The Wild Man

by Luckless

Chapter 2

My internal clock woke me up with it's usual abruptness, and as usual, perfectly at 6:00 in the morning. Three years away from the church orphanage did nothing to change this constant of my life. I tossed off my heavy comforter, and stood up to start breakfast. I grabbed a bucket of moose meat, and made to bring it outside with me. The moment I opened the door, however, I knew something was wrong.

I couldn't tell what species of trees surrounded me (which really worried me since I've seen so many), and the clearing was much smaller than it had been yesterday. The stream I'd parked next to was much larger, and it was far warmer than it had any right to be in Alaska. Then there was the sounds of the forest. Nothing sounded like the Alaskan wilderness I'd been traversing for the last three weeks. In fact, it didn't sound like anywhere I'd been. The birds sounded like a stock sound a tv show used, and the animals were unnaturally quiet around me.

Ok, this is strange as all hell. But priorities. Eat first, then go down the trail and see if I can find someone to tell me what's up. With this in mind, I put the grill cover over the pit, and started a nice little fire. Putting a fair sized piece of moose meat on the grill, I tended to the cooking until it had turned brown through and through. My meal wasn't exactly great, but I didn't exactly have any spices on hand to screw around with, so there wasn't any room for complaint on my part. It was a meal, and I was thankful enough for it.

Shrugging off the clothes I went to sleep in, I put on a fresh pair of jeans and a brown t-shirt. I grabbed my empty metal framed pack if in case I could forage for wild vegetables or anything useful.

I put out the fire, and was about to head out down the trail before remembering a particularly nasty incident in the Canadian wild with a hungry bear. While I had been out hunting, a bear had come to my open truck for a free meal, and I ended up walking in on it about to tear at what was left of my deer venison soup. So I closed the door, and locked it after picking up my 12 Gauge pump shotgun. Mean little bastard could take down anything with a well placed slug and had saved my hide against angry predators more times than I'd like to admit.

So with my assets covered, I started my hike down the trail, lighting a cigarette while I walked. The Eagle 20's sometimes made me think I was smoking a breath-mint from the way the smoke tasted and went down my throat. I didn't particularly like it, but I'd already opened the pack, and I wasn't going to leave it for later or I'd never finish it off. It helped that it lacked a mean punch and could occasionally give me a strong high that unbalanced me. Dozens of random strangers had told me I should quit, and that these things would kill me, but I don't care. The nicotine relaxes me and I feel good after a while, and after what I'd done, I figured I deserved it.

While I walked and smoked, I took in my surroundings. The path itself was just wide enough, and dirt hard enough that my van could make it out if I so wanted to. The bushes were clumped together, and a quick check told me that it had enough space underneath for me to hide under. It struck me as odd that any bush would grow like this, but I tossed the thought away as something that was a waste of time thinking about. Instead, I worried over the fact that none of this looked like it had yesterday. Could I have gotten drunk last night and gone on a wild driving spree before stopping in that clearing? But there wasn't any hangover or insanely dry mouth, so I figured that was highly unlikely.

Eventually, I found myself at a part of the trail which became dense in the trees spacing, and many more bushes which clogged up the path. Pushing through it, I found myself on a much larger, and dare I say maintained dirt road. Looking back at the brush I came out of, I found that it perfectly hid the path. Going to make it a pain in the ass to get my truck out though. I'll have to cut down the trees and pull out the bushes.

I looked down both sides of the road. To the left, more dark forest. To the right, a faint light at the end of it. I shrugged, it was as good a direction as any. I walked on, puffing lightly on my cigarette. The nicotine began its' buzz, a dumb smile crept across my face. I walked and walked, humming a tune that belonged to no song while my head drifted to the clouds. This was nice, walking in the middle of the forest, smoking, and the sound of heavy breathing behind me. Nothing could be bet-... Wait, what?

I spun around, and what should I see? A demon from hell, that's what. It was a mix of a lion, a bat, and a scorpion, and HOLY FUCK THOSE ARE BIG TEETH! My shotgun found itself in my hands before I could think, and I pointed the barrel at it shakily.

"GET AWAY! GO! D-d-d-don't make me shoot you!" The hellspawn took no heed, and growled angrily at me, taking another step.

"I'm serious! Get!" It crouched, preparing for a pounce. That was it, I undid the safety, and pulled the trigger. My gun boomed, and the monster recoiled with a groan, a hole having materialized in its' chest. However, it remained standing, and took a shaky step forwards. I took a step backwards, pumped my shotgun, and fired again a little higher. Another hole sprouted in its' neck, and the monster collapsed, body twitching out of control, but still alive. I fired again, the shot blew apart a large chunk of its' forehead. The brain may be shredded, but the nerves were still being supplied with small trace amounts of oxygen from when it could still control its' breathing. So the nerves, without the direction of the brain, randomly shot signals about the body with abandon, the powerful muscles shaking as if the body had been electrocuted.

I... I killed a demon. I took a step back, my mind slowly bearing down onto me. This wasn't a demon. It was a monster. A manticore. I'd killed a mythological hell spawn monster.

"Fuck this! I'm not dealing with this shit today! Answers can wait, I'm going home!" Angrily, I stomped my way back to camp.

Rainbow Dash

I was practicing my flying, adapting my body to tolerate high G-forces with tight turns at increasing speeds. Over time, pegasi could feel out exactly how much pressure they were forcing on themselves. With pride, I could truthfully claim I could rack up an astro-... astro-something amount of G-forces, given I wasn't distracted by anything.

I had been a particularly sharp banking maneuver when I heard thunder roll through the air from the Everfree, breaking me out my focus, and sending me straight for the dirt. Hastily flaring my wings, I managed not to get a muzzlefull of dirt and land on my hooves. Another crack of thunder boomed from the forest, raising the hairs on my back. It was an unnatural sound, a sound that brought dread into my mind. Thunderclouds couldn't make that sound, even if there were any over the forest right now.

Oh, pony up! Stop acting like a little filly, and find out what that was! I puffed out my chest, took to the air again, and took off for the forest. The booming sound had been close, not too deep into the forest, so I wasn't going to be in too much danger. Not that I couldn't handle a scuffle, it's just that you don't go blindly into a fight that you can't size up first.

I broke into the trees along the path that went to Zecora's place, which was in the general direction of where the sound came from. Maybe Zecora made a new potion and she's trying it out? Maybe one backfired on her. Hope she's ok, I still owe her for wrecking her house. I didn't get very far before I came across a grizzly sight. A manticore, freshly killed with blood still oozing out of multiple wounds. I felt sick, my stomach writhing in nausea, prompting me to bend over, and puke.

I wiped my muzzle clean of excess bile, and peeked at the body again, What could do this?! Just kill something and leave it to rot? I've gotta get Twilight, she'll know what to do!

Initially, Twilight had brushed off my heebie-jeebies with some nonsense about how it had just been another, larger predator that had killed it. It hadn't been until I mentioned it's wounds, that she finally looked up from the book she was buried in, and asked me to repeat what I'd said.

"It had three holes in it! It's head was blown apart, it's neck was barely there, and the chest looked like something exploded out of it!" I think those were the words I used. It was a few minutes ago, and I was antsy.

Now that she was here, Twilight looked between fascinated, and on the verge of puking like I did, "What could do this?" She asked.

"I don't know. You're the Egghead of Eggheads. If you don't know, I doubt anypony else would."

She gave me a sour look, "While I appreciate the compliment, would you please stop calling me an egghead?"

I shrugged with what I assumed was a smug smile, "Then what would you call yourself?"

She paused, unsure with how to answer, "Maybe an intellectual?"

"Too many syllables, and it doesn't roll off the tongue. Now, what do you think could've done this?"

"I don't know." She turned her gaze back to the dead manticore, "It's been badly mutilated for sure. But there aren't any gashes teeth marks to indicate it was any predator I know of. Only thing I could think of that could take down a manticore that live in the area are hydras which are big enough to not have a problem eating this quickly, Ursa's, and Timberwolves. None of which are even really that close anyways. Their territories are a ways from here. Then there's the fact that nothing has been eating the body. It couldn't have been dead for long." She looked around the body a little more, trying to uncover any secrets, while at the same time trying to keep her lunch down.

My eyes passed over the ground idly, unsure of what to do, when I saw something shiny. Three somethings to be exact. I trotted over to look at them better. Three hollow cylinders that ended with brass caps, "Hey Twilight, I think I found something!" I gave the strange objects a sniff, and instantly regretted it. The burny stench filled my nose, and made me gag.

Twilight rushed over, and eyed the objects with fascination. She took them gently in her magic, and brought them to eye level. It was actually really funny to see her repeat my mistake, and I couldn't hold down the chuckle that fought itself out of my throat. She shot me a glare, but resumed studying them.

"I think this has some burned black powder inside this." She said.

"Black powder? You mean the stuff we put in non-magic fireworks?"

She nodded, "Exactly that. I wonder if this has something to do with the manticore?"

I looked back at the dead body, and looked away quickly, "I don't know. Shouldn't we, uh, move the body off the path?"

Twilight shrugged, "I guess. Only Zecora really uses it, but it would be polite to do it so she doesn't have to." Her horn lit up, and the body was surrounded in it's blow. The body was lifted up, and tossed roughly over the trees into the distance.

"Huh, wasn't expecting you to do that."

"Do what?"

"You know, just toss the evidence. I figured you'd want to study it for any secrets it might have."

Twilight just smiled knowingly, "I've got a really good memory. Besides, I doubt an autopsy would've revealed anything. These shells will be enough. Come on, let's get back to Ponyville. I think we should tell the mayor to get the guards aware that something new and dangerous is in the Everfree."

"Good idea."

Brian

I was finishing up with getting the tarp over the truck when I saw the body of the monster I'd killed sail overhead like a plane. I stopped for a good minute, before I went about in a nervous hast to finish with the tarp. It'd keep the van dry, slope the wind off to keep it from rocking, and give me a little overhang to keep me dry if I wanted to be outside or needed to do something in the rain that I didn't want to bring inside the van.

"Fucking monsters." I had an unpleasant flash back to how I'd gone insane when I was still in school. Damn you. Why the hell couldn't you control yourself? I finished securing the tarp, and sat down on a log.

Memories flooded back to me. The daily beatings, the nicknames, how they'd burn me, strip me in my sleep and keep me from getting a good night's sleep to the point where I'd pass out in the street or in class, how shattered and broken they made me. Then the names, how they brought my dead parents into it, the constant fear for my life.

But I shouldn't've done it. I should have just shouldered it a little longer. Not... I remembered again, and shuddered, that. Misery and regret was a toxic cocktail. I needed a drink. I went into the van, and pulled out one of the many bottles of Everclear Vodka.

"Why forget the night when you can clear the fucking hard drive?" I asked sarcastically, and started chugging. Surprisingly, it didn't burn as fiercely as other alcoholic drinks did, but that was perfectly fine. It was nearly pure alcohol, so why not? Nearly half the bottle went down before I stopped myself. Didn't want to get alcohol poisoning.

I plugged the bottle, set it aside, and cried while I waited for the alcohol to kick in. With misery and regret dripping from my voice, I sobbed, "I'm so sorry."

Thankfully, I didn't remember much after that.

Comments

[PrototypeJ]

Awesome chapters, you are doing an amazing job, I can't wait to read the next chapter.

[Luckless]

8888006
I'll do my best to meet your expections!
However, they might not come out as often because I'm working on another story at the same time. Not the wisest decision, but I made it and hopefully it won't come to bite me.

[PrototypeJ]

8888025
It's cool. I can wait and the 2 others stories you made are incredible too.

[Luckless]

8888039
Yeah, I still feel like I could've done better with pt.1, but I'm glad you're enjoying them! You know the saying, "If you can connect with one person, the effort is worth it."

[PrototypeJ]

8888160
your welcome and honestly you did a great job on all of 3 them, you are an extraordinary writer.

[Burningdash]

I like how you've done this. Most stories that start with a similar premise are kind of ... forced or unnatural felling this while it doesn't feel perfectly natural feels far better than most of not all I have read.