Out in the woods, Tony made careful and quiet steps to the place where he and Juan had been hiding earlier. He followed the path of trampled brush to a familiar spot that he decided was that place. He searched around a bit, but was stopped when he stumbled over something and almost fell face-first in the lush green moss.

He looked down to find out what he had tripped on and saw… a gigantic paw print.

It was the biggest paw print he had ever seen, almost twice the size of his own hand. It was even larger than some of the bear tracks he had seen in his hunting days! This creature was no ordinary woodland animal, it was a huge beast.

Tony chose to hurry back to the cabin before he was swallowed by the darkness… or worse.

By the time Tony got back, Clarissa had dinner almost ready, and the kids were teasing each other as usual – with Debby doing most of the teasing.

“Oooh, you saw a big beast, did ya? Is it going to eat you in your sleep?”

“Yeah! I saw it!”

“Oh, sure you did, little bro.” She turned on the flashlight from her phone and held it under her face. “Was it a scaaary tiger? Or a hideous mooonster!?”

In the meantime, an oblivious Tony was taking a shower and just thinking about that huge paw print.

After dinner, the Romero family was sitting down to play Monopoly in the warm glow of the fireplace

“This time I get to be the dog!” Juan argued.

“No, you got the dog last time. It’s my turn,” retorted Debby.

"Whatever. I guess you can have the dog, as long as I get to be the banker.”

“Fair enough.”

“Okay, I’ll take the thimble.”

The siblings’ argument was interrupted by an odd noise coming from outside, like the snarling of a predator and the screeches of other wild animals. The screeches started to die out, until the only sound left was the predator’s savage roars.

Debby looked up from the board game. “Dad…? What’s that noise?”

“I don’t know, sweetie. But I think it’s probably that creature that chased us today.”

“Didn’t we already establish that you were just trying to scare us?” Clarissa warned.

“Uh, no. Something really did ambush us in the forest,” Juan piped up.

“No way,” Debby disagreed.

           “Then what’s that noise outside?” challenged Tony. And what were those footprints I saw earlier? he thought to himself, but he didn’t say it aloud. He didn’t want to scare anyone where it wasn’t necessary. That could ruin the Great Romero Family Hunting Trip.

“It was probably just the coyotes howling, and maybe having their evening meal,” explained Clarissa. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

“Unfortunately, I’m sure it is,” Tony muttered under his breath.

🗡🗡🗡

The following day, Debby told her family she was going out with Juan and Tony so she could take pictures of the nature around them. Her phone had a special editor so she could enhance the photos and make them look even more breathtaking. It certainly would help her mother’s photography business.

“Sure you can come, but I need to keep you in my sights at all times,” warned Tony.

“Fine,” Debby agreed.

Out in the woods, Tony and Juan noticed that a lot of dense white fog was starting to roll in. The humidity level was also going up while the visibility was dropping, thanks to that fog.

In the meantime, Debby had spotted a little group of three adorable wolf pups. They were scampering away from her on the lush mossy ground.

“Wow, they’re really cute,” she whispered to herself as she clambered over rotting, fungus-covered logs and large, slippery rocks in their direction. “Just – need – to get a clear… shot…”

The three little pups were starting to slow down, and finally they stopped to face in her direction. She froze in place, awkwardly, and somehow managed to get a really nice picture. When she righted her position, though, the pups quickly bounded away. She smiled to see their cute little tails disappearing in the thick fog.

“Wait…fog? When did that roll in?” She looked around to see that she was completely alone! She must’ve accidentally separated herself from her dad and brother.

Suddenly, she caught a whiff of something…awful. Like something had…died around here. She looked down, and all around her were the carcasses of dead animals. There was a moose skeleton right over there, and then a rabbit’s over here…EW. She needed to get out of here, now, before what killed these animals came back.

She screamed for help. “Dad! Juan! Help! Where are you guys!?” She thought she might have heard their responses, but instead she heard a low snarling, very similar to what she heard last night.

Debby slowly turned around to see a horrible beast staring her right in the face with its evil eyes. Its snout was soaked in the blood of the animal carcasses around her. The red liquid also dripped from its white fangs. It really did look kind of like a tiger… This had to be the animal that chased her father and brother yesterday! She didn’t get a very good look at it, though, before it started charging towards her. She screamed and fell backwards on the ground. Debby started to quickly scramble away until she was backed up against a tree. She pushed herself as far as she could against the rough bark and winced in preparation for the impact, but instead she heard a loud, sharp sound… a gunshot.

Debby opened her eyes. The gunshot hadn’t hit the creature, but definitely did scare it away. It started leaping in the other direction, and before she knew it, Tony and Juan were at her side, bombarding her with questions.

“Are you okay?”

“What happened?”

“How’d you get lost?”

“What were you doing?”

Debby answered, “Whoa, whoa, slow down, you guys. I’m okay. I’ll tell you what happened, but let’s get out of here first.”