Reptile snapped his head to the familiar cry. He saw the rest of the men do the same and soon ran to the direction of the roar. Reptile followed from the treetops.

The roar was, as Reptile predicted, from the same jaguar that woke him a few hours ago. The only difference was that it was stuck in one of the toothed traps, roaring and snapping in pain, and one of the Earthrealmers was pointing his gun at it.

Despite his attempts of apathy, Reptile just couldn't let the big cat get killed. Even though it acted hostile to him, he saw no reason that the Earthrealmers should kill it.

I mean, how does that make sense? They set a trap meant for me. Then they kill the first thing that walk into the hazard? They should be setting it free.

Regardless, for whatever reason, he decided to help the jaguar; and settle the score with some meddling Earthrealmers.

He was finally healed enough to become fully invisible, so that's how he began his scare tactic. Once invisible to the human eye, the rest is quite simple.

He crept behind the Earthrealmer in the back, silent as a ghost. Before the Earthrealmer could even feel Reptile's breath on his neck, the Zaterran covered his mouth with a scaly hand and sunk his claws into his neck. Reptile made sure he fell silently.

After completing his first kill, he took his victim's machete and walked to the rest of the Earthrealmers. He beheaded two of them with one swing before they had any idea he was upon them. After the two decapitated corpses slumped onto the jungle floor, however, the hunters snapped to attention. One with a gun fired three times in his direction, none of which came anywhere close to hitting him.

Mmm, that smell. The smell of fear. Soon the jungle will reek of it.

"I warned you," he hissed, still invisible and slowly circling the humans. The foolish Earthrealmer fired once again in his direction, missing by far once again. "I gave you a chance for a peaceful solution. That chance is left." The hunter fired twice more before his gun clicked, out of ammunition. The smell of fear flared more strongly.

"Your only chance for survival," he dragged on the last syllable, "Is to release the cat, and leave immediately. If you do not, I will kill you all and feast on your flesh." They didn't make any immediate movement to obey, so Reptile dashed close to one of the younger Earthrealmers. They were face to reptilian face, an inch apart, unbeknownst to the young man.

"I'm closer than you think," Reptile whispered. The young human fell onto his rear in terror, shouting. He frantically babbled in his foreign language to his comrades. Reptile hoped for their sake he was telling them to release the jaguar, which was now reduced to whining in pain.

Whatever the Earthrealmer said took effect, for the rest of the hunters rushed to free the jaguar, which began to lash out at them, making it increasingly difficult. Fear of Reptile won out over fear of the cat, the Earthrealmers endured the beasts scratches and eventually got the trap undone. The jaguar roared at the hunters and quickly dashed away, limping slightly.

"There," said one Earthrealmer in accented English, "It's free. We go now?" His voice was shaking harshly.

Reptile finally turned visible behind the hunting party, giving the Earthrealmers a terrifying eyeful. They all jumped back in fear and shock, all repulsed by the sight of the Saurian. "Leave now. Return, and be my next meal." He growled low after this warning, glaring daggers into the hunters. They began to back away slowly.

He noticed nearly too late the Earthrealmer lifting his gun. He didn't have enough focus to turn invisible, however, he was fast enough to get out of the way. Unfortunately, it seemed the one gunner gave foolish courage to the rest of the party. Another man slashed at him with his machete. Reptile ducked under the swing and clawed the man deeply in the face. He fell screaming.

He was fired at twice more, just barely dodging the bullets. Semi-distracted by the barrage, he had to roll on the ground to avoid the next machete swing hoping to lob his head off. However, he was now fortunately behind the attacker. He grabbed the Earthrealmer's head and twisted it completely around, looking into his now-dead eyes.

The last two hunters were both armed with guns, but only one was attempting to fire his. The other was the young man, and he was staring in horror. The other pointed his straight at Reptile's head and pulled the trigger.

Click!

That was the most pleasant sound Reptile heard all day. He smiled a sharp-toothed sneer an bolted into action. He spat a glob of acid at the gunner's face, causing the nose to melt away and him to scream in agony. Reptile finished him by shooting his tongue into his victim's chest, breaking the ribs and wrapping around the heart. He twisted his head and retracted his tongue, removing the Earthrealmer's heart and devouring it. The predesecrated corpse fell to the ground with an almost satisfying splosh.

He turned his head to the last man standing,--he was only about fifteen or so--his mouth still bloody and growling. The poor boy still looked frozen in shock. "Leave. Now. Or suffer a similar fate," he snarled. The boy bolted off at a sprint, sobbing.

The Zaterran looked around at the carnage. He was above feeling remorse for Earthrealmers, he's killed too many for this to be any skin off his nose--or, nostrils. Unsurprisingly, he felt more sympathy for the jaguar. He hoped it would survive, wounded and all. More than anything, he wished the Earthrealmers would leave him alone so he could finally work out a way out of this gods-forsaken realm.

He was licking the blood off his face when he heard movement behind him.

He turned around and saw none other than the jaguar he saved, slowly approaching him.

"I suppose you wish to thank me," Reptile growled at it. He already resolved to kill it if it attacked him--making his quarrel quite pointless--when it did something quite unexpected; it purred.

A low rumble was emitted from the beasts and it shoved its head against the raptor's clawed hand. The Zaterran didn't find it cute at all. Not one bit.

Nevertheless, Reptile fought off a smile and began to pet it.

I realize this chapter is quite bloody, so I ended it on a good note. A nice Awww moment for you all.

I have no good excuse for why this chapter took so long, so I'm gonna skip to the part where I apologize and promise it won't happen again.

I'll continue the cycle with Ferra/Torr next chapter. ¡Hasta luego!