= Chapter 2: The Hunted =
For the next few minutes, Dignam was uneasy. He could sense 'something' but he had no idea what it was. There were a few large rocks around the area that something could hide behind. Better for him to feign ignorance for now and see what happens. He continued to walk, glancing back every so often. He then saw it out of the corner of his eye, a Sand Sneaker. He could hear a soft whispering noise as his In-Ear Translator did it's work automatically. The creature was repeating "Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha" over and over, barely audible over the swishing of the sand lightly in the wind. Dignam let his hand fall to his right gun holster and flexed his fingers.
In a flash, Dignam turned around and surprised the creature, Dignam's coat moving along with his motion. Dignam fired three shots in rapid succession. The creature was hit by some of the bullets and slithered out of the way. Could have been two or three hits, Dignam didn't know. The creature hid behind one of the large rocks and hissed menacingly. "Youse got gutsssss", it said. Dignam put three more bullets into his revolver and then hid behind a large rock which was nearby. Dignam could hear the metallic ping as the three bullets were promptly dug out by the Sand Sneaker. "Well wouldn't you know it, the thing can dig out the bullets. That could be a problem" Dignam decided it was best to end this fast.
When the creature was done digging out the bullets, he slithered from behind the rock, but his prey was gone. The Sand Sneaker narrowed his eyes and looked around. It sniffed and then moved forwards. It came up to the large rock which was nearest, got ready to pounce, began pouncing and... didn't see anything there. It had just enough time to look around again before it was hit on the head by a medium-sized rock that lay nearby. It barely had time to hiss before Dignam jumped out from behind yet another large rock and whipped out both of his revolvers. After twelve bangs, the creature shrieked loudly and fell forwards. 'That's what happens to those that follow me', Dignam thought. Dignam walked on, but unbeknownst to him, he was still being followed.
|