Gale woke up to the sound of beasts tripping his outer traps. He stayed put. Whatever it was gave up before reaching the inner perimeter, but he could still sense it lurking at the edges of his detection range.

  After a few minutes of searching, he found it resting near where he'd killed the earlier forest beast. Then he saw it.

  It was massive. Its skin was a weird mix of scales and fur slapped together like some biology experiment gone wrong. A frankenstein.

  It had rows of teeth like a crocodile but way bigger. A hump rose from its back with bone spikes jutting out along the spine. It stood on two legs with five fingers on each huge hand. Thick nails grew from each of its fingers, forming the claw. The thing moved its head right and left, scouring and examining the forest ground. It never once crossed his trap.

  It's smart.

  Suddenly, it snapped its head toward his position. It stared at him directly through the underbrush where Gale was hidden. There was no way it should have spotted him.

  It moved closer through the trees. The smell hit him first. Putrid stink of decaying flesh in a mixture of piss and shit.

  He saw it, pushing its snout onto the leaves and bushes. It didn't know exactly where he was. At least not yet.

  A cough wanted to form in Gale's throat. He held back, but he couldn't. He coughed a bit, as silent as he could.

  The forest changed into chaos. Trees broke. Branches snapped. The beast charged at him suddenly.

  "Shit!" Gale took off through the underbrush. The beast didn't even let out a sound. Not a groan. Not a growl. It wasn't a good sign. Smart was an understatement of a description of the beast that chased him.

  It was thrice the size of the largest forest beast he saw. Gale didn't know why it even bothered chasing him.

  Goddamn beasts. I'd literally just be a piece of meat stuck between your teeth.

  Gale jumped up onto the tree. The platform he made along with the traps was now paying off. His bone armour rattled against each other each time he made a sharp turn and jumped up to another platform.

  "Think, Gale, you idiot!" He ducked under a branch that whipped past his face.

  His traps. Only chance. He cut hard left toward a cluster he'd set earlier. Maybe even injure it.

  The beast followed, smashing through everything in its path. It didn't care about the surroundings. Its thick hide was not bothered by the enormous branches that whipped against its body.

  Gale leaped over the first pit trap. The beast's foot crashed through the covering, but the spikes barely broke skin. It bled a little but kept coming.

  He ran without looking back, leading it deeper into his territory. He jumped over a tripwire. The same tripwire snapped. A heavy log dropped square onto the side of the beast. The same trap would have killed a smaller beast instantly. This one just shrugged it off like it was nothing.

  Gale cursed inwardly. That trap took hours to set up. Finding a good log, then hoisting it using vines and creating makeshift levers. All of that to just see it slam onto the beast with no effect.

  The next trap would do damage, he hoped. It was spikes that shot up from the ground.

  Gale jumped over the pitfall. The beast was stupider when it was chasing.

  The beast jumped over the pitfall but also tripped the wire. Spikes shot up from the ground, shooting up to the belly of the beast. Only one spike managed to lodge itself into it, though it was only skin deep.

  Next was a landslide triggered manually. Gale ran up to the vine on the side of the tree, pulling it as he ran away. Boulders slid down the hill. Each boulder was the size of the first forest beast he encountered.

  The beast met it head on. It struggled slightly against it, but still, no direct damage. Nothing. Not even a groan this time.

  Trap after trap failed. His hope started fading. The beast was too big for traps designed for normal forest creatures. He had thought that the forest beasts were already Earth bear-sized leveled up to 11. This new beast itself broke that scale.

  Gale grabbed some rocks while running and used Phase Touch on them. He threw them back, hoping they'd phase into the beast's body. The skill released too soon, making the rocks bounce harmlessly off its hide.

  "Goddammit!" Gale shouted.

  His legs burned as the beast gained on him.

  Something his dad once said popped into his head: "Sometimes, Gale, the best way to solve a problem is to step back and make bigger traps. The bigger, the better."

  Gale spotted a tall tree with low branches. He sprinted toward it and scrambled up the trunk with fear-fuelled speed. He grabbed the first branch, high enough that the beast couldn't reach.

  The beast slammed into the tree trunk, nearly knocking him off. He held tight, survival instinct giving him extra grip.

  You fall, you die.

  From his perch, Gale got a good look at the thing. It was at least three times bigger than the first beast he'd killed, with no obvious weak spots. The first beast was as big as Toronto's garbage truck. Multiply that by 3 and you get 3 garbage trucks.

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  Gale, that's a stupid calculation.

  Shut up, Gale. We're in this situation because of you!

  What are we supposed to do then?

  Suddenly the tree shook. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. He looked down, making eye contact with the beast. It didn't roar or attack blindly. It studied him. Thinking.

  Is it paralyzed or is it thinking?

  It's obviously thinking, you idiot.

  Shut up, Gale.

  This wasn't just a bigger version of the forest beasts. It was different. Too smart, with a body that shrugged off everything he tried.

  The beast circled the tree. It rested its foot on one of the branches. The tree slightly shook, but didn't bend. Then, it balled up a fist. It hit part of the tree, causing the tree to shake more.

  Clearly, it wasn't that smart but it was testing different spots. Smart enough. Each hit shook the trunk more effectively than the last. It looked like it had done this before.

  It paused, balling up its fists, taking a few steps back. It rushed at the tree and slammed the tree with its fist. The crash shook the tree enough to break one of the higher up branches.

  Gale almost fell. The creature wasn't just trying to knock him down. It was finding the tree's weak points.

  The beast sat down, eyes locked on him. That's when Gale got it. This beast knew its own strengths and weaknesses. It wouldn't climb up. That would make it vulnerable. A fall at that size would also damage it much more than a smaller beast falling on itself, though all of them were a larger size than a garbage truck.

  This was now a battle of brains. Gale watched as the beast kept studying the tree, his only lifeline.

  He couldn't win with brute force or his current traps. He needed to set up something specifically for this monster. Fighting it head-on would be suicide. He had to retreat and try again.

  Gale took a deep breath, preparing for another sprint. The tree wouldn't hold much longer. In one move, he dropped from the branch and hit the ground running.

  He jumped logs and ducked vines. Behind him, the beast crashed through everything. His lungs burned.

  He cut left, avoiding the pitfalls he'd made days before. No point in wasting those traps on something they wouldn't work against.

  The beast was smart, but its size made avoiding traps hard. It was going to plow through those traps. Luckily, it focused only on him, not caring about his small traps. But one hole was much bigger than the others. His mistake in making it too large now seemed like a stroke of luck.

  The beast fell, giving Gale a moment to breathe. It didn't last long. The creature clawed its way out quickly.

  The chase went on. He led it through trip wires, not to kill it but to slow it down. Each snare bought him seconds, letting him pull ahead a bit.

  Sweat ran into his eyes. He tried to remember every trap in the area. He needed something big enough for this monster.

  Then he spotted a clearing ahead with his most complex trap. Ahead was a network of vines and logs designed to catch multiple beasts at once.

  Gale sprinted for the clearing, hearing the beast gaining on him. He dove forward, grabbing a hidden vine and yanked hard.

  Snaps and cracks filled the forest as the trap activated. The beast entered the clearing just in time. Logs swung down from both sides, forcing it to the centre. Vines snapped up, lifting and tangling its legs. Rocks fell from above, burying it in the net of vines.

  For a moment, everything went quiet except for rustling leaves. The trap was meant for up to three normal beasts, but the vines barely held this monster.

  A low growl came from the pile. Rocks shifted as a massive claw pushed through.

  Gale turned and ran, not looking back. His legs shook from exhaustion. If the chase continued, he wouldn't last much longer.

  He'd used every trick and trap. The beast itself made no sense. Its sheer size should have already broken its two legs. It didn't follow physics. Then, he heard a crash behind him. It must have broken free.

  He was already far ahead. His camp came into view, and he didn't hear the beast following anymore.

  He collapsed when he reached his camp, gasping for air. He survived, but he wasn't sure for how much longer.

  No time to rest. The beast could return any time. It was smart enough to follow his trail. Gale forced himself up despite his screaming muscles.

  He quickly packed the essentials - his leaf sleeping bag, crude tools, weapons, and the remaining smoked meat. It would have to last until he found a new hunting spot. Staying here wasn't an option.

  A distant roar echoed through the trees. Faint, but definitely the beast. Gale slung his sack over his shoulder and moved out, glancing back once at the clearing that had been his home.

  The trees grew thicker as Gale hiked upstream. The creek's sound got louder with each step. He kept one hand on his spear, the other on his sack, watching for threats.

  Hours later, the creek widened into a river. He heard a waterfall ahead. Over a hill, he saw it, surrounded by moss-covered rocks.

  He remembered what dad said, "Waterfalls mask sounds and scents. They're the best place to escape to."

  Gale smiled. Perfect spot for a new camp. He dropped his sack and got to work. The trees would make good sleeping spots. Climb high enough and stay dry.

  First things first. He needed to remake his camp. He began and collected rocks for a fire pit in the driest area he could find. He'd light it later.

  Next, he gathered branches and leaves. He climbed to a second branch, laid out his sleeping bag, and built a makeshift tent.

  Gale dropped down to the ground. The river was clean, flowing water. He got close to the waterfall just enough to be able to touch the stream. He filled his water sack. He dropped some charcoal pieces at the opening to filter the water into a skin. He took out a piece of jerky and chewed slowly, enjoying the gamey taste he'd gotten used to.

  As night fell, he climbed to his tree spot. His tired body begged for sleep. The waterfall was ambient noise he fully welcomed, making his eyelids heavy.

  His mind replayed the chase as he drifted off. The escape, the failed traps. Something bubbled up inside him. He felt small, beaten. He wanted payback. It was the first time he'd felt this need for revenge.

  "I'll hunt you down and eat you," Gale whispered to himself.

  He let exhaustion take over and fell asleep.

  Morning came too fast. Blue moonlight through his tent woke him. His whole body ached from yesterday's mad dash.

  After a quick breakfast of jerky and water, he climbed down to explore and create bigger traps.

  He first formed a small depression near his camp to funnel in water. He put a gate made of wooden sticks at the output where the water met the riverbank. Fish went through the tunnel, then were trapped in the pool. Weird-looking ones, though. Some might even be poisonous. Those ones were coloured a bright neon purple that seemed to glow. While there were plain coloured ones, white and salmon looking.

  Gale used his spear to fish out the salmon coloured one. He stabbed it, and immediately it fought back, then slowly lost its energy as it bled out.

  He gutted one with his bone knife and put it in the smoker. He needed to ration carefully. Just because he was hungry didn't mean he should eat right away.

  Gale sat up and set off to explore the area. With tools in hand, he'd create as many traps as he could for round two. Bigger traps.