Chapter 1 The Rabbit

“Run, rabbit, run,” a loud cackling filled the air. The already battered human picked himself up and somehow started running. His leg was oozing blood where one wolf had sunk his teeth. He could not understand how one human being could bite another human. He was dragging his leg with him. His face was all scratched. The right eyebrow kept bleeding, and it was getting difficult for him to look ahead with all the blood in his eyes. He had been running in the alleyways for more than two hours, but there was no respite.

He looked behind to see if his killers were following him, but they just stood far away laughing and smirking at him. They didn’t even see the need to cover their faces, as they knew that the game of chase they were playing, they would win at every cost. They were more powerful, more agile, faster than any human.

The human kept running, rather, dragging himself somehow. He was eager to find a hiding place. He was under the assumption that if he found a hiding place, his killers wouldn’t be able to find him. What he didn’t know was that his killers were not humans; they were wolves, werewolves. They could find him by his smell, no matter where he would hide.

He kept gasping for air, running, dragging his feet, trying to get away, but before he could move ahead, another human bumped into him. They both fell on the ground, hard. Human 1 fell on his back, whereas Human 2 fell on his side. Human 1 looked at 2, and a loud scream escaped his mouth. The stomach of 2 was slit open, and he had been running with his intestines in his hands. Human 1 immediately backed away from 2, still on his derriere, his breath shaking.

He could hear the killers closing in.

“Please… help!” cried Human 2. Human 1 wanted to help him, trust me, but he knew that after running with an open stomach for hours, even if he got him to a hospital, he would die of sepsis. There was nothing he could do for him. Now he had to save himself.

He again lifted himself up and, breathing heavily, started running while Human 2 kept pleading. When he was about 500 metres away, he turned to look around once again, and a chill ran down his spine when he saw the killers kneeling near the other human, and it appeared that they were ripping him open with their bare hands. Not only that, but some were also eating his insides and laughing.

He could not control himself, and he vomited his guts out. How come one human was eating another? Now he feared for himself even more. It was clear that the killers would not only kill him but also eat him alive. He felt a sudden rush of adrenaline, and immediately, he felt no pain; he was ready to run, run away from his death.

He was at the end of the alleyway. He had this idea that if he reached the main road, he might flag a car and then escape. He ran and ran and now was on the open road, but there was no car, no vehicle, and he knew his killers were closing in. He was sweating from every orifice. Was it because of running or fear, he had no idea. He was not thinking about his sweat, his wet clothes or the blood oozing out.

He knew that if he didn’t get help soon, he might lose consciousness because of all the blood he was losing, and then it would be easy for the killers to kill him.

“No one can escape from Ozul, rabbit!” Another cackle pierced his ears. His whole body shivered with fear, and he gasped for air. He felt as if someone was crushing his lungs, and he was unable to expand his chest to its fullest.

He had heard of Ozul. Hell, everyone had heard of Ozul. He was the serial killer that every police officer, every media, and every law enforcement agency was trying to find. He was killing people left and right and leaving the bodies on display for everyone to find. Even with the advancement in technologies, no one was able to find his DNA near all the kill sites.

He wanted to live, so he kept running. On the main road, to his luck, he found a police station. Screaming his head off, he ran inside, but the station was almost empty with only two officers in their seats, that too sleeping.

“Help! Help! Help!” shouted the human and begged for help. Hearing his pleas, the police officers woke up with a jerk.

“What? What? What is wrong?” asked one of the police officers.

“Ozu… Ozul is… coming! He is… coming! He is… after me! Help!! Help! He is going to kill,” begged the human.

The police officers looked at each other, shocked, but the next moment they started laughing at the human. He found it bizarre that they were laughing at him when his life was in danger.

“What? What?” demanded the human.

“There is nothing like Ozul. He is a myth. A boogie man! We have been hearing about him for years and have found nothing, no clue, and you say you saw him, and he is coming to kill you?” laughed the officers.

“He is real! He is coming!” shouted the human with tears in his eyes. “Please! Please help me!”

“Okay! Okay! Fine!” said the officers, but they could not stop smiling. They never believed Ozul to be real. They made the human sit down and offered him water. While he was having a sip, they went to bring the first aid box to help him. “Who did this to you?” asked one of the officers.

“I told you, Ozul. He is after me. His killers are after me,” cried the human.

“Oh! So now his killers, too, are after you. Good to know!” replied Officer 1, looked at his friend and giggled.

“Do you think he has some mental problems?” asked Officer 2 in a hushed tone.

But the human heard him. “I am not crazy!!” he snapped.

“Listen, man! We get that you were attacked, and you fear for your life, but please tell us the truth; then only we can help you. We cannot go and find a boogie man like Ozul,” said Officer 1 with all the seriousness he could muster.

“Who says I am a boogie man?” The whole police station was filled with an eerie silence.