Mining for Diamonds

“Well, well, well!” the old ethnic woman sitting in the rocking chair says. “What brings four foreign women out this far into the country?”
“We’re here to investigate the old diamond mines,” I reply.
“The old diamond mines?” the woman asks, frowning. “Those belonged to a native tribe that once lived here. Your kind wiped them out hundreds of years ago with plagues and whatnot. What do you hope to find in those mines?”
“Diamonds, dummy,” my friend Bethany replies. I give her a look.
“We won’t be here long,” I assure the old ethnic woman.
“I must warn you,” the ethnic woman says. “There are legends that a mysterious beast lives in those mines. Anyone who goes inside will be torn apart and eaten immediately!”
"So what?" Bethany asks. "I've got a shotgun."
"Do you honestly think it will help?" the ethnic woman asks.
"It's a shotgun, dummy!" Bethany retorts. "It can do anything."
The ethnic woman laughs. "Be careful, my friends! If you knew anything about that monster, you would want to stay as far away from those mines as possible!"
I scoff. “You natives and your superstitions! I’ll bet my ass those mines are perfectly safe.”
The woman smiles. “You people must not be very bright.”
She has the strangest scar over one eye. We ignore her and walk past her cabin.
...
A few hours later, we head inside the old mines.
“It’s so creepy down here,” my friend Gretel says.
“You’re telling me,” my other friend Yasmin complains.
“Relax, guys,” I tell them. “We won’t be down here long.”
“I knew you’d say that, Regina,” Bethany retorts.
It’s dark and creepy down here. At least we have our headlamps.
Out of nowhere, a stalactite falls from the ceiling. It’s about to land on Yasmin, but at the last second, Gretel tackles her out of the way.
We all wince – Gretel’s been crushed under the stalactite. There’s no chance to save her. She’s a goner.
But she’s still alive.
“Help me…” Gretel groans weakly, reaching out from under the big rock.
I grimace and rub the back of my neck. 
“Uh...” I start.
“Why bother?” Bethany asks. “You’re as good as dead anyway. And if there really IS some crazy thing down here, we’d better find those diamonds quickly and get out.”
She leads the way forward. Yasmin gives Gretel one last look, then follows Bethany. I follow the two of them without a second thought.
...
“We should have at least put her down,” Yasmin says later, when we’re deeper underground. It’s darker down here.
“Yeah, we should have,” I agree.
“Shut up,” Bethany replies.
We keep moving forward. Then, suddenly, a breakthrough.
“Holy cow! Look!” Yasmin says, pointing.
There’s a patch of diamonds built into one wall, each one almost as big as my fist. I can’t believe our luck.
“We’re rich!” Yasmin cheers, pumping her fists in the air.
“No,” Bethany replies, pulling out her shotgun and pumping it. “I’M rich.”
I watch in shock as Bethany blows Yasmin away with her shotgun. Yasmin’s dead on the spot. I can see her internal organs.
“Holy fuck, Bethany!” I shout.
Bethany ignores me. She points her shotgun at me.
“What? You thought we were friends?” she asks. “I was just bringing you guys along as bait for whatever’s living down here. I’ve heard all about it – how it massacred twenty people last year and turned them inside out. But seeing as though it’s not here right now, I may as well skip to the fun part!”
She aims at me with manic glee in her eye. I squeeze my eyes shut.
But I don’t hear a bang.
I fearfully open one eye.
Bethany’s dead, her eyes glassy and still wide with shock. The beast is standing behind her and has bitten her where her neck meets her shoulder. Blood is pouring freely over her body. The shotgun tumbles to the ground.
For a second, I have hope that I’ve been saved.
Then the beast tosses Bethany aside and approaches me, and I know I’m doomed.
I crawl backwards as the giant werewolf comes towards me. It raises its claws to destroy me. Suddenly, I recognize the scar it has over one eye.
“Wait!” I shout. “You’re the ethnic lady from the cabin!”
The beast lowers her hand, annoyed. 
“Indeed I am,” she replies.
“But…” I swallow hard, struggling to put my thoughts together. “But why?”
“But why?!” the monster demands. “Because you’re greedy bastards, that’s why! You think I forgot how your kind destroyed my tribe, all those years ago? Oh yeah. I was there, you know. I saw it with my own eyes. You’re all evil. And now, you see fit to come to MY land, and steal MY treasures! What kind of monsters are you?! You think I’M bad?! You don’t know what evil really is! Even now, you abandon each other to your fates. You kill each other over something as stupid as money. I saw everything from the shadows. Now know this! If any more of your kind comes here, they shall die the same way. By my claws! They shall know the true taste of justice!”
The monster raises her claws again.
I grab the shotgun and fire.
The beast staggers backwards. Her face is a shredded mess of blood.
But she’s still alive.
“Oh, you stupid girl,” the beast says, smiling with gore-splattered lips. “Did you honestly think that would work?”
I drop the gun. It clatters to the ground. I get up and run away from the thing as fast as my legs can carry me. She watches me go with amusement. She knows she can catch me in a heartbeat. She's letting me get away.
By the time the beast stops chasing me, I've made it to the surface. She finally gives up when I'm out of the mines. I don't know how I'm going to get over what happened to me tonight. The thought of how many people have died because of that thing – her jaws closing around their throats, their last screams echoing through the dark chambers, nobody around to hear them. It could have happened to me. Maybe it should have.
One thing's for sure – my body may still be alive, but I most certainly feel dead inside.
Category:Monsters
Category:MalumLibrum958