It spoke.

The low rumble came from the beast’s mouth, or what was supposed to be its mouth. There was no jaw. In fact, it had no head, only a jagged hole where one should be. It shouldn’t be able to speak.

But it did. It didn't shout or yell as many of us did. Its speech came with the heavy rumble and a resounding growl, a tone so guttural it made my head buzz and ache, threatening to burst my ear drums, and echoing around us as it reverberated deep in its empty, hollow chest. It shouldn't speak but it did.

The air was especially heavy now, and the heat almost unbearable. What was causing it? Why would it be this bad in such a thick and crowded forest? The rumbling sent painful vibrations shooting through my skull.

Get up now! My mind screamed, and my muscles reacted as if compelled to obey the thought. Yet nothing moved. My hands and knees stayed rooted in the spot as I struggled to push them. My heart throbbed wildly in my chest. Fists clenched, nails digging painfully into the palms. 

'Yohualli'?

'Yohualtica'?

Something along those lines is all I managed to pick up on after the shock and fear had left my system long enough to hear the faint whisper of words drifting through the air. It echoed through the dense trees and vegetation as the figure's headless body stepped with great force, thudding with each step. Those words meant nothing to me. It was Nahuatl, sure, I recognized that much. But what it meant or whether it was a name or phrase, I couldn't say. Like I said, my Nahuatl is rusty but even if I was fluent, I would have forgotten all knowledge the moment I heard it croak out those syllables from its chest. The heavy voice rattles around inside, and I almost double over. I didn't even realize how closely my face hovered above the dirt.

Fucking hurry! Get up! Before it catches you! My mind rang out again with another set of sharp commands, and a sinking feeling in my gut grew as the voice became angrier, louder and more impatient.

Pull yourself together, damn it! Move! 

Now, now, now! My heart screamed at me, as my brain couldn't tell my limbs to get up and my fingers refused to budge.

Something scooped me right up, ripping my feet off the dirt below and hurling my body outwards towards the foliage that surrounded the three of us. I had no time to react when a large, sweaty hand slammed into my face, dragging me further and away from the dirt, and making sure to snatch my face down like a toddler, taking me as far from the immediate threat as we could possibly manage in such short notice.

Hyats'i. That's his calloused hands holding my neck, he has me. It's going to be okay, we will be safe now, for the moment. Hyats'i has got me. All we had to do is run back the way we came. Well, at least where we think we came from. With this fog clouding my mind and clouding my sense of direction, everything seemed muddled. Run back and behind the boundary and to a place of safety. Away from whatever this abomination was,

Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Müdi's equally terrified face, his body in full motion as he ran forward alongside us, his chest was heaving with exhaustion, each pant and breath filled with as much terror as I felt myself. Yet I could also see him running, forging ahead, just beyond my range of vision and much quicker and quicker than Hyats'i's strides and much lighter than my own.

"Kneel."

A sharp pain shot through my knee and I fell. One of my shins hitting the earth painfully, followed by a curse as it nearly sends me sprawling. At the same time, Müdi and the much taller and brawnier, Hyats'i also toppled to the ground, all three of us fell face first onto the forest floor. My arms, shoulders and knees stung and ached as I clutched at the earth desperately. Why couldn't I get up? What had happened? 

One moment we had been rushing through the forest, and the next we were laying there motionless, collapsed onto the dirt as though some invisible force had struck each one of us and caused the fall. The sound of the creature's organs sloshing around inside its hollow chest seemed to grow louder with each step its spindly legs took, and the dull glow of its beating white organ intensified with each passing moment until we could clearly see what it really was. Just like I thought, a heart. It glowed to where not only could you see it with your eyes, but you could feel its rhythmic beat course through your entire being.

Its whole form made no sense and should not be possible. Bucks had antlers to dominate other males and win mates. Turkeys had the wide and vibrant tail feathers they displayed in courtship, just to look beautiful and please their mate. Crocodiles had the sharp teeth to trap prey, or crush the bones in their meals to swallow them up. All of that was for self-defense, reproduction or food. Every single limb and appendage that graced their forms were functional and necessary. Even insects. They all had their stingers, pincers and mandibles. These things served purposes. So, what was a gigantic headless creature like the one we were facing doing here and why, for the sake of all the gods and goddesses that existed in creation, was it standing upright?

Standing like that it almost resembled a person, with its intricately patterned hip and loincloth. A pure cotton bracelet on each wrist, almost as if to dress itself, as if to resemble some primitive semblance of humanity. As it rambled around the area as if it was searching. For what or whom, I don't know. But what it does know was it was looking for something or someone, and I can't imagine for a second it wasn't aware of our presence. It had commanded us as though it had noticed us despite having no head to see us with, commanding us and pinning us to the floor with just the utterance of its words. I strained to look up at the hideous headless, blasphemous monstrosity before us, watched how its movements were all strange and rigid. Its joints didn't bend quite right, didn't sit in a normal human fashion. Its movement looked awkward and painful, its whole existence was just unnatural and otherworldly.

Then just...

CRACK.

The beast's abdomen jerked from side to side. An echoing sound, like the breaking of wood and bone, that made the leaves around us tremble. Then suddenly, two more sickening cracking noises came one after the other and the beast's arm stretched out infront of it, the shoulders twisting like a person twisting his neck to ease the ache.

A pitiful squeak erupted from Hyats'i. The brittle sound was low and breathy and his chest heaved, chest rising and falling as he forced air from his mouth. It's the kind of noise one makes in fear of their life, fear of knowing your life was moments away from its final breath, the kind of panic-induced whine that claws its way out of a person's mouth without much regard of consequence.

From then on, the abomination's movements were fluid and smooth. Like someone stretching in the morning, it made each stretch look too natural, the perfect replica of a person. See it bend and twist its legs at odd angles and hear the joint cracking and popping out of its place with every sudden movement the monstrosity took, pulling and pushing out the wrong directions. It was too natural, how it stood there, casually scratching it's side and shifting its weight from each leg.

The earth rumbled violently and the creature's legs lurched with an echoing crack as it finally got to us. It seemed to observe us. At least as far as it could be said, given the situation. We didn't even dare look upon it anymore, not that we even could, but from my current angle, I watched how it crouched over. Fingers tapping its thigh as if contemplating its next move, maybe planning to devour us right then and there.

"Children?" It asked.

To our confusion, the beast sounded almost...inconvenienced? Like we had just wandered into its garden and trampled all over it, annoyed and insulted even. I lifted my head enough to see what would happen and the monstrosity snapped its fingers. My limbs gave up under me from the sudden strain and my chest hit the dirt so suddenly it knocked the wind from me. At least I could freely move. So thanks for that?

It scoffed.

"Well? Where is she?"

Huh? Did it not want to eat us and use our bodies as fuel for its own survival or a meal for its family or offspring? Was it like a guardian of some kind and simply wanted to make sure we're okay, to send us on our way as quickly as possible? It made no sense at all.  But its speech was different somehow, perhaps not just because of how oddly deep and guttural its speech was but like there were more voices. More than just one that tried to come out at the same time, the voice I originally heard was far more guttural, slow, and husky, yet it could be no different from the rumbling that echoed around us just minutes ago.

Müdi and Hyats'i rubbed their sore limbs while giving a wary and uneasy glance at one another before both directed a confused stare toward me, seeking my guidance.

"You. Tattooed boy."

Its gaze settled on me, the air vibrating around us as it rumbled deeply and pointed one crooked finger at my head. I hadn't noticed till now, but this thing's hands were large and appeared as though they would need some effort to control them. My companions were unfazed by its words as though it had never spoken at all.

Could they hear it at all? Or had it singled me out so only I could hear its questions?

The mud under us shifted, like a plate or ledge had given way underfoot, making the ground vibrate and sending up a cloud of dust and specks as it shifted its weight from side to side as though testing out its own weight and finding it was slightly unbalanced and couldn't help but shift to correct its posture.

"The hag, brat. Where is she?"

My confusion must have shown on my face because it snorted. Well, snorted as best as its vocal cords could muster. It's hand began gesturing vaguely in front of me before pointing its crooked fingers directly at my face.

"You know. White clothes? Black face paint smeared on her mouth like shit? Hard to miss, really."

Its finger circled the air between us as it belittled us, expecting answers as it scanned us for an idea. Hyats'i pulled at my arm, worry laced throughout his expression and movement. His eyebrows were tightly knit together, forming crease between them and his cheeks had reddened considerably and with sweat trailing along his forehead and his brow bone. He opened his mouth a few times and closed it before opening it again and closing it, completely and utterly at a loss for what to say or do. He clearly spoke to me but his words were lost as though some loud noises muffled his speech and all I can hear is my heart racing in my ears and my ragged breath.

My best friend continued to desperately pull me along, trying his best to guide me and call to me and let me know everything's alright despite my lack of acknowledgement. He dragged me along like an unruly child, using his weight and mass to shove us along further and further into the brush and away from the monster.

"Ugh. How bothersome."

The beast exhaled, the exasperated noise had grown deeper as though tired of us, tired of trying to talk to us. Not wanting to deal with us. 

"I see. Would a little incentive help you?" The monstrosity seemed to question to nobody in particular, but its question did little more than pique my attention, despite the absurdity and strangeness of its comment.

Without further explanation the creature's hand reached out, its sharp claws ready to scrape against our flesh and eat us alive. It examined Hyats'i first, its bony claws for fingers running over his arms and back. Then it grabbed his hair, twisting his head to the side and pressing its thumb up against his cheek, lifting his head up to look at him more closely. It held him there. Moving his head back and forth, turning it left and right. Tilting it up and down and poking and prodding as Hyats'i squirmed and protested. I couldn't bear the sight.

Forcing myself onto my feet, I picked up his bronze axe and aimed for the creature's elbow. With a thud, it connected with his forearm, knocking the giant away with a sharp swing and freeing my companion from its clawed hand. It made impact with the trees behind it, and a crunch resounded through the clearing as branches gave way to its weight and collapsed in a flurry of foliage and dust, landing onto the forest floor and beneath it with a thundering bang.

Quickly and decisively, without any further hesitation, I stepped between Hyats'i and the beast with a glare, waiting with baited breath as Hyats'i hobbled weakly beside me, patting my back softly and resting his arm on my shoulder. My fingers anxiously tapped against the shaft of the weapon in my hand, daring the beast to try anything. Müdi scrambled behind Hyats'i to hide and peer cautiously at the headless creature behind the both of us, using his longer leg and larger build as a shield between him and the monstrosity.

For a moment the beast didn't stand back up and didn't give us another glance. In fact, it didn't give us another chance to prepare as a clawed hand wrapped around my neck and lifted me into the air with ease, just tight enough to grasp but not enough to just snap my neck and be over with it. 

"I could snap your neck with a single flick of my thumb." It darkly threatened, its thumb lightly brushing up a little more against my skin, almost like it was proving its point. It was close enough that if it wanted to, it could definitely kill me. And the worst part, it knew, but it had made no move to.

Its words were an overwhelming flood of noise, I struggled to catch each sentence the thing uttered as though I couldn't keep my focus on it for longer than a second. My tongue was heavy, thick with saliva, my mind hazy as sweat began forming along my body, running down my back in droves of stickiness.

This thing could so easily kill me. A small flick. One twitch of its thumb. Then, it'd be gone, all over, like a snap of the fingers or a brush against a limb. What would happen after that though, is what concerned me the most, not the death itself. Müdi and Hyats'i, who had remained frozen behind me and blindly followed me in to the forest in the first place, they would not be able to last a single attack from this thing. Its sharp claws and strength, Hyats'i stood no chance of protecting them, his axe would barely make a dent in it. I barely even grazed it and that was with my all. To die so pathetically, like some bug? 

No, I couldn't bear it. 

If they die... If they're hurt because I allowed us to get too close to these damned woods...!

This damned abomination!

I'll kill it. I'll kill it myself before it tries!