"What's so dangerous about it?"
Duggi asked, somewhat dismissively.
"Don't worry, we'll handle it easily, right Kuggi?"
He gave Kuggi a few confident pats on the broad shoulder.
"Kuggi, this is SERIOUS!"
Tairo insisted tensely.
"Kaira sensed something with her sense of smell ; the scent of something specific is bothering her too much. And you know perfectly well that she wouldn't invent something like this without a reason!"
He had a visibly frightened and extremely alert look as he scanned his surroundings.
Duggi initially thought it was just another convenient excuse to make another long stop, but noticing Tairo's genuinely serious and worried look, he decided to completely trust his judgment. Tairo was considerably weaker physically, but infinitely smarter and more observant. Duggi always thought that brute force was what really ruled everything, but Tairo had somehow inexplicably earned his respect over time.
"Strange smell?"
Hawke wondered aloud, perhaps a little too loudly without realizing it, as Kaira promptly replied seriously:
"Strong smell of fresh blood."
Hawke had been having an extremely bad and strange feeling ever since ; perhaps it was residually caused by the recent horrible nightmare that still disturbed him, that unsettling feeling as if something invisible was watching them hidden in the dense vegetation. And now with this direct confirmation from Kaira about blood, he instinctively knew it was definitely something bloody and dangerous.
This sent an intense shiver down his spine as he automatically associated the word with the terrible images of the nightmare that still persistently disturbed his mind.
They continued advancing with extreme caution now, much closer physically to each other like a herd protecting itself, consciously trying not to step on dry branches that would snap, walking stealthily like felines hunting, without even whispering to each other. Even Grandma had completely stopped hitting Duggi ; also because by that point she was already bored of it, since Duggi wasn't as whiny as she expected, he wasn't like the "strongman".
*CRACK*
A loud crack of plants moving violently and thick branches breaking brutally interrupted their attempt at silence.
Hawke glanced quickly ahead, taking his focus off the ground he was carefully observing to avoid stepping on something noisy and brittle. Who could have made such a careless noise? Clumsy as she naturally was, it must have been Kaira tripping.
It wasn't.
NO!!
'Not this one, please!'
He looked closely, focusing her vision.
Everyone in front of her seemed completely frozen like stone statues. Yuka was trembling so much that her legs seemed about to give way, the combined factor of accumulated extreme fatigue and paralyzing fear made her tremble in a way that made it seem like she would collapse at any second.
Hawke froze instantly as soon as he finally clearly saw the real cause of the noise.
An absolutely terrifying beast.
At first, he unconsciously associated the blurry image with a giant lion. However, from the little fragmented memory he could vaguely recall, a lion should have a characteristic mane, and this thing definitely didn't have one. Maybe it was female then? But it was also absurdly MUCH larger than any lion, making him quickly associate it with a huge bear.
That didn't add up either.
The creature's teeth were so grotesquely large that they protruded completely from its mouth even when closed ; the two gigantic and extremely menacing upper canines resembling large, deadly weapons of war, like long, curved swords.
Teeth of…
'Saber teeth.'
The word came clearly to mind, like an old memory surfing.
Everyone was completely still and tense, staring fixedly at the massive beast that also didn't move atop a natural elevation of earth and rock, dominating the area. It stared intently at each member of the group individually with its bright, predator-hungry yellow eyes, as if meticulously choosing which one it specifically wanted to prey on first, as if carefully analyzing the varied of a menu.
Hawke and the entire group anxiously awaited Tairo's order on what to do, he was the appointed leader, but he seemed too shocked and paralyzed to be able to say anything articulate. Hawke could understand perfectly , he was the one who was most dangerously close to the beast at the moment, and probably any sudden noise or overly abrupt movement could instantly make him the first chosen target.
Tairo began to back away extremely slowly, carefully walking backward one tiny step at a time, without taking his eyes off the beast for even a second. He made discreet signals with his free hand for the others to move away as well, following the example.
The saber-toothed tiger gave a deep, menacing growl that reverberated in his chest, then leaped fluidly from the elevated rock where it was, landing on the soft ground with practically no sound. With no visible hurry to attack immediately ; it seemed genuinely sadistically amused by their palpable fear.
"We need to go back now!"
Duggi whispered tense but determined.
"No way we're going to face something like that! We don't have enough appropriate weapons and we're too few! Besides, there are three fragile girls with us , it's too dangerous to try!"
Kaira let out a loud "humph" in clear disapproval of Duggi's dismissive opinion.
"NO!"
Tairo countered quietly but firmly, still keeping his gaze fixed, mesmerized, on the beast, maintaining his upright posture, continuing to back away millimeter by millimeter.
"Do you really think you could run away from this?! It's TOO fast! It'll easily catch one of us quickly before we can get any distance!"
Hawke had perfectly understood the reasoning behind Duggi wanting to go back ; he had already coldly considered and accepted that there would inevitably be losses in the group, and that this expendable loss would naturally be the slowest member. Hawke honestly couldn't judge morally, because he had also thought about exactly that in a selfish way.
And the most obvious and vulnerable prey was definitely Yuka , she wasn't used to this kind of extremely dangerous situation, she constantly complained about her delicate feet hurting, and now she could barely stand because her legs were trembling uncontrollably, besides visibly appearing the most tired and exhausted.
Hawke instantly saw the horrific scene of her being torn apart exactly as in the vivid nightmare and shook his head forcefully trying to expel it.
'No! I will NOT leave her alone! This is not a dream or a nightmare, I am not a coward like that, pathetic!'
He firmly affirmed to himself, but with genuine fear of his own future actions when truly tested. He quickly considered that technically he could carry her on his back without losing much running speed, but...
What would be the other easy and vulnerable prey then? Duggi carrying the old woman? Kuggi?
Kaira?
This made him extremely tense as he processed.
'I could push the... NO! Don't think about it, damn brain!'
"We can't go back now!"
Tairo declared categorically.
"We can't let this whole trip be completely in vain! If we go back now, even if everyone miraculously survives, we'll ALL eventually die of hunger there! The critical food problem isn't going to solve itself easily, and there's something considerably WORSE nearby, that giant carnivorous dinosaur! How long do you honestly think it would take him to find and devour us?"
"And what exactly are we going to do then?!"
Kaira asked reluctantly but defiantly.
"Confront him directly?!"
'WHAT?! Confront him directly?! We don't have the SLIGHTEST chance of winning this!'
The alarmed thought mixed chaotically with the others that torrentially flooded Hawke's mind.
"No, we wouldn't have any chance of winning..."
Tairo's statement perfectly corroborated Hawke's thinking, which made him strangely pleased that he wasn't the only one with basic common sense there.
"We're going to SEPARATE."
Tairo continued.