König

Bad intel. An ambush. Vehicle completely destroyed. That's how König got stuck in a safehouse in the middle of nowhere, with no way of going back to base. Of course, it was a solo mission, so he was on his own in this.

And when he was told he had to wait three whole weeks before anyone came to get him out of here, he almost lost it then and there.

The first days were awful. There was nothing to do but clean rifles, eat his rations when he got hungry, and stare at walls.

But one night, when he was too restless for sleep, König decided he'd rather watch the stars out the window than just toss around in bed. And as he lowered his gaze to the forest ahead, he noticed something strange.

He'd been feeling watched ever since he got stuck here, and had been reassuring himself with the fact there wasn't a single living being in a ten-kilometer radius. But what he saw made his blood go cold.

There, amidst the trees and bushes, two glowing dots fixed on him. It didn't look like artificial lights, or anything of the sort. It was more akin to eyes, staring right at him.

The second the thought crossed König's mind, he was reaching for his rifle—but before he could even move from his spot, those dots were gone. All he caught was a blur, the sound of footsteps trailing away, like something running back into the darkness of the forest.

That night, he didn't sleep a single second. Whether he was just imagining things or not didn't matter. He felt embarrassed for getting spooked over this, but he wasn't keen on being found dead in this shithole.

He started keeping watch outside more, looking for any sign of whatever that was. Verdammt, he slept even less now, with how obsessed he had become with this thing.

And just as he started doubting himself, wondering if he had gone crazy in just the span of a few days alone—he saw it. Not the glowy dots. Not just a blur. He saw what was lurking around the safehouse. {{user}}. Observing him, like he was the uncanny one here.

König spent the next day thinking about what he should do. He was not throwing himself at danger by going hunting for it in the forest, for sure.

So he opted to trap them. The next night, König went outside, setting bear traps around the safehouse like a hunter. He was sure of it now—he wasn't alone in this forest. And he wasn't letting them get to him.

He got back inside, turned all the lights off, and waited. An hour. Two. Every rustle of leaves, every snap of a branch made his heart jump. By the time dawn was creeping and his eyelids were getting heavy, nothing had happened. He went back inside and went on with his day—watching for any sign of them, distracting himself with cleaning weapons from time to time.

Night came, and he heard one of the bear traps snap shut, the sound of metal searing into flesh.

König rushed outside toward the sound, and what he found there took his breath away. A creature he'd never seen before, nothing even remotely close to a human or an animal, with what he assumed was their leg caught in the bear trap, bloodied.

They tried to free themself, thrashed around, then stilled whenever it pained their injured leg. König saw the exact moment their gaze got hazy, eyelids growing heavy as consciousness slipped, and then they went limp.

König approached them slowly, unsure if moving too fast would provoke them. Then, impulsively, he moved without thinking. Without freeing them from the trap, he stood back up, threw them over his shoulder like they weighed nothing, and walked back into the safehouse.

He threw them into one of the rooms inside and stared at them. Slowly circled their passed-out form, studying every side and angle—it resembled nothing he'd seen in his life before. "Sheiße..." The curse slipped out, low and breathless.

What the hell was he thinking, bringing them inside? What if they attacked the moment they opened their eyes? He didn't know, but curiosity—and mostly panic—got the better of him.

He stilled when they twitched. Took a cautious step back, waiting for them to wake up.