Armoured cars pulled up at the place where the creature hid. Ben hopped out, looking at the cave where he fought the monster while his mind imagined the number of lives it would’ve taken. How many people died without anyone knowing what it even was or why it existed? In truth, no one could have a chance of understanding the origins of the monster that terrorised the lands for so long, even during its dormant state.

  Benjamin readied himself to go into the cave. Curly decided to stay behind and be on guard near the armoured cars. A fair thing to do, as he almost died in that cave. Best for him to be ready for an engagement besides being thrust into one.

  ‘Well, Sergeant.’ Ell readied her rifle before handing him a torch and a hand radio. ‘You take the lead. We’ll cover your flank.’

  It was good to be given something that would help him see in the dark. In a way, it was funny to carry an electronic device again after a few weeks. Without delay, he guided them deeper into the cave. Stepping over discarded and rusted weapons and equipment to follow the trail of old dried-out blood. Everyone was quiet, alert, and vigilant. At one point, Ben’s torch flickered, causing him to grip his M4 tightly, his hands sweaty while his heart slowed down to prepare for a potential engagement. Yet nothing came, not yet at least.

  At some points, Ell’s men split off from the main group to cover more ground whenever the cave diverged in any direction. They were all eager to find the monster and slay it once and for all. Though it was expected that Ben would lead the group to where the monster would be resting. At least that was what Ben believed. The monster could ambush him at any moment, and he didn’t know where the creature liked to rest. But that was a minor concern. The main problem was that there was a chance that the Jinn could’ve migrated somewhere else. A thought Ben wasn’t fond of.

  Soon, they found the section of the cave where Ben and Curly had fought the monster. The bits of nanofiber armour and 5.56 casings were still scattered on the ground. It was as if his fight were mere hours ago, despite being weeks. Instinctively, Ben looked up, expecting the Jinn to be waiting for him. However, there was nothing there, and as the hand radio crackled with everyone stating that their section of the cave they covered was clear. He and everyone else were also disappointed with the news. The monster had already left.

  ‘That is where we were,’ Ben explained. ‘Dicklish and I were ambushed by him right here. Banged us up really well, even slicing open Dicklish’s chest. Bypassing his vest entirely with a single slash.’

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  ‘And how did you fight them off?’ Ell asked, scanning the room for any clues of the creature’s existence and where it might’ve gone.

  ‘I’m not sure how, but all I did was grab them from behind and throw him to the ground. I barely had anything else with which to defend myself. So, desperate, I lit a flare in front of his face, and he ran. I don’t understand why that worked. But it screamed, and…’ Ben thought back of that day, how he breathily saw its face and how it startled him. ‘I don’t know. But ever since then, I've always used flares whenever I go out to fight him.’

  Ell shrugged before calling her team over the radio to leave the cave. ‘Then let’s keep that in mind when we go after that beast. I thank you for helping us find this place, but sadly, we have to go on the hunt again. I just hope we deal with it sooner rather than later. The longer it is out there, the more people it would’ve killed. But for now, let’s head back to the convoy and rethink our plan.’

  Benjamin was about to follow behind her, but he stopped himself when he saw something catching his eye. Among the pile of bones. An ancient set of armour, its coloured cloth faded and rotted to pieces. Yet the design was familiar to him. When he was learning to speak Dair, he had to go through a history class in an attempt to understand the language a bit better. And the armour on the ground, decaying over time, looked similar to the armour worn by the soldiers of the Sasanian Empire.

  Perhaps it was a coincidence that the armour was there. The region had an extensive history of empires and warring kingdoms. Yet, the fact that it was there made him uneasy, and he speculated on the nature of the creature. What if it wasn’t an experiment? What if they were fighting something far older than anything and, for some reason, was coming out to kill?

  After shaking his head, Ben decided to ignore the thought. Though it made him a bit frightened at the thought, to him, it was a silly idea and perhaps more mundane. The person he was hunting down was to him just a human who had been experimented on to become a better soldier, only to fail. He reasoned that the armour was probably nothing, and just a relic of the old world. Even if the evidence of the monster’s existence stated otherwise.