him.
"It has to be me!" The man let out a sigh and handed it over. Luis approached the cliff slowly, as Rexy couldn't get up. He was staring down at him. He took a deep breath and jumped. Holding the spear, which had fire on top, down staring at his right eye. He kicked the spear from the top and pushed so hard it broke through Rexy's hand and right to his eye. As Luis kept pushing forward, Rexy kept screaming his name in agony.
"LUUUIIISS PLEASEEEEEE-" Luis, pulled the spear back up, and pushed harder inside his eye. Rexy's eye started molding, it grew bigger. Then it bursted, blood flying everywhere alongside a disgusting, toxic air. Air which flew up to the sky, as Rexy's body shrieked. The squad looked at the air released and rushed to watch over Luis. Who was on top of Rexy's body, staring him down.
The sun rose up to the sky with all it's glory. The group had finished packing up their camp.
"Thank you for your help, my friends!" Luis bowed.
"Don't even mention it." Emily smiled.
"Yeah, now my parents and John's won't kill us for breaking the cars." They all laughed.
"It was the least I could do."
"No, for real it would be such a hassle to fix it."
"Well, consider it as a gift for your help. Who knows maybe we will meet again."
The rest nodded as they got inside the cars. They pulled them over, and went home. Luis kept staring at them, his suit and face full of blood, until they disappeared from the horizon. The old man stared at Luis, then asked.
"What will you do now?"
He looked back at him, then back at the road. "I think, I'll go home!"
The man was shocked. "Why?"
"I have nothing else to do here."
"You something to do in Mexico?"
He stayed silent.
"Don't worry..." The man with a smirk on his face. "I know just the right place for you to go."
Luis was confused by his words. "What makes you think I would go there?"
"You do want help others, don't you?"
Luis smiled. "Very well, where is this place?"
The man slapped him.
"What was that for?" Luis said holding his face.
"You need to bathe first my boy, slowly slowly. Everything will be alright."
He smiled. "If you say so."
The old man smiled back, turned around and started walking away. Luis stared at the road one more time, smiling.
"Till we meet again."