September 12, 2667

11:21 P.M
Philippines - After the third war

"Finally!" With my oven mitts, I pull out the last batch of cookies for this month's order.
It takes me fifteen minutes to cool them off and place them in their proper packages.

'What's this?' I look at the table by the doorway here in the living room and see that
there is a plate filled with chocolate and cinnamon cookies.

"That's right, she's not here anymore" gingerbread men and cute foxes 'I must've made
them by habit' Figuring it would be a nice night to relax outside. I made sure everything is
in place and I went out to relax with a plate filled with my grandma's favourite cookies.

I never imagined that I would own a house and become a baker. Grandma was right when
she told me everything will work itself out. Being a cashier at a store in town for years and
just living with my grandma doing chores was a decent life but now I am pastry maker
and it feels bittersweet.

'I just wish she's here with me'

*Crash

"Oh crap!" Jumping in surprise I look to where the noise is located and see that my trash
can is tipped over and the contents still intact 'Thank goodness I placed them in a
trash bag'

I am surprises that I managed to live by myself. Usually I have so many fears including my
paranoia towards the dark and being alone. I guess grandma fixed me.

*Click

'What's making that sound?' Something clicking came from the side and there is
nothing there but trees and the tool shed.

"I must've imagined it then" Shrugging and tightening the binds on my coat. I breathed
the air around me and thanked the heavens that I have neighbours that are a few walks
away.

I do not want live in an area where there no people. I know the creepy stuff that happens
in an area with no people.
Turning around to get back to the cookies by the front porch. A raccoon is nibbling on a
gingerbread man and I fight the urge to chuckle.

With slow steps the little guy did not get startled and I halted right in front of it.

'That is weird' the whole plate had five huge chocolate chip cookies and four vanilla-
cinnamon gingerbread men.

"How can a cutie like you gobble all these up?" Searching for other furry little critters
seemed futile in the dark so I joined the little guy in gorging down what is left.

*Crunch

'Huh?' Looking back to where the trash bins are. Nothing seemed to be out of place save
for the broken branch.

"Must some deer" Normally, I would be paranoid but living with a grandma who loves
horror and to scare the crap out of you will make any wimp a little bit braver. I am living
proof of that fact.

The two of us enjoy the cookies in bliss and the furry creature even eased up to me.

"Today I shall dub thee as Sir Robin Hood" the guy looks up from the crumbs he made
and starts to stare at the last cookie in my hand.

"You have got to be kidding me! I only had one cookie and this is the last one!" the
jerk made grabbing motions towards me and I sighed in defeat.

"Here you go, you little turd" as I place the cookie beside Robin Hood. His thieving
hands grabs hold of the sweet delight. He makes swift work of it by munching on it like
no tomorrow.

"I hope that the ingredients don't kill you. I have no idea what your diet is consist
of anyway" Yawning, I took the plate and said farewell to my new furry friend.

Somewhere near

Beneath the brushes of leaves lies a monster on top of a branch

He stares at the frail human with amusement. He clicks under his helmet. Images of
 capturing this fascinating creature drives him insane

*Click

Three months after hunting the bad blood within this planet, the proud predator stayed
as he left his clan to experience the thrill of hunting other creatures this world has to
offer.

He had several trophies such as the skulls of Xenomorphs, Mammoths, Sabretooths, and
Newly-engineered dinosaurs. The government of this country seemed to focus on ridding
itself of crime and the development of new beings to fuel their curiosity.

“Night” which he dubbed himself as, has his eyes fixated on the human baker. It has been
a month since he stalked this particular specimen. Studying his daily patterns and tasting
(stealing) his delectable creations.

The predator is not sure whether it was the food or the urge to mate with the human that
drives him to stay in this area when he could be elsewhere, hunting and gaining more
trophies.

He can see the small male take his clothes off as he begins to cleanse himself. The boy did
not even close the door to hide himself. Night notices that his member is hard and stiff.
His loincloth barely hides the bulge and the armor plate is pointing upwards.

Before he can alleviate himself, the hunter took notice of the trespassers near the
vicinity, they triggered the sensors that he placed around this blockade.

Growling, he sees two men wearing hoodies and leather boots with a bag strapped on
their backs. 'Thieves' Night taught. He chuckles under his mask and leaps down to greet
his new victims. He will not even give them a chance to scream as he needed his prize to
feel safe tonight, like always.

The next day...

September 13
1:29 P.M
Teardrop Grocery Store
Outskirts of Makati City

"I am not snow white!" I bark at my best friend as she chuckles beside me and inserts
five sour cream potato chips.
 "Sure you're not. I bet there are other princesses that would fit the bill" I pout and
stuck my tongue out.

"Oh! How many Ruffles chips do I get?" I showed her my hand and she nods at me.

"Five it is!" I bang my head on the cart and groan.

"Why do I do the groceries with you again Sharon?" She throws two bags of
marshmallows and grabs the cart from me.

"Because we are besties and the more stuff we purchase, the more points I get in my
membership card" After getting the final product in our shopping list. Sharon and I went
to the cashier and paid for everything.

2:11 P.M
McDonald's

"I don’t believe it" Sharon gawks at me and I ate what is left of my twister fries.

"You have got to be kidding me! Haven't you noticed anything strange happening?
Weird noises, the strange sightings and druglords being butchered?" She really
needs to stop watching Supernatural.

"Let me guess, this is the work of demons, yetis or skinwalkers?" Sharon gives me an
inquisitive look and steals the last piece of my fries.

"You douche!" I booped her nose and she flicked on mine. Thus began our karate fight
with our hands. People stared and laughed at us but we did not care. In the end Sharon
won and she forced me to buy her a sundae as we leave.

"Bro, I think this is not our police force's work. Something is up!" I bump my butt at
the conspiracy detective and she boos at me.

"Sharon, I don't believe that monsters are doing this. You have watched the news
and see that our President has authorized brute force to fight crime" Sharon
complains that the media is just manipulating the real story.

"Whatever, here is my stop. Take care bro!" Sharon nods at me and I ride the bus back
home.
'Oh my!' My feet stumble across someone else's and I fall forward but I felt myself being
grabbed from behind and getting straightened up.

"Thank you" I spun around to show my gratitude to the one who saved me but I saw no
one other than the passengers that are sitting on their seats.

'I swear that someone had grabbed me, weird' giving up on looking for my saviour, I
sat at an empty slot and started to ponder on what has been happening lately.

"Don't get paranoid Jake, Sharon's conspiracy theories are getting to you" my
smartphone vibrates and I fumble on my seat.

"I'm not selling any of my goods until next month. Who could text me at this hour?"
Sharon and three other of my best friends don't text me as much and I am definitely sure
that my family will never contact me, I hate them.

Opening the message and scanning it. It is one of my regular customers, he sent me an
invite.

"Horror before Halloween" It says that I can invite a friend 'I wonder if Sharon would
join me' God knows that I hate being by myself in any event.

Hearing the news on the transport's television, I gaze at the screen and gape at the report.

"Rangers had discovered these bodies strung up and skinned alive. The police has
disclosed some information and that they told us that these are men who had
weapons and regular robber tools. There are no suspects at the moment and what
is worse is that one of the corpses has its skull removed" the reporter further explains
that it took place not too far from my household. Those men were between the preserve
and my house.

*Click

A shiver ran through my spine and for a second, I felt someone squeeze my shoulder
gently. My hand landed on the spot to where I got touched and see that my hood got
shifted in place.

"Maybe, I should stay with Sharon for a while" a passenger suddenly curses and I
could have sworn I heard clicking noises and a growl.
 "Who the hell did this?" An old lady gestures to the broken umbrella on the floor.
Someone heavy clearly stepped on it.

4:23 P.M
Jake's Household

"I'm just being paranoid" but the text and calls that I got from my best friends freaking
out and worrying for my safety, did not help. They want me to stay with them or to get
out of my home for the mean time.

"Huh?" Something hard must have hit my window as there is a large crack on it. I ran
outside and got greeted by such a sight.

'I must being going crazy' something black with an elongated head is staring at my
window and hissing loudly at it. That tail it has looks prehensile and the tip seems pointy
enough to stab anything it touches.

"What the heck did it throw to break my windows?" There is nothing there save for the
green goo on the walls.

"Sweet merciful vanilla" Out of nowhere a huge guy in costume appears and struggles to
get up. I look at the black thing and it looks ready to jump at the guy.

Knowing what I am about to do is stupid, I shouted at the black creature and threw my
shoe at it to get its attention.

Waving my arms and telling it that its head looked like a black dildo maybe a bad idea as
I had to sprint and grab one of my foldable chairs and swung it at the black monster.
Breathing heavily, I used the chair to block the swing of the thing's tail and I got swatted
away and my side hits the wall.

*Crash

There goes one of my grandma's vases. I had little time to react when the creature lunged
itself at me.

*Roar

"What in the?" The black beast gets pulled and thrown outside towards the porch. The
huge man-lizard guy looks at me with his mask and turns around to face the monster
outside.
 The lizard-guy grabs a stick from his side and it suddenly became a spear. The black
monster jumped back and used its tail to slash at the large man but he was too nimble.
He uses his left hand to grab the tail and pulled the creature towards him, with his spear
he stabbed the monster on its head and it flails while it screeches in agony.

The guy roars and that is when I see him stagger and fall back. There is the tail,
embedded on his side. Having a clear look at the lizard-man. He is full of scratches and
wounds. The green goo must be his blood and I fought back the urge to rush to his side.

"Oh Ghandi, I hope he doesn't kill me" My feet managed to move me towards the guy
and judging by the heavy heaving of his breaths, he is exhausted.

The guy looks at me and cradles my cheek. My face heats up and I tried to tell him to help
me get him inside the house.

"I need you to stand buddy. We have to get you fixed up and close those wounds of
yours" Hearing weird clicking noises from the guy, he slowly gets up and leans on me a
little.

I don't know how I managed to haul a guy three times my size on the couch but that is an
issue for next time. I need to focus on having this guy healed.

Before I can get my med kit, the guy grabs something from his sash and hands it to me. It
looks like a vial with blue gel. His movements are sluggish but he motions between the
vial and his body.

I almost dropped the vial when he tries say something, his voice deep and somewhat
terrifying. I nod when I understood that he wants me to rub it on his wounds. I had to
stop staring at his well-toned body when he worked the straps of his armor and tore his
fishnet shirt off. I had to grab his hand to prevent him from ripping his loincloth off. I do
not think he is wounded there.

My hands land on the warm and scaly shoulders and rub at his forearms next. The gel
feels cold and reminds me of an aloe Vera lotion.

The huge guy clicks and purrs each time my hands move and I tried not to let it bother
me. His sudden grip on my waist made me flinch but I calmed down when he only settled
me on his lap.

'This would've been sexy it weren't for the alien blood and scary monster outside'
 with my eyes focused on the larger guy's body. I fail to notice the sound of air releasing
and something dropping behind me.

I tried not to yelp when the guy leaned his large and scaly head on my neck. He is now
chirping and purring.

"Please don't eat me" being smaller and trying to sound threatening failed as the larger
male only chuckled and continued his ministration.

5:06 P.M
Makati
Sharon's apartment

"Pick up Jake!" My eyes dart towards the television and the news regarding the strange
deaths near his house keeps me on my toes. That little turd can barely stand up for
himself.

5:06 P.M
Jake's Residence

'Whut?' I hear my phone vibrating on the table and wipe the drool off of my lips.

My muscles feel lax and I bury my head against the cushions. Groaning and staring at the
wooden table. I push myself a little further and reach my hand out for the mobile device.

"Whuuuuuuut?" Is my first response and I cringed at the reply that I received.

"What do you mean whuuut? Have you seen the news? A huge scary looking guy
was seen near the jungle preserve. Cops will probably arrive there to warn you or
something. Check the television, there are deaths that occurred near your place!"

Yawning, I grab the remote of the living room TV and turned it on then switched it to the
local news channel.

There it is, a reporter discussing the gruesome details of the two dead bodies and how the
police are investigating what may have happened to those poor souls.

"Okay Sharon, I see that these are people who ventured to far into the woods. You
know that I'll never go inside that creepy place" My friend hums and tells me that I
better look at the screen and I did.
A forensics personnel shares a new piece of information to the news team. My eyes widen
as I gape at the object they presented. There lays one of my customized cookies, well
crumbs of it but the head of a ginger bread man is visible.

"They say it was found beneath one of the victim's boots" Sharon asks me if anything
may have gotten stolen but I told her that everything was fine and as I turn to look at the
other furnishings inside the house, I almost tripped at the sight of my grandma's vase
missing.

"I'll call you back, I need to check something out. If I don’t call you after fifteen
minutes then call the cops and send them here. I need to make sure that I didn't get
robbed" She agrees with me and tells me to stay safe and grab a nearby weapon just in
case.

'What happened earlier?' Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I do my best to
recall anything that had happened and I gasp at the sudden rush of memories that hit me.

"Holy tarpaulin!" I ran towards the kitchen and grabbed a mallet from one of drawers
next to the fridge.

"Where the heck are you? I know you are real!" The huge armored lizard-man and
those black monsters that fought outside and inside my house.

"You owe me a vase made from Greece!" Screaming should not be the first approach I
take but with all that is happening right now, I cannot take any risks of anything jumping
and slashing at me.

My heart started to raise when I walked outside my house and look at any signs of
damage but everything was perfectly fine except for the missing garden gnomes and my
vase.

"I must be going crazy" I am certain that all those things happened and that I was not
imagining things. The logical explanation would be those two dead guys robbing me but
as the reporter and cops stated, the only objects found with the resident robbers were
their tools and clothes they wore.

'They could've owned a van or another vehicle to put their stolen goods in' I doubt
that. That lizard-guy must have thrown the broken objects and hid it somewhere just like
the bodies of those black creatures.

I took my phone out and started to talk with my friend. She kept asking me about
 anything strange and I fed her with the info of just some raccoons going through my
garbage which she bought and had let go of the topic.

'I can't tell her about the huge lizard-man and those black monsters until I have
evidence. I do not want my friend to go on an investigation and getting hurt. I
knew that I almost got killed earlier' Giving up for now, I chatted with my friends
until it was late and prepared dinner.

7:28 P.M
Outside of Jake's household

On top of a tree branch, the huge hunter observes his human and notice him calming
down.

*Clicking

The hunter purrs and feels content seeing his human eat dinner in peace and stopped
being afraid. He was tempted to appear beside his human when he shouted for him but
not tonight. He needed to dispose of the remaining corpses of the hard meats and place
the largest skull in his ship's trophy room.

Now that his human knows that he is real and is there to keep him safe, he will find out
that he is also claimed. The hunter will make sure that no one takes his most prized
possession away from him.