A story of a stalker

[Biochemitra]

The Puerto Rican moon hung heavily over the lush jungle. A small house lay nestled between the trees, two small fences encasing goats and cattle. The farmer had turned in for the night and lay sleeping inside. The livestock were unaware of anything outside the pen they had known their entire lives. Some of them lay sleeping but many stood awake. Some endlessly gazed outside into the jungle. Perhaps they felt that something was stalking them. Many animals instinctively watched for predators at night.
Out in the jungle the dark, twisted clouds barely penetrated the canopy. Birds carried on as wildly as they would if it were day and small animals darted up and down the trees and accross the forest floor. The black and green scenery concealed a figure. Chromospores on its skin matched the coloration of the surrounding foliage, hiding it from view. It held its head low, its red eyes kept away from the moonlight for when the light hit them they began to glow a radiant crimson. This could not be allowed, for if it was the creature would surely be spotted. Slowly the animal crept closer. When fully upright it might stand four feet in height. However, right now it crept about on all fours. It would not do to be spotted. Right now the creature was immature, a young female, inexperienced at hunting prey. Slowly it neared the edge of the jungle. From there it was about 50 yards to the fences. The creature would have to sprint a good distance, hop the fence and deal the fatal bite all before the animal could call its guardian. The creature had once had a bad experience in a previous hunt. It had killed its prey too late. Another creature had emerged from the cave that the prey animals hung around and pointed a stick at it. This stick made incredibly loud noises that the young stalker could not stand. It had lost a meal due to a delayed kill. It refused to let that happen again.
Now it stood just inside the woods. Its dorsal quills slowly arched to an upright position, its jaw and legs tensed, ready to sprint...
I leaped. The predatory animal's hind legs were equipped with extremely dense muscular arrangements that allowed it to execute ungodly leaps. In a second it was already twenty feet out of the jungle. With another great bound it had cleared thirty and with yet another great striding leap it was still closer to its prey. It covered the distance with such speed that by the time its prey had spotted it the creature was a mere fifty feet away, its jaw alreay hung open in preparation for the bite. Hopping the fence, the predator ascended ten feet into the air before coming down atop the nearest prey item. The goat started to bleat but it was cut off as the fangs pierced its neck, severing a number of major arteries and killing it instantly. The goat didn't even have time to register the bite before it hit the ground, dead. Not hesitating, the creature began to slurp, sucking the blood out of the wound. The animal was consuming as fast as it could. the commotion caused among the herd was inevitable exept by those older, extremely skilled hunters and right now the creature's primary goal was simply to ingest as much blood as it could before being driven off. The goat had begun to compress as if deflating. The blood was almost gone. Suddenly the night stalking beast heard a loud crash and a cry of loud protest, different fromt he cattle and a horrendous, loud bang. instantly, it leaped to its feet and over the fence. Another bang was heard and with a few quick bounds the predator disappeared into the trees.
It had sated its hunger for now but it would soon require more blood. It would not be able to hunt here again for a while, however. It was this reason that the species was so rare on the island. Because it had to seek a new hunting spot each time it killed the food supply was at a low. The species, were it known to man, would quickly be put on the endagered species list. The creature retreated deeper into the woods. It would retreat from the area and sleep then it would seek out new hunting grounds. The species had no concept or territory. It dwelled on this idea until it was startled by a loud bang again. Instinctively it ran deeper into the woods. Another loud bang and then silence. Suddenly there was a rustling in the foliage. The creature remained still, its skin changing, melting into the dense leaves. It waited, perfectly still. With luck it would not be seen. Minutes passed and still nothing. It started to emerge but was startled as a small, green shape darted by. The animal's head swerved to the right, following the shape. The small creature stopped running and turned to face the formerly hidden one. Likewise, the larger animal looked down upon the smaller one. It was of the same species, also female. It was much younger, barely two feet in height. The smaller creature hissed up at its elder. The older one was not alarmed. This younger creature had apparently escaped after a failed hunt. Probably the same place where the elder had just fled. It was only natural that the younger hunter would be discovered. Now it seemed quite alarmed. There would be no need to attack, the smaller creature was no threat. It was far from practiced in hunting and would likely meet similar failure in the future. The elder of the two had encountered more failure than success in its time. It recalled watching elder, more experienced hunters out at night. It had seen stalkings that could only be dreamt of by the young predator. It had seen elders snatch sleeping prey while none of the other animals were looking and drag them over the fence and into the woods completely unnoticed. Such hunts were what had given it the gall to start on its own. It recalled thinking about the great hunters it had seen as the very first prey item fell at its feet, a single bite having snapped the life out. It appeared this smaller stalker was where the elder had stood before tasting success. Now, backing away, the older one turned into the foliage. Perhaps this small stalker would one day become among the mightiest of the unseen predators that haunted the island. But for now it was inexperienced and a clumsy hunter. The larger creature began to venture deeper into the woods. The younger one stood puzzled for a second and then slowly began to follow. The elder was suddenly hungry again...
There were hunting grounds all over the area, it would not be long before it found another...
The animals had no sense of time but it began to grow impatient as it trounced through the jungle, searching for good prey. Still, the younger one followed, curious as to what its elder had in mind. It remained no greater than ten feet behind. As the time passed the elder heard a distant bleating. tilting its head to the sky, a forked tongue flicked out and slithered back in. A couple more flicks of the seprentine appendage and the creature had locked onto its prey. Lowering to all fours once more it began to fade out of sight, the chromospores activating. The younger one now stayed where it stood. The elder now moved in the direction of the prey it detected. Sure enough, a short distance more and a clearing was visible. As it advanced what lay before became more obvious. It was similar to the one the stalker had just fled from. The same prey items stood inside the fences. The main difference was that only two goats were all that lay inside one of the pens. Perfect. The elder looked back to see the younger, still standing in the same spot, fully upright and quite obvious to the elder but invisible to the prey. The elder's muscles tensed again and it leaped out from the trees, bounding as before to the fence and hopping over it as easily as before. A thud, unheard by the guardians uttered as the fangs pierced the arteries. Another bleat started to pierce the air before the elder hunter lunged up from its fallen victim and the jaws closed around the neck of the remaing goat. This one did not die instantly however and it struggled for a moment before giving a moan and falling.
The two creatures stood still for a long moment...Would the guardian emerge? Did it hear the commotion of the kill? Nothing happened. Still they waited. All was still and silent. The hunter sank its fangs into the carcass' neck and began to slurp. However, it did not touch the second corpse. The younger still did not move. The elder looked up into the woods, looking upon the sillouette. Slowly the young began to ascend to the clearing. Slowly it advanced to the fence and leaped over it then gingerly began to approach the other fallen goat. The elder did not object. The young finally worked up the gall and with a hiss the young began to feed.

The moon hung low and the animals all slept or stood watching the jungle as they had several previous nights. Without so much as a rustle in the leaves the figure sprang forth and bound over to and accross the fence. Clearing past the startled livestock it dashed over another gate and sped straight inside a chicken coop. Before a single cluck of fear could utter a hen was yanked from its nest and and swept outside.
Hearing the hysterical clucking, farmer burst from the door and pointed his weapon at the fleeting shape, the young, now approaching three feet in height, and fired. The loud banging was startling but the thief did not slow and within a second it vanished into the dense jungle.
His wife rushed to the farmer at the door, terrified of what had just occured. A single word was all she needed to understand. A word that was known even overseas...A word that the mere mention of would drive whole towns into panic...a word that struck fear accross the island...Yes one name that bound above any known animal, man or woman...
El chupacabra...