Make your move!

Seeing just a glimpse of opportunity, you form your fist into a ball and smash your hand upward straight into Bastard's scrotum. His eyes open wide in shock as he stumbles backwards, grabbing at his MASSIVE balls. You can't help but stare for just a moment. They look like giant scrunchy oranges! You tear your eyes away from the monster and reach backwards, grabbing your pack and your weapon. It takes only a few seconds, but by the time you gather your things Bastard is already back in the action. He yowls angrily as he charges at you. Taking advantage of your nimble frame, you lightly dance out of his way as he rams headfirst into the wall with a BANG. Oh shit, his friend might have heard that.

You immediately turn from your enemy and rush the cave entrance. You can still hear the rain but for now, that's the least of your problems. You burst outside as the rain immediately drenches you. You look around for the other giant but don't see him anywhere. Off in the distance you think you can hear a loud bellowing scream. With no other direction to go than towards it without being easily seen by the giant in the cave, you rush into the brush towards the screaming. You make it a few hundred meters before diving into a large bush, obscured from the cave. Behind you, you hear thundering footsteps as the first giant runs from the cave searching for you. You hold your breath as he also turns in the same direction you did. He charges directly at you and you get ready to get on your feet again. Fortunately, the giant seems to forget about you completely as he hears the screaming in the distance.

"Brother! Where are you? I help!"

The giant rushes past just past you, probably just a couple meters away, and you breath a sigh of relief. You hear the crunches and cracks of the giant running through the brush and away from you. As he disappears from sight and the sound of his footsteps are once again covered by the constant beating of rain on the ground, you hear a wailing sound rise up from where you heard screams before. Curiosity rising through you and overtaking your concern for your personal well-being, you creep out of your hiding place and over the ridge the giant disappeared over. In the distance you can make out a giant trapped in the writhing tendrils of what looks like just an ordinary tree. You can make out stains of red all over his body, now a corpse, and your friend Bastard kneeling a fair bit away, head in hands. You realize that the tree he is under looks a lot like the tree you were thinking about setting up camp under when it started to rain. Well, I guess that would have been a worse decision than what I did. You had heard about that type of tree before but never seen one in person. Supposedly they trip up those that wander near their roots and drag them to the ground. They then grab their victim and slowly devour them. They are like a distant version of venus flytraps, only much larger and much more aggressive. There are stories that they might reproduce by inseminating humanoids, but they seemed a bit far fetched. Why would a tree want to breed with a woman?

You sigh and turn away from the gruesome sight. You are already getting cold, your slightly torn shirt does little to protect you from the elements. With no other choice than to move on, you break away from the brush and make your way back to the road.

You put some distance between yourself and the cave before really letting yourself breath. A quick sob breaks through your otherwise calm exterior as thoughts of what would have happened to you if you hadn't escaped swim through your mind. You steel yourself and regain composure quickly. It's a good thing this body is so light and fast. I don't think I would have been able to avoid that monster otherwise. In fact, he probably would have just killed me while I was sleeping if I were a man. You suppose there are a few advantages of being female adventurer, even if you aren't as strong as you once were. Even if you lose, it seems like enemies are less likely to kill you and more likely to do... bad things to you. Maybe that's worse...