The beast

For some reason, deep down inside Misty, the choice was obvious. Despite her fear of him, Misty crawled towards the beast on her hands and knees, her head and her stomach too hurt to stand up. The scaled ape with a broken hand took a step forward to pursue but stopped in its tracks, too angry to let her go unchallenged, but too terrified to approach any further. Misty made it next to the beast and flipped over, sitting on her rear and propping herself up on her hands. She was panting hard and her heart was still racing, but she strangely felt a bit safer now that she was under his shadow. Looking to her right, she saw his large foot in the grass, and his tense calves towered at her sitting eye level. Above those she saw his bulging thighs and up his fur pelt skirt, but not enough to see anything he had underneath. By the time her eyes caught his abs, she had to crane her neck just to see him, which became even more pronounced as her gaze wondered up his chest and neck, reaching his face.

The beast's eyes were glued to the monsters in the ravine ahead, not losing track of them for a moment, even to glance down at her. Misty couldn't even tell that he noticed her crawl over until he slowly took a step forward and in front of her, placing her behind himself and separating her from the primates. Between his legs, she saw them begin to fan out evenly, trying to surround them as much as possible before he reacted. For several seconds, there were no sounds except for the beast's restrained breaths, exhaling heavily out of his nose as he controlled his fury for the time being. The apes didn't make a sound as they continued to creep to his left and right. Misty wasn't making a sound either, her panting turning into a bated breath as she waited for a pin to drop.

Suddenly, the scaled ape in the center charged forward, sprinting on all fours and screeching an animalistic war cry. The beast squared himself, setting his footing and bending his knees, preparing to counter as the ape rapidly closed the distance. As it leapt off the ground and lunged for his chest, he reached out with his right arm and snatched the primate by the neck, stopping his cries and his charge as his arms and legs swung wildly from the momentum of the sudden stop. The creature's eyes bugged out of its skull as the beast held it, but before he could squeeze the life out of it, the other two apes caught him off guard, charging shortly after the central one did. The first to reach him was the ape to his left, which he turned to face just in time to bat away with the back of his left hand and forearm, the simple strike sending it tumbling a dozen feet away from Misty, who was frozen in place as she struggled to find a direction or opening to crawl.

With the first two apes' charges broken, the beast had no time to react to the third, who jumped onto his back, digging its toes into his traps and using its hand to grab the beast's long hair. Its other hand was broken, so instead of hitting him, the scaled simian rolled its lips back, revealing a gleaming row of teeth and fangs that it sunk right into where the beast's neck met his shoulder. For the first time, Misty heard him yell in pain, thrashing violently in an attempt to shake the primate off. Lines of blood quickly ran down his shoulder and onto his chest, and the other ape he held started using its hands to beat, pull, and scrape his right arm. Acting quickly, the beast spun and threw the **** ape away, launching it into the forest and sending it smashing back-first into a tree, knocking the wind out of it but not injuring it as badly as he'd hoped.

By now, the third primate got to its feet and shook off the backhand it received, its eyes locked onto Misty lying on the ground, whose eyes locked onto it right back. Meanwhile, the beast tried to reach behind to grab the one biting his neck, but as his hands nearly reached its head, the savage creature pulled down on his hair with all its weight, tugging his head back and causing him to stubble, failing to grab the scaled simian as it released its bite only to clamp back down a few inches up his neck, drawing fresh blood.

Misty watched the other ape glancing back and forth between her and the beast before taking his distraction as an opening to start running towards Misty, its slack jaw hung open and drooling as its hungry gaze dug into her soul. She screamed, trying to crawl backwards as fast as she could to avoid her onrushing fate. The beast heard Misty and tried to spot her as the creature clinging to his back continued tugging his head back, making it difficult to see. He got one good look at Misty's position and the velocity of the ape running at her and immediately lunged between them. Diving forward, the beast threw himself head first into a roll, tucking just in time so he landed on the primate on his back, slamming it against the ground so hard that it was shaken loose, albeit also pulling its large fangs out of his neck with a painful tear. The one that was gunning for Misty slid to a stop, avoiding a collision with the beast and immediately trying to backtrack. The beast got his feet underneath him again and with one smooth motion, he grabbed the ape he just squished by the ankle and lifted it off the ground, swinging it like a club directly into the chest of the ape trying to back away. The impact sent both creatures tumbling with a mixture of grunts and screeches, which coincided with a third screech from the tree-line.

Bursting out of the highest branches, the other primate had climbed the tree it was thrown into and launched itself directly towards Misty, trying to land on her and kill her before the beast could react. Misty barely had time to turn her head and see the scaled ape's snarling maw come only a few feet from landing on her before the beast's arm shot out and clotheslined it in the stomach, stopping it mid air once more and causing the creature to wheeze in pain. Without any other distractions, the beast lifted the ape all the way into the air before dropping to one knee, driving the primate into the hard ground like a stake, slamming in to the turf with such speed and **** that Misty could hear multiple bones shattering from the impact, as well as a tremendous shockwave through the ground itself. The beast stood back up off his knee and wasted no time in stomping its chest and head with his foot. The ape died without a sound, and with it gone, both Misty and the beast turned their heads to find the remaining two primates.

The pair of scaled simians had finished recovering from their tumble, as well as the short scrape they had as they separated, before looking down to see their third smashed halfway into the grass, its body broken and mushed. The advantage had swung heavily in the other direction now, and the beast eyed them like prey as he placed himself in front of Misty once more, balling his fists as he waited to see if they'd charge again, or run away. To Misty's surprise, they charged.

The beast did not stay defensive this time, instead choosing to run at them moments after they charged. He picked up speed in only a few strides, his powerful legs propelling him quickly as he barreled towards his game. One of the apes broke off, spooked by the beast's speed, but the other did not relent in their game of chicken, and the two collided. The beast's momentum easily won out as he tackled the smaller simian, grabbing it by the throat as they slammed together, driving it back and eventually into the ground, where it futily kicked and flailed. The other ape, successfully dodging its demise, stood there impotently, watching as the beast strangled its kin. It couldn't take him down alone, that was for sure now, but it could at least take down Misty.

Feeling his prey's flailing weaken, the beast breathed heavily as its grip tightened around the animal's throat, crushing its windpipe and cutting off blood to its brain. With a couple final futile smacks of its closed fist against his arm, the ape's limbs fell limp and its bulging eyes glossed over, and the beast squeezed it for a few seconds longer just to ensure the work was done. Lifting himself to his knees, he turned around to find the final ape, spotting it standing ten feet in front of Misty, who managed to get herself onto her feet, barely, and wielded a large rock that she held to keep the ape at bay. Luckily, it was the one with a broken hand, making it both weaker as a fighter and scared of her capability with a rock. However, she was a paper tiger, and posed no real threat in her current state. As soon as the ape realized this, or as soon as she faltered, she would be dead.

As the scaled ape sized her up, baring its teeth as a threat, Misty's eyes glanced above its shoulder, her jaw dropping as she saw something directly behind it, and before the primate could realize what was happening, it was snuck up on and grabbed from behind. Holding the ape by the back of the neck and the leg, the beast hoisted it off the ground with ease, lifting it all the way above his head with its face to the sky. Misty watched with awe, dropping her rock as she used the last of her strength to stay standing as she witnessed what came next. The beast dropped to his knee again and drove the simian straight down across it, shattering its spine, liquifying its organs, and nearly ripping it in half from the sheer strength of his arms. A final squeal left its blood-covered lips as the creature went into shock, rolling off his leg and landing face first into the dirt. Panting, the beast stood up, glancing around for any other scaled apes, or similar threats attracted by the struggle. Seeing none, he reached a hand up to feel the two bite marks on his neck, coating his finger tips in blood as he felt the extent of his wounds. The first bite was deep, but the second had been torn open into a weeping set of gashes, which were spilling blood down his chest, back, and arms, mixing with his hair. As checked himself with his hand, his large green eyes darted to Misty, finding her staring back at him in disbelief that this beast just saved her life. Her skin was as pale as a ghost, and with the apes dead, Misty collapsed to the ground, her injuries catching up to her as she drifted out of consciousness.